The Analysis Of the Braver Podcast

Honors Project

In fulfillment of the Requirements for

The Esther G. Maynor Honors College

University of North Carolina at Pembroke

By

Andrew Reece

Middle-Grade Math Education

December 8, 2014

NarneHonorsColleg

NameFaculty Mentor

MarlMilewczDean, Esther

(/

Date

Date

DateHonors College

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Preface

The Braver Podcast has been a work-in-progress for a year and a half. It started from an

idea and grew into an unexpected success. This final project will discuss the history of a podcast

that became a school-wide achievement, and show data that proves there is a demand for the

podcast. Braver is my legacy at UNCP and I am grateful I was its creator.

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Table of Contents Abstract…………………………………………………………………………………………6

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………….7

The Origins of Braver…………………………………………………………………………..7

Braver: Volunteers and Planning For 2014……………………………………………………9

Assessment Report..............................................................................................................…....9

Self-Reflection………………………………………………………………………………..18

Conclusion……………………………………………………………………………………18

References……………………………………………………………………………………20

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List of Figures Figure 1 Interest Survey

Figure 2 Question 1

(Create).

Figure 3 Question 2

(Create).

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Figure 4 Question 3

(Create).

Figure 5 Question 4

(Create).

Figure 6 Question 5

(Create).

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Figure 7 Downloads

(Libsyn).

Figure 8 Countries

(Libsyn).

Figure 9 Technology

(Libsyn).

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The Analysis of the Braver Podcast

by

Andrew Reece

Bachelor’s Degree

The University of North Carolina at Pembroke

December 9, 2014

Abstract

In this final project will discuss: 1. The origins of Braver, 2. An assessment report of the podcast,

3. A self-reflection on my position as Editor-in Chief, and conclude 4.On the future of the Braver

Podcast. This final project will also discuss the history of a podcast that became a school-wide

achievement. The origins of Braver will focus on the spark of the idea during a conversation with

Gordon Byrd in the fall of 2013, to creating a podcast through the Literacy Commons, to creating

the first episode in the spring of 2014. An assessment report was done for this project to answer

the main research questions in my senior project proposal: “What are the overarching

educational effects of the podcast?” and “Did the podcast create educational relations between

the campus and community?” The assessment report will focus on the data gathered from a

survey taken in the University Center this November, the number of downloads throughout 2014,

the countries that the podcast was downloaded in, and how the podcast was downloaded using

technology. The results of the assessment report show that there is a demand for Braver, and

could be a cornerstone of the university. The self-reflection will focus on the personal

characteristics I gained working on Braver, how Braver has helped me prepare for my future

career in teaching, and advice I would give to future volunteers of the Braver podcast. I will

conclude by what I hope the future of Braver will be, and have Braver’s mission statement as a

beacon for future volunteers.

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Introduction

The Braver Podcast has been a work-in-progress for a year and a half. It started from an

idea and grew into an unexpected success. In this final project will discuss: 1. The origins of

Braver, 2. An assessment report of the podcast, 3. A self-reflection on my position as Editor-in

Chief, and conclude 4.On the future of the Braver Podcast. This final project will also discuss the

history of a podcast that became a school-wide achievement.

The origins of Braver will focus on the spark of the idea during a conversation with

Gordon Byrd in the fall of 2013, to creating a podcast through the Literacy Commons, to creating

the first episode in the spring of 2014. An assessment report was done for this project to answer

the main research questions in my senior project proposal: “What are the overarching

educational effects of the podcast?” and “Did the podcast create educational relations between

the campus and community?” The assessment report will focus on the data gathered from a

survey taken in the University Center this November, the number of downloads throughout 2014,

the countries that the podcast was downloaded in, and how the podcast was downloaded using

technology. The results of the assessment report show that there is a demand for Braver, and

could be a cornerstone of the university. The self-reflection will focus on the personal

characteristics I gained working on Braver, how Braver has helped me prepare for my future

career in teaching, and advice I would give to future volunteers of the Braver podcast. I will

conclude by what I hope the future of Braver will be, and have Braver’s mission statement as a

beacon for future volunteers.

