Continuing Studies: for Higher Ed Podcasters

[00:00:00] Gregg Oldring: We are looking for your favorite higher education podcast episode, not the whole podcast, but an episode, ones that expanded your horizons when you listen to it, or, you know, these really sort of relatable stories.

[00:00:17] Jennifer-Lee: Welcome to Continuing Studies, a podcast for higher education podcasters. In each episode, we talk to a university podcaster to ask some questions, get answers, and share tips and ideas about [00:00:30] higher education podcasting.

Hi, I'm Jennifer Lee. I'm a radio broadcaster and a podcaster.

[00:00:36] Neil McPhedran: And I'm Neil McPhedren. I've come to podcasting after 25 years in the digital agency world. Together, we've hosted, executive produced, and launched seven, and counting, higher education podcasts. Please remember to follow Continuing Studies in your listening app of choice and drop us a rating and or a review.

We'd love to hear your feedback. While you're at it, also join the University Podcaster Network on LinkedIn.[00:01:00]

[00:01:09] Jennifer-Lee: Hey, welcome back. I'm Jennifer Lee. Today, I'm missing my lovely co host, Neil, because he is in Paris enjoying croissants, so I actually don't feel that bad for him. But I have a great replacement for him today. They kind of sound similar. They are related through marriage, so it's kind of the same thing. We have our [00:01:30] lovely producer, Greg.

Hey, Greg, how are you?

[00:01:33] Gregg Oldring: Hi, Jen. It is great to be back. The Continuing Studies Podcast is a joy. Super fun to be on.

[00:01:39] Jennifer-Lee: The reason I have Greg on today, we are going to talk about some of the interviews we have coming up.

And we, we actually don't really have a chance to chat. So this is great. He's got some exciting things that actually go with what Neil and I are doing.

[00:01:51] Gregg Oldring: I'm really excited for what's coming up for our interviews. We have some admissions people. People that do podcasts about university [00:02:00] admissions, you know, some of the schools have got their rear, the Ivy league schools, the ones that are super duper hard to get into.

And I think those stories are pretty interesting because if you think about what that job is like, you've got a, you know, a list of valedictorians all applying for your school and not all of them get to go to, how do you choose? So that's going to be super interesting. We've got people that are doing live podcasts, collaborations between schools.

So we've got some pretty cool stuff coming up. Great for the higher education [00:02:30] podcasters, who I assume are the ones listening to this show.

[00:02:33] Jennifer-Lee: Yeah, admissions is an interesting thing too, because like, obviously grades are important, but they look for so much more. too. So it's like, if you have kids with pretty similar grades, like, how do you choose to let in?

And sometimes you choose a kid with a little bit of a lower grade set, but maybe their admissions letter has a lot more to it and they have a background [00:03:00] that would lead them to, because we also know just because you have high grades doesn't necessarily mean you're going to be successful in Some people of lower grades have been able to go on and have, like, Multi billion dollar companies.

[00:03:12] Gregg Oldring: Indeed. Like you and me, Jen.

[00:03:14] Jennifer-Lee: Like, yeah, one day. Before we get into all the cool stuff you've done, I'd like to see, because you're kind of an outsider perspective, because you jumped on, pretty much, Neil and I have been doing this for a year, and then you jumped on to take over our other producers, mat leave, but have you learned anything from [00:03:30] us doing the Continuing Studies podcast?

Anything that surprised you maybe about institutions and the way they're getting their information out there?

[00:03:37] Gregg Oldring: Yeah, actually this has been really fun for me. You know, my background, I'm the CTO of Podium Podcast. So I'm the technical and I've been an entrepreneur, tech entrepreneur, most of my life. So, so this is producing a podcast is all new for me.

And one of the things that I would say is that the production process. So the prep prior to these [00:04:00] impromptu conversations, it's that little peak behind the curtain for me has been really fascinating and interesting. Yeah. And how to craft in that process from, you know, our pre production document and, uh, you know, preparing for the, for this call, how to organize the question so that the, the arc of a show will be interesting for the listener.

And we'll hit the points that we want to. You know, talk about and still have opportunity for some serendipity and [00:04:30] conversation. So that whole side has actually been really interesting to, to learn about and to see what preparation does for making a better podcast instead of just doing it off the top of our dome.

When we show up with a microphone.

[00:04:43] Jennifer-Lee: From being in radio, I tell everyone, don't just crack open the mic. It seems that's what we do, but there's a lot of prep that goes into it. And you can tell people who are good at it and people that aren't good at it. It usually comes down to research. Because you've learned all this, [00:05:00] so we've kind of, well, I don't know, I'm not going to credit that Neil and I inspired you to do this, but um, First off, let's stop because there's a few things in here.

You and Neil created a HigherEdPods can you explain, I know we've had you on to talk a little bit about before, but for anyone that might have not listened, what is HigherEdPods? And if you are a higher ed, this is a big question, higher ed can't speak to higher ed institution. Yeah. Why do you want to be on this?

[00:05:27] Gregg Oldring: Okay, Higher Ed [00:05:30] Pods, which seems to trip the tongue of Jen. I love it. So higheredpods.com, that's the website. The idea is it's a community and a directory for higher education podcasters. One of the things that we, we've learned with this show and talking to, to higher education podcasters is that often, like a lot of things in universities, they're kind of siloed and they don't even necessarily know other podcasters at the same school and, but certainly not podcasters [00:06:00] who are doing similar things at other schools.

