Semester in Podcasting

(Applications are temporarily open until January 15, 2021)

What is the Semester in Podcasting?

Despite constant claims that podcasting has finally gone mainstream, gone pro, made the big times, it remains a persistently independent, decentralized, and democratized medium that gives creators the opportunity to tell many different kinds of stories in many different ways. The Semester in Podcasting: Untold Stories asks you: who are you, who is your community, and what stories do you want to tell?

The Semester in Podcasting: Untold Stories will consist of three courses: DIAL 393, 394 and 395 (15 credits total). It is aligned with the Morris J. Wosk Centre for Dialogue’s Semester In program. In keeping with the Principles for the Semester In program, we'll take a dialogue-based learning approach that centres our collective grappling with tricky questions of who our communities are and how we might best tell the stories that feel urgent to us. The goal of Semester in Podcasting: Untold Stories is to create an online space where everyone is free to bring their full selves, in all their complexity, into a community. We will prioritize active listening to facilitate respectful engagement. Dialogue is a tool for tackling tricky problems, and dialogue married with storytelling lets us bring these complex engagements out of the classroom and into the many communities that make up our senses of self.

Podcasting is a form of audio storytelling that invites us to bring together narrative, interview, music, and sound design in service of sharing complex ideas with communities of listeners. The Semester in Podcasting: Untold Stories doesn’t just ask what your story is, but invites you to explore the best way to tell it, and gives you the tools to do so. By putting the tools of storytelling in your hands, we invite you to explore how audio storytelling can give voice to the many communities who define you.

When and where does the course take place?

The Semester in Podcasting will be offered entirely online and is a full-time commitment during the Spring 2021 term. The cohort will meet five days a week, usually from 9:30 am to 4:30 pm (though don’t worry, you won’t be spending all that time on Zoom!). Students should not take other courses during the semester. We recognize that some students need to work, but the course is intensive, and employment should be avoided during class hours.

Who is eligible to take this course?

The Semester in Podcasting is open to any SFU student who has completed 45 credit hours prior to the beginning of the Spring 2021 term.

What equipment do students need?

SFU will be providing all hardware and software necessary for students to fully participate in this course, including audio recorders, microphones, and podcast editing software.

Who is teaching the course?

Hannah McGregor is an Assistant Professor of Publishing at Simon Fraser University, where her research focuses on podcasting as scholarly communication, systemic barriers to access in the Canadian publishing industry, and magazines as middlebrow media. She is the co-creator of Witch, Please, a feminist podcast on the Harry Potter world; the host of The SpokenWeb Podcast, a podcasting experiment in collaborative research creation; and the creator of the podcast Secret Feminist Agenda, which is currently undergoing an experimental peer review process with Wilfrid Laurier University Press. She is also the co-editor of the book Refuse: CanLit in Ruins (Book*hug 2018).

Gordon Katic is an award-winning documentary radio producer and journalist with a background in health, science, and climate reporting. He runs Cited Media Productions, which produces Cited Podcast and Crackdown. Gordon is host, editor, and executive producer of Cited. He is also working on a PhD at the University of Toronto, focussed on science communication. Previously, he earned a Masters in Journalism from the University of British Columbia.

How to apply

Contact Hannah McGregor at hannah_mcgregor@sfu.ca by January 15, 2021.
Online interviews will take place to select the 20 students who will be part of this exciting new course.
Students will find out if they have been accepted.
We recommend enroling in other courses as a back-up should you not be accepted into this course, and you can drop them once you find out if you've been accepted.

The Semester in Podcasting will consist of three courses: DIAL 393, 394 and 395 (15 credits total). Students should consult with their major department advisor prior to taking the Semester in Podcasting to determine how DIAL credits fulfil major, minor or elective course requirements. Semester in Podcasting may be taken post-graduation as a special student and credits can be applied toward a post-baccalaureate diploma.

Email hannah_mcgregor@sfu.ca to apply now!

Still have questions?

Email fcateng@sfu.ca with your enquiries.

Faculty of Communication, Art and Technology