Gone are the days when revision meant just buying a revision guide and reading it cover to cover. There are so many fantastic resources out there at the moment to help pupils with their revision and target weaknesses, with one of them being GCSEPod.
So, what is GCSEPod?
Their website says: At the heart of GCSEPod are our videos. We call them “Pods”. Each one is a highly concentrated, 3-5 minute burst of audio-visual learning and specialist subject knowledge for 20 curriculum areas. It’s written by expert subject teachers then rigorously quality assured. Narrated by professional voice over artists and with visuals produced by our award-winning in-house design team, every Pod is mapped to GCSE exam boards and we are committed to keeping up with curriculum and technology changes.
The Pods are designed for any device and can be watched both in and out of school. It’s a bit like carrying a huge pile of textbooks with you everywhere! Experts read and explain everything clearly including all the right facts, quotes, keywords, dates and diagrams on screen. You won’t need to use it for long to feel the impact. Consistent use in brief 10 minute sessions is proven to support achievement right up to A* (or grade 9).
Benefits of using GCSEPod (taken from the www.GCSEpod.com website):
– Suitable for Android and Apple
– Get organized with ready-made or bespoke playlists
– ’Favourite’ any Pods on topics you find hard, then revisit them and fill your knowledge gaps
– Complete tests to identify your weaker areas and then watch personalised playlists to help strengthen those areas
– Watch exam specific playlists with everything you need to excel in an upcoming exam
– Complete homework online and get instant feedback (no waiting for your teacher to do the marking!)
– Listen to GCSEPod privately on your mobile – no one needs to know you are working
– Share Pods via links to Twitter and Facebook and see what your friends are watching
Already our Year 11s, in particular, are starting to see the benefits of using GCSEPod, making good use of it during the March Mock exams. Having so many Pods across all of the subjects is such a useful resource bank and being able to revise in short chunks both in and out of school is beneficial too. After subscribing just before Christmas and launching to Year 11 before we broke up and then Year 10s in February, already we have seen over 10 000 Pods streamed or download across 23 different subjects!
In March, Northgate received an email from GCSEPod saying,
‘We wanted to congratulate you on some outstanding GCSEPod usage over the past months.
We have not yet entered the main exam period and yet you have almost reached 8,000 Pods watched. This is a superb achievement and suggests your usage for this academic year may go over the 15,000 Pods watched mark.
We also wanted to let you know that you are now a grade “A” in our GCSEPod usage ratings, meaning you have some of the highest usage in the whole country. We grade all schools/colleges based on usage, size and breadth of usage on a ratings systems of A (highest), B, C, D, E, F, U (lowest).’
Lauren Coates, Year 11 said, ‘it’s one of the best resources the school has invested in’, whilst Lauren Huntley, Year 11 commented that, ‘it has really helped me with my revision for the mock exams and is particularly good for Science and History.’
UPDATE: We have just received the following from GCSEPod!!
