Team Africast
Educational podcasts with guests from Ghana
Marius Merkle
Patrick Sowinski
Jaimee Lau
Tutors
Matthias Lehner
Dominik Irber
Supervisors
Prof. Dr. Ernst W. Mayr
Dr. Veronika Diem
Abstract
We, team Africast, have set ourselves the goal to raise awareness for and interest in the academic cooperation between the Technical University of Munich (TUM) and the African continent, focusing in particular on Ghana. With the realization of an online podcast series, we aim to inform the public about ongoing projects and initiatives in this context.
To evaluate the impact of our project and to improve our podcast series, we conducted a scientific survey guided by the following research question: “To what extent does the podcast series Africast enhance knowledge and interest with respect to the scientific cooperation between TUM and the African continent among students at TUM?”
In this research, we distinguish between three indicators, namely active and passive interest as well as factual knowledge in order to measure an individual’s awareness of a topic. Based on qualitative and quantitative research methods, we conclude that the online podcast series “Africast” is an effective format to promote interest and knowledge about the scientific partnership between TUM and African countries.
Heading Taskfore Mentoring we achieved to double the number of mentees and mentors. At Africast, I did a podcast with a Ghanean student and a professor of TUM.
Our 20-month project gave me a new perspective on how to handle long-running projects. It was also great to meet people from different cultures.
Working in a diverse and motivated team on a socially relevant project was a unique opportunity to think outside of the box.
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