Main aims and objectives of the project:

• To further the establishment of student podcasting and interviewing as a valuable research based learning activity.
• MP3 recorders will become ‘embedded’ within each participating department, along with the skills required to produce quality podcast ‘programmes’.
• To produce an investigation and subsequent report on the benefits of student interviewing and podcasting. We will seek to publish this in a peer reviewed journal.
• To provide showcase examples relevant to a wide range of departments across the university.

Description of the project

Departments will be invited to enter teams consisting of an academic or alumni and up to two students. There are a maximum of ten teams, with the aim to get ten different departments to participate. Departments who have not yet participated in podcasting will be targeted for recruitment. Training and advisory sessions will be provided for the students and staff in the departments, along with support from the Arts Faculty E-squad (student helpers). We will focus upon interview and investigation skills, planning, editing, and creating podcast files. The aim, guiding the judging of the entries, is to see the production of podcast interviews that stand alone as valid and high quality academic productions, reflecting the work and abilities of the students. A secondary result will be the presentation of the work of the interviewee to a wider public. Completed podcasts will be uploaded to a publicly accessible web site. Last year’s entrants can be found on the page below, along with a reflective interview conducted with a winning student by the Arts Faculty E- learning Advisor

The issues discussed with Manu Raivio (winning student) will be researched more formally. The idea of an ‘audio essay’ as an assessed activity will be focussed upon. This investigation will be presented at events by the Arts Faculty E-learning Advisor, with the aim of publishing in an appropriate journal. The student podcasts will be judged by a team of experts, including a specialist in the communication of academic work. Winning podcasts will be announced at a ceremony to be held at the end of the forthcoming E-learning Showcase Day in the Teaching Grid (in the week before the Easter vacation). Following the event, work will be carried out with our participating departments and to showcase student podcasting throughout the university.