In order for students to have a clear idea of where they are heading, lessons should have clear learning intentions with aligned goals that clarify what success looks like.
Learning intentions should always explicitly explain what students need to understand, and what they must be able to do. This helps us, as teachers, to plan and sequence learning activities. It also helps students understand what is required.
Beyond this, students should also be encouraged (and taught), how to set their own learning goals that are aligned with the learning intentions. This helps students better understand what is required of them, what actions will help them achieve their goals, and make them more self-aware and autonomous in their learning.
All Edrolo resources give you access to learning intentions that are aligned to the relevant curriculum (for your jurisdiction). Instead of reinventing the wheel, use these in your planning and with your students.
You can find learning intentions in the following places:
Getting your students to set SMART goals helps them focus and create a set of achievements during a specific time in school. This can help to increase their motivation and create a clear link between effort and achievement.
To help your students determine where they should set their focus, they can use their self-ratings on lessons within Edrolo. Wherever they have given themselves a lower score is where they should focus. They can then use the lesson learning intentions to set specific and realistic goals against a reasonable timeline.
Use the Edrolo data dashboard to track goal progress with your students. Data you may look at could be:
Teaching students metacognitive strategies can empower them in their learning journey. It teaches them how to think about their own thinking, and therefore become more aware of the learning process.
When students are empowered in their learning, they are able to self regulate, and manage their own motivation. In short, students are able to reflect on where they are, where they want to be, and how to get there on their learning journey.
The impact of these strategies extend far beyond the classroom. In an ever-changing world, it requires students to be truly analytical, critical thinkers in order to adapt and respond effectively to these changes. Teaching students how to use metacognitive strategies enables them to interrogate their own thought processes, attitudes and beliefs.
Using Edrolo, students are able to self-mark their work and get instant feedback. When marking their responses, it is an opportunity for them to reflect on where they are and where they want to be. Quite often, students will struggle to determine how to get there. This is easy to overcome with Edrolo, as for each short answer question, students are provided with:
Build reflective learners by getting students to rate their understanding of concepts. Using Edrolo in the senior years, this is on a 5-point scale and in the junior years this is on a 3-point scale. Embedding this in their routine allows them to consistently evaluate their learning progress. Since this score is recorded on their study planner, they are able to use these scores to create a priority revision list.
In order for students to progress in their learning and learn from their mistakes, feedback is imperative. As teachers, we know that providing feedback that is clear, concise and gives students an idea on how to progress to the ‘next level’ is so important, but we often lack the time to do so effectively or within a suitable time frame. Edrolo provides students and teachers with multiple opportunities to give and receive feedback, see progress and save time.
In order for students to identify their level of understanding and/or skills and plan their next steps to achieve their learning goals, feedback must be timely.
Students are provided with immediate feedback on the questions within the video lessons on Edrolo. This assists students to check their understanding of the content that is being taught in the video lesson.
They also received immediate feedback for all multiple choice questions in both the textbook online assessments to monitor their learning. Students receive video solutions for each multiple choice question which unpacks the question, explains it and justifies the answer.
Where students have trouble, they are able to access a list of video lessons that are related to the question. They can click the hyperlink to review the content to consolidate their understanding. This tool supports students to have a deeper understanding of how to reach a solution and therefore, adjust their approach to answering the question.
Teachers are able to access real-time data on how students perform on all multiple choice questions. This provides evidence of students' learning and where whole-class or individual intervention is required such as discussions, explicit teaching, activities may be required to develop their understanding and/or skills.
When students complete short answer or extended response questions in the online platform, they will have access to an exemplar response, a marking rubric AND a video solution that steps them through the correct answer. As mentioned in the section above, this can be used for self-marking and building metacognition, but it also provides three layers of feedback that can scaffold students into improving their responses.
Beyond this, teachers also have the ability to review students’ self-marking, override this and leave written feedback. As students will have already had the opportunity to review feedback through the platform, the feedback you leave for your students can be more targeted.
Once students have completed a progress check or test, they can view their feedback from the online platform and their teacher and then have a second go at answering the questions they previously answered incorrectly by clicking ‘Review Mistakes’.
Ever heard of a feedback sandwich? Well this is a good way to structure your comments for your students. Whether giving verbal or written feedback, it’s important to acknowledge what students are doing well (feed UP), explain where they might improve (feed BACK) and then give some advice on their next steps to achieve this (feed FORWARD). Also consider whether the feedback you’re providing is related to the task (task requirements), process (skills used) or self-regulation (feedback designed to facilitate their improvement).
An example is provided below:
