As the surge in podcasts’ popularity continues, many are talking about their use in educational settings. Some teachers use them as an additional resource alternative to reading papers. Others make their own podcasts for students. And then, there are others still who push the boundaries even further and engage their students in the actual creation of a podcast. This is what Professor Andrea Quartarone did for his course on Television and Culture at Bocconi University, Milan. With some of his students, he created a news podcast covering the 2020 US Elections from the first debate to the end.
Professor Quartarone is a teaching fellow at Bocconi University in Milan, where he is responsible for the course on Television and Culture in the Bachelor’s in Economics and Management for Art, Culture, and Communication (CLEACC in its Italian acronym). He also teaches similar courses in the masters. His passion for the US Elections is well-known among students, and so are the events he organizes to cover them. I first met Professor Quartarone in my second year of undergraduate, when I attended his course on Television and Culture. I was coming the year after the 2016 US Election, so I heard a lot about what he did then to cover the event. Students I talked to were, to say the least, enthusiastic about the live coverage of the debates and election night that he organized. Now, with a pandemic going on, he had to adapt to the situation. So, he decided to make a podcast rather than a live event. The show was aptly named Good Night and Good Luck, the sentence with which famous journalist Edward R. Murrow used to conclude his reportages about Senator Joseph McCarthy. The latter came to be known for his infamous hunts for communists, which resulted in atrocities such as forced confessions and one of the closest things to a police state ever experienced in the US.
Rather than writing the usual review about this podcast, I decided to let its creators speak through a short interview I did with Professor Quartarone and a bunch of his students, who collaborated on this great and very informative podcast.
How did the idea of making a podcast covering the US Elections came about?
[Professor Andrea Quartarone] Everything started with a constraint. Four years ago, for the 2016 US election night, my Unibocconi Television and Culture course had organized a live marathon in a beautiful university space called OpenSide (thanks to the support of the CLEACC directorate, Bocconi Arts Campus, and the whole University organization). A glass box on the street that remained open for everyone all night. We had guests, live and online, results updates, talks, and debates. It was a beautiful, passionate, exhausting night. When it was the time to organize the 2020 night, me and Ennio Terrasi Borghesan (former Cleacc student, now a journalist and teaching assistant of the course) started thinking about something similar, just larger, bigger, better. Then it came the Covid pandemic, and all the live, in-presence, events seemed to be impossible to organize. So we thought about a way to enjoy the election night together with the course’s students in an online event that could be accessible to everyone. We have thought about a way to translate online the live event of 2016. A marathon on Facebook live sounded good. Then the idea of the program/podcast came naturally to create a narrative path and a formative project that would last the whole semester, that would prepare for the election night, and would give some space for post-election reflections. When we got the CLEACC, Bocconi Arts and Culture Committee, and RadioBocconi directorates support, we had the program! And now you can find Good Night and Good Luck on Spreaker, Spotify, and Apple Podcast.
Were you familiar with podcasts before starting this course?
[A. Q.] I really like the idea of a podcast! It seems to me like a radio version of the video-on-demand offer (a radio Netflix?). And, in the past years, I truly enjoyed a lot of them, in particular the Francesco Costa’s “Da Costa a Costa” about US politics and election. His podcast has been a pretty good inspiration for all of us.
[Lorenzo Fornasetti, Student]: Honestly, I wasn’t too familiar with podcasts, in the sense that I was not a great listener of them. My first approach with the world of podcasts was this summer when Michelle Obama’s podcast came out: it was my first time listening to a podcast on Spotify. From that moment on, I started listening to some interesting and useful news podcasts, but, for sure, I would have never expected to become, in a few weeks, a speaker in one of them.
[Simona Monzani Kulinkovich, Student] Yes, I was already fond of podcasts. In fact, I like to start the day by listening to my favorite ones in the morning while I have my breakfast. I find them very useful to keep up with what’s happening in the world, and that’s why I was excited to get involved in the Good Night and Good Luck project in the first place.
[Elena Chiarini, Student] I definitely knew what podcasts were, but I had only listened to a few of them. So, I was more curious than familiar with them, I would say.
[Martina Chiappini, Student] Yes I was as I used them for some projects realized by the association I am councilor of.
[Giulia Rapetti Mogol, Student] Although I couldn’t have defined myself as a “fan” of podcasts, I knew what they were. Last year, one of my closest friends introduced me to Venti. It is a series of podcasts on Spotify made by a group of teenagers (whose main producer is Sofia Viscardi) to communicate with their peers (the title “Venti” in fact refers to people in their twenties). They aim to try and talk openly about ‘taboos’ that regard puberty and adolescence (such as sex, love, future…) to make people feel less lonely in this hard life-period that often concerns strong emotions and changes. Even though I didn’t listen to these podcasts daily due to the greater engagement I had in social media, in fact, I always found them pretty entertaining.
How do you think this project has impacted the teaching? Would you recommend the experience?
