51猎奇

Creating Podcasts for Students: Making Content Available Differently

脕g煤st Magn煤sson, Senior Teaching Faculty in Philosophy creates podcasts for his students to engage with course material differently, in ways that fit into student schedules and do not keep them tightly connected to their screens.

How does he do it? He records an audio file using Audacity (which is free to download and use online) that he deems is an easy audio recording and editing software. While the sound is fine with a basic microphone, if preferred, nice recording equipment can add a more formal and finished touch to the podcast.

What does he record? He records his hour lectures and then lightly edits them before saving the file and uploading it as an MP3 file into Canvas. The final product lives in MyMedia. He has heard from students that they like and appreciate it, and some students even find his lectures popping up via shuffle when listening to other things.  The ease to engage with the content is appealing because they can fold laundry, make dinner, all while listening to the lecture.

What trips or tricks does he recommend for faculty interested in trying a podcast? He believes the strength is in the format because it is straight forward and can run on any platform. There are no instructions to the students needed, it does not require much editing on the part of the faculty, and the format appeals to students for its authenticity. He does not use a script or make it feel overly produced to maintain that sense of conversation and authentic dialogue.

For faculty interested in trying podcasts as opposed to video recorded lectures, he encourages the use of intro music to help draw in the listener. Intro music may be found in the internet archive free to use audio files 鈥� 脕g煤st even includes old time ad breaks (e.g. hot dog ads from drive-in movies) so that students feel like it sounds more like a podcast.

While he does also have a PowerPoint that accompanies the lecture, students are not beholden to sit in front of a computer and advance the slides. He provides audio alerts, telling students he is on slide 3, for instance, so they can either look at it before and then walk away and listen, listen and then look, or look at it at the same time. The student gets to choose what works best for them.

Lastly, he recommends creating a short welcome or introduction video at the beginning of the course so students can see his face and feel a connection before moving into the podcast recordings.

Have an innovative approach to sharing content with students you would like to share with others? Let us know at cetl@uwm.edu

NotebookLM’s “Audio Overview” Feature: A Powerful Learning Tool

狈辞迟别产辞辞办尝惭鈥檚鈥�Audio Overview鈥痠s an innovative AI-powered鈥痜eature that transforms uploaded鈥痙ocuments, such as research papers, articles, or presentations, into engaging, podcast-style audio summaries. Rather than simply converting text to speech, it simulates a conversation between two AI hosts who discuss the main ideas and insights from the content. This approach makes learning feel more natural and interactive, much like listening to a real podcast. The generated鈥痑udio can also be downloaded鈥痜or offline listening, making it convenient for multitasking. 

This feature is especially valuable for students, researchers, and professionals who want to engage with complex material in a more accessible and auditory-friendly format. It supports a range of content types, including text, images, and slides, and users can even interact with the AI hosts by asking follow-up questions. While still experimental and not always fully accurate or comprehensive, Audio Overview offers a fresh and engaging way to consume information, especially helpful for auditory learners or anyone looking for a supplement to course reading. 

Course Application Example 

In my Math 94 course, students are expected鈥痶o review notes daily to prepare for class. However, much of this material can be dense, and many of my students are resistant to math or have high math anxiety. To support them, I uploaded鈥痶he course notes into NotebookLM and generated鈥痑 podcast for each set. These podcasts were then uploaded鈥痶o MyMedia and embedded鈥痠nto Canvas. 

Although listening to the audio summaries is optional, several students reported finding them helpful and engaging. One student even expressed鈥痑ppreciation for the inclusion of closed鈥痗aptions, which further enhanced鈥痑ccessibility. 

This tool has potential across many subjects. For any class involving heavy reading, NotebookLM can serve as an excellent companion鈥攏ot a replacement, but a supplementary means for students to interact with the material. 

Currently supported 鈥痗ontent types from which to make podcasts include: 

  • Google Docs 
  • Google Slides
  • PDFs, Text, and Markdown files 
  • Web URLs 
  • 颁辞辫测-辫补蝉迟别诲鈥痶别虫迟&苍产蝉辫;
  • YouTube URLs of public videos 
  • Audio files 

Written by:
Ed Price, Teaching, Learning and Technology Consultant, Center for Advancing Student Learning; Teaching Faculty, Mathematical Sciences聽聽

Student Blog Series 4: Reorganizing the Class Structure

This is the area where we use all of what we鈥檝e gathered from the past three blogs to lessen the redundancy of lectures and help students draw more value from the coursework given. Here鈥檚 how we can do it:聽

