Peer Review

Mind Your Work (podcast)

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Reviewed:: Mar 12, 2025 by Psychology

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Overall Rating:

Content Quality:

Effectiveness:

Ease of Use:

Overview:

"Mind Your Work" is a podcast that explores the human aspects of work through the lens of social science. Hosted by Jose Espinoza and Nicholas Bremner, the show explores topics such as data literacy, effective communication, and universal basic income. Listeners can access episodes on platforms like Spotify. The podcast also maintains an active presence on social media, sharing insights and engaging with their audience on X (formerly Twitter).

Type of Material:

Collection (podcasts)

Recommended Uses:

The Mind Your Work podcast and website offer valuable resources that can be integrated into courses on industrial/organizational psychology, organizational behavior, and workplace leadership. Students can listen to a variety of podcasts to get a better understanding of the applications of I-O psychology.

Instructors can assign specific podcast episodes as supplemental materials to introduce students to key workplace psychology concepts, such as performance appraisals, data literacy, and employee motivation. These episodes can serve as discussion prompts in online forums or live class sessions, encouraging students to critically analyze the application of psychological principles in professional settings.
The data literacy series can be particularly useful in research methods courses, where students can examine how data collection and analysis inform workplace decision-making.
The podcast’s discussions on broader economic and psychological trends, such as universal basic income, can be incorporated into assignments that explore the future of work.
The content also can be used for extra credit opportunities, reflection papers, or case study analyses, allowing students to apply psychological theories to real-world organizational issues.

Technical Requirements:

Podcasts can be heard online through a web browser, downloaded, or one can subscribe across multiple podcast systems.

Identify Major Learning Goals:

Listeners will hear an I-O perspective on a variety of topics revolving around the workplace.

The Mind Your Work podcast and website provide insights into industrial/organizational psychology, helping listeners understand how research applies to real-world workplace challenges. Visitors will learn about key concepts in data literacy, including data collection, analysis, and communication, which are essential for evidence-based decision-making in professional settings. Episodes explore the impact of workplace practices on employee performance, covering topics such as performance appraisals, job satisfaction, and leadership. The podcast also examines broader economic and psychological trends, such as universal basic income and automation, to highlight how societal changes influence work environments. Through these discussions, listeners are encouraged to develop a critical, research-based perspective on work and organizational dynamics.

Target Student Population:

College Lower Division, College Upper Division, Graduate School

Prerequisite Knowledge or Skills:

Listening to the Mind Your Work podcast does not require advanced knowledge, but some background in psychology and research methods will enhance comprehension.

A course in general psychology is recommended to provide foundational knowledge of psychological principles relevant to workplace behavior.
Industrial/organizational psychology coursework would be beneficial for understanding applied workplace psychology concepts, but it is not required.
Research methods and statistics courses would be useful, particularly for episodes discussing data literacy, as they cover concepts like data collection, analysis, and interpretation.
Students with experience in organizational behavior or management may also find the content more immediately applicable, especially in discussions related to leadership, performance appraisals, and workplace motivation.

While no specific prerequisite courses are required, familiarity with these subjects will allow for deeper engagement with the material.

Content Quality

Rating:

Strengths:

The Mind Your Work podcast provides clear and concise discussions on industrial/organizational psychology topics, making complex concepts accessible. Each episode is grounded in psychological research and informed by scholarship, ensuring relevance and accuracy.
The content is flexible and can be integrated into multiple educational settings, including psychology, management, and organizational behavior courses.
The format is engaging and self-contained, allowing it to be used independently without requiring additional assignments.
The podcast effectively summarizes key concepts and applies them to real-world workplace scenarios, enhancing its usefulness for both students and educators.
- Topics directly related to I-O psychology are discussed such as bad behavior at work, universal basic income, and what attracts people to organizations.
- Additionally, a variety of other psychological topics are presented including personality, sleep, the power of goals, and topics such as what are essential services.

Concerns:

Some episodes assume familiarity with research methods and statistical reasoning, which may require additional context for students without that background.
While the discussions are based on research, explicit citations or references to sources are not always provided. Faculty using the podcasts in courses may want to augment some episodes with additional or follow-up references. Although the content is well-structured, incorporating supplemental materials or structured learning activities could enhance engagement and comprehension.

Potential Effectiveness as a Teaching Tool

Rating:

Strengths:

The Mind Your Work podcast effectively promotes conceptual understanding by addressing key workplace psychology topics in a clear and engaging manner.
- The hosts are engaging and provide information on a variety of topics from the I-O perspective.
The episodes naturally reinforce and build on prior concepts, making them useful for progressive learning.
The discussions demonstrate relationships between psychological principles and real-world applications, helping students connect theory to practice.
The podcasts are efficient, delivering substantial content in a relatively short time and making it easy to integrate into curriculum assignments. This flexibility would allow the podcasts to be used in multiple teaching contexts, such as supplemental material, discussion prompts, or reflection exercises.
- Presentations run from a few minutes to 30 minutes.

Concerns:

While the podcasts align well with learning goals, they do not explicitly state learning objectives. Instructors will want to tie episodes to course outcomes and/or to course activities via the development of supplementary materials.

Ease of Use for Both Students and Faculty

Rating:

Strengths:

The Mind Your Work website and podcast platform are generally easy to navigate, with a clean and consistent layout that makes finding episodes straightforward.
The website provides clear instructions for accessing the podcasts, and episodes are hosted on widely used platforms like Spotify and Apple Podcasts, ensuring broad accessibility.
- Visitors can listen on any web browser, download the podcasts, or subscribe through Apple Podcasts, Google Podcasts, Spotify, Android, iHeartRadio, Stitcher, Blubrry, by Email, TuneIn, Deezer, and RSS. Subscribing through one of these methods automatically takes visitors to the latest episodes, but anyone can listen online.
The interface is simple, requiring no registration or additional software beyond a standard podcast player, which enhances ease of use.
The content is engaging, with a conversational format that makes complex topics more accessible.
The audio quality is clear, and episodes are structured in a way that allows listeners to follow discussions without difficulty.
Clicking on Shownotes provides a summary of a podcast along with Timestamps listed below the file to assist finding certain sections of the discussions.
A search feature allows users to seek out particular topics.

Concerns:

While the website is easily navigated, it does not appear to have a dedicated help feature or accessibility options, such as adjustable text size or screen reader-friendly formatting.
Possible accessibility-related augmentations might include the following.
- Navigation could be improved by incorporating named headings and links rather than raw URLs to enhance clarity.
- The site does not explicitly state whether images include ALT text or descriptions, which may limit accessibility for visually impaired users.
- The podcast does not always include time-synced captions or transcripts, which could create barriers for those who are deaf or hard of hearing.
- Features such as strong color contrast, clear text formatting, and captioned multimedia would enhance overall usability.

Other Issues and Comments:: Note: A terrific and creatively developed resource. The podcast ran from June 2018 to March 2021, producing a total of 35 episodes. There have been no additional episodes since 2021.
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