With the huge success of the Serial Podcast, podcasts are seeing a bit of a resurgence. Not just for entertainment, schools are using this medium to push students in non-traditional ways.

In a California High School, an English teacher used the Serial Podcast to slow students down and improve their listening skills. “Students publicly debated… guilt or innocence in… classes, addressing a Common Core standard to improve speaking skills, and worked together with other students to… present mock closing arguments.” Beyond debating the content, students would also “navigate Google maps, finding the exact streets in Baltimore where important events were said to have occurred, and ‘driving’ them, virtually, to assess the evidence.”

The KQED article is a great read about the different ways teachers can think outside-the-box with their instruction.

Are you listening to the Serial Podcast? What do you think of the idea?