[A. Q.] First of all, let me say that the Good Night and Good Luck project is absolutely not compulsory for my course students. They already have a proper workload, and I didn’t want to add more compulsory weight on their shoulders. Half of the class – around 35 people – have answered the call, but the course remained autonomous from the project. You can attend the course, studying the topics, sitting the exam, and taking the highest grade without being a part of the newsroom. I tell this just to point out that the experience is valid for some of my students, but even if it won’t bring any formal, academic plus to their career (in terms of grade and knowledge of the course topics), for sure it’s a worthy experience in terms of a deeper knowledge and understanding of some aspects of the 2020 campaign. It gives a good idea of what media production and content creation are, and it’s a very interesting possibility for improving soft skills (especially teamwork and public speaking). And, of course, I recommend the experience, on so many levels. First of all, because it worked. The episodes written and produced by these 35 passionate, smart, and talented students are truly interesting and the election night marathon has a more in-depth perspective on some topics compared to the mainstream media ones. Second, because students seem to enjoy it and in doing so, the experience has become more valuable in any term (including and especially the formative one). Plus: it’s scalable. This year we have this huge political, social, media event of the US election, but a newsroom and a news radio program can cover any kind of circumstance. I’m thinking to have a new newsroom and a new program for next year’s course. We’ll see.
How do you think the project has impacted the learning experience? Would you recommend the experience?
[L. F.] The experience of taking part in the creation of a podcast, which is still going on, has been a great and super exciting one. The feeling of being part of a radio program and a podcast, actively contributing to the scripting and speaking during it, is not something very common, and I feel lucky for having had such a possibility. For sure, if I consider the impact of this experience on my learning process, it helped me not only in enriching my knowledge about the topics we dealt with but it was extremely useful also for what we call “soft skills”: public speaking, teamwork, and organizational skills. So, in the end, yes, it is a super recommended experience!
[S. M. K.] The Good Night and Good Luck project helped me deepen my knowledge about what’s happening in the USA and its relations with the rest of the world. It is really engaging and made me passionate about the US Elections. I was genuinely interested in watching the presidential debates and stayed up all night to follow the US Election Night with my classmates. The first-hand involvement in the project (and the curiosity it sparked) has made it easier to follow the lectures and has made learning much more fun. I would definitely recommend everyone to try this experience.
[E. C.] Including a podcast production in the learning experience meant a lot. It has been a great experience to challenge myself to collaborate with other people: making a podcast includes meetings, organizing and dividing the work with others, but also talking and listening to each other a lot. All these things, though, are not that usual in a standard university course. Besides, this project makes the course more concrete and relevant as we are actually producing something that will last longer than the class itself. So, I would definitely recommend it to anyone willing to examine in depth a topic (in this case, USA presidential elections). It is also a unique opportunity to develop personal critical thinking about an issue, and it gives you a great way to express it.
[M. C.] I think the project has impacted the learning experience in different aspects: the use of English, the development of the ability to face live episodes, and to find available content regarding Television and Culture topics. Yes, I would absolutely recommend the experience to enjoy the course 360 degrees.
What do you think about podcasts as a medium after this experience? Are you more inclined to start listening to new podcasts now?
[L. F.] For sure, during this experience, I became more familiar with the world of podcasts, and I became more aware of the offer of programs that Spotify, but also the other platforms, have. I think that this new life of the world of podcasts may have a very positive impact on society since podcasts represent a very effective way to spread knowledge and information quickly and with easy words. I also think that some more time is needed so that podcasts may also reach the younger part of listeners, which I believe is the one that would be better affected by listening to podcasts. In our times, where young people inform themselves on social networks, and they are often victims of fake news, podcasts may represent a way to fight this superficiality and this phenomenon of loss of interest towards politics, economics, and news in general.
[S. M. K.] I already enjoyed podcasts as a medium of information. They’re pleasant to listen to and usually deliver information clearly and straightforwardly. After this experience, I’ll keep following my favorite podcasts and probably look up new ones, too. I think everyone should listen to podcasts since they deal with different topics and there is plenty for every taste.
[E. C.] I already considered podcasts as an innovative and fascinating medium, but now I feel closer to them and more inclined to listen to some of them. In these months, for example, I did some research about podcasts, and I’ve listened to some of them. I guess that making a podcast both makes you more curious about this medium and allows you to better understand what a good podcast would require. Also, I think it’s a perfect medium for young people who want to learn more about specific topics, and it has the advantage that you can listen to it everywhere and anytime.
[M. C.] I think that podcasts have been underestimated in the previous years, but I am positively surprised about the success they are showing during this pandemic situation. I think they are useful and efficient in broadcasting content in a non-traditional way.
In conclusion, we could say that this podcast was deeply appreciated by those who took part in its production and that it served its educational purposes. While I want to thank Professor Quartarone and his students, I encourage you all to put your headphones on and start listening to Good Night and Good Luck!
HeadphonesOn! 