Getting the most out of your learning

Courses in ExpertTracks may be assessed using either: Peer Graded Assignments, Tests, or a combination of both.

Peer Graded Assignment steps have been designed specifically for ExpertTracks to provide you with a chance to develop a deeper insight into the quality of your work through the review of your course peers. These assignments will help you to demonstrate your understanding of the material covered and skills learnt within a course. Assignments may be made of multiple tasks, each with its own ‘task prompt’ and grading criteria. Peer Graded Assignments are part of your final summative grade.

Tests contribute to your final score. You can retake tests as often as you need but it is important to complete them as they count towards your overall score.

To receive a certificate for each course within the ExpertTrack, as well as the overall ExpertTrack, you’ll need to have achieved the following:

• Marked 90%+ of steps as complete
• Attempted every test and assessment question
• Gained an average score of 70%+ across all Peer Graded Assessments and Tests

Finally, you do not have to take any assessment until you’re ready. To help you prepare you might wish to spend some time reviewing and revising.

There are no scored Tests or Peer Graded Assignments within this course that count towards your final score.

Of course, there’s more to engagement than gaining certificates. We are confident that if you engage fully in all parts of this ExpertTrack you’ll likely maximise your learning and encounter other perspectives and ideas. You can have a richer learning experience by doing the following:

• Working through the component courses in the suggested order. They’re arranged for a reason, and each course has been designed with a logical sequence. Jumping ahead without completing what came before may give you a disjointed learning experience.
• Reading, watching and listening across a variety of steps. Some of which are text based, whilst others contain rich media such as video or audio.
• Sharing and discussing your learning with course peers. Keep an eye out for the prompts which follow many steps, and get ready to spend a little more time on the Discussion steps.
• Developing your ideas through conversation. Educators will not be able to respond directly to comments in this ExpertTrack. We encourage learners to support one another, share personal experiences, and see new perspectives through the comments.
• Concept-checking and assessing your progress by completing quiz steps. Quizzes are just for practice, and the scores don’t count towards your certificate of achievement.

For more information about ExpertTrack subscription, assessment and certificates on FutureLearn, please visit our community support site.

Capturing your thinking

A great way to get the most out of your course is to consistently capture your thinking. Exactly what you choose to record will be different for everyone, but it will probably include your notes, useful resources and reflections on your progress.

We call this collection a ‘learning log’. The aim is to allow you to regularly look back on what you’ve learned and articulate your thoughts and feelings about the experience. A learning log is informal and can be kept private. However, in the spirit of social learning, you’re encouraged to share as much of your work with your fellow learners as feels comfortable.

It’s up to you how you record your log entries but you might want to consider:

• Offline in a notebook
• Blogging and journaling tools, such as Blogger, Tumblr, Wix and WordPress
• Online note-taking tools and apps, such as Shrib, EverNote and Google Keep

Please note, following the above links will take you to a third-party website, where you may be asked to submit personal details, such as your name and email address. If so, please ensure you’re familiar with the terms and conditions and privacy policy before submitting your information.

Accessing these third-party websites will not affect your course progress.

When you’re ready to move on, click the pink Mark as Complete button below, then click next to visit the next step.