{"id":40574,"date":"2025-06-30T18:04:14","date_gmt":"2025-06-30T16:04:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/?p=40574"},"modified":"2025-07-04T16:41:50","modified_gmt":"2025-07-04T14:41:50","slug":"podcasting-pedagogy-the-missing-piece-in-higher-education-podcasting","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/subject\/av-technologies\/podcasting-pedagogy-the-missing-piece-in-higher-education-podcasting\/","title":{"rendered":"Podcasting Pedagogy: The missing piece in Higher Education podcasting"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

by Jonathan B. Singer<\/strong>, Loyola University Chicago, USA and Mim Fox<\/strong>, University of Wollongong, Australia.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

We know the social work classroom is changing. Students are balancing jobs, caregiving, and field placements, often accessing course content between shifts or on the go. As educators, we\u2019re constantly looking for ways to meet students where they are without compromising depth, ethics, or critical engagement. That\u2019s what first drew us to podcasting.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

When we started podcasting, even though we were practitioner-educators, we weren\u2019t thinking about podcasting as pedagogy. We were following our instincts grounded in the ethics and values of social work: relationality, justice, reflection, and voice. The more we worked with the medium, the clearer it became: podcasting wasn\u2019t just supplemental. It could be central to a values-driven, theoretically grounded pedagogy.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

From these experiences emerged the Fox-Singer Framework for Podcasting in Social Work Education<\/strong>, a model we developed for our 2025 text Podcasting in Social Work Education<\/a><\/em> to help higher education instructors use podcasting intentionally and effectively in the classroom. The framework aligns with well-established teaching theories and social work principles, offering a concrete way to integrate podcasting without turning it into busywork or background noise.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Why podcasting belongs in Higher Ed<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

Podcasting is intimate. We record our episodes assuming that almost every episode will be experienced as an audience of one. When students listen, they\u2019re often alone with earbuds in, commuting, cooking dinner, exercising, or following along with the transcript. They\u2019re not scrolling through slides, watching a Zoom recording, or flipping through social media. They are in the front seat at a conversation made just for them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Hearing someone\u2019s real, unfiltered, emotional voice has a unique ability to cut through abstraction and foster connection. That matters in education. Especially in disciplines like social work, nursing, education, and public health, where developing empathy, critical thinking, and cultural humility is essential. We\u2019ve found podcasting supports those learning outcomes powerfully – not as a gimmick, but as a tool for reflection, challenge, and transformation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Fox-Singer Framework: A brief overview<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

The Fox-Singer Framework (Figure 1) outlines six key constructs that support podcasting as a pedagogical practice in social work education. It\u2019s not about adding podcasts just to seem tech-savvy – it\u2019s about aligning content with transformative learning theory, relationship-based practice, and experiential education.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Here\u2019s a brief look at the six components:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \n
  1. Transformative Learning<\/strong> \u2013 Use podcasts to introduce disorienting dilemmas and support critical reflection and perspective transformation.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  2. Relationship-Based Practice<\/strong> \u2013 Foster empathy and trust through audio stories; encourage students to create their own episodes as a form of relational learning.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  3. Experiential Learning<\/strong> \u2013 Simulate client interactions or field scenarios through podcasts, then build assignments around role-play or case analysis.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  4. Pedagogical Blueprinting<\/strong> \u2013 Integrate podcasting into the curriculum and assessment plan with clear objectives\u2014not as an afterthought.<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  5. Storytelling & Lived Experience<\/strong> \u2013 Prioritize narratives from marginalized communities to teach narrative competence and justice-oriented listening.\u2019<\/li>\n\n\n\n
  6. Rigor & Relevance<\/strong> \u2013 Choose content grounded in research or community-defined expertise, and continuously evaluate podcasting\u2019s pedagogical impact.

    <\/li>\n<\/ol>\n\n\n\n

    What it looks like in practice<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    In Chapter 8 of Podcasting in Social Work Education<\/a><\/em>, Mim Fox and her co-host Lis share the story of Katie, a mature-age social work student who joined the Social Work Stories<\/em> podcast team for her field placement. Katie was skeptical\u2014she didn\u2019t even know how to access a podcast, let alone how it would build her social work skills. But the placement quickly proved otherwise. She interviewed practicing social workers, helping them feel safe enough to share their stories\u2014many of whom were far more comfortable offering support than being in the spotlight. Katie sharpened her professional communication, built rapport, and raised important ethical questions about story ownership and de-identification. Her curiosity prompted the team to formalize their de-identification protocols, leaving a lasting mark.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Katie\u2019s journey captures the essence of the Fox-Singer Framework\u2014transformative learning through disorienting dilemmas, trust built through storytelling, and experiential co-creation rooted in rigor and reflection. Podcasting, when used intentionally, turns students into knowledge-makers and brings presence, connection, and humanity back into asynchronous learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    A call to colleagues<\/strong><\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    We don\u2019t believe podcasting is a cure-all. But we do believe that after 20 years it is time to start thinking about the pedagogy behind podcasting. We\u2019re biased, but we think it aligns beautifully with the work so many of us are already doing: fostering ethical practice, critical thought, and compassionate engagement.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    If you\u2019re a social work educator (or teach in a similarly relational discipline), we invite you to try podcasting\u2014not just as content, but as pedagogy. The Fox-Singer Framework is designed to help you do that in a thoughtful, flexible, and theory-informed way.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    At the end of the day, what we do isn\u2019t about teaching. It is about what the student is learning, and how they are transforming themselves and our world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>
    \n

    Authors<\/h3>\n\n\n\n

    Dr. Jonathan B. Singer<\/strong> is Professor of Social Work at Loyola University Chicago and founder\/ host of the award-winning Social Work Podcast.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    \"\"<\/figure>
    \n

    Dr. Mim Fox <\/strong>is Professor and Head of Social Work at the University of Wollongong in New South Wales, Australia. She is co-host of Social Work Stories and founding member of the podcast production collective, Social Work Media.<\/p>\n<\/div><\/div>\n\n\n\n

    Editor’s note: Image generated with Napkin.ai. Image created by the authors based on the Fox-Singer Framework in Fox, M., & Singer, J. B. (Eds.). (2025). Podcasting in social work education: A way forward for educators. Routledge. 10.4324\/ 9781003530275 and reproduced with
    permission.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    Further readings<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

    <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    by Jonathan B. Singer, Loyola University Chicago, USA and Mim Fox, University of Wollongong, Australia. We know the social work classroom is changing. Students are balancing jobs, caregiving, and field placements, often accessing course content between shifts or on the go. As educators, we\u2019re constantly looking for ways to meet students where they are without […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":40587,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[270,4,275],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40574","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-av-technologies","category-featured-articles","category-higher-education"],"featured_image_src":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/files\/2025\/06\/Nevtelen-terv-4.png","author_info":{"display_name":"Chlo\u00eb P\u00e9t\u00e9","author_link":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/author\/chloe-pete\/"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40574","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40574"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40574\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":41315,"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40574\/revisions\/41315"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40587"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40574"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40574"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/media-and-learning.eu\/api-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40574"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}