Term 3, 2007
Authentic learning case study seven: Pod Cast
Subject: English
Year Level: 9 and 10

Enterprising attributes: Students had the opportunity to work in teams and learn leadership skills in a team context. The students gained the confidence and inspiration to overcome challenging tasks.

Outline of the unit of work: In order to fulfil oral literacy requirements, an English teacher decided to use podcasting to encourage shy students to have some experience of oral language. After taking part in an Enterprise seminar students were asked to use their creativity to make an interesting 2 minute Pod cast. The podcasts were recorded in the school’s radio station using garageband and the intention was to broadcast on the school radio. Initially the students found this task challenging. However, the end result was a successfully executed 2 minute Pod cast on the 2007 Rugby World Cup, which unfortunately wasn’t aired.

In this project, things did not go perfectly to plan. The podcasts were not able to be aired which took away the authentic audience. In true enterprising spirit however, the teacher is planning on doing similar work this year, with students taking more of a leadership role to ensure the audience is establish.

Student outcomes: Students were highly engaged in the task, having previously shown little enthusiasm for their English class. The oral language task was completed with enormous success in partnership with technology.

Teachers comments: “No matter how long you have been teaching or what your background is, you can always learn new and exciting ways to approach various topics. In particular the authentic nature of learning, doing something for a real purpose”.

There is real value in… “sharing ideas with new and different people with a different outlook and approach”.