Member Article

GCSEPod top of the class with UK education award win

Online learning platform GCSEPod has added another prestigious national accolade to its growing list of top education awards.

The Newcastle-based EdTech provider has been named an overall five-star winner for its “highly innovative and effective” Check and Challenge student evaluation resource in the Teach Secondary Awards 2020.

GCSEPod was crowned the winner in the Assessment category for its unique Check and Challenge system, which allows students to not only gauge their knowledge and comprehension of a subject, helping aid understanding and information retention via hints, multiple-choice options and feedback but provides teachers with valuable insight into learners strengths and weaknesses.

This is not the first time that GCSEPod – which has been at the forefront of remote learning for more than a decade - has been recognised nationally.

The digital subscription service which helps deliver curriculum-based study for 14-16-year-olds across 28 GCSE and IGCSE subjects through expertly written, highly concentrated three-five minute bursts of audio-visual, teacher-written learning – known as Pods – has triumphed in the past in both the industry-leading British Educational Training and Technology (BETT) and Education Investor awards.

But this is the first honour that GCSEPod has won for its Check and Challenge feature, which launched at the end of 2019.

The Teach Secondary Awards’ were judged by educators, authors and consultants who are all experts in their fields. The Assessment category was looking for resources and services aimed at helping teachers check students’ understanding, improve feedback, track progress and drive school improvement.

Judge and educational consultant and author, Claire Gadsby, said of GCSEPod’s Check and Challenge: “This highly innovative and effective resource is a worthy winner. The ‘Check and Challenge’ element is attractively designed to engage pupils and it incentivises their efforts using the ‘diamond’ reward system.

“The sample answers are cleverly designed around common misconceptions which, in turn, leads to formative feedback that is highly specific and useful. Equally impressive is the diagnostic data produced for teachers, particularly the ‘misconception identified’ summary and suggestions.”

GCSEPod allows students to study on or offline on mobiles, tablets and PCs and is used by more than 1,700 schools in 47 countries.

The platform’s motto is ‘education on demand’, and it played a vital role in helping deliver curriculum-based study to secondary schools during the coronavirus lockdown, with Check and Challenge proving especially popular.

As the uncertainly surrounding schooling continues, GCSEPod’s importance as an effective remote learning tool has continued.

Anthony Coxon, co-founder and director of GCSEPod, which is a division of Soundbitelearning UK Ltd, said everyone was thrilled with this latest recognition. “To win this prestigious national award against such strong competition is an outstanding achievement and shows not only what a truly innovative, creative, engaging, adaptive and personalised resource Check and Challenge is, but also how well it has been received by the sector.

“It has been described as a game-changer by a teacher at one of our subscribing schools, and this award bears out that view. Where similar resources concentrate on students answering question after question to measure their understanding, Check and Challenge takes it to the next level.

“I liken it to having your own personal tutor guiding you through and providing the expert support you need. Students get instant feedback and teachers can see how they are answering and not just what they are answering.”

Anthony adds: “This year has been a particularly difficult one on the education front, one in which schools have had to embrace new ways of delivering learning and assessment.

“Everyone has once again come to value the importance of knowledge and understanding with EdTech playing a vital role in keeping not only students education on track but in supporting teachers as they struggle to deliver lessons and use assessment data to both measure and inform learning.

“Check and Challenge has shone out like an assessment star. Students have been challenged and inspired and teachers have found new creative approaches.

“It’s a real privilege to see both ours and their work being honoured, and we look forward here at GCSEPod to continuing to share our ideas, resources and award-winning approach more widely.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Jessica Adams .