Move lectures and note-taking to something done at home 鈥� This is the end-goal utility of the lecture videos. I鈥檝e found that taking notes in class can lead to worse notes due to external factors such as the speed at which the material is taught, the peer pressure that prevents students from asking the number of questions needed, and even the ability to read the board. Having note-taking assigned as homework helps to fix this by limiting the external pressures outside of the school鈥檚 control. This will increase the chances of a student understanding the topics being taught in class. Here鈥檚 what the restructuring will look like: 

  • Have the notes taken from the lecture videos be homework 鈥� the switch to this isn鈥檛 that much, it鈥檒l just be placing the lecture videos in the homework section. The homework will be graded with the class work as participation. The goal of homework and class work is to act as practice and should focus on the student’s engagement.
  • Have homework assignments be an in-class activity 鈥� playing with the subject in a setting where an instructor can help you understand the concepts can go a long way in aiding a students鈥� learning. The help papers created in the second blog post should be used whenever possible. It’s hard to set a concrete formula for this area due to the high variability in class structures, but breaking down a topic is a great way to teach students and figure out how to help them. Here鈥檚 how it could look: 
    • This can only go to the system you use to give homework. If you have a book and no other system, this is easy, where you can flip it. If you have something like Cengage, you鈥檒l have to collect the in-class work, go to Cengage, and give full marks if the student participated. With Cengage, you have a wide range of options. Other systems will require different approaches outlined in the third blog.  
    • The work should set out to give the students the ability to notice the problem in abstract environments, interpret a problem beyond the idea of how to solve it, the skills to reason through the steps of a problem, and understand key information in a problem and their relation to the broader subject. Here鈥檚 an example: 
      • 鈥淲hen you create practice problems for me, they should be made in a way that teaches me how to look at a problem, what concepts I should use when working on an issue like it, and have a low focus on my solving the problem. Questions will range from asking me how one part of the question relates to another, to pick out the essential variables in a question, what equations I’ve used in the past that I’ll need to solve the current problem, it will give me equations and tell me to manipulate them and turn them into different equations, the meaning of an equation in broader physics.鈥� 
    • If possible, have the week be solo work, and the last class of that week have group work. I think this would push students to work harder to understand the topic to then engage with their peers with what they learned.  

The main goal of this series was to give a reasonably rough roadmap on how to restructure a class based on what would be helpful to students from my experience as a 51猎奇 student.聽

Written by Rick, an undergraduate student at 51猎奇.
______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Relevant CETL Teaching and Learning Resources and Research

The ideas shared in this blog post align with the pedagogical approach of , or in a classroom which both have proven benefits to student learning, engagement, and sense of belonging (see ; ; ). CETL often hears from 51猎奇 instructors that students have no spaces to 鈥渇ail successfully鈥� and working through homework and expirementing in class while you are available to provide guidance and facilitation gives students the space to learn from mistakes and practice failing forward in their learning. See for an interdisciplinary review of learning through failure in higher education. 

Student Blog Series 3: Setting Up for Integration聽聽

This step can be thought of as the same as or similar to the first blog in the series on gathering information to create in-class support structures. What we are trying to do now is to collect information to integrate the support structures in the second blog (help papers and videos) to become the primary workings of the class. Systems like Cengage, which was used in my physics class, already allow us to implement parts of, if not all of, these steps.聽聽

How you can edit assignments 鈥� the most essential part of this step is understanding how to edit assignments to resemble the help papers created in the prior blog. Students want: 

  • The ability to make accordion problems 鈥� These problems are broken down step by step. This helps the student focus on the process of the question.聽
  • The ability to have the students explain their answers 鈥� This helps them understand the reasoning for a step, and pushes them to engage critically with the work.
  • The ability to explain a wrong answer 鈥� The best learning environments are the ones that are hard, but also forgiving. The more mistakes a student makes, the more opportunities they have to fill in the holes of their understanding of a given topic, pushing them to mastery.
  • The ability to give redos 鈥� The ability to come back from mistakes keeps the student engaged and allows the student to implement what they learned from their mistakes. Without an opportunity to redo, students may fear failure instead of seeing it as a chance to learn from and try again.
  • Create practice assignments 鈥� This is more for test preparation, but provides a means for students to get hands on practice with the ideas presented. Ideally, this practice would happen in class at different times where instructors are readily available to students for feedback as they work through the problems.

If your system does not have all of the above, we should focus on how we can work with the system to have these points. If we can鈥檛, we should look to remove and replace the system. If I use the example of my physics class, its system of choice is Cengage. This system allows instructors to go in and edit the way the questions are given, how the feedback on a given question is provided, along with other tools to create a robust learning environment for students.  

The specifics surrounding how we integrate student supports from the second blog post into the broader classroom would have to be looked at on a case-by-case basis. Once there is a clear understanding of a system in a way where we can integrate the ideas from the second blog, we can move on to reorganizing the class structure. 

