I was late to the game in listening to podcasts, but in 2019 I finally found my niche: higher education podcasts. They served as another way to learn about the sector I had just started working in, often from practitioner perspectives. I couldn’t get enough, and started to feel like not enough content was being published to satiate my personal curiosity with higher education.
It wasn’t until the COVID-19 pandemic that I finally started podcasts of my own, detailed below. Since I began working on and seeking these projects, I have come to realize the potential podcasts have for conveying information and knowledge gained through research (I’d like to give a plug to Will Brehm’s Fresh Ed podcast for working on this particular goal). Participating in projects that accomplish knowledge-sharing in a way that focuses on the story behind the knowledge is now my mission in podcast production.
Through these projects, I am also growing in my own podcast abilities:
- Honing my hosting skills: Improving my strengths in asking questions, actively listening, and utilizing the precious skills I developed in theater in high school (a gift that keeps on giving);
- Editing skills: Technical aspects of understanding how we digest information through sound;
- Story-telling skills: Podcasts are a medium to share information and knowledge, often through stories – seeing the story arc of a season and piecing the story together takes time, but is the most important component of a podcast.
THESIS: Trends in Higher Education Systems – International Spheres
A collaboration between myself and several classmates (now alumni), this podcast fills a gap I’ve noticed in higher education podcasts for a long time: comparing higher education systems across countries. Since we began developing the show, I have seen a couple of similar podcasts pop up. However, these podcasts often focus on featuring high-level professionals or experts. THESIS often interviews researchers and day-to-day practitioners to delve into its topics.
Season 1 | Nov. 17, 2022 – March 30, 2023: The role of higher education in foreign and domestic politics
Countries/Regions covered: Bosnia & Herzegovina, Cambodia, Iraq, Norway, Quebéc (Canada), Russia, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Tajikistan, Ukraine, Uzbekistan
Season 2 | June 1 – Nov. 9, 2023 First-generation students
Countries/Regions covered: Australia, China, Finland, Germany, USA, Chile, Brazil, Ghana, Tanzania, England, Hungary, South Africa
Season 3 | Dec. 1, 2023 – Present International Student Mobility
Countries/Regions covered: India, Sweden, Norway, China, Africa, the Netherlands, Mexico, Portugal, Egypt, Japan
As a volunteer with the Climate Action Network for International Educators (CANIE) I assist with podcast development, and as a temporary employee I am led the relaunch of the podcast in the fall of 2022.
GTR focused on the importance of intercultural experiences through interviews with people who had traveled and gained significant insight through that travel. The podcast was born out of the COVID-19 pandemic in an effort with my co-host, Erin Morris. The podcast ran for two seasons.
Leverage Your Potential @ Menlo College
My former supervisor, Dylan Houle, and I discussed a podcast for our office before the pandemic, and when the pandemic hit we decided to try out hosting a podcast to deliver content to our students through a different method than a screen. We interviewed Menlo College students, staff, faculty, alumni and external partners about their career journeys and experiences. The podcast ran for 40 episodes.
