In this occasional series, we ask instructors to discuss how they engage students in the great questions of our time.
Laurah Norton
Principal Senior Lecturer
Department of English
Intro to Podcasting
Q. What got you interested in teaching this subject?
A. Audio is a major medium and a rising employment market that calls for different skills than a student might learn in other creative-writing courses. I really wanted to design something that would give English and journalism majors—and any other interested students—a new set of tools to add to their resumes.
Q. What are the main goals that you have for students in this class?
A. I designed this course to teach students a number of skills: plotting creative nonfiction, writing for audio, and the basics of constructing and publishing a research-based, exploratory podcast episode. By exploratory, I mean students should begin with a question that they do not know the answer to, and cannot find the answer to with a simple Google search.
In the past, students have researched the meaning behind song lyrics, tweets, the history of their homes, mysterious family photos, family stories, Atlanta events, or even “local mysteries” like the Georgia Guidestones monument in Elberton, or The Tree That Owns Itself up in Athens.
Q. Which aspects of your class do you think your students find most interesting?
A. Students have responded positively to learning about how concepts like plot arcs and point of view can be applied to creative nonfiction. I think they also really enjoy studying podcast episodes from a craft perspective—that is, taking the episodes apart to see how they function, and how and why effects are achieved.
Q. What can students expect to get out of this class?
A. What a student can count on getting is a strong foundation in the basics of writing creative nonfiction, and an introduction to some principles that cross over with journalism—like interviewing. There is also instruction in writing for audio, and in topics like recording and editing. I have also designed a second course, 3190-B, aimed at more advanced approaches to audio storytelling.
Q. What type of projects and assignments are your students asked to complete?
A. Students spend the first part of the semester studying Jack Hart’s Storycraft, listening to podcasts like Family Ghosts, The Nod, In the Dark, and Mystery Show, and writing about their observations. At the same time, they begin to plan their final project—a short podcast episode—with input from me and their classmates. We eventually begin to incorporate research, audio recording and editing skills, and the like. The point of the project is not to find a definitive answer to whatever that initial question might be. Rather, it’s to find a story arc in the process of looking for that answer. Students eventually produce a short (10-15 minute) podcast episode on their chosen topic and share it with the class. I also do a lecture on how they can launch and market a podcast, if they’d like to pursue that in the future.
—Interview by Victoria Pitter. Photo by Melanie Fan.