Sharing best practice in audio software workshops at undergraduate level: How Cillit Bang and Bruce Willis saved the day

Three years ago a dramatic shift in our delivery of AVID Pro Tools workshops occurred, we started to team teach the four two day workshops scheduled for our first term second year undergraduates. The results were self evident from the first session.
The two of us were able to begin to challenge some of the preconceptions of software workshop delivery, as well as enable a greater understanding of the role of sound in moving image projects. We attempted to depart from preconceptions that delivery should follow the rigid format of learning each tool in the box with one acceptable way of using it and measurement of successful learning through ‘complete’ knowledge of a software suite. Instead we moved towards learning fewer tools but with more space for experimentation and plenty of room to make mistakes. After all, education forums are the one place where this is acceptable and in our experience it has proven valuable.
Better student understanding, more developed assessment work and a highly engaged cohort have resulted. This is, however, just the beginning; we are still developing our approaches and hope to further refine all aspects of the delivery in these workshops for the future.