I asked on Twitter yesterday if those who used podcast creation as part of their classes would share their materials or, even better, their podcasts. I got some pretty cool stuff. So here’s a roundup, possibly incomplete (the threads kind of got away from me a few times). If I’ve missed something you suggested, or if you have additions to/amendments, please let me know!
Podcast Examples
Here are some of the podcasts that were created during the course of a semester, by students.
- Lives of the Mind, a podcast (network?) from Augustana College
- The House in the Cemetery, a podcast produced for The Woodlands by graduate students at Villanova University
- American Carnival, a podcast produced by students at Worcester State University
- Sex in American History, a podcast produced by students at Grinnell College
- Death, Sex, and Money, also by students at Grinnell College
- The Origin and Impact of the Birth Control Pill, a podcast by student(s?) at Wheaton College
- PUBlic History, originally a course podcast but has flourished post-course as well!
Podcast Methods
Here are some of the rubrics/instructional materials about podcasting. (I received a few others that aren’t available on the web, so I am not posting them.)
- Cameron Blevins, Civil War and Reconstruction, instructions and rubric
Additional resources
Here are some additional resources that people mentioned for teaching with podcasts.
- YouTube tutorial for Audacity
- Programming Historian tutorial for Audacity
- NPR guide to podcasts for students
- Jessica Abel, Out on the Wire: The Storytelling Secrets of the New Masters of Radio (New York: Broadway Books, 2015).
- John McMahon, “Producing Political Knowledge: Students as Podcasters in the Political Science Classroom,” Journal of Political Science Education 0, no. 0 (July 16, 2019): 1–10, https://doi.org/10.1080/15512169.2019.1640121. (unfortunately paywalled)
- Hannah Hethmon, Your Museum Needs a Podcast: A Step-By-Step Guide to Podcasting on a Budget for Museums, History Organizations, and Cultural Nonprofits (2018). (The author has also generously offered to Skype into any class that reads this book–that’s no small offer! She’s on Twitter @hannah_rfh.)
- Jim McGrath, Podcasts and Public History, History@Work
Resources for Use in a Podcast
This is a list of things that you might want to incorporate into your podcast, such as sound effects, etc.
- Archives of free music and sounds
- Audio sources for podcasting (part of a larger collection of resources at H-Podcast, which might be worth joining)
Resources for Creating or Hosting a Podcast on the Web
None of these resources is outright free, but many have very limited free plans.
- Soundtrap, for collaborative podcast creation
- Podbean, hosting service
- Libsyn, no free plan but the old standby host for many successful podcasts
- Descript, an online editor and transcription creator
- Buzzsprout, hosting service with some other bells and whistles