105 Podcasts You Should Check Out

Ask our team, “What’s new?” and you’ll hear about how we’re learning on the go with podcasts. Ask our teacher bloggers about new practices they’re trying in their classrooms and you’ll hear how their encouraging reflective learning with podcasts. At the start of a new school year, we think they are a great way to continue learning and stay engaged. So grab your headphones or sync the bluetooth, and get ready to listen and learn–here is our list of favorite podcasts you should check out to support your learning.

By and For Educators

1. Getting Smart Podcast: Check out more than 150 great podcasts featuring edleaders, edtech, and edpolicy topics.

2. The Student-Centered Learning Podcast: With expert interviews, book reviews and more, this podcast hosted by Arthur Eduardo Baraff is perfect for anyone interested in student-centered learning.

3. EDUtalk: The mission of EDUtalk podcasts is to get educators and students to talk about academia using technology. The site also encourages users to upload podcasts too!

4. Let’s Get Busy Podcast: 2014 EduBlog Awards Finalist for Best Educational Use of Media. Released weekly, Let’s Get Busy is hosted by elementary school librarian Matthew Winter, author of The Busy Librarian, who interviews and features authors and illustrators on their recent work.

5. Music Education Advocacy: A podcast that interviews educators who are trying to restore music education in schools. Their mission is to mobilize musicians to donate to music education charities and breathe new life into the subject area.

6. Ask an Educator: A podcast from Digital Promise that shines a spotlight on educators across the country who are engaging in microcredentials.

7. Talks With Teachers: Interviews with America’s inspiring teachers who share their stories, offer practical teaching tips.

8. The Bedley Brothers: Teacher-of-the-year brothers Scott and Tim from California interview high-profile guests on a variety of education topics using engaging anecdotes and practical info.

9. G.A.M.E: Gamers Advance Meaningful Education is a site developed for people who want to use gaming to help in the educational process. For anyone who is interested in the creative potential of gaming in education, their webinar series is available to download in podcast episodes produced monthly.

10. The i am ME: This podcast explores the importance of student agency and personalized learning in K-12 education through powerful interviews with forward-thinking educators, thought leaders and school administrators.

11. Ed Chat Radio of BAM Radio Network: Focuses on a wide array of education topics with an equally diverse pool of hosts. Make sure to explore BAM’s library of podcasts. The volume and frequency of programs will keep you listening for a long time.

12. Shift Your Paradigm: Salisbury Township Superintendent Randy Ziegenfuss hosts a weekly podcast on student centered learning sponsored by Education Reimagined. (Also see prior episodes of Working At The Edge #FutureLearning Podcast).

EdPolicy Podcasts

13. Education Gadfly: Weekly policy and research review.

14. Michael & Susan Dell Foundation’s Personalized Learning Podcast: Sponsored by the Michael & Susan Dell Foundation, this new podcast focused on the development of personalized learning strategies and the impact on the lives of young learners living in poverty.

15. Bloomberg EDU: A weekly look at education in America. Host Jane Williams interviews leading educators, administrators, and policy makers. Listeners can also tune in on EdWeek.org.

16. EdNext Podcast: This weekly podcast includes stories, interviews and discussions of the latest developments in education from ESSA to teacher professional development. Be sure to also check out the Education Next Book Club episodes where Mike Petrilli interviews authors of new and classic education books.

17. EdukWest: A podcast started by a woman who wanted to follow all the startups and trends in education. Various contributors now host the EdukWest podcasts.

Higher Education

18. To A Degree: The HigherEd podcast of the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

19. Harvard EdCast: Series of conversations with thought leaders in the field of ed that serves as a space for educational discourse and openness, focusing on the myriad issues and current events related to the field.

20. LabCAST: We’re okay bending the rules on this one–LabCAST is technically a video podcast, but this super interesting series from MIT’s Media Lab shares radical technologies being designed to enable people to create a better tomorrow.

21. Stanford Social Innovation Review: Audio lectures shared by Stanford’s Graduate School of Business Social Innovation Conversations, co-hosted by Stanford Social Innovation Review’s Managing Editor Eric Nee.

22. Times Higher Education: For our international listeners, this weekly UK HigherEd-focused program describes itself as the podcast “at the heart of the higher education debate.”

Tech & EdTech

23. EdSurge: Weekly podcast on EdTech and EdPolicy covering K-12 and HigherEd.

24. TechTalk4Teachers: For educators wanting to keep up with the latest advances in educational technologies and their practical applications in classrooms.

25. Nevertheless: A series produced by Pearson on women using technology to transform teaching and learning.

26. The Front Row: We’re hoping this series from 2U comes back for another season.

27. Tech blog Writer Podcast: Over 600 interviews with tech leaders by Neil Hughes.

28. EdTechTalk: This podcast is called Teachers Teaching Teachers and is a collaborative effort. Teachers discuss new software and tools they are successfully using in the classroom.

