Our DNA

From start to finish every new GCSEPod title:

Involves the contribution of over 10 different individuals
Takes an average of 8 weeks to create
Is designed in collaboration with customer feedback

Here’s just a taster of the unique five stage process behind every GCSEPod audio title.

Research & Design

Every GCSEPod begins life at the drawing board with Ian. Ian is responsible for breaking down each chosen subject into bite-sized revision chunks. Consulting each exam board specification individually, Ian tailors our content to make it both varied and highly relevant:

“Revision has never been more important. Our work at the design stage ensures the quality of each GCSEPod as a uniquely powerful resource and crucially, its relevance by exam board” – Ian

Specialist Scriptwriting

From the drawing board to the scriptwriting, the process passes to Jane. Jane takes Ian’s work as a blueprint in the search for our specialist scriptwriters – experienced teachers with a passion for their chosen topics. Typically each subject will be the work of 3 to 4 different specialists.

We only ask the teachers to write about their specialist areas. They know the content really well, which means they can also concentrate on bringing it to life with interesting facts and novel ways for the listener to remember information. Once the script has been written by a teacher, it goes to a specialist editor who casts a fresh pair of eyes over it to ensure that it reads well and is ready to be sent to the narrator for recording.

“Teachers can bring the script to life in many different ways. I’m often impressed by the use of real-life examples and facts that will really help the memory! The editors are also an integral part of the process, ensuring that the product is the best that it can be.”- Jane

Illustrations and Icon art

Following editing, each script is reviewed by Helen who creates album art to help the users identify each title. Then she sets about briefing our artist to create images which will bring the audio to life. In addition to this, Helen also designs icon art, a visual reminder of key things the listener will have just heard – for example relevant facts, names of characters, people or key quotes. These enhance the learning experience, as when something important is heard, it is seen (and learnt) too.

“It’s brilliant that our GCSEPod titles provide not only audio content, but visual content too. I go through each script carefully selecting the key parts, words and phrases which are the most important or difficult to remember. I really put myself in a GCSE student’s shoes!” - Helen

Ad-Ministry of Sound

After Jane has finished with the scripting, Chris and the sound team set to work bringing the product to life. Unlike some other audio available for GCSE students we never use synthesised voiceovers – actors and familiar dialects give our products a human quality like no other. It’s like revision advice from a close friend!

“By the time a subject reaches the recording stage all the hard work has been done already, allowing us to concentrate on the fine particulars of the script. Our narrators really do bring something else to the materials – I often find myself listening at home!” - Chris

The Final Touches

With the sound recording and editing stages complete each GCSEPod returns to Anthony – the man behind the GCSEPod idea. Each title is listened to in its entirety and checked for accuracy. Then its Anthony’s task to apply our unique digital watermark as a signature of the quality, authenticity and security which comes with every title we offer.