Podcasts as an Open Educational Resource: What’s it like to make one?
I listen to podcasts every day; they form the soundtrack to my daily commute, cooking, washing up — you name it and I am probably listening to a podcast while I do it. I have even contributed to a comedy podcast in the past. However, despite this experience with the format, I have never thought about creating one as an open educational resource. Therefore, when my colleague in the Research Data Management team, Clare Liggins, mentioned that she had created a podcast recently, I thought it was an ideal opportunity to find out more about the process. Clare kindly consented to an interview about her experience, the full text of which can be found here. My questions about potential hidden barriers to creating a podcast such as anxiety or nervousness were inspired by in Padma Inala’s excellent blog post Sharing is caring: hidden barriers to being open.
A little background on the use of podcasts as an open educational resource…
A 2014 study of faculty staff in the US found that 36.6% of educators used podcasts in their teaching. This indicates that teaching staff find some value in the medium as an educational tool. Furthermore as Steve Wheeler states, the ease and low resource cost of making a podcast “has allowed a myriad of small self-organized communities of learning and interest to coalesce” making it a powerful tool for communication, no matter how niche the topic may be. It hadn’t occurred to me that this might be an engaging way to disseminate information about research data management and spark further thought or discussion
Clare’s experience of making a podcast
Clare had initially been planning a session to inform people about costing in research data management but following a suggestion from the MRE team, felt that a podcast would strike the informative but conversational tone she was looking for. This demonstrates that there is an initial barrier to podcasting — knowing that this is a viable option. Before talking to Clare, I did not know that the student team can support colleagues to create podcasts and knowing this has led me to reflect upon where there may be other opportunities to do this. This highlights the importance of making support for creating open resources well-known.
Speaking about her feelings when recording the podcast, Clare said:
“I found the process a little scary but mainly exciting and stimulating”
She outlines that her colleagues also expressed some nervousness around recording the podcast but that these were mainly around not knowing what to expect. In her article on the attributes of open pedagogy, Bronwyn Hegarty writes:
“Building confidence and independence in an open learning situation would seem a logical step towards motivating people to find their inner creative self and become trendsetters. How we can encourage mainstream educators to enter this fast-moving stream is a secret yet to be unlocked.”
In order to encourage educators to create open resources, we need to empower them by removing the fear of the unknown to which Clare alluded. By talking openly about the experience of creating a podcast for the first time, we can reassure people that nervousness is a common feeling and demonstrate that this can be overcome.
“Does my voice really sound like that?”
Clare also expressed nervousness about listening to the finished podcast. As outlined in this story from The Guardian, a dislike of hearing one’s voice on a recording is very common. When listening to a recording of our voice we may be surprised at how high it sounds as it sounds more resonant to us as we speak. We may also pick up on other cues that we think bely our nervousness such as increased speed of speech or frequent ‘ums’ and ‘ers’. All of this can make the experience of listening to ourselves quite cringe inducing so perhaps this is also keeping some people from creating podcasts.
How can we overcome the cringe factor?
Interviewing Clare about her experience has led me to reflect on my own feelings about creating open resources such as podcasts. I have worked with Clare to create 60 Second Skills videos in which I provided a voiceover outlining the steps in creating a data management plan. Due to many years of improvisation and acting, I am quite comfortable with being recorded and did not experience any anxiety or nerves. I think this is because I approached the recording as I would do an acting role, by stepping into a different persona to address an audience.
Relax and enjoy the experience
As part of the My Research Essentials programme, I have developed a session that uses improvisation techniques to enhance public speaking skills. One of the techniques I outline is practising a speech or presentation in a variety of different styles, varying the voice each time. This helps the presenter to get familiar with the content without relying purely on rote learning. But the true purpose of this exercise is to encourage them to have fun with public speaking and allowing it to flow rather than getting hung up on the details. Clare’s advice to budding podcasters reflects this:
“Relax with it and keep it informal and comfortable. It works better if you can enjoy it. Prepare what you’re going to say, as much as you need to but don’t worry too much about the conversation moving in different directions, as long as you keep it to the point.”
Final reflections
Having found out more about Clare’s experience of creating a podcast has inspired me to look for an opportunity to create my own podcast. This could be to look at another aspect of research data management or to accompany my own MRE session on enhancing public speaking skills. This interview has really opened my eyes to the potential of podcasts as a platform for reaching a wide audience in a more engaging and interesting way. In order to get more people making podcasts, I think it is incumbent on all of us to remove psychological barriers by encouraging our colleagues to share their knowledge and reassuring them that they do not need to worry about the sound of their voice. I hope that reading about Clare’s experience will encourage readers of this blog to push through their nerves and create a podcast!