And so we felt like this is a really great opportunity for this group that have such incredible content, so much to share for the world, to help everyone get. a little bit better at the podcasting themselves by being part of a community and and learning from one another and also helping those shows get discovered by being part of a directory as well.

So that's the the premise of Higher Ed Pods.

[00:06:26] Jennifer-Lee: What I was going to say is it's really cool because we've started [00:06:30] this HigherEdPods. Look, I got it right finally. And somebody that's coming up on the show, Katie from Penn State, she joined and then got other people in her university to join because they actually have a lot of podcasts at Penn State, but again, they didn't know that.

They don't know about everybody, so I think this is a cool tool for many people, which leads us to the next thing because this inspired and I feel like maybe this is where Neil and I'll take credit because you were like, oh, I watch them on the podcast all the time. Now I'm going to turn my [00:07:00] own podcast.

[00:07:01] Gregg Oldring: As we're learning about all these incredible podcasts at schools around the world, there's so many great shows and so many great episodes. And so one of the great ways to discover those is also to be able to, to hear them. So not only to, to find them on a website, but also to have a show that has. Uh, kind of a feed drop of really great episodes from higher education institutions around the world.

And so Higher [00:07:30] Ed Pods will also be a podcast.

[00:07:32] Jennifer-Lee: Love it. It's another great way to advertise though is showcase. It actually brings me up to something that I don't know if Neil did, but I met them at the last conference and because I'm from radio, obviously we know that, but we can't wait. There is a guy in London that has created these radio stations, and they're spreading up now in the US where it features podcasts. It's not the same podcast all the time. It's like it highlights [00:08:00] podcast episodes all day long. So it's kind of similar. Like it's another way to promote things. So sometimes we think like, Oh, it needs to be like, consecutive and it needs to be this but it's like no sometimes it's like we want just a variety as human beings to figure out what to listen to next without being all like car salesy.

[00:08:21] Gregg Oldring: Yeah exactly so this is the whole concept of this is to for people like our listeners for this This podcast, we assume you're a higher education [00:08:30] podcaster yourself. So we're looking for, and I want to hear from you actually, we'll put, we'll put ways to contact me in the show notes, but we are looking for your favorite higher education podcast episode, not the whole podcast, but an episode, ones that expanded your horizons when you listen to it, or, you know, these really sort of relatable stories.

It can still be about science, but the story of, you know, how something is, comes to be. These episodes that, you know, left you [00:09:00] kind of seeing the world in a new way or just being excited about what you've learned. Those we want to be able to share with others. We want to share with everybody else and we think this is a great way to do it because they're on Higher Ed Pods, they exist on there, but we want to, Bring them to, to people's ear when you're driving, let's say, or, you know, mowing the lawn or wherever you're getting your podcast.

And it's a great way to, to discover maybe a podcast that you're going to subscribe to. Or, um, you know, you want to hear new things a lot. You want to hear from different [00:09:30] schools around the world. You want to hear the kind of things that you hear from higher education, which maybe you don't always get.

[00:09:37] Jennifer-Lee: I love it.

I think it's a great idea. And I think like, There's so much more to explore in Continuing Studies. And that's why Neil and I started this podcast, because there's so many podcasts out there in Continuing Studies that haven't been discovered yet. So I can't wait to hear Greg's podcast. I'm excited for more people to podcast.

Yeah. So everyone, [00:10:00] everyone listen to Greg's new podcast.

No pressure from me. I will, I will be vetting it.

[00:10:05] Gregg Oldring: Yeah. I'll be, I'll be inviting your criticism. Yes. I know the sound has to be good. Things I know from Jen, the sound has to be good. And, uh, I don't know, I have to think like, I'll mention radio at some point for sure.

Just for you, Jen. Be prepped. Be prepped. Be ready. There you go. All these important bits.

[00:10:25] Jennifer-Lee: And your podcast. Needs to be edited. I will argue with people [00:10:30] forever. Thank you so much, Greg, for uh, that was fun with Neil being away. Make sure that you listen to our next episode, which Neil will be back on. Yeah,

[00:10:41] Gregg Oldring: now he knows he's allowed to leave.

It'll carry on without him.

[00:10:43] Jennifer-Lee: Awesome. Thanks, Greg.

[00:10:45] Gregg Oldring: Hey, thank you, Jen.

[00:10:48] Neil McPhedran: Thank you for tuning into the Continuing Studies podcast, a podcast for higher education podcasters. We hope you found this episode informative and inspiring. If you enjoyed the show, we encourage you to [00:11:00] follow and subscribe to our podcast on your preferred platform so you'll never miss an episode.

And if you've found this episode particularly valuable, please consider sharing it with your friends and colleagues who also might be interested in higher education podcasts. We also invite you to join the University Podcasters Network group on LinkedIn. Just search for University Podcasters Network.

Where you can connect with other podcasters in higher education and learn from others in the field. Thank you for being part of our community. We look [00:11:30] forward to continuing to bring you valuable insights and conversations around higher education podcasting. See you in the next episode.