GCSEPod

classroom use

Context

GCSEPod has been developed by Soundbitelearning UK Ltd, an innovative British company and is perfectly placed to assist students in Years 10 and 11. It provides an easy, straightforward and fun way to navigate through the endless studying and revision required of the modern student. It also provides a platform to enable parents to get involved in meaningful discussions with their children about successful revision techniques and to help them use the new media technologies which is what I found whilst testing this product with my son, who is currently in Year 10 and studying for the GCSE topics currently available from GCSEPod.

Student Response

My son was particularly keen to trial the new sections on science; Physics, Chemistry and Biology are being added to the initial four subjects available on the website. He liked the way the clips were broken down into 3–5 minute chapters because it allowed him to revisit sections for extra revision or to quickly find his place when he took breaks; GCSEPod revision can be undertaken in small chunks of learning as well as in a concentrated 30 minute deep learning sessions. The new images in science are a welcome feature; my son felt that the images were of a good quality for the iPod and although he felt that you didn’t need to refer to them all of the time (as podcasting is primarily an aural experience) he felt that they were helpful to avoid confusion and reinforce learning, for example when learning chemical formulae. The weblinks were a welcome feature to my son as he is a keen scientist and he appreciated the opportunity to extend his revision and learning through the recommended links. In terms of the tonal quality of the actress who narrated the text he felt that she was informative, well spoken, friendly and most importantly, not patronising.

My son uses his iPod a lot for entertainment purposes and he would definitely recommend using podcasting as a way of helping to commit revision to memory.

Personalisation

Prior training in the use of GCSEPod resources is not essential as the homepage is user friendly and the menus are easy to navigate.

The time taken to prepare a revision plan and deciding on which topics or titles to download is more than rewarded by the richness of the resources and the deep knowledge that can be gained through the quality of the narration and content. Additional features include the use of follow-up web links, the very helpful RSS feeds which can be signed up to and a newsletter providing the latest subject news. Students and parents will enjoy navigating around the site and there is real potential for promoting Personalized Learning and distance learning; this also offers scope for parents to get involved in aspects of their child’s learning. Parents familiar with the benefits of using ICT in the classroom may well use GCSEPod to support and encourage revision activity across a range of subjects and topics.

An additional bonus feature of the website is the use of GCSE blogs written by expert practitioners (some of whom are examiners) to create a dialogue with students on subjects such as exam techniques and exam stress.

Assessment and pupil tracking opportunities

GCSEPod is designed as an interactive curriculum tool to stimulate discussion and creativity by using a variety of ICT based approaches to revision. The podcasts are feature rich; there is a greater emphasis on the use of GCSE blogs with expertly written features on exam technique, exam stress and in one case 'The Art of Using Geography Case Studies' for a geography exam, written by Helen Nurton, a current GCSE exam marker. Blogs are followed up with 'question and answer' sessions to provide a genuine educational dialogue which can be accessed by students and parents. Assessment is provided for in the form of links to sites such as GCSE Bitesize, but formal opportunities for assessment and pupil tracking are not a feature of this package at the moment; with the emphasis being placed on pupils taking responsibility for their own progress and dialogue with their parents.