Thanks for Listening and an Update on the Future of This Podcast

In the 200th episode of the #CSK8 Podcast I want to take a moment to thank everyone for listening over the years and to share some thoughts around the content I’m creating and the future of this podcast.

  • This is episode number 200 of the csk8

    podcast and honestly I didn't know how

    far this podcast would go when I first

    started creating episodes almost four

    years ago apparently most podcasts only

    last about three episodes before the

    host realized this is a ton of work and

    it's not worth it and I don't have like

    a bajillion followers right now but

    interestingly enough I actually recorded

    and edited the first 18 episodes of the

    podcast in the first month most of which

    was done on the weekends and today we

    now have about twenty thousand RSS

    subscribers which I think is an inflated

    number but that's the number that my

    website gives me so that's the metrics

    that I'm going with which is pretty cool

    quite frankly I'm honored that people

    would be willing to listen and share

    these podcast episodes as well as the

    free content that I create on my website

    as I'm trying to create this content to

    help people out to learn how to become

    computer science Educators or in the

    scratch content that I create just learn

    how to create scratch now because this

    is kind of like a special episode in

    terms of the 200th episode I just wanted

    to share where the podcast has been the

    last few months what I've been working

    on to give you a little behind the

    scenes explanation of the things I've

    been attempting to experiment with and

    where I'm planning on going in the

    future so you can probably noticed over

    the last several months I have been

    intentionally not doing many interviews

    I've only done a couple in the 2023 so

    far and the reason why is because I

    wanted to focus specifically on refining

    these solo episodes to improve them I

    noticed there's a lot of fluff at the

    beginning of the unpacking scholarship

    episodes where it might take a minute or

    two before I'd actually get into what we

    can learn from this scholarship so

    hopefully you've noticed and appreciated

    those changes that I've been making I

    also started adding in some professional

    development episodes where I kind of

    unpack pedagogy in practice that I

    actually used in the classroom like how

    did I set up my computer lab and how

    have I seen other people set up their

    computer labs I've had the privilege of

    working with every single grade

    kindergarten through doctoral student

    and spoken with and visited many

    Educators across the country so I've

    seen a lot of different computer labs in

    different spaces and figured I'd share

    here's what I've seen in different areas

    that I think work well and why and these

    little professional development podcasts

    have kind of developed out of other

    educators are simply asking me questions

    whether it's at like csta's conference

    or in the comments section like in last

    week's episode so if you've got some

    more questions for myself that you'd

    like to ask just make sure you add into

    a comment on a video like this one then

    I can answer in a future episode another

    thing that I started to do was to

    actually talk about some more current

    events like how legislation is impacting

    CS education and problematizing

    corporate discourse I know these can get

    a little bit more political than some

    Educators might want but I think it's

    important that we talk about it which is

    why I started adding in some episodes on

    that outside of all the podcast episodes

    I've also been releasing a new scratch

    video every single day on my YouTube

    channel and website if you just go to

    jaredolary.com scratch you can find over

    different tips and whatnot and I plan to

    release at least 20 more and then I'm

    going to start working on some longer

    scratch projects that show you how to

    create a project from the beginning now

    with all these changes I've been making

    the podcast I don't honestly know what

    you think about them so I'm curious what

    do you like about the changes what could

    I continue to improve or refine I get a

    ton of feedback on the gaming and

    drumming content that I create I get a

    lot of questions like how do you do this

    drumming technique how do you do that

    and I like to demonstrate it and kind of

    explain it I could do the same thing

    with this podcast if you have questions

    about pedagogy or research or practice

    or whatever as long as it's somewhat

    related to Computer Science Education

    I'm happy to turn this into an episode

    because instead of just answering an

    individual and providing that kind of

    feedback I could spawned on the podcast

    and make it so that hundreds if not

    thousands of people can also learn from

    it if I get some questions like that

    that'd be wonderful most of the feedback

    that I get is actually when I share a

    highlight of an episode or a little

    short on like YouTube or Tick Tock or

    whatever and if it's related to equity

    related or if I'm wearing one of my

    merch shirts that mentions that I'm in

    the queer or trans communities then I

    just get a bunch of hate speech so a

    bunch of racist homophobic transphobic

