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SoTL Spotlight Podcast

What is the Spotlight Podcast?

This podcast series aims to put a spotlight on topics in the Learning & Teaching space. We hope that by listening to others talk about some of these topics will give you food for thought in how you might want to develop and innovate your LTA practice, and hopefully you will want to advance this through our Scholarship of Teaching & Learning Network (SoTL@SHU) to gain support and develop plans to disseminate your work.

Why is this a podcast?

We hear you loud and clear – you get enough written communication! The trend for audio communication such as radio and podcasts has spiked in recent years, and so we are trialling this as an asynchronous tool to enhance the SoTL support and scaffolding for colleagues. This should complement other support and development we have on offer including in-person college SoTL events, online synchronous institution wide events, online communities including Teams and Whatsapp chats, and the tried and trusted ‘Cluster Cuppa Catchups’ that some of you are engaged in! Podcasts are an innovative and celebrated way of dissemination, and feature on Beckingham’s SoTL Staircase (2023).

Who is involved in this?

The series is hosted by Joel (Associate Dean Learning, Teaching and Student Success), and features colleagues from across the university, the second series is being recorded in the summer with more colleagues and some external experts.

Joel

Joel

Joel is an Associate Dean for Learning, Teaching and Student Success at Sheffield Hallam University. He is the founding member of the university’s Scholarship of Teaching and Learning Network. Joel set up and hosts the popular SoTL podcast "Spotlight" which averaged 1000 listeners last series, and has recently launched a brand new SoTL YouTube channel called "60 Seconds of SoTL".

Joel is an advocate of digital and media literacy, and passionate about student and staff mattering in a thriving and inclusive widening participation institution.  Joel is a leading scholar on the world’s biggest traditional media organisation The Walt Disney Company and is on the editorial board for The International Journal of Disney Studies, and avid researcher of pop culture.

Joel’s recent output on both media studies and SoTL can be found here:

Joel's SoTL & Media musings

What is the future for this podcast? How can I get involved?

The podcast has gone from strength to strength, with four series recorded so far and over 1000 engagements across multiple countries. While a number of topics have been covered, there is also room for more. If you have a specialist area of T&L knowledge or skills then reach out to us, we’d love to talk to you in our SoTL Network, and we are always looking for more podcast guests! If there’s a topic you want us to cover to help support your development, you can also let us know. Fill in this short form to express your intention. We are looking towards the fifth series now.