In this post, Jenny Scoles, editor of Teaching Matters, reflects on working with student interns to create the Teaching Matters podcast, and the reciprocal learning journey for both staff and students in the production process. This post is part of the Podcasting in Learning and Teaching series.
In 2019, we created the Teaching Matters podcast as we wanted to bring in a dialogic element to Teaching Matters, where debate and discussion could come alive through audio. Starting with a series on Lecture Recording – and our very first podcast episode, Implementation of lecture recording – we have since covered many topics in learning and teaching from decolonising the curriculum to student mental health and wellbeing.
For most of Teaching Matters’ life, the editorial team has comprised both staff and student interns, positioning students as integral contributors to the editorial process. I have been lucky enough to work with Joséphine Foucher, Sylvia Joshua Western, Eric Berger and Aiswarya Jayamohan (all now happily graduated) in recent years. With their insight, dedication and skill, we have managed to grow the podcast to 85 episodes with over 16,000 downloads.
I always learn so much from student interns, and the process of co-creating the podcast has been a classic example of this. For example:
- Digital tools: Eric introduced me to Canva to help design podcast episode artwork, and Sylvia showed me how to use Adobe Audition to speed up audio editing.
- Accessibility: Joséphine met with with experts in accessibility and inclusion so she could teach the rest of team how to write accessible blog posts for each podcast episode. Eric used Microsoft Sway to create written transcripts for each episode, which we attached to the blog posts.
- Good practice: Eric implemented time stamps for each episode, helping content navigation.
Of course, these digital tools and podcasting practices have moved on considerably since we started, especially with AI. Yet learning from student interns has given me the confidence to go and play around with free tools and products online to see what is possible, especially in resource-restrained times.
For the students, this co-creative set-up has offered a learning opportunity that extends far beyond simply producing the final product (the podcast episode). Joséphine, Eric and I reflected on this co-creation learning journey for a presentation that we delivered at a RAISE Conference in 2022, and subsequently published as a short journal article: Empowering student producers.
In this presentation/article, Eric and Joséphine revealed that the most significant learning for them occurred during the production process, where they were invited to become producers of the podcast. As editorial staff members, we trusted them implicitly to lead the creative process, shifting from a co-creation approach (students and staff working together) to a student as producer approach (student-led directive with autonomy). For Eric and Joséphine, this entailed interviewing fellow students and academics, script-writing, sound design, and social media outreach, as well as engaging in story-telling techniques around teaching and learning. In our article, we noted that this positioning as student as producer gave the students a sense of empowerment and perceived expertise in their roles. For example:
Eric shared that he thought his skillset was valued by both staff contributors and team-members, something he had not experienced during his degree prior to working for Teaching Matters. He also spoke about how making the podcast coherent and accessible for a listener with little experience on an episode’s subject matter was an enjoyable challenge that motivated him to form deeper understanding of the content. They also enjoyed a more “horizontal” working relationship with staff members. Joséphine reflected that she found working directly with staff to be a humanising experience, and lessened feelings of imposter syndrome. She discussed enjoying a “role reversal”, where staff would trust a student to create a comfortable environment for a discussion and accurately present their contributions to each episode.
Again, the (staff) editors benefited from the students becoming subject matter experts (SME) in learning and teaching areas currently unfamiliar to them. For example, through his work in editing and producing a five-episode series about Wikimedia at the University, Eric’s role as a student producer gave him the opportunity to research and critically interrogate the content being discussed. He became – in his own right – a SME in Wikimedia, and provided valuable insights and perspectives to his Teaching Matters peers.
Finally, one important consideration for ensuring authentic student-staff co-creation is that it is offered as a paid opportunity for students. This creates an inclusive and accessible learning environment and removes the barriers to student-staff partnership work.
Huge thanks to all the wonderful interns!
Jenny Scoles
Dr Jenny Scoles is the editor of Teaching Matters. She is a Lecturer (Academic Development), and a Senior Fellow HEA, and provides pedagogical support for University course and programme design. She leads the University’s Learning & Teaching Conference, and her research interests include student-staff co-creation, interdisciplinary learning & teaching, professional learning and sociomaterial methodologies.
