OLS Bellevue College students in the Podcasts elective course recently completed their main projects when they visited the Jack Straw Cultural Center to record podcasts they had written during the quarter.
Collaborating in two groups, students first chose general topics they wanted to write about: one chose music, the other food. Over the next couple of weeks, they refined their ideas into formatted script outlines.
In “Mystical Music”, the students discuss the kinds of music they enjoy listening to. Each student plays a favorite song, describes what they like about it, and then the rest of the group adds their reactions. Some of them were hearing genres like dubstep or Chinese music for the first time – and said they were interested in hearing more.
The food topic evolved into “Special Delivery (Clayton’s Pizzeria)”, a show about every aspect of that much-loved pie. Individual segments tell the history of pizza, list the many toppings available, and rank their popularity. One student gives a very personal description of why pizza makes him feel “like I’m in heaven.”
Once they were finished recording, each group got to work with a production engineer and a voice/script coach to edit and mix the final versions of their podcasts. Although several of the participants admitted to feeling nervous about going into a professional recording studio, most of them said afterward that they enjoyed the experience:
“…it was much easier than I thought it would be.” (Allison)
“…we got to redo and fix the part that we stumbled on.” (Daniel)
“I do not really like to hear the sound of my voice, but I eventually overcame that… Luckily, we were all given our scripts and what part we were supposed to be saying.” (Panida)
“Some of us were a little hesitant to speak… [but] I felt like my group got into our groove as the recording went along.” (Franky)
“I liked how we all shared different types of music from boisterous and crazy to calm and relaxed.” (Kenassa)
Podcasts is one of the elective courses OLS Bellevue College students can take to obtain their associate degree from OLS. More information about our curriculum is available on our website. To learn more about our program register for an Information Session.
Last Updated July 16, 2020