The Origins of Braver

In the beginning, I didn’t even consider my idea would become my senior project.

Gordon Byrd, the secretary of the Honors College, asked me if I wanted to help create a school

Herald, featuring news, writing, and opinionated reviews. I was interested to do that, because I

read the newspapers the school provides (USA Today, The Robisonian, The Pine Needle, etc.),

and the occasional Rolling Stone. I wanted to create something that would enrich that same

fascination I get when reading news for the

community and campus. Interviewing and

investigating are methods that I am passionate

about. UNC Pembroke is a university, but student

clubs and organizations rarely provide

information about the campus, community, or

even global topics. Gordon Byrd told me to go

see Dr. David Marquard, Head of the Literacy

Commons, and a UNCP English Professor, to

discuss my idea further. I had many

conversations with Dr. Marquard on how to

create UNCP’s version of Rolling Stone, and

there was progress after every conversation. After

spreading the word to my friends Jordon McGirt and Raymond Hunt about my idea I had them

interested in volunteering and helping me start on making this idea a reality. Dr. Marquard

suggested I take a survey seen in Figure 1 at Pembroke Day to see if the community was

interested in receiving news from the community, campus, and the world. I held my own

Figure 1

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informal survey during Pembroke Day, 2013 asking students how interested (1 not interested- 5

highly interested), they would be to have information about the community and pop culture

online. 54 people were surveyed and over half were highly interested in having digital

information community and pop culture topics.

How the Podcast Episodes Are Created

A Herald would be too much money to print each month for the campus and community,

so we decided to do a video podcast. However, that took too much time to create and edit. Dr.

Marquard suggested we use a regular podcast feed on iTunes. It costs $20 each month to keep

the episodes on iTunes. People can even directly access the podcast by using their iPhone’s

Podcast application and search “Literacy Commons Braver.” Each episode is done on the

GarageBand (a recording program installed in every Mac). I have to hook up a microphone to

my laptop, and choose an empty layout. I press record, and I can edit out sections by overlapping

or trimming the recording. I would record on sight including my office, places of business, or an

organization’s office. I also use loops for background music by adding another recording section

and placing the loop in it. I set the volumes to where it is mastered, and then I convert it to an

MP3 or an MP4. I then send it to Dr. Marquard where he posts it on iTunes. Episodes were easier

to make after I was comfortable using GarageBand.

Senior Proposal

In the spring of 2014 I wanted Braver to become my senior project. I began working on

my proposal for my senior project. With the help of Dr. Marquard, we created a timeline and

outlined on how the project would unfold in the fall of 2014. The timeline is seen below:

August-September:

• Coordinating interviews and reviews

• Creating growth and support through professional public relations

with the community and university

• Write IRB proposal

• Finding sponsors to support the podcast (which are needed for growth and

sustainability for the podcast)

October-November:

• Coordinating interviews and reviews

• Beginning to collect initial statistical data regarding downloads of

podcast episodes

• Writing a survey on the effectiveness of the podcast

November-December:

• Coordinating interviews and reviews

• Analyzing statistical data

• Conducting a survey, and analyzing the responses

• Writing an assessment report from all data collected

• Writing a self-assessment on how Braver affected me

• Having an archive of podcast episodes

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Braver: Volunteers and Planning For 2014

As I have stated before, I had many people interested in helping create what Braver is

today. Dr. Marquard created our first Braver episode as an introduction to what Braver is. I then

created episodes introducing the volunteers and their role in Braver including Megan Cook and

Raymond Hunt. Jordan McGirt created the symbol that I use on Braver’s Facebook page. I had

Megan Cook and Raymond Hunt featured monthly on the podcast that would do movie reviews

and interview me on such things. I had Megan Cook running Braver’s Twitter page. I am the

only one currently working on making the episodes with the help of the Literacy Commons,

because volunteers from last semester wanted to focus on their academics.

