New Podcast - Why: motivations and purpose

I had a Faculty Support podcast in the early 2000's and I enjoyed it, and have used recorded  audio with my students ever since.  The use hasn't been extensive - and I recognize my limitations, but a few students benefit from it.  The novelty excites me sometimes when the thought of typing can't get me off of social media.  More importantly, the coming new online focus will ask for alternative teaching methods.

Also, with audio, a listener can multi-task  and find time for learning while exercising or doing chores around the house (which I do).   I can record while hiking the Baker Wetlands near my home and find a silence better than I could find at my college. The bird noises seem more like a feature than a bug.  Home has always been a challenging place for me to work uninterrupted and without distraction.  The Corona-19 lockdown has brought this challenge into startling relief.  Audio production may alleviate this.

This podcast will:
  1.  replace the dialogic "lecture" experience of  a classroom.  I have tried not to lecture more than 10 minutes at the beginning of a face to face (F2F) class.  In that portion of class I laid out goals and expectations, but more importantly I tried to "prime the pump" of student interest by connecting ideas and issues to student lives and interests.  My lectures are collaborative and conversational.  I don't want to give that up for an  online class. 
  2. foster engagement and model communicative strategies of
    • growth
    • learning
  3. underscore the role of collaboration and others in composition.   
  4. function as a teaching journal (which indirectly benefits students)
    • a searchable, shareable  repository
    • a more interactive method than the binders, books and blogs I've used in the past.
    • blogs a stigma - unfair though it might be - that present and insurmountable stank.
I need to learn the things that podcasting can teach me, and I want to take more of the appriate kind of risks.  Trying new things can be scary - but I've studied too many online models that force a F2F model into an online environment.  I won't read from the book.  I won't lecture.  I will think out loud, inviting feedback.  I will seek out conversations with people who can teach me.   I will have fun. 

I have a short couple recordings developing new lesson plans that lends itself to the current moment, and I am working on a series on diversity and identity. 


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