Abstract:

PODCAST(IQ), from the classroom to the podcast: a new way of learning chemical and environmental engineering, is an educational innovation project designed to enhance learning in chemical engineering through the creation and use of podcasts as a teaching-learning tool. The initiative is aimed at undergraduate students in Chemical Engineering, as well as faculty members within the Chemical Engineering Department.

The project responds to a widely acknowledged challenge in STEM higher education: traditional teaching formats, strongly centred on lectures and written examinations, although effective in knowledge transfer, do not always foster active engagement, autonomous learning or the development of transversal competencies. By contrast, the production of podcasts by students enables a shift towards active, student-centred learning. It integrates digital media, collaborative creation and real knowledge translation. In addition, the asynchronous and flexible nature of podcasts encourages individual pacing, reinforces accessibility and supports knowledge retention in a format aligned with current media consumption habits.

The implementation plan is structured in several phases. First, students will work in small groups to select, investigate, develop content and prepare scripts. Subsequently, students will record and edit episodes and disseminate them through online platforms and institutional channels. Project evaluation will combine rubrics, learning analytics and surveys applied to both students and teaching staff, in order to assess perceived usefulness, motivation, satisfaction and impact on learning outcomes.
The expected results include increased student motivation; improved understanding and retention of engineering concepts; and the development of specific competencies (domain expertise on topics such as sustainability, industrial processes or process control) together with transversal skills such as research capacity, critical analysis, scientific communication, teamwork and digital competence. The initiative is aligned with student-centred approaches already reported in the literature, where podcast production has been linked to improved content understanding and communication skills, and has been proposed as a motivating tool for millennials and generation Z learners.

The use of podcasts in university education not only contributes to the development of academic and professional skills, but also promotes ethical, environmental and social skills by addressing topics of high interest and relevance to society. In this project, podcasts are not intended as simple lessons on curriculum content, but as accessible tools for disseminating information on key issues such as waste management, water treatment, the environment, the bioeconomy or the European Green Deal, all of which have a strong impact on the chemical engineering profession.

In summary, PODCAST(IQ) aims not only to reinforce knowledge acquisition in chemical and environmental engineering, but also to strengthen the competences required by current professional profiles, favouring a more dynamic, participatory and autonomous learning ecosystem that is better aligned with the needs and formats of 21st-century engineering education.

Acknowledgements:
The authors acknowledge the Vice-Rectorate for Continuing Education, Teaching Transformation and Employment of Universitat de València for the economic and institutional support through the project PODCAST(IQ) (SFPIE_PIEE_3900538).

Keywords:

Podcast, academic skills, transversal competences, active learning.