I’ve got some big news! 

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There is a “season two” of the pedagogical podcast series for utmONE Scholars at the University of Toronto Mississauga. I am excited to launch five more episodes that showcase the remarkable work that students at UTM do.  

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The podcast series is designed to give first-year learners a chance to disseminate their excellent research to a public audience. It is intended to bridge the gap that we see between what happens in a classroom and what happens out there in the world. This serves as a low-stakes opportunity for learners to try their hand at putting their ideas out into the world itself. 

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This season is a bit different from the first, though the spirit behind the project remains the same. Season one focused on podcast episodes developed from a science communication class in 2024 called UTM192. The research reports that formed the backdrop of the first season explored a range of scientific problems, from genetically modified food, to Tylenol, to social media, and everything in between. 

 

Season two is a bit more focused. It comes from UTM191, which is a course that explored emerging technologies and their effects on teaching and learning. The podcast episodes published here come from our third module exploring the impact of generative AI on pedagogies. Learners had to research a specific issue of generative AI and then condense that research into a form that makes research results accessible to a wide range of audiences.  

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Like season one, though, publication was elective. All group members had to consent to publishing the episode, and publication had no impact on student grades since it all occurred after the course was complete. 

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They conducted research individually, but the assignment threw them a curveball by asking them to complete the podcast episode in small groups of 2-3 people. The challenge with this is that everyone explored a different set of scholarly conversations, and they had different topics. Generative AI is a big conversation right now, and the available subtopics are pretty diverse. Pulling together research findings into a cohesive structure added a layer of multimodal challenge for learners. They had to stitch together different forms of text and research results alongside audio creation and editing technologies. They had to consider aspects such as sound, how to visualise ideas that cannot be depicted given the audio format, and they had to consider the accessibility needs of their audiences and how those needs may be accommodated or limited by technologies.  

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They also each had about 15 minutes to speak to their topics. That is not much time to communicate and distill research, play some tennis with questions amongst each other, and insert some special features like games or interludes.  

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As always, they came through in a big way. They rose to the challenge, and the result is five outstanding episodes that contribute much-needed student perspectives on conversations about generative AI, teaching, and learning. We have discussions about biases built into genAI systems. We have discussions of AI and accessibility. Students covered AI ethics, cognitive offloading, AI tutors, and ways to think of AI as an architect. There are thoughtful conversations and questions about AI as a tool for productivity and the need for friction and struggle in learning processes. There are suggestions for tiered access to chatbots through different levels of schooling and an astute pitch for an “AI for kids” that facilitates scaffolding of generative AI through different stages of learner development. There is a good deal of intellectual back and forth, some thoughtful probing, and even a character or two that pop in to cut off the academic edge. 

 

In short: this season has it all when it comes to generative AI. 

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But enough from me. I could gush all day about my students, and what is really needed is for me to take a step back and let the episodes speak for themselves. I hope you enjoy listening to these student insights as much as I loved watching them come together. 

 

I’m out.