Podcasting for social justice: exploring the potential of experiential and transformative teaching and learning through social work podcasts

ABSTRACT

This paper examines the role of podcasting in teaching and learning for social justice, especially within schools of social work. Using a critical pedagogical teaching and learning lens within social work education, we explored the engagement of entry level Bachelor of Social Work (BSW) students in learning about and creating podcasts. Students simultaneously developed social work skills such as critical thinking, understanding theory, current issues of social (in)justice, and community engagement. In the process of creating podcasts, students (1) began to develop their professional and generalist social work identity, (2) engaged with critical reflective practice, and (3) made links between structural and experiential issues related to social policy and social justice. In addition to having implications for critical social work pedagogy, we suggest that student-led podcasting can be used to promote a relationship between the academy and the community.

KEYWORDS:

• Podcasting
• experiential teaching and learning
• critical social work

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the authors.

Additional information

Funding

This work was supported by the University of Calgary's Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Grants [10018387].

Notes on contributors

Ilyan Ferrer

Ilyan Ferrer is a second-generation Filipinx-Canadian and assistant professor at the University of Calgary's Faculty of Social Work. His research focuses on the intersections of aging, im/migration, labor, and care experiences of racialized communities in Canada. Ilyan’s work incorporates intersectionality, oral history, and anti-oppressive social work theory and practice. He was also involved in community organizing, skills, and capacity building within the Filipinx-Canadian diaspora.

Liza Lorenzetti

Liza Lorenzetti is from Italian heritage, born in Montréal, MohawkKanien’kehá:ka land (Montréal) living in Blackfoot Treaty 7 territory. As an assistant professor in the Faculty of Social Work at the University of Calgary, Liza's teaching and research is rooted in thirty years of social work practice and activism on interconnected social issues including gender-based violence, wealth inequality, peace-building, and anti-racism.

Jessica Shaw

Jessica Shaw is an Assistant Professor at the University of Calgary's Faculty of Social Work. Jessica was born on Manitoulin Island and grew up in rural Northern Ontario. Her experiences as a youth in a rural community helped to shape her social work understanding of the importance of service accessibility, and of the nature of dual and multiple relationships. Much of Jessica's research focuses on marginalized experiences of moralized healthcare - including sexuality, abortion, and assisted dying.