With podcasting on the rise, University of Idaho staff, students and faculty have embraced this surge, creating opportunities for people to generate their own audio stories on campus.
Students can produce podcasts in the UI Library through The Making, Innovating, and Learning Laboratory (MILL).
Courtney Pace, the manager of the MILL, said she wanted to create a space easily accessible for students to create podcasts with technology that is also easily understandable.
“An orientation on the equipment is not required for the use of this space, but anyone is more than welcome to ask for one,” Pace said. “All instructions are built in with the equipment if students want to try it for themselves.”
The podcasting space in the library includes a two-mic setup with sound buffers to reduce unwanted noise. There is also a converter for students with older technologies, including cassettes.
Leigh Cooper | Courtesy
Programs such as Garage Band, Audacity, Logic and most other recording software are offered on the computers.
Written instructions are included within each program for the convenience of the user. And other equipment, such as lighting, microphones and green screens are available for students to check out.
Any student is welcome to use the podcasting space, but they have to reserve a time slot online. The reservation can be made through the library’s website.
“We brought in this space because students came in asking about a podcasting space specifically and we wanted to offer a space that is perfect for podcasting and that’s how this studio was born,” Pace said.
Making a podcast is a new type of assignment that UI educators are incorporating in their curriculum.
In narrative journalism, a class taught by Robin Johnson, students are asked to produce four episodes of a podcast during the course of a semester.
“Educators are using podcasting as a way to get them involved in writing with a new format that brings in the important components of speech,” said Johnson, the director of the School of Journalism and Mass Media.
Their current podcasts vary in topics from entertainment to Moscow’s historic crime. Students research their topics and interview people who are involved throughout the semester to make their podcasts.
Robin Johnson | Courtesy
“These podcasts are journalistic, they’re not opinion-based because they’re based on factual reporting,” Johnson said.
UI faculty members are also making podcasts to spread more information on topics they believe in.
Leigh Cooper, a university science and content writer, is involved with a podcast called “The Vandal Theory,” which explores topics of climate change and how it affects the environment and community.
“With ‘The Vandal Theory,’ we wanted to reach out to as many people as possible to teach them about the scientific research on campus, and so far, we’ve focused on climate change,” Cooper said. “We hope that the podcasts answers questions about climate change and how it affects us.”
With two episodes out and the next one coming out near end of the semester, they said they are unsure where it’s going. But they have many places they hope to take the podcast.
Their ultimate goal? Reaching a variety of students and having them listen to complex issues.
“Podcasts are a great way to hear stories from someone else’s perspective,” Cooper said. “Within 20 minutes, you can hear stories from someone else’s point of view and see it in a new way.”
Podcasts allow her to grow her worldview and perspective, as it’s what Cooper said she believes to be most important when it comes to these auditory mediums.
Nicole Hindberg can be reached at [email protected]