Idea No. F90,008: use podcasts to explain research papers to students

AN IDEA FOR TEACHING STUDENTS HOW TO USE SOURCES EFFECTIVELY IN RESEARCH ESSAYS

Episodes of well-produced research-based podcasts ^[1] could be excellent tools for teaching the principles behind writing an effective research paper. The abstract and annoyingly academic-sounding idea of “putting your sources in conversation with each other” is made tangible in audio form. You can literally hear when a new voice is introduced and see how the host seamlessly identifies the speaker to the audience and provides adequate context for their ideas.

I haven’t yet had occasion to implement this idea so I won’t go into specifics, but I think listening to a podcast episode and annotating the transcript would be a good first step. I can imagine that being used as a reference for discussing pretty much every element of a research essay.

^{1. Radiolab, 99% Invisible, Twenty Thousand Hertz, and Decoder Ring are some of my favorite examples of these. The shows are aimed at the broadly curious nerd and (bonus!) do not generally include serial killers or other grisly murder content.}