Podcasts for the Education Sector

At Ergo we are consistently helping multiple industries with their creative endeavours. One industry we are involved in, on a global level, is the education sector. From working alongside those in the education industry we have some key insights into innovative new ways that schools are implementing technology. Podcasts are one of the key new additions to the education sector as an extremely powerful branding and educational tool.

NAE Podcasts

One of the most exciting projects we have worked on with them was the branding of their ‘A Little Bit of Genius’ podcast. For this project, it was essential to generate new ways to engage with a range of different audiences, parents, teachers, and students. Therefore, the genesis of the ‘A Little Bit of Genius’ podcast was born.

Each podcast is an interview between two NAE students and a well-known guest. The imagery and assets created were made to be both customisable and consistently recognisable to the NAE podcast branding. The NAE logo is visible on all assets in order to help increase the main brand awareness, but the podcast branding has an identity of its own.

The podcasts are ideal for digital marketing as they are easily shareable and heavily branded. All of which are immensely useful as assets to Nord Anglia who are implementing new technology like podcasts to boost their brand and to inspire new students and parents.

Podcasts have been used by businesses for a few years to build brand awareness, trust, generate leads and to reach new audiences. Although podcasts are a slightly newer addition to the education sector, the importance of reaching new audiences and building the schools authority is incredibly important. Parents and new students need to trust that they can keep up with changing technologies and student needs. Therefore, in this case, this podcast series shows that they have worthwhile connections, invested students, and knowledge.

The Union of Podcasts and Teaching

Podcasts are brilliant for brand exposure but there are many more ways in which podcasts can be a huge asset to teachers and schools. Bailey Sarian is probably one of the most prolific podcasters at the moment with her ‘Dark History’ Podcast gaining great traction. Sarian’s podcasts dissect educational and thrilling stories about primarily American history. Her work exemplifies how podcasts can bring topics like History, that can be long winded and sometimes boring, into an extremely captivating conversation. Therefore, it is no shock that teachers have started to implement podcasts into their lesson plans and the classroom.

Research from Fehennig (2017) found that teachers are increasingly purchasing and downloading lesson plans that involve podcasts from one another. The diversity and range of podcasts make them highly engaging and a never-ending source of new topics and debates. Podcasts are often conversational or debates in which you can see all sides of a topic in much greater depth that most other learning resources like one-off programmes or articles cannot achieve. The vast quantity of podcasts also means that you have so much more choice on which podcasts you can use or save for later. You can really set up a bank of knowledge in advance.

Furthermore, research from Danielle Vandenburg found that author podcasts were a much more engaging way to digest literature in the English classroom. When studying literature, students are expected to write lengthy pieces of analysis on the purpose and intent of the author within the copy of the book. It is much easier to do so when you can hear the intonation and intention in the author’s very own voice. Podcasts allow teachers to provide more perspective and knowledge than textbooks will ever be able to provide as the way words are spoken is such a massive piece of the puzzle when analysing different bodies of text.

Another reason podcasts are so popular among teachers is because they are convenient, low cost, and easy to use. They cut the costs of having to buy enough books for a whole class of students and are easily available, a button click away.

The use of technology in schools has never been more important than now. With a lot of learning being from home since the begin of COVID, technology has been thrust to the forefront of lesson plans. Podcasts are a way of conversing and learning without any contact. When a child is isolating or unable to be in a classroom, podcasts are ideal for at home learning.

Podcasts are such an amazing educational tool that of course they fit perfectly hand in hand within the education sector. If you are wanting help to make your own brand assets contact us here, if you would just like to have a look at our work on the Nord Anglia Podcast click here, or you can listen to the podcast for yourself here.

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