29. Trends and Issues in Instructional Design: Abbie Brown and Tim Green review clips of the week.

30. Blockchain Innovation Podcast: Frederick Munawa (@FrederickMunawa) interviews leaders in crypto and distributed ledger technology.

31. This Week in Tech from TWIT: A great hour roundup of tech news.

32. Tech News Briefing: A daily briefing on tech news.

33. Bitly Tech Podcast: Conversations about life as tech folk building product.

34. Marketplace Tech: Another daily briefing on tech news.

35. User Friendly: Weekly podcast from Deloitte on tech and business trends.

Leadership & Entrepreneurship

36. Tim Ferriss Show: Every week, Tim (4 Hour Work Week) posts a long interview with leaders in tech and entrepreneurship.

37. Trail Blazers: Walter Isaacson hosts a Dell-sponsored podcast reviewing historical innovations.

38. Curious Minds: Leading innovation podcast with authors, innovators, and entrepreneurs.

39. Startup: A show about startups from Gimlet.

40. The Pitch: Sharktank-style podcast also from Gimlet Media.

41. Akimbo: Seth Godin’s podcast on entrepreneurship and leadership.

42. eCorner: This podcast, titled Entrepreneurial Thought Leaders, explores the principles that create successful business owners and leaders.

43. Killer Innovations from Phil McKinney: focuses on innovations in technology and leadership. Phil shares how to harness the power of innovation to radically improve personal, career and business success.

44. How I Built This: Startup stories from NPR.

45. From Scratch: More startup stories from NPR.

46. 80,000 hours: Inspiration for mission-oriented careers.

47. Growth Show: The Hub Spot podcast on marketing and organizational development.

48. Masters of Scale with Reid Hoffman: How do companies grow from zero to a gazillion? Reid Hoffman tests his theories with famous founders.

49. The Pitch: Entrepreneurs pitch to investors.

50. The Learning Leaders Show: Each week Ryan Hawk interviews a well known leader or author.

Markets & Economics

51. Marketplace: Daily podcast on markets and popular economics (we’re big fans of Make Me Smart and Marketplace Tech).

52. Make Me Smart: Ky and Molly from marketplace host a giggly weekly recap of tech and markets.

53. Freakonomics: Weekly economic topics discussed in a way that will make you say, “Wow, I never thought of it that way.”

54. Planet Money: Life and money and markets from NPR.

55. Exchanges at Goldman Sachs: People from across the group share their insights on developments shaping markets, industries and the global economy.

56. Practical Money Skills: Podcasts that focus on financial literacy. Topics include how to afford college, tax preparation, and budgeting. Great for life skills teachers!

57. The Gently Mad: A triweekly show with honest, meaningful conversations and discussions about “things that matter.” It’s a show about life, business & entrepreneurship without the BS, from Adam Clark.

58. Smart People Podcast: Picking smart people’s “oversized brains” is what this podcast is all about. They interview people from various industries to bring their listeners episodes that satisfy those of us with insatiable curiosity.

59. McKinsey Podcast: Weekly discussion of economics and business leadership.

60. Bloomberg Benchmark: Weekly discussion of the global economy.

61. Conversations with Tyler: The smartest people on the planet interviewed by polymath Tyler Cowen, Mercatus Center, George Mason University.

62. Equity: An end of week recap on venture capital news from Techcrunch.

AI & Big Data

63. Learning Machines 101: A gentle introduction to machine learning from Richard Golden.

64. Linear Digressions: Weekly discussion of big data and machine learning.

65. Future of Life Institute: Weekly podcast about everything that could go wrong….very wrong.

66. Udacity Podcast: No longer in production, but featured some good episodes on the subject of AI.

67. Talking Machines: Hosts Katherine Gorman and Neil Lawrence talk about machine learning and interview an industry leader every week.

68. The Future of Everything: A weekly podcast from the Wall Street Journal.

69. A Glimpse Into the Future: A podcast on the global economy and fourth industrial revolution from the World Economic Forum.

STEM

70. Astronomy Cast: This website offers a weekly podcast centered on astronomy concepts like planets and cosmology.

71. Big Picture Science: Takes on big questions by interviewing leading researchers and weaving together their stories of discovery in a clever and off-kilter narrative style.

72. Distillations: Produced by the Science History Institute, this podcast explores the human stories behind science and technology, tracing a path through history in order to better understand the present.

73. Classroom 2.0 LIVE: This website hosts a weekly webinar specifically designed for beginners who have never used the webinar technology before. Each episode is then offered as an archived podcast that is available for download.

74. Day in Tech History: This podcast is hosted by Jeffrey Powers, a tech expert who loves to build desktops. He explores the history of technology along with what he calls “geek” science.

