Authenticity
As society undeniably moves away from traditional media sources to inform themselves on issues of the day, the question of authenticity is often raised. This is a top concern, especially for educators who may wish to use some of these more 'captivating' new media resources such as podcasts in the curriculum. Therefore educators have to be selective and understand the sources. The traditional gatekeepers of dispersing information such as editors and publishing houses are now optional as the entry barrier to publish/broadcast media is now low. There is a fire hose of information, which brings us both the best and worst. The learners may not be at a level (or an age) where they can verify the source, and identify the bias but educators must be aware of this and teach in that context.
According to a Pew Poll, younger Americans view Podcasts as a relatively more trustworthy and accurate sources of information over social media. The same poll found that Americans turn to podcasts for a variety of information. "Nearly half of podcast listeners say they regularly listen to podcasts about comedy (47%) and entertainment, pop culture, and the arts (46%), while about four-in-ten (41%) turn to podcasts about politics and government. Other common topics include science and technology, history, and true crime". (Shearer et al., 2023)
Learning Opportunity
Beyond an educator curating the content that they expose young learners to, there are teachable opportunities here! Educators can take the opportunity to assess the information with a critical lens and research together with the students (as age appropriate). These tools will serve learners going forward as they will be faced with a plethora of information.
Equity
We know that there are many types of learners and abilities, but traditionally curriculum is delivered using a one-size-fits-all modality. Technology allows us to deliver content with multi-modality that can be more personalized. It is feasible that in the future we could have a 'Hootsuite' type software for education wherein an educator could input a lesson plan and the platform could instantly convert into every conceivable method of delivery text, brail, audio/voice, visual/video, subtitles, sign language, small chunks, long-form, difficulty levels etc. and could cater to various abilities and needs. Learners who many have been left behind in the past could get more individualized learning. If we have the will, technology offers us valuable solutions to difficult equity issues. "Podcasts have been shown to have academic, educational and accessibility benefits " (Kiernan et al., 2023)
Security & Privacy
We are quickly moving into a reality where every device is a smart device. Every platform knows exactly who we are, and in some ways including metadata, knows us better than we know ourselves. As such, these affordances will know everything about us. Questions of 'security' and 'privacy' become much more complex than just that of if a 'bad actor' gets hold of your information which is also a very real and immediate kind of security issue. Education that incorporates any kind of smart device must be accompanied by digital and cyber safety awareness. This can be thought of much in the same way a woodworking class must go through safety protocols before using machinery.
Unintended consequences?
We embrace technology for the educational benefits it offers, but what are the tradeoffs?
Could our tech actually be making us dumber? Optional food for thought, if you have some time to kill with a 38min podcast, take a fun little dip into the question: https://freakonomics.com/podcast/is-gps-changing-your-brain/ If you are interested in the study referenced in the podcast, (Dahmani & Bohbot, 2020), you can find it here: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7156656/