Written by Rick, an undergraduate student at 51猎奇.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Relevant CETL Teaching and Learning Resources and Research

The ideas presented in this blog post align with the approach of assignments, course content, and subsequently student learning with proven benefits to increase student engagement and deeper learning (see ; ). Additional resources may be found in the which includes a variety of teaching technique videos. Faculty are able to filter and sort through the resources by teaching environment, activity type, teaching problem addressed, and learning taxonomy dimension.

Student Blog Series 2: Creating an In-class Student Support Structure

Now that we鈥檝e gathered important information for students, we can create a support structure that tries to solve a student’s problem: the need to go to a third-party source or elsewhere to support their learning. This step will require the most time in its general form, with specifications relative to each course, which may fluctuate. For this, instructors could: 

  • Create help papers (using a math class as an example): These could take the form of class handouts on Canvas and are meant to break down the problem in a way that helps students understand how to look at the problem and reason it out. One of the biggest helps for me on tests when I forgot an equation was remembering the reason behind this problem and what the equation is supposed to help you find, which allowed me to reason out the equation. This would help to future-proof the contents of the topic so that students understand how something works not just that it does.  

A help paper would involve the key information highlighted in the problem and an accompanying reason explaining its importance. Try making it short, think no more than one to two sentences long. This will be for every step of a problem. This will allow students to act precisely when seeking help by determining which step in the process they got confused on to seek instructor aid, without needing to go to third-party sources. 

  • Create lecture videos 鈥� The creation of lecture videos will probably be one of this idea’s most time-consuming aspects. When making these videos, try going slowly and make sure you鈥檙e not overwhelming students. It is often our first time hearing about these concepts and while they may be natural to you, they are often foreign to us. When creating these videos, the videos of The Organic Chemistry Tutor provide a great example of what to focus on: 

The amount of clutter should be kept to an absolute minimum. Keeping the only information on the screen to the problem allows students to focus on the topic at hand.  

Do not have the recording take place in a class setting 鈥� What works with the YouTube videos is the fact that his videos have just a black screen. There are no distractions from the light or the disconnect from the board and wall, or the lifespan of the markers, or students coughing, etc. It does a lot to help students focus.  

Do not have paragraphs on the screen 鈥� it should be spoken when explaining a concept or how to solve a problem. If students need text, it would be best to create captions. Having text of any size that isn鈥檛 the question actively works against the student because it disconnects them from the problem and makes it harder for students to rewind and get what they missed.  

Do not have a cacophony of colors 鈥� if there are more than three colors on the screen at a given time, it鈥檒l look like a Skittles commercial. This will lead to the visuals being somewhat overwhelming for students.  

Do work on practice problems throughout the video. The ability to work on an issue right after it is explained has helped me remember key aspects of a section. This also helped draw me into teaching by allowing me to work with the concepts I’ve learned, making it more rewarding to engage with the video. 

Continuing with math class as an example. When creating the videos and help papers, instructors can use the information gathered in the first step, with the specific class constraints, to determine what to focus on in the videos and how to implement the videos and papers. I think a good way of doing this is by releasing videos and documents according to the needs of the students, where the most challenging concepts are prioritized. The resources of each course will determine the frequency and quantity of releases.  

This, as well as the ideas raised in the first blog post, would benefit greatly from the assistance of AI. The ability for AI to expedite the process of many of these ideas, with the instructions there to do a quality check, would allow for this idea to be implemented as quickly as possible. With AI’s assistance, I believe both steps can be completed in a more timely fashion.

Written by Rick, an undergraduate student at 51猎奇.
_________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Relevant CETL Teaching and Learning Resources and Research

The ideas shared in this blog post align with the concept of the think alouds teaching technique ( for an example of a think aloud or this three minute ) as well as research on the effectiveness of video learning for students (see ). In addition to the video approach, 51猎奇 faculty are experimenting with the use of podcasts and even AI created podcasts to aid in student learning.

The use of videos beyond vides of the lecture may include short videos (3-5 minutes) that the key takeaways or learning outcomes of the prior week, a short video connect prior weeks to what student swill learn this week, or even videos explaning complex assignments or project work that discuss common pitfalls and give instrcutors and faculty a chance to highlight exemplars from past students.

Student Blog Series 1: Creating Guideposts for Students

A foundational step for engaging students in coursework is to ensure that instructors create clear and transparent guideposts for students in a course. This clarity in foundational design provides the framework from which the other elements addressed in the blog series 产耻颈濒诲.听听

The most crucial point of this first step in creating guideposts is to never leave information on the table. In many cases, I haven鈥檛 seen any structure that has stressed the importance of gathering information when working with students. I鈥檝e seen the effects of this in many of my math courses, and from others taking math courses, that their real teacher was a YouTuber called The Organic Chemistry Tutor. I want to talk about this YouTuber in future steps, but at the moment, I want to focus on the point that many students feel like there鈥檚 not enough support in their classes to the point where they look for third-party help. The information gathered in this first step is crucial in constructing the support system students feel helps them on a deeper, more fundamental level than these third-party sources can provide.  

