Anybody who has spent any time with me has probably heard me talk about podcasts. It’s probably because of my background in radio, but I absolutely love the idea of podcasting — that is, putting together an audio presentation and making it available to the world.

One of my absolute favorite podcasts is one hosted by How Stuff Works.com — the “Stuff You Missed In History Class” podcast, produced by Sarah Dowdey and Deblina Chakraborty. It is one of the highest rated podcasts on iTunes, with thousands of listeners each week. Twice a week, Sarah and Deblina post a half hour show highlighting a topic in world history. I find every episode informative, and the conversational format of the program makes it interesting to listen to.

If you would like to see a list of past SYMIHC podcasts and sample a few episodes, here is a listing — http://www.howstuffworks.com/podcasts/stuff-you-missed-in-history-class.rss

One of my favorite episodes was the 2-part year-end wrap-up that Sarah and Deblina did at the end of the last year; in addition to a nice mix of stories, they included some information from their listeners…which is the point of this post.

Several of the e-mails that Sarah and Deblina shared were from students and teachers who use podcasts in an educational setting; in fact, they indicated one of their favorite types of feedback is that from listeners who have been inspired to start their own podcasts, based on what they have heard on SYMIHC. Here is an excerpt from that episode —

Stuff You Missed In History Class Year-End Excerpt

Podcasting is a fairly easy endeavor — it’s the preparation that takes some work. If you are interested in developing a project that incorporates podcasting in your curriculum, let me know. I can show you what you need to do to make it happen.