The Stories that Built Us: Using a Clinic Produced Podcast to Develop Skills, Collaboration, and Community Impact

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Session Type: Concurrent Sessions

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Since the Fall of 2016, the SMU Child Advocacy Clinic students, as a class project passed from semester to semester, have developed a podcast: Aged Out: The Stories that Built UsTM. The mission of the podcast (as refined and articulated by Clinic student associates) is to “empower former foster children by having their voices heard, using their stories to educate the public, and creating a forum for their perspectives on how to improve the foster care system.” SMU’s Small Business and Trademark Clinic accepted the Child Advocacy Clinic as a client for its own students to explore the intellectual property issues involved in and pursue appropriate protections for the podcast. In this session, the Directors of both Clinics will personally, and through video clips of students and other stakeholders, tell the story of the development and publication of this podcast and the learning and community outreach goals it has achieved. The program will demonstrate: (1) a student produced podcast project is a valuable tool for teaching and practicing foundational lawyering skills using emerging technology that student lawyers also should master to use in their eventual careers; (2) a podcast can engage students across clinical practices and professional disciplines, spark collaboration across the clinics and the university as a whole, and deepen student understanding and awareness of the work, rigor, and value of each practice and discipline; and (3) the podcast format is a natural fit to engage the community in the work of the clinics and promote social justice. The presenters look forward to hearing your thoughts and ideas on possible next steps for taking this flexible learning and outreach tool to another level.