How might this look in a course? 

  • Review the weekly topics 鈥� If using a textbook with chapters, instructors can go through each chapter and take note of the concepts and techniques needed for students to be successful that week. Calling out to students what knowledge and skills they will be practicing in a given week can help increase student motiviation to participate as well as helps students understand why they are being asked to do what they are asked to do for that week.  
  • Make a list of required prior knowledge 鈥� Make clear to students what knowledge or skills they may need to use from prior courses or prior experiences including techniques and rules needed to interact with the course material. 
  • Take note of essential information while teaching 鈥� From the information gathered on weekly topics and required prior knowledge, create a system to log the concepts and steps where students struggle. The system intended for this is discussed in the second blog in this series. The system should have a primary focus on spaced-out tests and exams. While weekly quizzes or homework may paint a picture of how a student experiences the initial introduction of a concept, it does not paint a great  picture of students’ struggles. Spaced-out tests and exams give the best understanding of their struggles due to the time students have to study the topics, and become comfortable with them 鈥� where students continue to struggle after longer engagement with a topic or idea is where additional focus should be spent. 

If instructors experience difficulty breaking down specific chapters or determining required prior knowledge, one suggestion may be to complete the related homework and note the steps, concepts, or techniques needed to complete it. Ideally, this information is available to students at the start of a course.  

If instructors are not sure where to focus in a specific course, start with the sections where students often struggle the most.  Review prior data on student performance related to the topics covered in the class to pinpoint areas of concern. If other instructors are teaching the same course, they can all help with this point to ensure a supportive student experience with each instructor. Another idea may be that when taking notes, write the initial question and tally how many students got it wrong. Then you can use your discretion when deciding that a significant number of students getting it wrong is a genuine call for concern. You can entice students with the hope of raising their grade on the assignment to attract them to office hours to discuss where they may be struggling with concepts. 

Written by Rick, an undergraduate student at 51猎奇.

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Relevant CETL Teaching and Learning Resources and Research

The points raised in this initial blog post align with transparency in teaching and learning including and and intentional design of a course. Further, formative assessments that are frequent and provide ongoing feedback that drive towards larger assessments of student learning are proven beneficial to student learning (). Additionally, the use of short videos can provide a further means to reinforce guideposts and allow students to understand what you expect of them in your course(s) ().  

Reimagining Class Learning Structures: A Student Perspective

Rick, Undergraduate student blog series   

The following series was written by an undergraduate 51猎奇 student on the type of learning, instructional activities, educational design, and pedagogical support they want to experience in courses. They came to CETL with their ideas, and we sought to share them more broadly with the campus community. Please note, we have included links to connections with evidence-based practices on teaching and learning or CETL resources that support the ideas shared in this series. Our thanks to Rick for taking the initiative to share the learning environment he wants to experience at 51猎奇! 

~Natasha Jankowski, CETL Director

Blog Posts:

June 2025 鈥� Newsletter

Lazirko Award for the Innovative Use of Learning Technologies…

F-Grade Policy 鈥� Overview for Instructors

The federal government鈥檚 Title IV financial aid regulations require that we document participation for students receiving F grades. Please follow the guidance below to reduce improper allocation of federal aid and protect 51猎奇 from audit risks and liabilities.聽 You can also

When Giving an F

Accurate recording of student F grades is critical; failure to document participation can lead to substantial financial liability for 51猎奇.

  • Indicate the student鈥檚 last week of participation using a numeral (e.g., F0 = no participation, F1 = up to Week 1, 鈥�, F16 = full-term participation).
  • Participation includes submitted work (exams, quizzes, projects, homework) or observed attendance. The numeral attached to the student鈥檚 grade should indicate their last participation, not the date they failed the course.

Retaining Records

Federal and state audits place the burden of proof on 51猎奇, so please retain your records. But please do the following:

  • Retain your grade books (your records of student grades) for 2 years.
  • Retain your course materials (exams, assignments, etc.) for 1 year.

Grades and enrollment records are kept permanently by 51猎奇.

Best Practices to Consider

  • If a student does not attend or stops participating very early in the term, you can administratively drop them. This must occur before the census date. At 51猎奇 this is generally the 10th day after the first day of classes; see the calendar).
  • This early action results in financial aid being adjusted as if the student never attended, reduces institutional liability, and improves retention statistics.

Questions

Tim Opgenorth
Director, Office of Financial Aid Administration

May 2025 鈥� Newsletter

May the Course Be With You…