Learning and assessing (in and) out of the classroom

1. Learning and assessing (in and)out of the classroom John MacBeath and Sue Swaffield AAIA National Conference15 September 2010Newcastle

2. Learning and assessing (in and) out of the classroom How can we use what we know about learning and assessment to support learning (in and) outside the classroom?

3. Things we know about learning • Key points about assessment • Applying what we know to learning outside the classroom • Thinking about assessment issues • Implications for us individually and as an organisationInput Discussion Notemaking - Plenary Groups

4. What’s the difference between learning in and out of the classroom?

5. Connect Extend Challenge A Visible Thinking Routine from David Perkins Connect How does this connect with what I already know? Extend How does this extend my thinking? Challenge What challenges my thinking? What is still challenging? What do I want to challenge?

7. Children: the new commodities We no longer look at children as children with all their quirks, idiosyncrasies, and all the things that make them unique human beings. We see them as grade enhancers and grade detractors. Will they add value or lower our scores? (David Berliner, AERA, 2006)

8. A paradox: Education is par excellence about long term development of people and society but dominated by short-term thinking and decision-making (OECD, 2008) A world of learning

9. 7 things we know about learning • Cognitive conflict (Piaget) • Leverage (Dewey) and Bandwidth (Qvortrup) • Mediated by emotional centres (Damasio) • Attention to the learning moment (Perkins) • Learning by teaching (Bruner) • A social activity (Vygotsky) • Context is critical (Gardner)

10. 7 things we know about learning • Cognitive conflict (Piaget) • Leverage (Dewey) and Bandwidth (Qvortrup) • Mediated by emotional centres (Damasio) • Attention to the learning moment (Perkins) • Learning by teaching (Bruner) • A social activity (Vygotsky) • Context is critical (Gardner) feedback

12. Broad and narrow bandings A broad bandwidth allows a high volume of intellectual and emotional traffic to flow from person to person A narrow band requires careful tuning to find the right wavelength so as to meet the expectations, readiness and engagement of the recipient

13. Leverage Without insight into the psychological structure and activities of the individual, the educative process will, therefore, be haphazard and arbitrary. If it chances to coincide with the child’s activity it will get a leverage; if it does not, it will result in friction, or disintegration, or arrest of the child nature. (Dewey, 1897, My Pedagogic Creed, The School Journal, Volume LIV, Number 3).

14. The KFD principle Feeling Feeling Doing Knowing Doing

15. challenge high FLOW ANXIETY skill low skill high BOREDOM APATHY challenge low

16. The learning moment The “learning moment” is that precise instant when an educational opportunity naturally presents itself in an interesting manner and in context, so that knowledge can be built upon and expanded through conversation or more discovery. Recognizing the Learning Moment: Making the Most of Natural Learning Opportunities http://www.suite101.com/content/recognizing-the-learning-moment-a39285#ixzz0yjwdbbP0

17. Catching the learning moment It’s the spontaneity that’s gone. I mean if it had snowed we used to run to the window and we’d stop and do some creative poetry. That’s gone now because everything is very much structured now, very planned and that’s a shame. (in Galton and MacBeath, Teachers under Pressure, 2008)

18. Learning by teaching “I teach my teddy what I’m learning in class. He is now the smartest teddy in the street.” And she is now the smartest girl in the class

19. Learning is a social activity Conceptual growth comes from the negotiation of meaning, the sharing of multiple perspectives and the changing of our internal representations through collaborative learning (David Merrill, 1991)

20. tasks/ problems unfamiliar novel problems in familiar contexts unfamiliar problems in unfamiliar contexts familiar problems in familiar contexts familiar problems in novel contexts familiar contexts/situations

21. Making thinking visible • Is thinking visible here? • Are pupils explaining things to one another? • Are they offering creative ideas? • Are they using the language of thinking? • Am I? • Are students debating interpretations? • How is assessment enhancing thinking/feeling? • Is this an environment conducive to learning?

23. 7 key points about assessment • Assessment serving and supporting learning • Fitness for purpose • Assessing prior and current learning • Approaches to Assessment for Learning • Roles and Relationships • Validity • Principles and pointers for authentic AfL

24. Who? When? Organisations School leaders Other pupils Parents Teacher Pupil 1. Assessment serving and supporting learning

25. Who? When? Organisations School leaders Other pupils Parents Teacher Pupil Now Soon Later Never 1. Assessment serving and supporting learning

26. Who? When? Organisations Here be dragons School leaders Other pupils Parents Teacher Pupil Now Soon Later Never 1. Assessment serving and supporting learning

27. Assessment for / as / of Learning Different purposes Different methods Some harmonious Some incompatible Assessment for Learning Assessment as Learning Learning as process or product? Learning what and learning how Assessment of Learning 2. Fitness for purpose

28. Starting from where you are Capitalising on previous learning Keeping on track Valuing the unexpected Ascertain what the learner already knows and teach accordingly (Ausubel, 1968) “Within your extended grasp” (Ruth Sutton) “Is this New York?” (Dylan Wiliam) No, it’s Boston “Hurrah!” (John MacBeath) The waste of not knowing what your students know (Sue Swaffield!) 3. Assessing prior and current learning

