Voices from the Generals The Harte Center for Teaching and Learning is bringing student voices to a new podcast designed to share perspectives on transitioning to college life.

By Kelsey Goodwin
March 4, 2024

“The goal is to unpack and make visible that hidden curriculum for students before they get here so they feel better equipped and more exposed to the norms of college and how to navigate them once they arrive.”

~ Adam Scales, assistant director of academic resources

The Harte Center for Teaching and Learning has launched a new educational podcast “Voices from the Generals” that seeks to support students as they navigate their journey in higher education.

Hosted by Veronika Kolosova ’25 and Jessie Zhang ’26, and under the guidance of Adam Scales, assistant director of academic resources, the podcast seeks to bring out the real stories of college transition. Each episode covers a specific part of the transition from high school to college and features an interview of W&L students, faculty and staff members. Topics have included navigating college as a first-generation college student, balancing academics and social life, and faculty perspectives on the college transition.

“Our goal is to make this podcast an interactive channel between our student hosts, the audience, and the greater W&L community,” Kolosova said.

The podcast began as a Summer Research Scholars project in the summer of 2023. Scales said that part of the Harte Center’s mission is to provide academic resources to students and that the center hoped that creating a podcast pilot through the SRS program would be an opportunity to bring students in as co-creators of content designed to address a variety of topics relevant to their peers. Kolosova and Zhang were asked to not only examine research on high school students’ transition to college but to consider the unique questions that might arise as students transition into W&L. At the end of the summer, the students had produced two podcast episodes.

“We realized that this was a larger project,” Scales said, “so the summer research project evolved, and Veronika and Jessie are now Harte Center employees and podcast producers.”

Scales said the podcast intends to support students with their transition to the norms and expectations of college life and learning. It achieves this by shedding light on the “hidden curriculum,” which refers to the unspoken or implicit lessons, values, norms and expectations that are conveyed to students in educational settings, often unintentionally or indirectly. Coined in academic research, particularly in the context of the transition between high school and college, the hidden curriculum encompasses various aspects of the educational experience beyond formal instruction, such as social interactions, institutional culture and extracurricular activities.

“It’s about those unwritten rules of college; that’s really at the heart of what we’re doing,” Scales said. “The podcast helps to unpack questions such as how to maximize faculty office hours, what is meant by independent learning and how to navigate the various support systems on campus. The goal is to unpack and make visible that hidden curriculum for students before they get here so they feel better equipped and more exposed to the norms of college and how to navigate them once they arrive.”

Zhang said she was inspired to work on the podcast because many students may not feel comfortable asking some of the questions the podcast seeks to answer. She recently hosted an episode on imposter syndrome and how to address it.

“We wanted to explore how to address imposter syndrome from a psychological perspective, but also discuss what academic resources are available to help students as well,” Zhang said.

Kolosova said she was drawn to the project because the podcast content can be as relevant to upperclassmen as it is for first-year students.

“All students still have so much to learn about the resources the university offers,” Kolosova said. “Departments are doing a great job, but it’s different when you hear from an actual person who has used that resource or had the particular experience — it becomes more personal.”

Scales said the podcast team intentionally ends each episode by encouraging listeners to write in with questions or ideas for future episodes.

“We’re also very open to audience members’ feedback and what they want to know,” Scales said.

The podcast is hosted via Acast but is available on all major podcast streaming platforms and the Harte Center’s website. You can also hear episodes on WLUR at 8 a.m. on Sundays during the academic year.

Find more information about Voices of the Generals on the Harte Center’s website, and follow the podcast team on Instagram for updates.