I was fortunate enough to have attended the second session of a three part Professional Development program entitled Visible learning on last week. I thought I might take the opportunity to reflect upon some thing that I took away from the day. This might re-ignite this blog a little bit. We will see.
Firstly Visible learning is based upon the extensive research of John Hattie which culminated in the publication of his two visible learning books which is available to purchase on amazon and other online locations. Some of the major messages behind his work seem to me as a transparency of the learning process so that everyone is aware of what is going on in the learning process. Students need to be aware of what they are learning (using learning intentions) and need to know how they will know when they achieved the learning intention (success criteria).
At the PD last week they showed a couple of clips from a Stonefields school a school outside of Auckland NZ and their school has been structrued heavily around what Hattie suggests are the things that make the biggest difference in student learning. ALthough this clip is not one they showed on the day I found this clip of some kids from Stonefield School. Check it out…
Stonefields has invested a lot of time into developing a shared language of what good learning is. The students are all fully aware of where they are at in the learning process and what is needed to take them to that next level. They employ a variety of learning strategies to help them achieve that next level and are supported by very purposeful and carefully considered feedback form not just their teachers but also each other.
We are now charged with collecting evidence in our school to investigate; if we have visible learners in our school, the degree to which we have passionate and inspired teachers in our school and to identify possible areas for improvement in our school.
I am sure we have many areas to improve but we have across the whole school in all classes the language of Learning Intentions and success criteria driving our teaching. I know that this approach is becoming ‘the norm’ in many schools.
Does your school use approaches from Visible Learning?
What impact has Visible learning approaches had on students?