What I Planned Would Happen This Semester

I planned that I would have a fully-staffed team. I also planned that I would have a

member who would take my place as Editor-in-Chief. My staff would do research to find new

episodes on their own. It would be a well-oiled machine. I wanted to do an episode where I sat

down the Chancellor of the university and the Lumbee Council and have a professional

discussion on the future of the campus and community.

What Actually Happened This Semester

The people I had worked with focused on their academics instead of their volunteer

position in Braver, or only participated from a distance. I was the only one doing episodes. I ran

out of time to do the Chancellor/Lumbee Council episode due to the work load in other classes.

No one came by my office hours or wanted to join Braver at all of the Literacy Commons

interest meetings. The only thing that was difficult to accomplish in my proposal was creating a

widespread public relation in the campus and community. There seemed to be no public relations

when it came to Braver. Other than the Literacy Commons promoting it online and in Dr.

Marquard’s class, there weren’t’ fliers around campus, weekly e-mails on episodes or any other

method to get the word out. Since many weren’t aware of Braver, they would have not known

my office hours. I spent most of my time in my office working on Braver episodes, or getting

homework done in other classes. However, I am not mad at the circumstances. It taught me to be

self-reliant, and focus on what I could do for Braver. I have no one to take over Braver next

semester.

Assessment Report

My assessment report was on the effectiveness of the podcast by studying trends and

statistics from listeners to the podcast. The next survey I took was expedited through the UNCP’s

Institutional Review Board (IRB). In my proposal, the working research questions for this senior

project were: “What are the overarching educational effects of the podcast?” and “Did the

podcast create educational relations between the campus and community?” The survey was

handed out at the University Center for four days and got 250 responses. With each question I

created a pie chart for clarity and provided an analysis below each graph.

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QUESTION 1: What is your position? Check all that apply.

Student=S

Faculty/Staff=F

Student/Commuter=S/C

Faculty/Staff/Student=F/S

Student/Community Member= S/CM

Faculty/Staff/Student/Commuter=F/S/C

Student/Community Member/Commuter=S/CM/C

Faculty/Staff/Student/Community Member/Commuter=F/S/CM/C

I wanted to ask this question because I wanted to know what position people had if they listened

to my podcast. If it was mainly faculty/staff I did not do my job well to inform the campus

majority which is the students. However, only receiving a majority of student responses my data

became skewed from a student’s perspective. The mission for the podcast is the community as

well. This shows a need to boost public relations outside of campus to get the community

involved. Another survey should be conducted in the community as well.

It seems that many of the people I surveyed were students. I was in the University Center during

lunchtime, so I received very few surveys from people other than students. The data shows 90.4

% of the people who were surveyed were students which is seen in Figure 2.

Figure 2

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QUESTION 2: Are you aware of the Literacy Commons Braver Podcast?

Yes=Y

No=N

I wanted to ask this question because I wanted to see if we needed to increase our public

relations in the campus and community. Many who were surveyed answered a majority of yes; it

seems public relations would not have to grow. However if they answered no, there would be a

need for more public relations in the future.

Many people were not aware of the podcast (88%) which is seen in Figure 3. It seems there is a

need to increase our public awareness to gain listeners and to accomplish Braver’s mission to

build a bridge between the campus and community. Many who were surveyed asked me what a

podcast is and I explained to them gladly by using Braver as an example on my phone.

Figure 3

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Question 3: How frequently do you listen to the episodes?

Daily=D

Weekly=W

Monthly=M

Never=N

I wanted to ask this question for the people who do listen to the podcast to see if they were

frequent listeners. However for the people who were not aware of the podcast could have never

listened to it. With the results from Question 2 I was not surprised to receive the results from

Question 3.

