MacKenna Riggs

Our podcast portfolio is the final project in CMM-225, that allows us to reflect on the semester and make a portfolio podcast out of any five podcasts we choose. I chose to focus mine on the progression I made throughout the semester. I started with the first ever podcast we did in CMM-225, which was our peer interview that we did on the first day of class. It was a simple “get-to-know-you” podcast, and not clearly edited well, so it shows where I started and the progress I made afterwards. For my second podcast I did my last interview I did, which was the expert interview I did with a nurse. I learned how to ask more detailed and interesting podcast questions, and had a better understanding of how garageband worked and how to edit. After my two longer interview podcasts, I chose a couple shorter podcasts that I felt were more clear and edited better. I liked the song choices I chose, the story of the podcasts, and I felt that the music was edited more, and there were less hard cuts throughout the podcasts. These shorter podcasts reflect my growing comfort with the software and my ability to make creative podcasts and decisions, like enhancing my music choices and finding music that enhances the mood and flow of each podcast. I was more proud of these shorter podcasts because I felt that I handled the transitions better and reduced harsh cuts. Putting together this portfolio helped me understand and appreciate how far I’ve come this semester in editing podcasts and how to get across a message/ story of a podcast better. I’m happy with the work I’ve created for this class, and I feel like this podcast portfolio was a great way to end the class and look back on the semester.

For my scripted story, I focused on struggles that college students face the professors or university leaders might not understand. My interveiwees talked about mental health struggles students face, and financial barriers college students face, like having to work while also being full time college students.

Something that’s going well in my draft is finding the order in which I’m going to put the interviews in. My friends all talked about subjects that they think are important that they feel professors and university leaders don’t always understand. For example, one of my friends shared her experience about having to work while also being a full time college student, so she was personally interested and engaged when we filmed her podcast. I have another interview on students’ mental health and how professors sometimes don’t acknowledge it, and my friend who did this interview was also engaged and interested in doing the interview. Also, I feel like I’ve had an okay time trying to narrate, and deciding what I’m going to say for my narrations, and how I’m going to share my opinion. I haven’t quite found music yet that is similar to what my friends talked about. I’m just going to find something that’s calm and put it in the background of the interviews to make the podcast a little more enjoyable to listen to. I also need to find out how I’m going to space the interviews. I know what order I’m going to put them in, but I just don’t know how much time I’ll give in between each interview before moving onto the next interview. Overall, I feel like it’s okay, but still could use some work that I’ll be touching up on over the weekend, and making any last edits I need before turning in my final podcast. 

For my third and final soundscape, I made a walking tour as I was walking to class. I captured audio of my footsteps, other people’s footsteps, birds chirping since it’s spring and it was a warm day, cars and trucks driving by, and the wind. I thought this would be a good soundscape since I described how I feel in the podcast, and it’s normally how I feel when walking to class. It captures good audio of what it’s like to walk around campus. I feel like this was one of my better soundscapes because I could personally relate to this one, and I made it creative towards how I felt, and I’m sure others feel the same way when walking to class, and also probably hear the same things when they walk to class too. Overall, I think there was good audio captured, and I think that I did a decent job at narrating.

I’ve been able to get my interviews done and I feel like I know what I’m going to say for my part of the scripted story. I feel like it might be hard to get everything to flow together and find where I put all my clips of my interview. Although, there  might be some students who relate to the topics I talk about and same with my interviewees, so it might be easier for some to focus and pay attention because of their similar experiences. I want to add music to the back, but I feel it might be hard to find music that relates to the topics that were discussed in my interviews. I’m also not sure how I’m going to organize everything into garageband, so I need to take time to figure that out, so you can tell the story. Overall, I feel like it’s going okay but there’s definitely some things I need to figure out before I fully finish it, like how I’m going to organize it all into garageband.

I feel pretty good with my scripted story so far. I’ve already interviewed two people and got some good clips on their opinions and how they feel about the struggles us students face that some of their professors might not understand, especially depending on your major. I got an interview done with one of my friends and she talked about how she has personally experienced struggles with working while having a full course load, and she works off campus, which affects her sleep and that leads to less sleep, affecting her academic performance. I also got an interview with another one of my friends, and she talked about mental health problems that students struggle with. My next goal is to record all my interviews, mainly one more, and get my narration done for the whole podcast. I plan to have most of this done around the 20th so I can make any last minute edits if I need to before it’s due on the 21st. I feel like it’ll be something that other students in the class can relate to and should be pretty engaging because it’s something that quite a few students can relate to, and it’s an issue that a lot of students face all across the country. 

