I’ve been a long-time podcast addict. It started with a pod-pusher introducing me to a gateway-listen — the true-crime podcast, Serial. Soon after, I couldn’t get enough of the popular This American Life. However, the addiction truly spiraled out of control when I discovered the more indie history delights like Lore and Rude Tudors.
to the genre. (‘Serial Podcast‘ by Casey Feisler, CC by 2.0)
I now listen daily to a range of podcasts for entertainment, but the ones I find the most life-changing are the educational, particularly ones involving the world of work.
So, when I was given the task of creating my own podcast, I was immediately drawn to the topic of vocational education, and wanted to create a podcast TAFE teachers could use to improve student outcomes.
As a current MBA student at Deakin University, I’ve greatly valued the research available at the online library. However, I know most people don’t have access to these sorts of research facilities and also don’t have time to look through the latest research.
As such, the inspiration for the Edu-trends podcast was born — a weekly five-minute-ish pocket-listen about the latest trends and research in vocational education. It is designed to be a quick snippet that someone can listen to while walking to their next class and which may spark their interest in a particular new aspect of vocational training. I’ll also include show notes on where they can access more information to implement it in their workplace.
A new teaching technology which I recently came across is the augmented reality welding machines at Box Hill Institute produced by Soldamatic. I was given a demonstration of these machines so that I could write up an application for a ‘sustainability in education’ award. While we didn’t win the award, I was impressed with the possibilities of this technology for improving trade education and I also realised from discussion with peers that it was not something widely known about.
A quick search of the Deakin online library found some research into the topic, but also confirmed it was a topic that did not have an overly extensive amount of existing research particularly in the vocational sector. The most relevant article for the intended first Edu-trends podcast topic was by Akçayır & Akçayır (2017, p. 2) which was a systematic review of the literature in augmented reality in education. Using the articles in this literature review as a starting point and also my existing knowledge of the Soldamatic technology gave me enough information to base this first podcast.
You can listen to the result here: Edu-trends Episode 1: Augmented Reality in Trade Training.
Once I had the strategy, and the first topic, the most satisfying part of creating the podcast was the amount of free video and audio content that is available from other podcasters in the technological aspects of the craft. I reflect on that and provide what I think is a great supplementary resource to videos in my brief vlog on this topic:
My main point here is that it is an incredibly generous community where people are sharing their software, their technical knowledge and their music to allow other new podcasters to join in. So if you are a podcast addict or just someone new to the genre, finding your topic and then learning the ropes through free videos are the first steps to your own podcast creation.
References
Akçayır, M & Akçayır, G 2017, ‘Advantages and challenges associated with augmented reality for education: A systematic review of the literature’, Educational Research Review, vol. 20, pp. 1–11, viewed 13 January 2020
Seabury Ptd Ltd 2019, ‘SOLDAMATIC 2018 – New Features’, Seabury, Youtube, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mFO74WWoKbw, Accessed 29 January 2020
Title Image
‘Edu-Trends‘, Julie Athanasiou, created in Canva, CC by 2.0
Podcast Music
‘Take Me Higher‘ by Jazzhar, FreeMusic Archive, CC by 2.0.
Chapter 1 
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