A4L, AfL or Assessment for Learning

As a result of the work described previously, we put some ideas together:

The following needs to be considered when setting up such CPD:

• Permissions to video students need to be obtained.
• If the video is recorded, the copyright remains with NCC and the recording must not be shown to third parties or be publicised without prior permission of those filmed.  It can be used by the teachers involved to reflect upon the lesson.  For security reasons tapes should be wiped at the end of the process.
• A focus for the observation needs to be agreed. This might affect the positioning of the unit.
• All parties involved need to agree the role of the observer (i.e. passive, active involvement when requested, active support with intervention)
• Pupils need to be informed prior to the lesson.  They need to be reminded of expected behaviour, including the need to eliminate unnecessary noises, such as tapping etc.
• At the beginning of the lessons pupils need to be reminded of the purpose of the observation and how it will be used by teachers.
• Pupils should be given an opportunity to greet the person joining the lesson remotely.  Alternatively, once the video conferencing has been acknowledged, the TV showing the remote teacher/observer can be turned off.  This results in anonymity for the observer and less distraction for the class.  However, students must still be made aware of the observation taking place.
• If students have greeted the person at the beginning, they should also have an opportunity to say good bye.
• The observer needs to have access to all lesson materials prior to the lesson, particularly the lesson plan.
• A live internet connection for both parties is desirable, if the observer takes a more active role.
• A feedback time needs to be arranged.  Feedback can take place through the unit, face to face or through alternative video conferencing facilities, such as Flashmeeting.
• The observer needs to mute their microphone to avoid distractions to the lesson, whenever they are taking a passive role.

Technical considerations:

• The connection needs to be tested prior to the observation.
• The unit and microphone needs to be positioned appropriately in the room.  It could be in a corner, or in the vicinity of the people to be observed more closely (e.g. teacher, small group).
• The remote control needs to be configured with the right number of presets for different angles and parts of the room.
• If the IWB or display is used, the unit needs to be set up to focus onto it.  The teacher needs ensure that lights are switched off and on accordingly during the lesson.
• Where ICT lesson are observed, it is beneficial to have flat screen monitors, rather than CRTs.  The refresh rate of the CRTs causes noticeable flickering through remote observation.

Video conferencing with classroom observation might be used to focus on improving the following aspects of teaching:

• Behaviour for learning
• Getting class to listen
• The way the teacher interacts with the class (particularly NQTs)
• Structure of lesson Aims, Assessment criteria, Plenary
• The change over from one activity to the next
• How to do whole class discussion
• listening to Q&A, class talk
• listening to student conversations and positioning the unit to listen to groups
• Getting the students to present to second audience

It might be less suitable for:

• Viewing students work
• Seeing the whole class
• picking up on all aspects of the classroom and interaction (you miss whatever is not in the camera view)

I read this fascinating post on Konrad Glogowski’s blog of proximal development. Konrad points to the need for engaging with pupils on the level of ideas and describes how his students suddenly pay notice and read with interest the feedback they are given on their essays. It rang a bell with me, as I used to teach MfL some time ago. We always felt at the time, that responding to pupils in a conversational manner, commenting and discussing on aspects of what they had said, rather than on sentence construction, grammar, form etc.

I do struggle to see the application of this to all other subjects, perhaps other people could help with this.

Thanks to Mark Berthelemew for pointing this post out to us.

An AST for ICT in a Norwich High School has recently got excited about the use of Video Conferencing for teacher CPD. Lessons are observed remotely, saving time and travel and feedback can often take place straight away using the technology. The children find the process interesting too, though I’m sure the novelty will wear off eventually. The adviser joined in on the act, but when feedback was not possible straight away, Flashmeeting was used to evaluate the lesson in relation to AfL. During the second 30mins of the hour long video meeting a protocol for using VC for lesson observation was developed. We are keen to spread the practice. Contact Sebastian for further information.

Whilst observing lessons with a focus on AfL, I noticed a few things which are worth sharing more widely.  In a lesson taught at Sprowston High School, Norwich the teacher enabled students to evaluate each other’s coursework against agreed criteria.  Furthermore, prior to the students evaluation he modelled the process for the class.  This helped students to focus on details, which they might otherwise have missed.  Incidentally, two of the teachers noticed the impact of peer evaluation on learning: “I had told them lots of times, but this time they actually learned it.”

KS4 and AfL seem to have a rather mixed relationship. In many respects, assessment for learning works well in many classrooms. Teachers are explaining examination criteria in detail, they point out what else needs to be done or learnt. When it comes to coursework however, there seems to be some difficulty in developing good practice. “Letting students get on with the work” seems to be given preference. I wonder, whether we should lobby the QCA to include in the examination criteria the following aspects:

• can give feedback to a fellow student and apply examination criteria to their work
• can break the task into manageable chunks
• can allocate appropriate amounts of time to each task
• can complete a weekly tracking document, which shows what they have done and what they will do next.

Maybe I’m wrong and students are already assessed on this. Maybe doesn’t need to be explicit?