Get to grips with Assessment for Learning with one of three courses for teachers from the National STEM Learning Centre. Assessment for Learning (AfL) is a term that’s widely used in education, but applied in ways that are variable in their effectiveness. This free online course - designed for STEM teachers in primary and secondary schools, and sixth form and further education colleges - will help you understand and use it more effectively.
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Understand Assessment for Learning in theory and practice
Through this course, you’ll understand:
- the theory and science behind effective Assessment for Learning;
- how to use Assessment for Learning to elicit evidence about what’s going on in your learners’ minds;
- how to use this evidence formatively with your learners in your laboratory and classroom;
- how to write, judge and use the hinge questions that are central to Assessment for Learning in STEM.
Enjoy your teaching more
As the course progresses, you’ll be encouraged to try things out in your laboratory and classroom; actively reflect on what you discover in the process; and share your experience as part of the course discussions.
You’ll also be invited to read some of the scientific literature about Assessment for Learning. Your learners will gain as a result - and you’ll enjoy your teaching more.
Learn with Dylan Wiliam, Christine Harrison and Andrea Mapplebeck
This course has been developed by the National STEM Learning Centre. It gives you the opportunity to learn with three leading experts in STEM education and assessment:
- Dylan Wiliam: Emeritus Professor of Educational Assessment at University College London and author of Embedded Formative Assessment;
- Christine Harrison: Senior Lecturer in Science Education at King’s College London, past Chair of the Association for Science Education and former secondary school teacher;
- Andrea Mapplebeck: Educational Consultant, Formative Education Ltd and former secondary school teacher.
Continue learning with the STEM Teaching program
This course is one of three in the STEM Teaching program - a suite of high-impact professional development from the National STEM Learning Centre. Completing the program will enable you to master different elements of STEM teaching and earn a FutureLearn Award as evidence of your continuing professional development (CPD).
What will you achieve?
By the end of the course, you'll be able to...
- Identify the main principles of Assessment for Learning
- Assess some of the research literature about Assessment for Learning
- Reflect on the role of intentional dialogue in supporting teaching in a formative way
- Explain the key characteristics of a hinge-point question
- Improve ability to create hinge-point questions through a peer review design and evaluation process
- Contribute to a crowd-sourced repository of hinge-point questions
- Collaborate with peers, educators and mentors to try out activities and share thinking in order to help shift practice
- Evaluate a range of practical ideas that can be used to elicit evidence from students
- Collect and analyse evidence from students on changes implemented in the classroom in order to critically reflect on own practice in order to prioritise next steps in own development