The results of the data show that 94% of the people who were surveyed have never listened to

the podcast seen in Figure 4. This does not mean that no one listens to the podcast, only that the

small sample I took for this survey doesn’t. Since most people were not aware of the podcast

they could have never listened to it. However, the 6% of people that took the survey and do listen

to the podcast said they listen to it on a regular basis.

Figure 4

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QUESTION 4: After listening to the podcast, did it increase your awareness of the

community and campus surroundings?

Greatly Increased=GI

Slightly Increased=SI

Did Not Increase=DN

I wanted to ask this question to answer my research question in my proposal: “Did the podcast

create educational relations between the campus and community?” From the results of Question

2 and 3, the results of Question 4 would also look similar. However, many people did not know

how to answer the question. Many who responded by saying they had never listened to the

podcast answered that it slightly increased their awareness.

The results of the data show that 65% of the people who were surveyed said their educational

awareness did not increase after listening to the podcast seen in Figure 5. Since most people do

not listen to the podcast their educational awareness did not increase. However, the ones who do

listen to the podcast have increased their educational awareness of the campus and community.

This shows that the mission of Braver is being fulfilled through those who listen to the podcast. I

should have made this an optional question for the people who were surveyed who had listened

to the podcast.

Figure 5

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QUESTION 5: After taking this survey, will you listen or continue to listen to the podcast?

Yes=Y

No=N

I wanted to ask this question to see if the survey takers would listen to the podcast after taking

the survey. This was a question focusing on public relations towards the campus and community.

If many people answered no, I would have not been surprised if Braver would end after this

semester.

The results of the data show that 75% said they would listen to the podcast after taking the

survey in Figure 6. It seems that the campus and community want Braver to keep going. Whether

the people who took the survey have listened to Braver before or are now just aware of it, Braver

has a demand. This set of data, however small, shows positive results for the future of Braver.

Figure 6

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Braver Downloads in 2014

Throughout this year, there has been a decent average of downloads each day, seen in

Figure 7. It makes sense that the downloads decreased over the summer years, and peak in the

middle of the year when new and weekly episodes are made. Spring 2014 we were gaining an

average of 30 downloads a day, and as the data below shows there was a great decrease in

listenership in the summer. However there was a strange spike in listens in early July. Fall 2014

we reached our high ratings again in late September but slowly our downloads began decreasing

through the semester. Overall Braver has had 1,947 entire downloads in 2014.

Figure 7

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Countries

It seems that Braver was not only listened to in North Carolina and other parts of the

United States, but in different countries also, which is seen in Figure 8. This means that Braver

had a part in increasing Pembroke’s public relations to a global standard. Many of our listeners

in the different parts of the world may want to go to UNCP as their school of choice from

listening to the podcast. They could also want to create their own podcast for their school

modeling what Braver has done for Pembroke. I am very proud of this astonishing

accomplishment that I did not plan for.

Figure 8

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Technology Used To Download Braver

There are different ways to get to the Podcast. People can go through our website on the

UNCP’s Literacy Commons page. People can go straight towards iTunes and search “Literacy

Commons Braver” in the search bar. People can also go through the Podcast app on their iPhone

and search “Literacy Commons Braver” to listen to Braver’s episodes. Seen in Figure 9 it seems

that the mobile option is the most popular way to listen to Braver.

This also means that there is a gap in literacy to find the podcast through technology.

While taking the survey I had to show how people could listen to their podcast using my phone

and laptop. Dr. Marquard and I discussed on creating a phone application where anyone could

download it for free, and episodes would upload directly to your phone or computer. However,

that cost more money which the literacy Commons does not have at this moment in time.

Overall Analysis

Based on the analysis of the assessment report, it seems there is a demand for the podcast,

and it could grow substantially with the help of public relations, and an efficient staff. The

podcast increased the educational awareness of the campus and community for those who

listened. People who took the survey and are now aware of the podcast plan on listening to it in

the future. Our downloads are increasing day by day. Our listenership has become global, and

Braver has a chance to become more user-friendly in the future by creating an app.

