John Luke Robertson speaks on the “Unashamed” podcast.
Courtesy | Juan Dávalos
Members of the Duck Dynasty family will take Hillsdale College’s online course on the book of Genesis and discuss it on their podcast, in a partnership with the college.
Every Friday, starting Aug. 29, hosts of “Unashamed with the Robertson Family” will discuss a lesson from an online course taught by Professor of English Justin Jackson. Once they finish the course, they will start “The Exodus Story,” and then move on to “The David Story: Shepherd, Father, King.”
Unashamed podcast host Zach Dasher said that his team was looking for an educational partner to enable the next generation to be immersed in critical thinking and the Christian worldview, and Hillsdale was at the top of the list.
“This is a little different from what we normally do, because one of the things that we wanted to capture in this venture was we wanted to be able to bring in a multi-generational table,” Dasher said.
The Friday podcasts, called “Unashamed Academy Powered by Hillsdale College,” will feature Al Robertson, Dasher, John Luke Robertson, and Christian Huff.
“It’s hilarious when you’re watching it,” Dasher said. “Al’s got a notebook for all his notes. I have a laptop, John Luke has an iPad, and Christian has his phone. You get to see the generations represented based on how we access our notes on different technologies.”
Dasher said Unashamed Academy is “kind of like ‘Seinfeld’ meets Bible study.”
“The first thing that I would want the viewers to take away from the podcast is an imagination for the kingdom and a curiosity to dive into these stories,” Dasher said.
When Hillsdale started its online courses program, it wanted to provide people with access to high quality classical education, according to Vice President of Marketing Jon Hall.
“We had to, as an organization, not just as marketing, but as an entire senior staff, had to really understand what our brand was really about and how to position it in a way that could have more mass impact on all Americans, as many Americans we have,” Hall said.
The college identified a group of 37 million people called “truth-seeking Americans,” according to Hall. These are people who have never heard about Hillsdale but show a high interest in the country, the U.S. Constitution, and faith, based on survey data.
“They need a guide, and they’re looking for the truth,” Hall said. “They’re looking for information to learn more that they’re hungry to learn.”
Hillsdale Executive Director of Brand Management Juan Dávalos said the audience of the Unashamed podcast is a “perfect match” for the truth-seeking American.
“We partnered with the Unashamed podcast because we believe it is a new way for us to teach this audience that shares the principles that Hillsdale stands for, but, as our research indicates, is unfamiliar with Hillsdale,” Dávalos said.
Last year, the online courses program had 1.2 million course enrollments and 700,000 new accounts created, according to Dávalos.
“The goal of the partnership is in keeping with our goal to bring our teaching to as many Americans as possible,” Dávalos said.
Currently, the Unashamed podcast has millions of downloads per month, with its popularity expected to rise with the relaunch of the “Duck Dynasty” TV show on A&E, according to Dávalos.
“They will invite their audience throughout the week to go to our online course, watch a lecture, and join them every Friday on their podcast as they discuss the lecture as a family,” Dávalos said. “In a way, we are trying to recreate digitally one of the most valuable experiences of learning in person, the after-class discussion.”
The college is working to partner with other influencers to increase participation in the online courses program, according to Hall.
“‘Duck Dynasty’ is just the beginning,” Hall said. “We’re going to be getting all kinds of different cohorts of audiences that are out there that just represent a wide swath of the American population.
