Overview
I attended “Mic Drop Moments: Podcasting with Adobe Express,” a conference session focused on using podcasting as an engaging way to amplify student voice and strengthen communication, research, information literacy, creativity, and collaboration. The session demonstrated how students can move through the entire podcasting process, from developing an idea and identifying an audience to researching, scripting, recording, editing, branding, and publishing their work. I especially appreciated the emphasis on using accessible tools such as Adobe Express and Adobe Podcast to make podcast creation manageable in a school library setting. The presenter also shared ideas for promoting student-created content through QR codes, audiograms, YouTube, and podcast platforms, illustrating how the library can provide students with an authentic audience beyond the classroom.
I chose this session because I had already been experimenting with the Podcast Generator in MagicSchool and was intrigued by the idea of using podcasting with my students. I could see immediately that students would enjoy the format, but I had not yet figured out how to meaningfully integrate it into library instruction. Because I also have a personal subscription to Adobe Creative Cloud, which includes Adobe’s podcasting tools, this session felt especially relevant. The presenter showed how podcasting can support research, information literacy, writing, speaking, collaboration, and student creativity while still producing something students would be excited to share. I found the Adobe-specific demonstrations particularly useful because they helped me move from simply thinking, “students would like this,” to seeing how podcasting could become an actual library learning experience—from researching and scripting to recording, editing, and sharing the finished product with an authentic audience.
The session provided a great step-by-step framework for creating a podcast from initial idea through final publication. My goal is to use what I learned to develop a podcast featuring several responsible and interested sixth-grade students interviewing staff members at HMES. Each episode would be a short, approximately five-minute conversation that gives students and staff an opportunity to learn more about the people who make up our school community. Once completed, the episodes could be shared through the PPS Google Drive so the entire HMES community can listen. I think this would be a fun way to build student communication skills while also strengthening connections across the school.