Echoes from the past: Podcasting in the African American studies classroom

Podcasting has been used to deliver lectures in traditional face-to-face, hybrid, and distance-learning classrooms. However, an increasing amount of research has explored the educational benefits of student-created podcasts. Jarvis and Dickie (2010) have noted that podcasting can allow access to deeper modes of learning. In addition to digital literacy skills, podcasting has been shown to promote confidence and provide greater motivation for participating in the course (Lee et al, 2008).

When implementing technology in the classroom my primary goal as an educator is to use it in service of the core content. As a result, this podcasting project firmly places African American Culture at the center at both phases of the project: learning how to use the podcasting software and creating a podcast to share with the class.

This quick hit describes the use of podcasting using Audacity, a free audio-editing software program, as implemented in an African American Culture class made up of 35 students.

The ethnography podcast replaced a typical research paper with the aim to achieve this greater motivation and engage deeper modes of learning by asking students to explore their connections to the African American communities around them.

Journal of Teaching and Learning with Technology