A4L, AfL or Assessment for Learning » AfL

AfL Links updated

A4Lblog — Wed, 02 Aug 2006 08:05:40 +0000

There is a plethora of materials available for AfL. To save everyone having to look for them all the time, I have updated the weblinks on the del.icio.us site. This is also available as an rss feed. Within Norfolk, the links are also available within the Netmedia VLE. Please feel free to contact us with further links to add to the list.

Using Video conferencing to improve AfL

A4Lblog — Fri, 24 Mar 2006 14:26:10 +0000

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)

Writing and the reader’s comment

A4Lblog — Mon, 13 Mar 2006 14:03:13 +0000

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.

Course work and AfL

A4Lblog — Mon, 06 Mar 2006 16:14:33 +0000

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?

Getting a handle on AfL

A4Lblog — Fri, 24 Feb 2006 09:50:26 +0000

Some of the strategy materials on assessment for learning are great and really detailed. However, too much detail is often a problem for busy teachers. When I asked an adviser, how she enables people to have a quick introduction to AfL, she pointed out booklet no. 12 in the Pedagogy in Practice pack. Its predictably called ‘Assessment for Learning’ and contains a nice overview of the topic. The section on ‘Helping pupils recognise the standards they are aiming for’ is quite useful, as it is often quite difficult to enable student to understand National Curriculum Levels and other assessment criteria created for Adults.

You can download the booklet here and it’s also in our link collection.

Blended Learning and AfL

A4Lblog — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 15:14:24 +0000

Norfolk Education Advisory Services are currently exploring the use of blended learning for CPD (continued professional development). A number of teachers, advisers and pupils are involved in training opportunties, which make use of online discussion forums, video conferencing and digital video recording. Two of the projects include groups of teachers, who are keen to develop the application of AfL. Participants explore the application of curricular target setting, layered targets, the use of assessment to adapt planning and other aspects by exchanging ideas with colleagues from other schools.

Pupil reflections on e-portfolios

A4Lblog — Wed, 22 Feb 2006 14:04:12 +0000

I witnessed an interesting example of peer assessment yesterday. Pupils in a year 6 class had been producing a small webpage on an e-portfolio about the coast. When they were shown how to post a reflection on someone else’s page, they clearly enjoyed both looking at other pupils work and also giving them some feedback. As this was the first time pupils used these online tools, the feedback was merely positive, rather than a form of peer assessment against the success criteria given. Pupils then started to walk around the classroom, asking each other to look at their page or the comment they had made. They are now eagerly awaiting the feedback of pupils from another school, who will be looking at their pages online.