4 Benefits of Using Podcasting as a PBL Project

I’ve seen a lot when it comes to project-based learning (PBL), from the perspectives of both a teacher-facilitator and a coach-designer. I’ve worked with teachers from every imaginable walk of life, in large comprehensive schools and smaller rural ones all across our great nation and even outside of it. I say these things not because I’m attempting to brag, but because I really want to add authority for the following claim that I’ll be attempting to prove in this blog: Podcasts are the ultimate PBL project.

Once known as audio blogs, podcasts were relegated to fringe communities during the early days of the internet. But now, thanks in large part to the advent of the smartphone, they are a near-universally known form of mass communication that has grown into an $18 billion business—a number only expected to grow annually. 

It’s a fair bet that most of the learners in your classroom are regularly exposed to podcasts, so if we’re looking for PBL projects that are relevant, connected to the lived experiences of our learners, and connected to their interests, we can’t do much better than creating podcasts. This is no doubt why there’s always at least one podcast project in every PBL workshop I facilitate.

But engagement isn’t the only benefit—far from it. Here are four benefits of using podcasts as an effective PBL project.

1. Podcasts Can Teach and Assess any Subject

With between 3 and 4 million podcasts in the world, it’s not an understatement to say that you can create a podcast for any unit of study in any subject. Physical education? There’s a podcast for that. Learning French? There’s one for that too. Are you rebuilding a transmission in a career and technical education course? Automatic or manual?

If you’re a literacy teacher, podcasts are an especially effective project for what’s called a triple threat—a project that can teach and assess all three major domains of literacy: writing, reading, and oral communication. Students need to write their scripts, read to improve them or research the subject matter, and practice both speaking and listening to prepare for recording.

Even if you don’t teach literacy, podcasts provide all sorts of opportunities for other subjects as well. Science and social studies teachers can craft podcasts around any aspect of their content while also simultaneously building informational reading and writing skills during the development process. Visual art teachers can create “audio guides” for listeners that explore various works of art or explain the evolution of different art movements. 

2. Podcasts Can Be created By Students of Any Age

PBL teachers sometimes struggle with finding the right balance of keeping their projects developmentally appropriate while also making them flexibly rigorous. A podcast is the type of project whereby dialing up or dialing down the difficulty is relatively easy. Teachers can do this by allowing more or less independence when it comes to things like the process, the writing, or the technical aspects based on the age or abilities of the students in their classroom. 

If you’re thinking there’s no way that the littlest learners could create something so complex, you only have to look at the All Seasons, All Stories podcast. Produced by a Minnesota-based preschool, this podcast shows how careful support and scaffolding can empower even the youngest PBL students.

The preschoolers came up with the questions, conducted the interviews, and shared their reflections and processes during a culminating listening party with their parents. Their teachers helped coach them and handled some of the more technical aspects that were developmentally too challenging for them to tackle themselves.

3. You Have Everything You Need in Your Pocket

While many professional podcasts are recorded using an array of microphones, computers, and mixing software, nowadays a rudimentary one can be put together with the tools available on most smartphones. This makes the project infinitely accessible, even in schools where students have limited access to technology.

While working with a group of teachers in Barbados, I saw how even in a classroom without a single computer in it, teachers were able to figure out a way to make this project work. Students used books to do their research, wrote out their scripts in notebooks, and practiced their pronunciation together in pairs before using the teacher’s device to record and publish their work through a platform, such as YouTube or PodBean. 

4. Podcasts Have an Impact Outside of the Classroom

The best PBL projects are ones whereby learners feel like their work means something more than just another entry in the grade book. It’s important for projects to have a real-world impact, and the public nature of podcasts makes this easy. Learners can share their work with people outside the classroom and see the number of clicks or listener comments as proof positive that their work has been enjoyed outside of their school. You might also consider how your students can “podcast with a purpose” by creating an online audio guide for local museums or parks, or an art gallery that doesn’t have one already.

After you’ve facilitated the project a few times and feel good about the quality of work that students are producing, you might consider entering NPR’s Student Podcast Challenge competition. This annual event is a great opportunity for your students to share their thoughts and experiences with a national audience and adds another layer of authenticity by helping them connect with others who have discovered the power of podcasting.