BackStory Podcast Boot Camp

Charlottesville, VA

July 2019

In 2019, I led the launch of BackStory Podcast Boot Camp, a professional learning experience created to help K-12 educators integrate podcasting and audio storytelling into classroom instruction. The initiative emerged from educator demand for practical training and resources that would allow them to move beyond using podcasts as content and begin creating original audio projects with students. I developed the program strategy, application and selection process, participant communications, facilitator coordination, instructional resources, and post-program evaluation while serving as BackStory's Digital Editor and Strategist.

Curriculum design | Workshop facilitation | Project management | Communications | Participant support | Evaluation | Final reporting

*Professional Learning Design *Adult Learning Facilitation *Communications Strategy *Curriculum Development *Project Management *Participant Experience Design *Program Evaluation *Continuous Improvement

*Designed and launched a two-day professional learning experience for educators representing diverse schools and regions across the United States. *Built a national recruitment and selection process using targeted outreach, application review, and diversity-focused criteria. *Created a learning pathway covering research, recording, scripting, editing, scoring, publishing, and promotion. *Coordinated subject-matter experts, historians, media professionals, librarians, and technologists into a unified instructional experience. *Equipped participants with equipment, resource libraries, ongoing collaboration tools, and professional-development credit to support classroom implementation after the training. *Established a feedback and continuous-improvement process that informed recommendations for future cohorts.

The goal was not simply to teach podcast production. It was to help educators adopt a new instructional practice by combining technical skill-building, storytelling, peer learning, expert coaching, implementation resources, and ongoing community support. Participants left with the tools, confidence, and infrastructure necessary to begin using audio storytelling with students.

Through this experience I learned four key things that influence my design principles to this day: • Professional development should be experiential, not lecture-based. • Participants should leave with enough confidence to immediately implement what they learned. • Build relationships before building curriculum. • Every logistical detail contributes to participant experience.