For researchers, the familiar picture is an educational podcast as flexible audio: a compact way to accompany course learning beyond a single classroom moment. The less routine possibility is to use that format not only to deliver content, but to create space for students to encounter marginalized experiences and consider how professional identity—the sense of oneself in a profession—connects with cultural and gender identities. The ReSearching Identity Podcast Project explores this shift through a brief intervention for students with and without marginalized identities, embedded in higher education curricula [1]. Its pilot study examined acceptability and feasibility—whether the approach was welcomed and workable—alongside preliminary indications concerning professional identity. The findings therefore invite interest, not certainty: they point to potential while leaving broader conclusions for future research [1].
Earlier higher-education work largely positioned podcasting as an extension of instructor-led teaching. A review identified three uses: substitutional podcasts, which record lectures for later review; supplementary podcasts, which add study guides or summary material; and creative podcasts, made by students, which were least common [2]. Lecture recordings were valued particularly for revision and assessment preparation, while podcasting was also presented as a simple, accessible option for flexible learning [2][4]. Yet one evaluation found no clear likely effect on lecture attendance and questioned whether lecture podcasts effectively enabled mobile learning [8]. Thus, recording a lecture was not automatically a new learning experience.
Short, informal audio suggested other possibilities. Talkback-radio-style clips were proposed as a way to address pre-class anxiety and concerns about assessment before teaching began [6]. In distance education, brief discussions by senior students were associated with reducing isolation, supporting inclusivity, clarifying subject understanding, and guiding study [7]. These examples make audio more than a portable archive: its tone, timing, and relationship to students’ concerns may matter.