In our discussion about podcasts in class, I came up with the idea of having students engage in a debate as historical figures. I think this would be an effective learning tool and I would like to talk about the rationale for my idea in this post.

I think the value of the podcast is that it allows students to develop their oracy skills in ways that aren’t possible in the classroom. When a student stands up in front of the class to present, the rest of the class is left to sit passively and watch. This is not an efficient use of class time. An hour of presentations will likely yield at most 55 minutes of actual oracy. With a class of 24 students, you can have 12 groups of 2 students all speaking and listening at once. In 5 minutes, you can have 60 minutes of speaking.

Since the format is a debate, the other students will be listening intently so that they can respond with a counterargument. If one student is upfront delivering a speech, it is too easy for other students to tune out and disengage. Asking those other students to write down important bits of information from the speaker is a superficial and uninspiring way to ensure they’re listening.

Discussions in our educational psychology class have touched on a problem with anxiety in public speaking. If a student is especially anxious, all of his or her cognitive resources will be used to just to get through the experience, and skill development suffer. Students creating podcasts may not like that their voices can be heard by others, but I believe that they would prefer this to the possibly daunting task of standing in front of their peers. Special arrangements could be made so that even their podcasts are only heard by the teacher.  Either way, it is a smaller step towards developing speaking and presentation skills.

The final point I’d like to make about a podcast debate is that is has the potential to be fun. Gandhi and Hitler debating about the use of violence could be inspiring and engaging. Christopher Columbus and Montezuma could have a fascinating debate about the rights of the Central Americans. In any situation, the students get to act out their historical figures and embody their spirits. I think it would be something that even adults would enjoy doing.