Educators: YouTube Transcripts to Podcasts

Teachers and professors sit on hundreds of hours of YouTube content that students rarely rewatch. Converting those lectures into podcast episodes gives students a way to review material during commutes, workouts, and downtime. Five workflows have proven effective across K-12, university, and corporate training settings.

A 2025 study from the University of Michigan found that students who listened to lecture podcasts scored 12% higher on retention tests compared to students who only watched the video once. Audio review works because it fits into time that video can't reach.

Workflow 1: The lecture recap podcast

This is the simplest conversion: take a recorded lecture from YouTube and turn it into a podcast episode.

1. Extract the transcript from the YouTube lecture using Jellypod.
2. Remove visual references ("as you can see on this slide") and replace them with verbal descriptions.
3. Add a 30-second intro that states the topic, course name, and episode number.
4. Generate the audio and publish to your podcast feed.

Best for: University professors who record every class session and want to give students an audio study tool.

Time per episode: 5–10 minutes with an AI tool, 20–30 minutes manually.

Workflow 2: The topic summary series

Instead of converting full lectures, create short 5–10 minute episodes that summarize key concepts from multiple YouTube videos.

1. Identify 3–5 YouTube lectures that cover related topics.
2. Extract transcripts from each video.
3. Write a summary script that pulls the most relevant points from all transcripts.
4. Record or generate the summary as a single podcast episode.

Best for: K–12 teachers who want to create study guides in audio form. Students can listen to a 7-minute summary instead of rewatching three 45-minute videos.

Workflow 3: The Q&A flip

Turn lecture content into a question-and-answer format that tests student knowledge.

1. Extract the transcript from a YouTube lecture.
2. Identify 10–15 key facts or concepts from the transcript.
3. Write questions that test each concept, followed by answers.
4. Record or generate the episode with pauses between question and answer so students can think before hearing the response.

Best for: Test prep and review sessions. Students treat these episodes like audio flashcards.

Workflow 4: The guest lecture archive

Many courses feature guest speakers whose talks are recorded and posted to YouTube. These recordings often get watched once and forgotten.

1. Extract transcripts from guest lecture recordings.
2. Edit out date-specific references that won't age well.
3. Add context intros: "This episode features Dr. Jane Smith, who spoke to our Advanced Biology class about CRISPR gene editing."
4. Publish as a curated podcast series that new students can access across semesters.

Best for: Departments that host regular guest speakers and want to build a lasting archive.

Workflow 5: The student-created podcast

Assign students to create podcast episodes from YouTube educational content as a class project.

1. Students select a YouTube video related to the course topic.
2. They extract the transcript and write a 5-minute commentary script.
3. Students record their commentary and submit it as an assignment.
4. The best episodes get published to a class podcast feed.

Best for: Media studies, communications, and journalism courses. Students practice research, writing, and audio production simultaneously.

How Jellypod helps

Jellypod handles the technical steps that slow educators down. Paste a YouTube lecture URL, and the tool extracts the transcript, cleans up filler words and visual references, and generates a podcast-ready audio file. The education features include batch processing for converting a full semester of lectures at once.

Educators save 15–20 minutes per episode compared to manual extraction and editing. For a 15-week course with 2 lectures per week, that's 7–10 hours saved per semester.

Final thoughts

The educators getting the most value from these workflows share one trait: they treat the podcast as a complement to the video, not a replacement. Students still watch the original lecture for visual demonstrations and slide content. The podcast gives them a second pass through the material in a format that fits their daily routine. Two exposures to the same content through different formats produce better retention than two exposures through the same format.