To transmit information to your students efficiently and at a low cost, educational podcasts are an excellent tool.
Their convenience and comfort make educational podcasts an excellent option for your virtual courses.
I share 5 tips to be able to record educational podcasts.
5 Tips for Recording Educational Podcasts
One of the most attractive aspects of podcasts is that students can listen to them when they are in traffic or waiting anywhere. Just download them.
They are entertaining, help capture attention, maintain interest and increase retention.
Make a plan
Just like you do when creating your e-learning course. The first thing you need to do is create a plan for your podcast
How many chapters will it have? How long per chapter and per theme? and at what time or every few days or weeks will you release a new edition.
If you have your own channel, it is very important to create a calendar to structure deliveries.
Write and structure your plan before you start recording. The content should not be as structured as the plan, remember that the podcast should have a conversational tone.
If you are working as a team, establish meetings with your colleagues to organize yourself.
Remember to avoid infoxication . Spend some time before you start recording to carefully choose the themes you’ll use.
Remember that it is a form of microlearning , they are capsules of information and it is not necessary to tell everything in one moment.
You can include questions that engage the audience or lead them to an activity. Your podcasts must flow in a way that the student stays with interest for the next edition.
Podcast and audio editing tools
Sound quality is paramount in a podcast so make sure you have a great microphone. By not having the visual element, a bad sound will disconnect your students. There are good quality microphones at low cost.
Choose your podcast tool carefully. There are a variety of free tools that you can use. Try them out and choose the one you feel most comfortable with.
Write your script and practice before recording
It is important that you practice before the final recording so you can find mistakes that you can correct and measure the time.
It is also very important to practice using the microphone and your podcast tool to make sure there is a good sound and that everything is working as you need.
You also need to practice with your voice. Not all people are comfortable recording a podcast. You must practice to find the tone in which you want to speak.
Remember that it should seem like a friendly and pleasant conversation. If you do not feel comfortable and want to include podcasts in your course, you may have to enlist the help of a professional speaker or a friend who wants to help you.
Keep your podcasts short but with quality information
It is recommended that your podcasts last no more than 10 or 15 minutes. What you want is for your students to be able to listen to the podcasts at their leisure.
In your initial plan you should structure the content so that you can easily include the important information at that time.
If there is a very extensive topic remember that you can divide it into episodes.
Invite other professionals or guests
Inviting someone to your podcast is a great way to keep things interesting, avoid monotony, and even cover yourself in an episode if for some reason you can’t make it yourself.
Choose experts on the topic or people who have similar or different points of view depending on the purpose of your podcast. You can use social networks or Linkedin to connect with other professionals or experts.
You can interview them or invite them to do a special episode, if you consider it convenient you can include a live podcast with the option to ask questions.
A common practice when you invite someone is to offer to promote their book, course, or website on your podcast as an incentive.
When you have your podcast ready, do not forget that you can include a download link on your course page and on your social networks, in this way the student has multiple practical ways to reach your podcast just one “click” away.
If you still do not know about free podcast tools, in the next blog I will be sharing several that you can use.
And don’t forget to ask for feedback so we can improve future editions.