Context: I am a huge podcast person – true crime, Old Hollywood, politics, music, movies – you name it, it’s probably on my feed. I have come to lean on podcasts in class sometimes in lieu of final essays, just to add variety and encourage specialized learning.
Assignment: For my Spanish Peninsular Literature class, students were assigned to pick any topic about Spain that interested them, do their research, and record a 6-8 minute podcast about that topic. It also needed to be in podcast format – students listened to other podcasts to figure out exactly what that meant.
Results: I received a few terrible, minimal efforts, but a lot of gems that I still listen to every once in a while. A few students (those familiar with podcasts), created their own fake series (Los misterios de España), and introduced their assignment as “just another episode.” Another explained why her co-host was absent that week. The variety in topics was stunning, and included: the Moorish invasion, the history of the official seal of Madrid, Queen Isabel, fascist repression of art, and the story of that women who ruined the Jesus painting in 2011.
Reflection: Podcasts are something that I’ve come back to in other classes because I enjoy the results so much. While writing is important, we also need to focus on communication — can a student communicate effectively in Spanish over a 6-8 minute timespan? I also enjoyed the cross-pollination. Students also in History tended to stick with historical topics, while art students veered towards their specialty.