Higher-education Civic Education can lose students when teaching relies on traditional, less interactive methods [1]. Podcasting offers a timely alternative: an accessible audio format that can support active participation, discussion, and reflection on pressing social issues. In this context, “andragogy”—teaching that recognizes learners as active participants—helps explain why podcasts may fit civic learning. Students can use the medium not only to encounter civic concepts, but also to consider social responsibility and their relationship to public concerns [1]. Yet an important tension remains. Can a format associated with flexible listening and personal storytelling do more than make lessons engaging? Can it cultivate critical reflection, collaborative learning, and the confidence to participate in civic life? This question moves podcasting from a convenient medium toward a possible practice of civic learning and representation.
Podcasting emerged from developments in digital sound, Web radio, free music, and portable listening, culminating in a form of episodic audio that is convenient to produce and experience [2][11]. Unlike scheduled radio, podcasts could be distributed through the internet to portable MP3 players, reducing barriers of reception and making audio more portable, intimate, and accessible. This also altered the audience’s role: listeners could become producers and distribute programmes beyond traditional media channels [8].
Research shows that people listen for varied reasons, including entertainment, time-shifting (listening when convenient), building a personal library, and discussing programmes with other fans [9]. Independent producers likewise describe motivations involving technology, content, interpersonal connection, personal expression, the creative process, and income, often serving niche communities [10].
These features support educational uses. Audio storytelling can draw learners into technical production while encouraging attention to emotion, empathy, responsibility, and ethical questions [4]. In learner-generated podcast assessment, paired production was experienced as more creative, authentic, and enjoyable than conventional coursework, while offering opportunities for collaboration, peer feedback, communication confidence, community building, and potentially deeper learning .