Below are the responses from the group to our ‘starter for 10′ questions.
1. What do you want to get out of participating in the Learning Team?
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Better understanding of how much and how well students have learned
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Gaining more confidence with AifL
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Embedding AifL in practice
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Identifying obstacles to using AifL
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Sharing with the group – critical friends
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Getting more consistency of approach to things like sharing learning intentions and success criteria
2. What do you want your students to get from you participating in the Learning Team?
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Enjoyment
- Feeling part of their learning
- Different(better) approaches to learning based on the teacher improving his/her practice
- To know that students are learning more effectively than before
3. What would you hope for the Learning Team to achieve this session?
- Report back to staff on progress
- A better understanding of approaches to teaching and learning adopted by different teachers and departments so that we may disseminate these good practices the whole school
Notes
We will apply for funding to support some project planning and discussion time out of school
There will be a page on the school website for the learning team. This could be a useful place for people to chart their progress.
There are resources available to help staff think about the focus for their project
- Shirley Clarke formative assessment book(Available from Emma)
- ‘Why’ learning teams booklet (Available from Emma or Barry)
- AifL website www.ltscotland.org.uk/assess
Action (thanks to Marie!)
For our next meeting have a think about a project you’d like to take forward. The focus being AifL.
Date of next meeting Monday 8th February 1.10 pm
Please feel free to add any comments or perspectives of your own if you have a view on any of the above.
I was just listening to one of my Physics Lecturer’s podcasts (available on iTunes U under the University of Edinburgh’s School of Physics & Astronomy section).
Simon Bates talks about the state of physics education, and the research/projects he’s been involved in in the last few years.
The part that’s relevant here, I think, is the use of ‘Diagnostic Testing’. For example, at the start of the first semester classical mechanics course, before any teaching had started, we were all subjected to the ‘Force Concept Inventory’ diagnostic test (the standard amongst colleges and universities). The idea being that from the results we gave they would be able to identify any misconceptions we had, establish what we already knew and therefore what topics to focus on that year. At the end of the course we were given the same test again, which allowed us to see what improvements we’d made over the semester, and allowed them to see how effective they were at teaching (ie how much we’d picked up from them).
Perhaps this is useful in schools? Getting to know how much students know before they start a course to tailor teaching, and again at the end to show progression in learning and effectiveness in teaching? Or maybe asking questions that students have ‘no hope’ of answering at the start of a course, so they get an idea of what will be expected of them, and once they’ve re-done it to reflect on how much they’ve accomplished and what they’re now capable of?
Just a few thoughts, don’t know if any of this is relevant, but I still found it interesting to uncover exactly what he’s been putting us through!
Hi Euan
Thanks for the comment. Diagnostic testing is an interesting topic. My difficulty with diagnostic tests is that its hard to produce a diagnositc test which is relevant to a whole curriculum. the type that you describe seems to relate to a specific course with a clear set of outcomes, not necesarily straightforward for a school to replicate if a youngster comes into secondary school potentially experiencing 8 curricular areas! There are many diagnostic tests in use all across the country in schools, used in many, many different ways, some better than others.
The question to ask is ‘what does the test actually tell me about?’, is it how well the youngster can do that type of test, how literate/ numerate (however you measure it) they are, specific skills they do or do not display or does it tell us about their potential(whatever that is!).
A test of any nature can only ever produce a snapshot of something at a given point in time and what that snapshot actually represents is a whole other topic!
I’m not arguing that all ‘testing’ of this kind is bad, just that we have to be very careful in how we interpret the results of any test. It is a moot point in education across the world!
I’m really glad that you are thinking that deeply about education and look forward to hearing more about your course.