Tradition of academic, sporting and individual achievement
Profiles in Success: The Armidale School
Established in 1894, The Armidale School (TAS) is an Anglican Greater Public School for boys, with a strong tradition of academic, sporting and individual achievement. Since the mid-1980s TAS has provided students with access to computers, starting with the Apple II, transitioning to the Apple Macintosh and, more recently, Apple MacBook notebooks.
Martin Levins, TAS Head of Technological and Applied Studies, states that the use of Apple computers and software across all Years and subjects plays an important part in the evolution of the learning environment. "The world in which our students will enter upon graduation is essentially unknown," he says. "Hence, flexiblity, adaptability and media fluency will be highly sought after skills. The Apple environment removes many of the traditional computing barriers faced by students, allowing teachers to concentrate on the learning rather than software training.
Podcasting - starting with the teachers
For TAS teachers, keeping pace with modern teaching requirements took an interesting turn during the early part of 2006. On the first day back at work, all of them were issued a new Apple iPod then underwent a crash course in its use as a backup device and on the basics of podcasting.
Podcasting is actually a powerful teaching and learning medium. In Years 9 and 10, both English and History courses have verbal presentation components; and for those students who feel naturally awkward standing in front of the class, they're at an immediate disadvantage. Now, though, they have the option of fulfilling this syllabus requirement as a podcast.
— Martin Levins, TAS Head of Technological and Applied Studies
"The underlying components of research and developing the presentation materials are still there," he continues. "It's just that those students are now able to use a presentation medium with which they are much more comfortable and better able to showcase their work."
Students aren't the only ones preparing podcasts; and a number of TAS science and maths teachers are already working on creating a series of revision podcasts. Once published, students will have the option of subscribing to the relevant podcasts and playing them back on their iPods or in iTunes.
"Even the school's head of pastoral care is fired up about podcasting," Levins says. "He's setting a project in motion where he will be able to talk about pastoral care issues and have those podcasts readily available to students, teachers and even parents. The whole concept of podcasting is getting everyone thinking about how they can use it in their own areas - and that's a major vote of confidence."
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