    comments Etc so it'd be nice to actually

    get some feedback from Educators who

    actually listen to the content and

    actually enjoy it and to learn how I

    might continue to refine the podcast now

    my plan for the future is I'm going to

    continue to release some episodes I may

    or may not add in some more interviews

    we'll kind of see how that goes in terms

    of my time because I'm creating a bunch

    of gaming and drumming and computer

    science content outside of the podcast

    but the main thing that I'm working on

    behind the scenes is going through all

    of the prior episodes and adding in

    timestamps for the different topics and

    questions that were discussed in each

    one of the episodes I then turned many

    of those into little highlight reels

    that I then share on different social

    media platforms like LinkedIn Twitter

    Youtube Etc I've got about 100 more

    episodes to go through which might take

    me multiple months and my plan between

    now and then as I'm actually going to

    think about do I want to continue the

    podcast and if so in what capacity so

    some of the things that I've been

    thinking about is that the computer

    science education Niche is very small

    compared to a broader podcast that might

    be on education in general or even just

    a podcast that's outside of Education

    just talking to people that are doing

    things and learning things that I think

    are interesting and since I'm now trying

    to make a living off of creating free

    content which I know is a bit of an

    oxymoron I do need to actually think

    about the market share in terms of who I

    can reach and whether or not I can make

    some money through the AdSense Etc like

    on YouTube so that way I can continue to

    provide free content for you at the

    moment the gaming and drumming stuff is

    doing great like I've got this drumming

    merch that I'm wearing on the YouTube

    video which is an inside joke for

    percussionists book it and back to the

    podcast one of the things I'm thinking

    about is do I want to add in another

    podcast so like alternate every week one

    week will be on Computer Science

    Education which is very narrow very

    Niche maybe another podcast just on

    education which is broader and can reach

    more teachers or do I just want to focus

    on doing the other content that I'm

    creating like all the gaming and

    drumming stuff and like the scratch

    content I thoroughly enjoy all the

    content I create but it takes a lot of

    time to create content in three very

    distinct areas so I'm having to make

    some difficult decisions about what kind

    of content do I want to continue to

    create when it comes to the gaming and

    dropping stuff I get a lot of feedback

    and engagement and whatnot but when it

    comes to the computer science stuff even

    though the RSS says there's 20 000

    people most of the comments that I get

    are from people who don't actually

    listen to the content and just see that

    there's something Equity related in the

    title and just respond with racist

    transphobic homophobic content Etc so

    all one of the goals with this podcast

    was to try and like have an impact on

    the discourse the things that we talk

    about in the field I don't know if I've

    reached that goal to be honest because

    while people will mention to me in

    person or like in the email about hey I

    really enjoyed this episode Etc it's

    kind of few and far between and that's

    not to complain it's just to say hey it

    feels like I'm talking and I don't know

    if people are actually listening so if

    you are let me know what you think what

    do you like about this podcast and what

    could I improve that's a question that I

    like to ask myself whenever I finish a

    stream whether it's drumming or gaming

    and even after I finish like a round in

    fortnite like when I finish it what did

    I do that worked really well and what

    could I improve to make it so that next

    time when I play it's a little bit

    better so if you have ideas on topics

    that I might be able to discuss in the

    future or if you have some suggestions

    on things that that I can improve or

    things that are working really well for

    you as an individual just let me know

    you can find all my social media

    Accounts at jaredleary.com up in the

    socials tab or you can just simply

    respond to this video on YouTube or

    wherever you're listening to this now

    just to clarify I'm not sharing this

    information to complain I'm just sharing

    to explain my thought processes well I

    enjoy creating this content I don't know

    if you do especially after all the

    changes that I made over the last

    several months but if you enjoy any of

    the free content that I create on my

    website whether it's the computer

    science education stuff the drumming

    stuff the gaming stuff whatever all I

    ask is that you share it just helps more

    people find the content thank you so

    much for listening to this episode it's

    pretty cool to get to episode number

    continue the podcast but I'm enjoying it

    at the moment I just don't know if you

    are stay tuned next week for another

    episode until then I hope you're staying

    safe and are having a wonderful week

Resources/Links Relevant to This Episode



More Content





OtherJared O'LearyComment