Creating an Award-Winning Podcast | MIND Research Institute

It's not an exaggeration to say that I would not be in my current job, or at this point in my creative journey without podcasting. Podcasting is my love, and I have poured more of my creative self into podcasting than any other project or endeavor.Until 2017, podcasting was a creative hobby, separate from my "day job." But when I joined MIND Research Institute in November of 2017 as the Engagement Content Manager, one of my goals coming in was to create a flagship podcast for the organization and its work.

That podcast is Inside Our MIND, and it recently won the 2020 Leadership Award for Edtech Podcaster/Podcasts from EdTech Digest.

So how did we get there? By having a clear understanding of what we were trying to do, and staying focused on that. By not getting distracted by metrics, trends, competitors, or anything else that was not directly related to the goal.

MIND is a nonprofit, social impact organization. MIND's mission is to mathematically equip all students to solve the world's most challenging problems. To do that, we have to address systemic issues that have resulted in the abysmal math proficiency rates in this country. Right now, 41% of 4th grade students are proficient in math. That number drops to 31% by 8th grade, and by 12th grade, it's 24%. And those are just the averages. Undeserved students are falling behind at a much greater rate than those averages.

In each episode of the Inside Our MIND podcast, we take a look at issues and challenges facing education that we are working to address through research, technology and strategic initiatives.

Our goals are right there in the description of the show. So, one of the things we are doing with the podcast is educating. Not just about the work we're doing, but about others who are doing that work, and how in many ways we are working together to address the challenges that are affecting not just math proficiency, but education overall.Some of our episodes have been about demystifying edtech research, so educators and administrators can make more informed decisions about what kinds of tolls and resources they are bringing into schools.

In the spring of 2020, we did an episode about the impact of COVID-related school closures, where I interviewed Dr. Meghan Kuhfeld, who had just co-authored a research brief on the topic. You can listen to that episode, as well as the others, in the player below.