75. Math Mutation: Short podcasts that explore mathematics. Topics cover strange and quirky concepts that aren’t normally taught in school.

76. NASA Science Casts: These video podcasts are short, fun, and bring unusual science topics to light. Podcasts are based on historical space missions completed by NASA.

77. NOVA: Offered by PBS, the popular TV program also offers podcasts on a variety of science, human interest and engineering topics.

78. New Tech City: Approaching technology through the lens of the human experience is what this podcast is all about. A program of WNYC, this podcast will turn the mirror on the role of technology in our daily lives.

79. StarTalk Radio: A podcast series that focuses on all things extra-terrestrial. Topics include stars, the big bang, space travel, black holes and more.

80. The Naked Scientist: Cambridge University researchers and physicians are behind this podcast filled with humor and levity as they explore a diverse set of science topics. Their goal is to strip science down to its bare essentials.

Language

81. Audiria: A podcast for those interested in learning the Spanish language. Each podcast is rated with a difficulty level or listeners can choose podcasts that concentrate on specific areas.

82. ESL: The website, “English as Second Language” offers a weekly practical podcast that concentrates on everyday topics for those learning to speak English. The podcast comes with a learning guide as well.

83. Grammar Girl: You’ll find Grammar Girl at the top of several podcast lists, as you should. This site offers regular podcasts for anyone interested in teaching grammar or learning it for themselves.

84. Classic Poetry Aloud Index: Podcasts of famous poetry. You can browse through themes or poets to find one that interests you.

News & Views

85. BBC World Service: Browse through podcasts about psychology, science, technology, or politics. The episodes are available for 30 days and updated weekly.

86. Fresh Air: An NPR classic hosted by Terry Gross, who interviews authors, thinkers, musicians and other creatives in a no holds barred quasi-talk show with no time limit and no BS.

87. Fareed Zakaria GPS: Best “news and views” show on TV, via podcast.

Why We Do What We Do

88. On Being: Krista Tippett boldly takes on the question that we all ask at one point: “What does it mean to be human, and how do we want to live?” On Being is a Peabody Award-winner and Webby Award-winner.

89. Hidden Brain: Social science research brought to life (from NPR).

90. You Are Not So Smart: More social science (a staff favorite of Getting Smart), featuring interviews on topics like tribal psychology, narrative persuasion, and active information avoidance.

91. The Moth: Storytelling at its best. The Moth is a platform to record your own story, listen to stories told by storytellers at Moth events, and community for people who love telling it how it went down, and how it is.

92. The Stanford Storytelling Project: A podcast that explores how we live in and through stories, and how to deepen our lives through our own storytelling.

93. This I Believe: With roots in Edward R. Murrow’s show with the same name, this podcast transforms essays from all walks of life into podcasts. You’ll definitely find something that inspires you with the 100,000+ library of stories.

94. This American Life: An hour of stories every week about living in America.

Science & Maker

95. How Stuff Works: You never know what you’re going to get with this podcast. Expect topics that range from cars to food to pop-psychology.

96. TED Talks: Our team has yet to listen to a TED talk that didn’t inspire or ignite us with new energy for an idea or topic. Subscribe to TED’s education podcasts to hear from some of the brightest minds in academia today.

97. TED Radio Hour: Consolidates various TED Talks. Tom loves the episode on Memory and Jessica loves the Why We Collaborate episode.

98. Radiolab: Podcasts for the curious mind. Broadcast on over 300 radio stations across the United States, Radio Lab explores science, philosophy and the human experience.

99. Flash Forward: Rose Eveleth explores potential and alternative futures.

History

100. British History: For history buffs, this website hosts regular podcasts that focus solely on the history of England from the ice age forward.

101. China History: Another history podcast that focuses on Chinese history starting 5,000 years ago and proceeding to today.

102. The History Chicks: A fresh look at history through factual and fictional characters. Podcasts go into detail about the time period, culture, and typical lifestyle of the person highlighted in each episode.

103. Revisionist History[a]: Malcolm Gladwell’s “journey through the overlooked and the misunderstood.” Every episode re-examines something from the past—an event, a person, an idea, even a song—and asks whether we got it right the first time (Malcolm also has a new series coming out, but we hope that it doesn’t mean this one is over).

Food

104. Bon Appétit Foodcast: A fun cooking/food podcast (a recent episode featured Jeff Goldblum).

105. Splendid Table: A slightly more process- and idea-oriented take on a food podcast.

What did we leave out? What podcasts should we check out to support our learning, teaching, and knowledge in general? Please comment to build and grow this list, and check out our other recent Smart Lists in our Smart List Series.

This Smart List was developed by Getting Smart, who helps schools, districts, and impact-oriented partners design and implement powerful learning experiences and forward-leaning strategies, and thought leadership campaigns. Learn more about how we can help you extend your impact.

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