Podcasts and audio files can have significant pedagogical and accessibility benefits as teaching and learning resources. There are thousands of high-quality podcasts available for free across a diverse range of subjects. Podcasts and audio file playback apps and software have built-in features that can enable accessibility, such as:
- Ability to control playback speed (for example, learners with audio processing challenges can slow down playback to have more processing time).
- Ability to control volume (Audio-sensitive students can lower the volume and students with hearing impairments can raise it, all under their own control).
- Ability to access episodes/files for free, across a range of devices, apps and software.
The main accessibility aspect to check before using podcast or audio resources is whether captions or transcripts can be created or provided. Some options to consider for enabling this:
- Audio files uploaded to Moodle will have auto-transcripts created by Anthology Ally. Optimally, however, transcripts will still be provided by the lecturer to ensure full accuracy.
- Check whether the podcast series and/or individual episode being used provides its own transcript, which is often available on a podcast's webpage.
