University of Valencia launches videopodcast

A university videopodcast can sound small. But this one is trying to fix a very old distortion in how medieval history gets taught. The University of Valencia has launched a series on women of the Early Middle Ages, and the point is not just outreach — it is to push women back into a narrative that usually centers rulers like Charlemagne or Justinian. The project comes out of the university’s medieval history group, CiSEM, and it is already being folded directly into coursework. (uv.es) ### What actually launched? The new thing is a videopodcast series produced through the University of Valencia’s Department of Medieval History, with support from the university’s training and teaching-innovation service, SFPIE. CiSEM — short for *Cultures i (uv.es)he study of the period. (uv.es) ### Why this topic? Because the imbalance is basic and stubborn. When students meet the Early Middle Ages, they usually hear the same male names over and over. The university’s own description points to that gap directly — major female figures are less known not just to the public, but often to university students too. So the series is built around women who shaped political, social, and cultural life between the 5th and 10th centuries. (lletraferit.com) ### Who are they talking about? Not abstract “women’s history” in the vague sense. Specific rulers and elite figures anchor the episodes. The project materials name Galla Placidia, Judith of Bavaria, Theodora of Byzantium, and Irene of Athens among the protagonists. Search results for th(lletraferit.com)ise. (lletraferit.com) ### Is this just public outreach? No — that is the interesting part. The initiative was developed inside a required second-year history course called *La formació d’Europa (segles V-X)*. Students and professor Frederic Aparisi Romero appear in a conversational videopodcast format, and the finished episodes are not just optional extras. They are being made available to the whole class through the virtual classroom. (lletraferit.com) ### How tightly is it tied to teaching? Pretty tightly. The videos and their final scripts become study materials, and they can also be assessed in the course exam. That means the university is treating the series as part of the class itself, not as a side project for publicity. Basically, the podcast is doing two jobs at once — teaching enrolled students and creating reusable material that can travel beyond the classroom. (lletraferit.com) ### What do students get out of making it? More than content knowledge. The university says the project is also meant to build research habits, synthesis, oral expression, writing, and experience with historical communication in audiovisual formats. There is also a digital-skills angle — students get pushed to think about how scholarship moves through social platforms and online channels, not just essays and exams. (lletraferit.com) ### Why use video for medieval history? Because format changes who actually pays attention. A short episode on Irene of Athens or Galla Placidia is easier to circulate, easier to revisit, and easier to assign than a stack of specialist readings alone. The catch is that simplification can flatten nuance, but the University of Valencia is trying to offset that by pairing the videos with scripts and embedding them in formal teaching. (lletraferit.com) ### So what is the bigger point? This is really a story about what universities think teaching should do now. The University of Valencia is using a podcast-style format to correct a historical blind spot, train students in public-facing scholarship, and leave behind course materials that can keep circulating. For a subject as tradition-bound as medieval history, that is the real shift. (uv.es)