Below is a guest post from TSP’s Sarah Shannon. Sarah is a PhD candidate in Sociology at the University of Minnesota and a TSP Graduate Student Board member. She studies law, crime, and deviance, especially the intersections between crime, punishment, and public welfare programs.
We’d all love to bring renowned sociologists and other social scientists into our classrooms as guest speakers, but budget and logistical constraints tend to get in the way. The good news is podcast interviews, such as TSP’s Office Hours, mean that “virtual guest speakers” are a mere click away!
This is how I have approached using podcasts in the classroom – as an opportunity to bring in the real voice of the scholars whose theories and research we cover through course readings and lectures. I’ve found that using audio technology in the classroom can enhance students’ grasp and interest in what might otherwise seem like mundane course material.
For example, last February I interviewed Dr. Robert Agnew for TSP’s Office Hours. We discussed a recent article he published in Theoretical Criminology on the potential consequences of climate change for crime. During our conversation, Dr. Agnew described the potential physical and social consequences of climate change and then applied his General Strain Theory of crime to explain how climate change might become a driver for increasing crime rates in the years ahead.
This past May, I taught a course in criminological theory for juniors and seniors at the University of Minnesota. On the day that we covered strain theory, including Dr. Agnew’s General Strain Theory, I played back the podcast and had students respond to the following two questions:
1) How does Dr. Agnew apply strain theory to climate change? Be specific.
2) Do you find his argument persuasive? Why or why not.
Because Dr. Agnew’s description in our podcast interview is so clear, students had little trouble explaining how the theory might apply should climate change play out the way many experts anticipate and most found this very persuasive. One student later commented in course evaluations that this particular activity helped him see how criminological theories apply in “real life.”
Office Hours offers a wealth of other such interviews that, as Teaching TSP bloggers have noted before, can be used in the classroom, covering such topics as crime, inequality, demographic change, social movements, politics, and more!
Comments 4
andrew lindner — June 29, 2012
sarah, thanks for the post! i've used some podcast myself -- both as assigned "readings" and in class. but here's the very minor issue i've faced: it's really weird to just use audio in class. Nobody knows where to look! I find most of the students look down at their notebooks, but, as a consequence, tend to lose focus. I've improved things a bit by stopping the recording and doing comprehension checks. But I'd love to hear about your experience and any advice you have.
Sarah Shannon — June 29, 2012
Thanks, Andrew! I tend to give students questions that I want them to respond to before starting the audio, that way they have something to take notes on and think about as they are listening. If they have to turn in written responses for credit, then they are more likely to pay attention. Alternatively, I might give them the questions beforehand and have them talk about them in small groups after. That way they still have some incentive to listen, jot down notes, and be able to contribute in a group discussion. I also leave a slide with the questions up on the screen so that at least we all have something in common to stare at! I think that stopping and having short discussions during the podcast could also work, depending on the structure and length of the podcast.
Letta Page — June 30, 2012
I wonder, too, if putting an outline of the interview up on a whiteboard might help with following along? But that does require legwork in the form of the prof. having to go through and *make* that outline.
Anyway, this is just an aside to say I thought that interview was fascinating/terrifying! I'm glad it's spurring conversations online and off!
andrew lindner — June 30, 2012
thanks for the suggestions! i think it would work well to put questions on the board.
in an only ever-so-slightly related note, i've been trying hard to reduce my paper use in the classroom (i confess to some wasteful practices in the past). i'd love to see a post or series of posts on running a more sustainable classroom. personally, i'm high on enthusiasm to be more sustainable, but relatively low on knowledge about what changes would actually make a difference.