29. Assessment for Learning • Questioning • Explicit learning intentions and notions of quality • Feedback, and opportunities to act on feedback • Self-regulation • Dialogue, including peer-assessment 4. Approaches to Assessment for Learning

30. Agency – Responsibility - Culture Assessment – Assidere – To sit beside Who can do the learning? Pupils seeing teachers as learners • Roles and Relationships

31. Applying a crucial yet contested idea to a complex and nebulous process Validity What should we understand by the notion of validity? Does a test measure what it purports to measure? How does validity relate to Assessment for Learning? Content Criterion (predictive & concurrent) Construct A property of inferences, not of a test Consequential validity Are conclusions warranted? Assessment for Learning 6. Validity

32. Authentic Assessment for Learning Assessment for Learning is the process of seeking and interpreting evidence for use by learners and their teachers to decide where the learners are in their learning, where they need to go and how best to get there (ARG, 2002) 10 principles Part of planning Focus on how students learn Central to classroom practice Key professional skill Sensitive and constructive Importance of learner motivation Sharing goals and criteria Guidance on how to improve Develops capacity for self-assessment Recognises all achievement (ARG, 2002) • 3 imperatives • Making learning explicit • Promoting learning autonomy • Focusing on learning (LHTL + Swaffield) Effects on learner identity, self-image, approach to learning, learning? (Swaffield) 7. Principles and pointers for authentic AfL

33. 7 key points about assessment • Assessment serving and supporting learning • Fitness for purpose • Assessing prior and current learning • Approaches to Assessment for Learning • Roles and Relationships • Validity • Principles and pointers for authentic AfL

34. Use ‘Connect Extend Challenge’to relate the points about learning and assessment to your own contexts,especially situationsoutside the classroom

36. NO, YOU WEREN’T DOWNLOADED YOU WERE BORN

37. Making the connections 15 85

38. I learned something in school today. I signed up for folk guitar, computer programming, stained glass art, shoemaking and a natural foods workshop. I got spelling, history, arithmetic and two study periods. What did you learn? I learned that what you sign up for and what you get are two different things. Charles Schulz: Peanuts, quoted in School is Dead, Everett Reimer

39. School and not school • Individual cognition in school versus shared cognition outside-- The successfulness of most learning and performance in school is judged on an individual basis rather than a group basis. The latter being more often the case in the real world. • Pure mentation in school versus tool manipulation outside-- When it comes to the use of tools, "In school, the greatest premium is placed upon 'pure thought' - what individuals can do without the external support of books and notes, calculators, or other complex instruments -in contrast to accomplishment of activities outside of school where we have and use many tools or artifacts to accomplish a particular task. • Symbol manipulation in school versus contextualized reasoning outside The use and manipulation of symbols as representations of real objects contrast with using objects themselves, as ways of solving problems in a meaningful way • Generalized learning in school versus situation-specific competencies outside--"To be truly skillful outside of school, people must develop situation-specific forms of competence. In school, learning is more generalized, creating a situation whereby "very little can be transported directly from school to out-of-school use

40. Learning in…….. Captivity The Wild School Extra-curricular activities Peer group activity Homework clubs Home learning Study Support Web surfing Children’s University

41. Perm 20 from 42: Stoke-on-Trent Comedy Drama Workshops, Regent Theatre & Victoria Hall Look Good, Feel Fine, across the city Policing for Success, Longton Police Station, Longton Arts and Crafts Workshop for the Whole Family, across the city Shadow Puppet Workshops, Regent Theatre & Victoria Hall Finance for Families Workshops, across the city Closing the Gap Sports Activities, across the city ICT for Families Course, across the city Digital Activities Classes and Workshops, across the city Healthy Lifestyles for Families Workshops, across the city • Drop-in Art Activities, across the city • Robotics Course for Families, across the city • Scrapbooking for Families, across the city • Grow Your Own Grub, across the city • Fun with Books, across the city • Flair for Fashion, across the city • Bust the Bin (Reduce, Re-use, Recycle!) • Fun with Numbers, across the city • Wild about nature workshops, across the city • Play and Rhyme Time for Families, across the city • Flair for Fashion, across the city

42. Nobody ever failed a museum In a school, the student must be carefully modelled, in terms of prerequisite knowledge and abilities, and carefully evaluated, in order to ensure the coherent and standardised acquisition of knowledge. In a museum, the visitor is defined by the act of visiting – there are no pre-visit qualifications and no post-visit tests. Our visitors are unknown, and, perhaps more importantly, unknowable. In the formal system, the student is responsible for learning. In the informal system, the institution is responsible for creating learning opportunities. A student can fail a school – but only the museum can fail its visitors. (James Bradburn, Director General of the Fondazione Palazzo Strozzi in Florence)

43. What’s in a game? • Giving dynamic ongoing feedback • Offering motivating learning experiences • Using meaningful profiles and reports • Trusting in the ability of the player/learner • Nurturing growth mindsets • Maximising potential for collaboration • Encouraging peer assessment • Presenting purposeful and relevant learning intentions • Ensuring that assessment is not done to learners • Giving players/learners the best chance of success