My response for this prompt was to interview someone who was an “expert” in something. I decided to interview a nurse who I’ve known for a long time. I chose to interview a nurse for my expert interview because I’m a nursing student and I wanted to get some advice from a nurse that she would give to nursing students. I focused on advice she would give to nursing students and any tips she would give to someone who is studying for the NCLEX, which is the national state board that every nurse has to take. We also talked about what led her to be a nurse, what type of nursing she does and has done before, some classes that nurses have to take, and some skills nursing students have to learn before graduation. I chose to leave those things out because it might be uncomfortable for some people to hear, and I know that there’s other nursing students in the class, so I chose to focus on advice she would give to nursing students and new grad nurses. I felt that we had a good time doing this interview. I had to edit out some parts because there were other nurses working who kept jumping in and answering the questions, so I had to edit it down to make it an interview with only one nurse. Although I made the story about advice for nursing students and new grads, I also did this interview to gain insight into the profession, talk about specialties and take her advice about different specialties she’s done and ones she might suggest, and ask what a day in the light at her job looks like. I feel like it was successful and she had a good time giving me advice for one of my class projects. 

• The prompt I chose: “Explain something students know and understand that professors and/or university leaders don’t really grasp”
• Name the specific I idea I have: I was going to interview 2-3 of my friends about “issues” we understand that we feel our professors or university leaders don’t really understand
• Describes responses to the following 4 questions:
• Whom might you interview or talk with? I was planning to interview 2-3 of my friends 
• What research do you need to conduct, and where can you find that information? I don’t think there’s a lot of research I need to conduct
• What role do you expect your narration will play in the story? I was going to narrate in the beginning and end, and also in between the interviews I do with my friends to expand on their opinion
• What kinds of sounds might be important to this podcast story? I was going to add quiet background music that was kind of mysterious because I’m not sure what my friends will say 
• Complete the following sentence: My story’s driving question is “what are some common struggles or frustrations that students face in their daily lives that professors and university leaders might not understand” because us students have other things going on outside of classes and sometimes it feels like professors don’t recognize that. 
• Completes the following questions: My story is NOT about “making professors feel bad about what they do”
• Contains 2-3 sentences in response to each of the following questions: 
• Fairness: How will I ensure my story is fair to the people and ideas it represents?: I will ensure this is fair to the people in it by giving them each the same amount of time to share their opinions and respecting their opinions. I will ensure that this is fair to the ideas I include by being respectful to all professors
• Engagement. How will I engage my audience– and hold them?: I will engage them by talking about topics they might agree with or be interested in. I plan to talk more about situations that students will understand that some professors seem to forget or avoid talking about 
• Ingredients: What are some crucial sonic elements in my story?: Some sonic elements in my story are going to be the topics my friends talk about. This could include mental health, financial barriers, and anything else they feel professors and/ or university leaders don’t acknowledge about us students. 
• Takeaways: What do I want my audience to remember?: I want my audience to remember the issues my friends discussed. I want them to remember what makes them engaged like the topics discussed. 

For my audio playground 5 I decided to use my graduation cap and gown as my costume for the podcast. I chose this because graduation was a big part of my life and was a really fun and bittersweet time for my friends and I. I clearly remember the day like getting ready with my friends and taking a bunch of pictures with my friends. I remember the happiness that day brought, and I felt like this podcast would be a good way for me to remember the day. For me, the prompt given for this podcast was to describe a costume, whether it be an old halloween costume, a special outfit you have, your prom dress, or even your graduation dress, cap and gown, and shoes, which is why I decided on my graduation cap and gown. My idea for my response to the podcast was to explain my cap, gown, and dress in a way for people to understand and maybe even be able to imagine, which is why I described the color of my dress, the color of my cap and gown, and I spoke about how the red on my cap and gown symbolized the colors of my school. I also described how my friends and I decorated our caps and gowns, which reflected what our plans were for the future. This was also a special day for me so it was also a way for me to remember the memories and excitement graduation day brought because it allowed me to reflect on everything that I had achieved in the last four years, a time for me to look at how I’ve grown, and it was the last time my high school class and I would all be together one last time before we all went separate ways.

I did my interview with a nurse who I’ve worked with before. I did this interview over break because it was really the only time she’d be available to do it. She’s busy right now so I decided to do it quickly with her over break would be best. I did it quickly with her at the end of her work day, I recorded it on my phone since that was the most convenient for us at the time. 

Questions for interview:

1. What inspired you to become a nurse?
2. What area of nursing do you specialize in, and why did you choose it?
3. What are some of the biggest challenges you face in your role as a nurse?
4. How do you handle difficult situations in your job?
5. What skills do you think nursing students should focus on the most during their clinical rotations?
6. What are common mistakes nursing students make in clinical settings, and how can they avoid them?
7. What do you think is the most important lesson nursing students should learn before graduating?
8. What advice would you give to a nursing student feeling overwhelmed or struggling with confidence?
9. What advice would you give to someone who’s studying for the NCLEX?
10. What’s one piece of advice you’d give to a new grad nurse who’s surrounded by experienced nurses and is feeling overwhelmed about all the work?