Braver can become a cornerstone at UNCP with the right amount of public relations,

creating a user-friendly app, and having a good amount of volunteers who are dedicated to

making Braver grow. From reviewing the overall data, the potential of Braver has only touched

the surface of what it could be. Overall Braver works.

Figure 9

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Self-Reflection

The Personal Characteristics I Gained Through Braver

The planning of an episode takes research, scheduling, and driving. I had to stay

organized, patient, and flexible when doing an episode. For example, one episode took 2 weeks

when I planned on it being done in 3 days. I drove to the person I wanted to interview,

professionally introduced myself to the interviewee, got their number, and after many

understanding calls I was able to interview the person. However, when I got there to set up my

equipment, I had to wait 30 minutes for the person to return from an errand. I was patient and

flexible during my wait, and I thanked them after the interview anyways. Braver has taught me to

be professional, flexible, patient, and understanding.

How Braver Has Helped Prepare Me For My Career

As a future teacher, I needed to learn how to be a leader. Braver has taught me to plan for

surprises, be self-reliant, patient, organized, professional, and unconditionally courteous. These

characteristics will help me during my teaching career when I interact with students,

parents/guardians, and faculty/staff.

How Braver Has Affected Me

I had no idea that Braver would soar above what I wanted it to be in the beginning. I

came to this school because I saw an opportunity to make a difference. I believe I have made that

difference through Braver. I always enjoyed creating the episodes, and researching for future

episodes. The people I interviewed affected me greatly and made me feel part of the community

or were open with me about their artistic work. Tanaya Winder’s stories about her classroom

where her students cried together with a student in emotional pain almost made me cry during

the interview. There were times when I felt overwhelmed with work for Braver, but it was worth

it in the end. I just wish more people would have been a part of it. It was disappointing sitting in

those interest meetings for the Literacy Commons and no one wanting to volunteer after I spoke

about Braver. I saw many hours pass during my time in my office, without anyone stopping by. I

was passionate about Braver and I still am. I wish I could still keep creating episodes but my

academics must come first. It has been my legacy for my time here at UNCP and I am grateful to

be its creator.

Conclusion

The Future For Braver

Next semester I will step down as Editor-in-Chief of Braver. I do not know if Braver will

continue, but hopefully there will be a replacement to keep Braver going. Data shows that there

is a demand for Braver and it must be met. I would like to see Braver become a 1 credit class

dedicated to the Mass Communications department for students interested in working on a

podcast team. The advice I would give for anyone interested in volunteering for Braver would be

to stay committed and watch how it grows. I hope people use this report to help them create a

much better Braver than I did. The only thing I would change would be to have someone

dedicated to promoting the podcast through e-mails, fliers, social networking, etc. I would like to

thank all of the supporters and people who helped create this podcast. I would personally, like to

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thank Dr. Marquand for being there each step of the way, going above and beyond to help out

and providing a home for Braver in the Literacy Commons. I did what I set out to do, and to

conclude my report I will state the mission statement of Braver.

Mission Statement

The Literacy Commons’ Podcast Braver provides a bridge between UNCP with that of

the broader community of Pembroke, Robeson County—and adjacent counties. We offer

multiple episodes a week ranging from reviews of local restaurants, to discussions with local

town council members, to coverage of local artistic expressions and UNCP related achievements

and advancements. Ultimately, we encourage our listeners to become “braver” by way of being

knowledgeable about the community and the university. With this knowledge, we urge listeners

to be connected with both the surrounding Robeson County community and the University of

North Carolina at Pembroke.

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References

Create a Pie Chart. (n.d.). Retrieved November 21, 2014, from

http://www.meta-chart.com/pie. Web.

Libsyn - Podcast Hosting Services. (n.d.). Retrieved November 21, 2014, from

https://www.libsyn.com. Web.