Addie Pittenger, Arts & Life Editor Emeritus;
The annual Podcast-a-Thon is in its sixth year as a Denison School of Journalism event, with numerous faculty across Denison departments adding the Podcast-a-Thon as a major project in their associated semester courses. Journalism faculty member Doug Swift, one of the primary creators of the podcast-a-thon, is one of the primary leaders in expanding this event across Denison's campus.
Initially, the Journalism Department was a narrative journalism concentration. However, there was strong demand from the students for it to become an official major. Along with Swift and other journalism departments, the major was introduced in spring 2022 to coincide with the podcast-a-thon.
“Students really liked what we were doing and wanted to do more. It was hard to stay small… There was too much upward pressure in Denison that inhibited growth and development. ,” Swift explains.
Swift also noted that students are looking to expand their interests beyond just writing to documentary filmmaking, podcasting, reporting and other forms of multimedia storytelling. Podcast-a-thon fits these interests perfectly.
The podcast-a-thon was part of the Narrative Journalism concentration when Dennison was offered a Mellon Foundation grant to “promote writing across the curriculum…invite people to study narrative across the curriculum.” [writing]'' Swift added.
Swift laid out what he called “three guidelines” in judging the podcast-a-thon. The first guideline is to think about what your teaching goals are. [for the podcasts]the second is to rate the podcast based on whether it has a compelling story, and the third is the overall quality of the podcast.
As the podcast-a-thon continues to grow, Swift's invitation extends not only to the School of Journalism, but also to other professors in the English, Biology, Economics, Politics and Public Affairs, and Environmental Studies departments to participate in the podcast-a-thon. It has been expanded to. .
This is the second time Professor Heather Rose in the Biology Department has had her students participate in a podcast-a-thon. Rose believes that having students participate in advanced seminars in neuroscience is a great opportunity to engage students in science communication.
“I wanted to update the seminar and make some changes, so when I received an email from Doug Swift, I thought it would be a good way for students to reach both non-scientific and scientific audiences. ” Rose added.
Rhodes University emphasizes the importance of science communication. In other words, it is important to make science more universally available to the entire population.
Julia Dasbach, from the English Department, is a new professor to Dennison, and she, too, was excited about the opportunity to involve her students in the podcast-a-thon. One of the classes she teaches is called “Representing the Holocaust,” and she wanted her podcast, Her At Her Son, to be a great way to tell the story of the Holocaust in the way she shares it. I was there. page. “
“As for the subject, [in our class]survivor testimonies were first recorded and documented through audio and video. [Podcast-a-thon] It was like we were actually having a conversation with the material we were about to view. “Audio media is a means of witnessing,” Dasbach exclaims.
Dasbach built the course around the Podcast-a-thon. In her classes, Ms. Dasbach has her students choose a person, place or artifact to tell a story about their chosen topic.
“The more we can be interdisciplinary, multidisciplinary, interdisciplinary, the better. You start to understand the value of things,” Dasbach said.
Alan Miller from the Journalism Department would like to have a Podcast-A-Thon trophy in his office. He loves the idea of using a podcast-a-thon to help students understand the value of telling stories in all relative formats.
Miller's class, “Doing Journalism with Ethics and Empathy,” incorporates a podcast-a-thon as part of its coursework. Students are assigned to contact journalists who have encountered ethical issues.
“I hope that future journalists in my class right now will hear about these issues and realize, 'This is something I should pay attention to,'” Miller said.
Podcast-a-thon allows students to use the skills and ideas learned in their major to put together a project and tell a story.
For Swift, she loves hearing student voices come through when given opportunities such as podcast-a-thons. He asked President Weinberg, “How important do you think it is for students to find their own voice?” Weinberg responded, “That's the most important thing, personally, socially and professionally.”
Podcast-a-thon is open to any student who decides to participate. This event has a community category that accepts independent student submissions. The Podcast-a-thon awards ceremony will be held during the first week of his March, where class submissions will be displayed and the “Buzzy Award” will be presented to the winner of the faculty relative's class.
