Podcasting is all the rage. In a recent blog post we discussed how to include oral history and genealogy in your lessons. Now, you can learn to take this one step further and discover how to use podcasts for education. Recently, the Steamship Historical Society of America (SSHSA) launched its first podcast called Ship History Radio. It is available on Spotify, Amazon, Apple, and Audible. Our first episode is an oral history with Cecilia Cassidy on her experience traveling on board the student ship the SS Aurelia in 1969. She was returning from a semester abroad in England, and her story highlights the eye-opening experiences she had along with all the other students on board. Our second episode, that is coming soon, is on how to conduct genealogy research with our Archivist Astrid Drew and genealogist Christina D’Amico. You will learn all the tips and tricks of conducting research into your family histories with lots of free resources.  

There are a few ways you can use podcasts in your classroom. You can simply assign our podcast as a resource for students to listen to an oral history in a format that they are most comfortable with, or you can have your students test their oral history skills and create a podcast of their own. The second part may depend on the types of technology that students have available to them. Recording can be done on digital recorders or iPhones. The editing process will have to take place on a computer. We use Audition, which is a part of the Adobe software suite, but Garage Band that comes standard on all apple computers works well too. If your school has access to these types of technologies and you would like to include podcasting in your curriculum, please email steam@sshsa.org and we will provide more detailed instructions and Professional Development options.  

Stay tuned for more podcast episodes on Ship History Radio. We will include oral histories and topics like speaking to authors of our quarterly magazine PowerShips. Donors and long-time members will also be interviewed to share their stories of why maritime heritage and preserving this knowledge means so much to them. You will hear interesting research requests and learn about some fascinating things that can be found in our collections from the Archives Department at SSHSA.