St David’s C atholic College

1. St David’s Catholic College A presentation on sector leading practice in: The innovative use of moodle to support, deliver and assess the Welsh Baccalaureate and key/essential skills by Ruth Jones, Assistant Senior Manager The electronic individual learning plan (eILP) by Alwyn Lloyd, Assistant Principal

2. Rationale for using moodle as the main delivery mechanism • Around 1600 learners, but also over 6000 key skills being awarded on an annual basis Such scale brings with it a number of aims and objectives when developing a WBQ/key skill/ESW delivery model: • To have a delivery model that can deliver and assess on a very large scale, and that can meet the needs of learners and deliverers in a flexible or structured manner. • To ensure consistency of experience for every learner • To have a highly organised administrative system that can track the progress of every learner • To ensure consistency in delivery and assessment • To monitor quality across every learner and every deliverer

3. Pedagogy behind the WBQ moodle • Some elements grouped into themes. Human rights and responsibilities (PSE El.3, KI3 & WEW El.1, KI2) / Environmental issues (WEW El.3, KI1 & 2) Welsh culture (WEW El.4, KI1 & WEW El.4, KI2) / Healthy living (WEW El.2, KI1 & PSE El.2, KI1) • Enterprise incorporating Working With Others key skill • Language incorporating Improving Own Language and Performance key skill • Individual Investigation incorporating Communication key skill Different pedagogical vantages for each theme/element

4. Examples of a moodle pages for deliverers and learners Environmental theme Click here for environmental Enterprise module Click here for enterprise Note: • Teacher materials hidden • Linear format • All materials are provided • The use of books • Basic skills support – e.g.,

5. Embedded nature of key skills/ESW Screen shot from Enterprise page. Learners click on each question and then submit their answers. An assessor can then click on Question 7, for example, where 580 learners (organised in classes) have submitted their responses and mark the response. Once marked, this sends an email to the learner.

6. Assessment and tracking of key skills/essential skills/diary sheets • The assessor for TG 11 has marked and graded the key skill for the above learners. Grades used are ‘good’, ‘satisfactory’ and ‘unsatisfactory, please redo’. • In order to raise standards, diary sheets are also marked in the same way

7. Benefits to learners • Learners can access materials in a single location if they are absent from the lesson • Learners can submit and review their feedback anywhere that has an internet connection When asked whether WBQ students were taking responsibility for their own learning, 43% strongly agreed, and 45% agreed that they were taking such responsibility, largely due to the WBQ Moodle platform. Enhancing opportunities for staff • Staff have become proficient in assessing work online • Moodle has encouraged staff to consider learning styles and strategies to a much greater extent in order to meet the needs of their learners • Staff have become much more proficient in using ICT and Moodle tools to convey knowledge in interesting and stimulating ways Benefits to parents • Parents can log onto Moodle to check the progress of their child • Parents can also explore the subject matter on the WBQ Moodle pages Benefits to Management • The manager of key skills and WBQ is able to ensure that all deliverers are following a consistent approach, both in terms of delivery but also assessment • Any issues can be quickly identified such as deliverers taking too long to mark work or failure of learner’s to submit work on time

8. Introduction to the eILP The college places an emphasis on high quality learner care and guidance in assisting learners to perform to the best of their ability. Delivered through the personal tutor programme, the college formally utilised a ‘snap shot’ paper tracking system for capturing learner data. From a review in 2009 a new electronic tracking system was sought which would: • provide reliable and robust data to learners, personal tutors and subject tutors in real-time; • facilitate the development of challenging targets for learners and course teams; • meet individual learner needs by identifying the link between career, training and education goals; • ensure that learning support has the maximum positive impact on learners by access to live data; • identify learners at the greatest risk of dropping out by creating ‘trigger points’ for attendance and attainment data; and • provide a management tool for monitoring and assessing college performance in terms of impact on learners, performance and wellbeing.

9. What is an eILP? An electronic individual learning plan provides online and real-time learner data, written back by and accessible to a number of stakeholders, including: • Teaching staff • Personal tutors • Students • Parents • Managers

10. The Staff eILP

11. The Staff eILP Learner data is captured on enrolment and is provided to teaching staff to inform lesson planning.

12. The Curriculum Staff eILP A central feature is the provision of online assessment data. Formally teaching staff made use of front-sheets to convey assessment information. This assessment information is now written on the eILP and can be reviewed by all stakeholders in support of the student.

13. The Curriculum Staff eILP The provision of live data effectively means that tracking system is carried out continuously. The eILP does however have a facility for reporting. The identification of learning action points enables the learner and the pastoral tutor to plan for how to improve learning and performance.

14. The Student eILP The student version of the eILP provides the student with their learning programme data.

15. The Student eILP The assessment data provided by curriculum staff can be viewed in real-time by the student. The eILPprovides a permanent record of the assessment. In focus groups students highly valued this facility.

16. The Parental eILP Following demand from parents for access to live data a parental eILP was developed. Functionality is less than the student eILPbut retains the key data parents need.

17. The Parental eILP The traditional parents evening model is redundant given the quality of information and contact available.

18. The ‘Quality’ eILP The ‘Quality eILP’ provides staff and managers with real-time quality assurance data. The data is collated at programme area level and can be drilled down from to class and deliverer.

19. The ‘Quality’ eILP The self-assessment review takes eILP data and is completed online.

20. Evaluation of the eILP The eILP has had a significant impact on outcomes; • Basic skill, learning style and qualification on entry data has improved lesson planning by ensuring the needs of all learners are met. The proportion of high grades in management lesson observations has risen from 76% to 87% as staff take greater account of the individual needs of learners and prescribe differentiated learning strategies. • The college attendance and studentship policy is also delivered through the eILP. The transparency this provides informs all stakeholders and focuses on corrective behaviour. Attendance across the college has risen from 90% to 92% in this time. • The increased transparency in assessment recording increases student motivation. The link between effort, performance and recognition is enhanced as students respond to the feedback they receive. Students value this in learner voice surveys. However • It takes time. The ‘off the shelf’ packages from MIS providers are inadequate and need development. • Staff generally perceive benefits but systems need to be reviewed to avoid duplication.