Higher Ed Podcasts Are Starting To Grow, Organize

Forbes

4 days ago

A banner of participants at the first Higher Ed Pod Con in Chicago.
A week ago, in a conference center on the campus of the University of Illinois, Chicago, nearly 150 podcasters and podcast support providers gathered at the first Higher Education Podcast Conference – HigherEdPodCon, as it aims to brand itself. Attendees have podcasts, or support podcasts, with specific themes, audiences or tie-ins to higher education or higher education institutions.
The conclave was interesting not as much for what happened, but for what could happen.
But first, are there really 150 podcasts focusing on higher education?
No.
According to Gregg Oldring, Founder of HigherEdPods and CTO of Podium Podcast Co, that 150 number is just a tiny fraction of higher education podcasts. Oldring says that he already has a list of a staggering 1,130 podcasts in higher education – and that's covering just 191 colleges and universities in the United States and Canada. Considering that there are about 4,000 higher education institutions across the two nations, the real number of higher education podcasts could be in the tens of thousands.
Not all are big, and not all are overly active. But many are. And a few are quite large. Even so, thinking about as many as 25,000 podcasts is a staggering number.
'After interviewing a number of higher ed podcasters on the Continuing Studies podcast, we noticed that most podcasters in higher education were working in isolation. To combat that, we wanted to foster a vibrant, collaborative community for higher ed podcasters, where we can share expertise, build connections, and get better at podcasting,' Oldring said.
Indeed, nearly all the sessions and presentations in Chicago were about raising the performance, delivery, quality, or impact of podcasts and podcasters. Topics and tips included understanding metrics, the power of guests to drive listeners and subscribers, and, of course, how to monetize podcast shows and brands.
Stepping outside the conference programs, with such a large pool of higher education podcasts, it's not hard to comprehend the power that potentially rests in 25,000 independent microphones in orbits in and around higher education, delivering insights, opinions, and experiences across some of the largest and most active social media platforms. Even if each podcast has an audience of just 100 listeners, that's a combined audience of 2.5 million.
For comparison, CNN averages between 400,000 and 500,000 viewers during any given weekday.
In other words, the potential impact and reach of higher education podcasts, should they be able to coordinate or even communicate with one another, is deep. And probably highly effective, even subtle. As evidenced by this being the first such conference, no one had been tracking or watching what these podcasts and podcasters were saying or doing collectively. Or that they even existed. But that could change quickly, and with high impact.
So far, the podcasts are not organizing to, or even discussing, coalescing messages or policy. The objectives and audiences seem far too diverse for anything like that right now, especially among just the 150 or so leaders who attended the Chicago conference. But as they get better, grow, and start to talk to one another, the potential is powerful.
'This is just the beginning,' said Joe Sallustio, EdD, host of one of the largest and best-known higher education podcasts, The EdUp Experience. Sallustio helped organize the Higher Ed Pod Con and made presentations to attendees on the show's successes and learning moments.
'We believe this conference can grow exponentially in future years, the podcasting community in higher education is emerging and looking for a platform to connect and share best practices. HigherEd PodCon could become the premier higher education media conference in North America,' Sallustio said. The effort, he said, is growing rapidly and that, 'Having 100 institutions represented at the first conference shows the eagerness among the audience for this to happen.'
As podcasting has settled into its post-pandemic renaissance as a top-tier driver of information and entertainment, the higher education community has somewhat spontaneously, even accidentally, developed an organ of tremendous potential – a new planetary system with its own growing gravitational pull.
Since many of the podcasts engaged at this stage are directly affiliated with colleges, universities or their professors or programs, it's doubtful that the podcast tail will ever wag the higher education dog.
But as they organize, the future nonetheless includes their growing prominence and influence. As such, more and more people, companies, and institutions will start to listen, and cater, to what they say. Going forward, engaging higher education podcasts will move from a nice-to-have to essential, from value-add to place to start. That alone will represent a significant shift in how people think about and communicate to – and with – the entire education universe.