Dylan Wiliam
BBC The classroom experiment
In this two-part series, theory and practice meet head on as education expert Professor Dylan Wiliam sets up an experimental school classroom. For one term, he takes over a Year 8 class at a secondary comprehensive to test simple ideas that he believes could improve the quality of our children's education. Some of the higher ability students are not responding well to the new rule of No Hands Up in class, and Wiliam is worried they are at risk of being left behind. There is a classroom revolt when the teachers remove grades from work. The idea is to make the students actually read the comments on their work in order to help them improve, but they are left confused and angry after becoming so used to the traditional grading system. By the end of term, however, even Wiliam is surprised by the impact the experiment has had on the students' academic achievement.
The Classroom Experiment (Episode 1)
The Classroom Experiment (Episode 2)
Dylan Wiliam
Formative assessment videos
In this set of nine video presentations, Dylan Wiliam provides an introduction to the key issues of classroom formative assessment. The first three videos provide a brief overview of formative assessment and teacher learning communities. The other six videos go into the issues discussed in the first three videos in more depth.
Why we need to raise achievement (15:38 minutes).
This is the first of three short talks, with accompanying PowerPoint slides (available at https://bit.ly/2yZAGVZ), originally recorded for a school in Australia. In it, Dylan outlines why we need to raise achievement, describe some of the things that have been tried, explain why these haven't worked, and discuss what we can do instead.
What formative assessment is and isn’t (16:36 minutes).
This is the second of three talks with accompanying PowerPoint slides (available at https://bit.ly/2RHiVBy) recorded originally for a school in Australia in which Dylan discuss what formative assessment is, and, perhaps more importantly, what it is not. He also outline the five 'key strategies' of formative assessment, together with some practical techniques that teachers can use to develop their formative assessment practice.
Teacher learning communities (19:02 minutes)
This, the third of three videos on formative assessment with accompanying PowerPoint slides (available at https://bit.ly/3aiDoD8) prepared originally for an Australian school, deals with how school-based teacher learning communities can support teachers in developing their practice of formative assessment.
Formative assessment: What it is and what it is not (17:35 mins)
This is the first of six short videos produced originally for South Australia' Department of Education and Child Development about ten years ago. It outlines the different uses of the term formative assessment, and suggests that much of the debate over these definitions can be resolved by realizing that formative assessment can occur over long, medium, and short cycles, with the last of these further defined as involving five 'key strategies': https://bit.ly/2xI7jaz
Engineering effective discussions, activities and classroom tasks that elicit evidence of learning (18.54 mins)
This is the second of six videos produced for South Australia's Department of Education and Child Development about ten years ago. The video focuses on the formative assessment strategy of "Engineering effective discussion, activities, and classroom tasks that elicit evidence of learning". The PowerPoint slides are here: https://bit.ly/3aiMcIX
Using an interpretive lens rather than an evaluative one (18:52 mins)
This is the third of six videos produced for South Australia's Department of Education and Child Development about ten years ago. The video focuses on the formative assessment strategy of "Engineering effective discussion, activities, and classroom tasks that elicit evidence of learning" and delves deeper into how to make sense of students' responses—listening interpretively rather than evaluatively. The PowerPoint slides are here: https://bit.ly/3csK1Eg
Providing feedback that moves learning forward (14:57 mins)
This is the fourth of six videos produced for South Australia's Department of Education and Child Development about ten years ago. The video focuses on the formative assessment strategy of "Providing feedback that moves learning forward". The PowerPoint slides are here: https://bit.ly/3amdRsG
Activating students as owners of their own learning, and as learning resources for each other (16:10 mins)
This is the fifth of six videos produced for South Australia's Department of Education and Child Development about ten years ago. The video focuses on the last two formative assessment strategies: "Activating students as learning resources for one another" and "Activating students as owners of their own learning". The PowerPoint slides are here: https://bit.ly/3cAo4mV
Leading teacher learning communities (20:42 mins)
This is the last of six videos produced for South Australia's Department of Education and Child Development about ten years ago. The video focuses on how school leaders can establish and sustain school-based teacher learning communities that help teachers develop their formative assessment practice. The PowerPoint slides are here: https://bit.ly/3eD30Of.