Educational Podcasts 🎧

Educational podcasts turn time you already spend walking, commuting or doing chores into learning. The habit is simple: keep a short queue of episodes on a subject you care about and listen to one most days. Most of the research on podcasts comes from medical, dental and nursing schools, where they are used alongside classes, and that is the best way to think of them here too.

Start small: one episode a day, tied to something you already do, like your commute or a walk. Short episodes are easier to fit in; a review of medical education podcasts found they lasted 18 minutes on average (Cho et al., 2017). Stick to one topic at a time, and after each episode note one idea you want to remember.

Several studies found real learning gains. In a quasi-experiment with 120 students, those who used educational podcasts as extra material improved their understanding of concepts more than students taught only in the usual way (Nugroho et al., 2024). In a randomized trial with 50 medical students, those given a podcast to prepare for clinical exams scored higher on simulated exams and felt more confident in those skills (Dupont et al., 2025). A scoping review of 62 studies found podcasts no worse than traditional teaching for knowledge retention, and learners valued them for being portable and efficient (Kelly et al., 2021).

The evidence also has limits. Medical students who listened to a podcast series spent more time studying, but their exam scores were no different from those of non-listeners (McCarthy et al., 2023). In a randomized trial with 301 students, every group learned, but the podcast group improved less than students in a live class or watching a video recording (Tolonen et al., 2023). Reviews in medical and dental education call the evidence limited, while students consistently find podcasts useful and acceptable (Cho et al., 2017; Patil et al., 2026).

So treat podcasts as a supplement, not a replacement: they help most alongside reading, classes or practice, not instead of them. Use the habit to reinforce what you are learning and to keep a subject in mind on busy days.