Evidence collection is not the beginning or the end

You’ve now seen a selection of ways to gather evidence of student learning. Evidence collection is just part of the process of planning for learning and developing a formative learning environment. It is how you respond to the evidence that makes a real impact. In this video, Chris introduces the idea that what you will learn in this course is founded by practice-based evidence (learning from other teachers’ practice). However, be cautious of adopting teaching strategies without evaluating whether they are appropriate in specific contexts in your classroom.“…research cannot supply us with rules for action but only with hypotheses for intelligent problem solving. Research can only tell us what has worked in a particular situation, not what will work in any future situation. The role of the educational professional in this process is not to translate general rules into particular lines of action. It is rather to use research findings to make one’s problem solving more intelligent.” Biesta (2007)The examples we provide throughout this course show how they might work in your classroom, but you will need to consider how they apply to your students in order to support their learning. Thinking about the strategies you have just seen, you may already be reflecting on which ones you think will work for your teaching, and which might not.

Task

What do you learn from others?

Look at the statements below from teachers that exemplify why practice-based evidence (classroom research evidence) is key in helping them adopt new practices.

1. “Seeing real teachers try out ideas in the classrooms gives me confidence that I can make these changes in my classroom.”
2. “Watching how the students respond to another teacher helps me see what I need to do to make this work for my class.”
3. “Clearly assessment for learning helps kids improve but the practice-based evidence helps me see how it works in reality.”
4. “The great thing about seeing assessment for learning in action in the classroom helps me see what I already do to make this work and what I need to refine to get it working even better.”
5. “The research makes sense but seeing teachers and students doing it brings it to life and so helps me prepare to do this.”
6. “Just noting the way the teachers question and the ways they interact with their students is inspirational and evidence that this is achievable in real classrooms.”
7. “Practice-based evidence helps me compare what I currently do with what I might be able to do with my class and that is really helpful.”

Choose one of the statements that stands out as important for you and explain why this is in the comments below.