Serial-iously?: Using a narrative podcast as a shared learning experience to facilitate engagement and critical thinking

The transition to online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic cast a spotlight on online courses and their lack of high-impact practices that encourage active learning. One high-impact practice that can facilitate active learning in an online course is a shared experience. Providing mutual access to a common course resource in an online course generates opportunities for students to not only engage with each other and the content but also to develop their critical thinking skills. Narrative podcasts work well to fill this role because they are story-driven and call on listeners to use their imagination and sensory and perceptual skills to process and visualise information. Therefore, as a digital learning tool, a podcast can support course design principles that promote engagement and skill development, since this strategy lends itself to creating a collaborative space where students create knowledge through engagement and reflection. Although literature exists on the value of using lecture podcasts or student-generated podcasts, little scholarship investigates using a narrative podcast as a shared experience. Employing a constructivist lens, this qualitative study examined student perceptions in an asynchronous online English undergraduate critical writing course about their experiences. Findings suggested that using a narrative podcast as a shared learning experience enhanced levels of engagement and fostered better efficacy in critical thinking. Therefore, this study adds to the knowledge base about narrative podcasts as pedagogical tools to create a high-impact practice in an online course.