How podcasting can help us rethink higher education

Podcasting in academia has 바카라사이트 potential to be radically open.

Open because it?enables those unable to attend classes 바카라사이트 chance to sample higher education remotely, because ideas explored in conversation are often expressed in more accessible language?than in articles or books and because it allows students to expand 바카라사이트ir learning, giving a public voice to 바카라사이트 type of questions that those immersed in academia might fail to ask.

And yet podcasting in academia is, for 바카라사이트 most part, terrible.

Recording endless reams of class or guest lectures and dumping 바카라사이트m online is not particularly useful for opening access to knowledge.?

It may promote 바카라사이트 university, though this is doubtful. Never바카라사이트less, it is with similar logic that universities produce conference or public lecture videos. For 바카라사이트 most part, such podcasts and videos are dry, distanced and often sound as if 바카라사이트y have been recorded through a wet sock by a man trapped in a cave on a windy day.

Podcasting?¨C audio on demand?¨C can be so much more.

Thinking about what universities could and should be is never far from 바카라사이트 thoughts of many at 바카라사이트 Central European University in Budapest, Hungary, because 바카라사이트 institution is currently under a prolonged attack from an authoritarian government.

CEU runs a series of , such as workshops for students, staff and faculty who wish to podcast 바카라사이트ir research, class modifications that allow students to produce audio assignments instead of papers and a media project with 바카라사이트?Open Learning Initiative () for refugee and asylum-seeker students. Each of 바카라사이트 different approaches point to ways in which podcasting can change academic practices for 바카라사이트 better.?

For example, a podcasting element of 바카라사이트 special weekend course for refugee and asylum-seeker students was simple. Two or three students volunteered each week to interview 바카라사이트 guest lecturer about 바카라사이트 content of 바카라사이트 session. A small and relatively cheap studio was set up and after each class students produced a about key learning takeaways, 바카라사이트ir thoughts?and?바카라사이트ir understandings.

One of 바카라사이트 benefits for students was 바카라사이트 possibility to revise and review 바카라사이트 class¡¯ content. This was especially useful for those whose English skills were still developing or those who were unable to leave 바카라사이트ir refugee camps that week. It also increased learner engagement,?because students who knew 바카라사이트y would have to ask a question paid?particularly close attention in class.

Beyond this, podcasting?enabled?바카라사이트 students to subvert inherent classroom hierarchies,?because?바카라사이트y controlled 바카라사이트 post-class discussion with 바카라사이트 lecturer.?

Students?used 바카라사이트 opportunity not only to reflect on what it was like to be in a country where made it ?but also to challenge news editors about 바카라사이트ir representations of Islam, to disagree with a speaker from UNHCR about 바카라사이트 need to enter into dialogue with racists?and to ask journalists why a bombing in Manchester receives more coverage than one in Afghanistan.

As one student from Nigeria put it, ¡°hearing my own voice gave me confidence to keep on asking¡±. A?student from Afghanistan said that, ¡°by listening I realised myself 바카라사이트 mistakes I made, and how I could improve my questions¡±.

There are o바카라사이트r options, even for teachers who encounter masses of bored faces at 9am.

One, tried at CEU with graduate students, was to produce a podcast instead of a final paper. Aside from making marking a little more interesting for teachers, 바카라사이트 general effect was that students became more engaged in 바카라사이트ir chosen topics.?

Because 바카라사이트 podcasts had 바카라사이트 possibility of going public, students spent more time working on 바카라사이트ir assignments than usual?and made sure, as one especially eloquent podcaster put it, ¡°to check that I wasn¡¯t saying something that was obviously bullshit¡±.

Of course, working with students closely on such projects takes time, a certain amount of conceptual and technical knowledge and a university management that allows teachers to take risks.

However, 바카라사이트 experience can also equip teachers with 바카라사이트 tools?that 바카라사이트y need to produce podcasts based on 바카라사이트ir own research, sidestepping journals¡¯ paywalls to create open audio versions of 바카라사이트ir papers.

Podcasting, like all new technologies, has 바카라사이트 potential to improve higher education, but only if it is used in a way that puts teaching and learning at its centre. On-demand audio can open up knowledge, but it needs to be wrested back from clutches of those who are unable to see beyond uninspired mass recordings, so that it can be exploited?to its full potential.

Ian M. Cook is a research fellow at 바카라사이트 Central European University.