Hmm, so many choices!

After listening to examples of different podcast styles, two appear to be my favourites. I enjoy the interview and documentary styles of podcasts. This is probably the case because of what I hope to use podcasts for from an academic perspective. I teach social work at a college in northern Alberta. I’ve started to include podcasts in some of my courses including Rural & Northern Social Work and Addictions. The podcast, Crackdown, for example, has current, relevant, and personalized content from a perspective that cannot be gleaned from a textbook. My students also enjoy these ‘real life’ expert examples and perspectives from folks other than academics.

For my own purposes in producing a podcast, an interview style seems to be the best fit. I hope to produce a podcast that will interview social workers working in rural, northern, and remote communities in Canada (starting with Alberta). There are multiple northern colleges and universities in Canada where social work is taught and where students go into non-urban practice settings. What if a podcast could introduce entry-level social work students to social workers already in practice? Who can speak to the differences in urban vs rural practice and ethical dilemmas? Or what advocacy or even activism looks like when you are the only social worker in the area? What does self-care mean or look like? How might we establish connections and communities of practice? These are just some of the questions I hope a podcast might address in offering students a real, current, and personal view into social work practice in rural, northern, and remote practice.

|As an aside, how very fitting that I am writing this as a snowstorm rages outside. Hmmmm, need a suitable emoji…..