Hello kindred spirits, I am talking about the casting of pods this week! I am chuffed to once again teach a course I designed last year at UPEI: ACLC 3910: Podcasting. For all you readers–and listeners–out there in the wide world, I’m sad to say this is only an on-campus course–though this post is a nice teaser for those thinking about podcasting or who are wondering what is happening in Podland. If you are local, reach out to me if you would like to join in. You can find the course description, a pitch, some resources, and other details below.

For those further away, stay tuned for the launch of MaudCast season 3.

Course Description

This Applied Communication, Leadership, and Culture course explores a broad definition of the concept and practice of podcasting from interdisciplinary perspectives in an integrative, collaborative, student-centred, inquiry-based environment.

There are no prerequisites; however, ACLC 3910 Podcasting is a rigorous third-year course with complex theoretical frameworks and an intensive workshop structure. It is strongly recommended that you have completed a first-year course like Eng 1010, UNIV 1020, UNIV 1030, or equivalent, and have experience or coursework in writing, performance, drama, public speaking, graphic design, or other forms of communication.

Podcasting Course Concept

What is with all of this casting of pods lately? McElroy, McElroy, and McElroy begin their 2020 book, Everyone Has a Podcast (Except You), by claiming that “podcasting is easy.” If you really want to, you can order the book for $28.50 from the Bookmark downtown. However, as the host and producer the MaudCast (in its third season), I find the first sentence irksome. It is kind of like those guitar heroes that say, “I’ve learned three chords. Let’s start a band!” Most surprise hit bands take ten years of hard work to become an overnight success; likewise, there is a great deal that happens beyond the microphone to make great content.

Podcasting can be easy, but making a great podcast is hard. Why is “everyone” podcasting?

From the edges of the blogosphere in the days before the ubiquity of YouTube, podcasting became a thing. Its shape and scope have changed, but it remains a complex tableau of digitally dynamic, microphone-centred, for-you-by-you content design. When explaining the phenomenon, we can apply “multi-,” “inter-,” and “trans-” to all of our descriptors. Podcasting is multicultural, interdisciplinary, and transmedial (and all of the other combinations). Podcasting embraces digital-age culture with a kind of technophobic charm. Podcasting is rigorously research-based and terrifyingly casual with the truth. Podcasting is elitist and thus committed to accessibility. Podcasting is carefully designed and completely spontaneous.

Intriguingly, podcasting is becoming an emergent, dynamic, and transformative part of scholarly life. Increasingly, employers, grad school recruiters, start-ups, and nonprofit managers are looking for students with podcasting experience.

For these reasons—and for the sheer challenge of the art—this Applied Communication, Leadership, and Culture course explores this kaleidoscopic communication space we call podcasting. Using a broad definition of podcasting that would include other kinds of content found on YouTube and social media, ACLC 3910 approaches the topic through numerous disciplines, including communication theory, media studies, memetics, and the Podcast as a cultural phenomenon from its historical emergence to its global impact. Using a collaborative, student-centred, inquiry-based pedagogical approach—all important parts of podcasting culture—students as scholars will widen the scope of the topic.

Especially, ACLC 3910: Podcasting is a workshop course. While I have experience in podcasting—first as a guest expert and then as a host and producer—I am not an expert in podcasting. As a guide, I will support students as they walk through the design steps for their own podcasts. Students will go from concept to product launch or proof-of-concept, including environment scans, marketing plans, show design, pitch development, interview preparation, social media writing, and basic recording know-how.

Course Structure

Major Themes, Questions, and Topics

Beyond the questions noted above, here are some of the themes, questions, and topics we will explore this term during class lectures and research:

• Where does Podcasting Fit in the Textures of History?
• From Potsherds to Podcasting: A History of Popular Communication
• What is the Market for Podcasts and Podcasters?
• The Art and Science of Listening
• The Geeks Shall Inherit the Earth
• From the Archives to AI: Implications for Podcasting
• Branding is Violent: Finding Your Voice in the Digital Age
• Digital Storytelling
• Is the Medium of Podcasting also the Message?
• Podcasting and the Multimedia Moment
• 3D Communication in 2D Modes

The Stages of Podcasting

The course-long workshop for ACLC 3910 follows the five stages of podcasting:

1. Development
2. Pre-Production
3. Production
4. Post-Production
5. Distribution

Textbook Readings and Moodle

Our textbook is:

Glen Weldon, NPR’s Podcast Start Up Guide: Create, Launch, and Grow a Podcast on Any Budget (2021; 2024).

The NPR Podcast Guide is approachable, structured, and extremely useful. It also meets the accessibility goals that we value in this course: it is inexpensive, available in a variety of formats, and fun to read: Kindle, $13.99; Paperback, $25.99; Hardcover, $37.00; and one credit on Audible (read by the NPR team). There is a copy on reserve in the library, but this is a text you will need in whatever format works best for you.

Here are some suggested resources, including those used in other ACLC courses:

• The Podcast Studies Podcast (formerly New Aural Cultures), produced by Dr. Dario Llinares and Prof. Lori Beckstead
• Ian M. Cook, Scholarly Podcasting: Why, What, How? (2023)
• Kory Kogon, Suzette Blackmore, and James Wood, Project Management for the Unofficial Project Manager (2015)
• Terry O’Reilly, This I Know: Marketing Lessons from Under the Influence (2017)