The Art of the Story, Digitally
Denison University uses podcast to expand academic discourse
Aditi Singh had never been asked to make a podcast before. Like every other liberal arts student, she had written plenty of essays. For her, the process of writing could be a bit of a strain; she struggled to find the “academic tone” and vocabulary—her thesaurus opened up before her—that her teachers had always insisted upon. This inevitably resulted in a stilted style, though her intelligence always came through. But this podcast. When she turned on her recorder and started to speak her ideas out loud, Aditi discovered something startling: she had a voice.
Seven classes and over one hundred students participated in the Spring 2019 Denison University Podcast-a-thon, sponsored by the Narrative Journalism program and funded by the Mellon Foundation. The project was developed by Jack Shuler, director of the Narrative Journalism program, and Jesse Dukes, digital media specialist and host of Curious City, WBEZ Chicago.
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation funded Denison's five-year, $700,000 program called "Writing in Place." Among the program's objectives is to elevate public discourse by promoting diverse narratives— from rural villages to Rust Belt cities, written by Denison students and faculty—that invite empathy, understanding, and deeper investigation. According to Shuler, the Podcast-a-thon gives faculty and students a chance to talk about their academic disciplines in ways that are accessible, both in content and reach. It is also a goal of the Mellon Foundation to involve faculty from across the disciplines.
Jesse Dukes thinks podcasts are an excellent medium to meet the Mellon Foundation’s objectives. ”The ability to talk about scholarship to a general audience that doesn’t know much about that,” Dukes explained, is fundamental to podcasting. It can also be fundamental to a good liberal arts education. Dukes continued, “The tone [of a podcast] needs to be conversationally engaging to reach an audience that’s not already interested or not already proficient in the topic, and I think that’s important to liberal arts students.”
Andrea Lourie, visiting assistant professor in psychology, participated with her class on self-regulation. “One of the subthemes of the class,” Lourie said, is, ‘How do we really communicate things about science with the lay public?’ So this is a really nice opportunity for [students] to take themes around self-regulation and turn them into something everybody can understand. And to tell a story about them, which is interesting.”
One of the subthemes of the class is, 'How do we really communicate things about science with the lay public?' So this is a really nice opportunity for students.
Students and faculty had a wealth of support for this project which began well before the April 4 through 6 Podcast-a-thon event. On campus, Kelli Van Wasshenova, instructional technologist, coordinated with Jesse Dukes and provided tutorials and other material supports to all faculty and students. In addition, each class was assigned an outside radio producer or audio journalist, or mentor. This was a talented roster that included Jocelyn Robinson, WYSO, Jenny Casas, USA Today, Char Daston, WBEZ, Clair Roth, WOSU, and more. Once the weekend of production began, a full schedule of workshops about sound mixing and scriptwriting, as well as open labs with one on one instruction, ensued.
The culminating event was a Saturday night Pod-a-Palooza. Each participating class selected one representative podcast to play to the three celebrity judges: President Adam Weinberg, Athletic Director Nan Carney-DeBord, and English Department Chair Fred Porcheddu.
The winning podcast came from the class of Erik Klemetti, associate professor in geology. He enthusiastically participated because "anything that can make science more accessible to people, I'm all for it." He asked his students to explore a myth which explained a geological phenomenon, and then integrate that story into the science of the phenomenon. Sarah Hume was a member of the winning team whose podcast examined the connection between the mythical Flowing Sands Demon in the ancient Chinese epic “Journey to the West,” and the real-life geological phenomena of sheet flows. Hume said that she “especially enjoyed the opportunity to hear all the different winning podcasts from each class. It was so interesting to listen to the different ways that podcasts can be used to not only give information but to draw in the audience so that they all feel connected.”
The top prize-winning podcast from the class of Erik Klemetti.
Aditi Singh was part of a W101 Writing Workshop called The Art of Listening. Her assignment was to describe an experience that was outside her comfort zone, so she chose the subject of rushing a sorority as the only non-American female. “I really was just talking to the audience—without any inhibitions or thesaurus in front of me. Writing that script wasn’t a task I dreaded. In fact, writing that script took me barely any time compared to the time I put into [my previous essay].” And the writing was much better. By peer vote, Aditi’s podcast was chosen to represent her class at the Pod-a-Palooza.
Aditi Singh's podcast.
Jack Shuler, director of Narrative Journalism, and Fred Porcheddu, chair of English, present one of seven finalist prizes.
Jack Shuler, director of Narrative Journalism, and Fred Porcheddu, chair of English, present one of seven finalist prizes.
Sarah Hume represents the grand prize-winning team.
Sarah Hume represents the grand prize-winning team.
Aditi Singh completes her transformation from struggling writer to prize-winning podcaster.
Aditi Singh completes her transformation from struggling writer to prize-winning podcaster.
For President Weinberg, students finding their voices is no small thing. In fact, he said, “it’s huge. When we think about what [students] need to be successful in their professional, personal and civic lives,” said Weinberg, “they have to find their voice.”
Jesse Dukes looks forward to future work with Denison students and faculty that builds upon past work. “I think the real joy in audio comes when you’ve learned a few things and you’re able to turn what might have been an OK interview into a great interview by making a few interventions in the conversation. Or find the moment of the interview that might have been a little bit confusing but . . . .” Jesse starts to get excited when he imagines situations that look like problems but, with attention and craft, become opportunities. “Or find a crafty way to edit some audio together. Or use a little bit of music or a little sound design. So I’m looking forward to engaging with students on those matters of craft which can turn an OK or mediocre podcast into something that can kind of transform you.”
The next Podcast-a-thon is scheduled for Spring, 2020. Faculty who would like to participate should contact Jack Shuler, Narrative Journalism.
I’m looking forward to engaging with students on those matters of craft which can turn an OK or mediocre podcast into something that can kind of transform you.
Jesse Dukes, Digital Media Specialist
Three Days, Seven Classes, 124 Students:
The Documentary
Following is a short documentary about the Three Days of Story podcast-a-thon, by Doug Swift, visiting assistant professor of English. See the project unfold, and meet some of the people in this story. Swift is developing a course for Spring 2020 called Storytelling and New Media which will incorporate longform narrative journalism, audio storytelling, and mini-documentary production.
