Process for Submitting a Guest Episode for The Edtech Podcast

Details for potential applicants and sponsors

Overview

The Edtech Podcast goes out weekly to ‘improve the dialogue between ‘ed’ and ‘tech’ for better innovation. The

usual format of the show is a 30 minute to 1hour interview with international educators, innovators, investors or

Government figures who are in some way addressing the improvement of teaching and learning. Other formats have

included LIVE discussions, and roundtables. The podcast is downloaded 1500+ times each week, from a mixture of

listeners from up to 109 countries. The UK, US and Australia are the top three listener countries.

The Edtech Podcast is now open to high-quality guest submissions which address our mission ‘to improve the

dialogue between ‘ed’ and ‘tech’ for better innovation’. These will run alongside our own episodes, and will be

scheduled from December 2017 (with reviews of applicants starting now). Our ethos is always to address the entire

eco-system, to be global in outlook, and to be independent. By opening up to guest episodes, we hope to broaden the

discussion and voices involved. Our criteria will be strict, in order to maintain a high-quality discussion and we

encourage you to review the requirements below. We are excited to see what guest episodes are out there!

Process

Initially, we will ask you to fill out a short form to provide a description of the episode you have in mind. The details of

this form will be akin to your name, your contact details, your place of work; the episode title you have in mind, who it is

aimed at, what format you suggest, how long it might be, the main topics it addresses and who you suggest as

contributors on the episode. It is very clear that you outline whether this session overtly relates to a particular

technology or promotion. If this is the case, the episode will be published clearly as a ‘takeover’ and will have a

promotional fee attached with particular benefits. We will also ask you how you propose to record the episode (see

technical requirements), and if there are any dates you cannot work to. Upon review of your suggested episode, we

will contact you to say whether the proposal has been successful or not. We will suggest an allocated week for your

transmission date and a deadline for you to submit the episode. Please do not miss this deadline as you will be

potentially stopping others from airing their guest episodes. If your episode has been identified as a ‘takeover’ we will

contact you with the next steps directly.

Tech Specifications

Content is the first priority and we ask you to really consider what it is you are trying to tackle in the episode. From a

technical standpoint, we request that any guest episodes are recorded with a microphone. Recordings from

smartphones are OK, but we would recommend you use an additional plug-in microphone, like the RODE

smartLAV+. Please edit your episode for umms and ahs, and add any music or narrative, before sending in. You can

use free editing platforms like Garage Band or Audacity to edit. We then ask that you compress > export as a WAV file

and send to us at theedtechpodcast@gmail.com through a file sharing service like WeTransfer or DropBox. We will

then check final levels and convert to an MP3, before uploading to our publishing platform.

Turn Around Time

The Edtech Podcast will endeavor to respond to your initial submission within two weeks. Upon being successful and

submitting an episode file, The Edtech Podcast will then get back to you within another two weeks. Please note: if the

content or the audio of a submitted project is not deemed to be high-quality enough The Edtech Podcast reserves the

right to make objective suggestions or to reject.

Tone

Podcasts lend themselves to informal, informed chat. Imaging you’re in the pub or your friend’s house and freely

expounding your thoughts. Feel free to share irreverence, fruity language (where natural), and other titbits. On the

other hand try to steer clear of the many podcasts which lean on ‘banter’ whilst missing out what’s interesting.

Choose your own style! But don’t feel restrained by formal speaking. Podcasts are the place to have fun.

Episode suggestions

The Edtech Podcast is particularly interested in episodes which cover:

• Mental healthcare and wellbeing in education

• Women in Edtech

• Maths and edtech

What you agree to:

Commissioned guest episodes will be top and tailed with adverts, as per our usual shows. We will also add intros and

outros, including links to events or other sector news. You agree to these additions by taking part in commissioned

guest episodes (excluding ‘takeovers’ which have a unique set up). The Edtech Podcast also has final determination

on which content is approved and when it is scheduled. We take no responsibility for the impact of what you have

agreed to publish, so be mindful!

Other ways to get involved:

If you are interested in being involved, but submitting a guest episode is much too much, much too soon then consider

the following:

• Send in your thoughts on a past episode via a quick voicemail:

https://www.speakpipe.com/theedtechpodcast

• Send in your thoughts via twitter @podcastedtech

• Join our Facebook page

• Submit an episode as a group, so it’s not as scary!

Looking forward to hearing from you all.

Sophie, The Edtech Podcast