I gave my literature students 30 minutes to come up with a 3-minute podcast in which they demonstrated their ability to have an evidence-based disagreement over The Raven. In the past, at this point in the semester I simply had students record themselves reading a poem, but I decided to get more ambitious this time.

While all students turned in a great product, and most students loved the challenge, there was a deadline, it was group work, and they couldn’t prepare for it (other than, of course, reading the poem.) So the love was not universal. In fact, in one group there were some tears (followed by hugs from classmates and the prof).

Even the students who didn’t like the assignment said they were glad they had the chance to practice with SoundCloud, and that the experience made them less stressed about an upcoming bigger podcast. So I guess next time I will introduce the software in a lower-stress situation.

Here is one of my favorite submissions, from students who loved the experience, and who created a segment for an imaginary radio show called “Literature Bitching.”