learning

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Trinitiy College London webinar: The Learning GPS – Helping Students Navigate, Monitor and Recalculate Their Learning Journey – Maria Eugenia Ianiro

Session plan:

  • Introductory questions
  • Introduce Learning GPS
  • Metacognition definition and importance
  • Activities
  • Final takeaways

Question 1: What do you before starting a journey? Imagine that you want to travel, what is the first thing you do when you want to visit a place that you have never visited before.

Participants’ answers: Look for a map, check the route, gather necessities, plan day by day, obtain information about the place, pack a passport, check for restaurants…

Maria suggests: choose destination, check the route, monitor the traffic, recalculate if necessary (if there is a problem/situation where we need to readjust).

Question 2: Do your students do the same when they learn?

Participants’ Answers: yes, no, not sure, not always, not really, it depends… varied answers!

Maria proposes: using a Learning GPS:

G – Goal: Where am I going? So this is what we need our students to think about.

P – Progress: Am I on the right route? Am I ok? Or do I have to make some changes?

S – Success: How far have I got?

Maria says this framework should be accompanied with metacognition which is what we will look at now.

Metacognition = “thinking about thinking” (Flavell, 1979 p.906) It is the ability to think about and regulate one’s own learning. In the classroom it means helping learners become aware of how they learn, what strategies they use and how they can improve.

Why is it important? An essential element in today’s education but sometimes neglected by teachers as we don’t know how to implement it in lessons. It is an ongoing habit that transforms learning into understanding. Very important in age of genAI where there is a lot of content at hand. Metacognition CAN be taught, modelled and practiced and it SHOULD be.

G – Goal

Where am I going today as a learner? When students know the destination they can make better decisions, stay focused when they face challenges, and recognise success when they arrive. Every class needs a destination. We need to share that destination with students so they know where they are heading.

Question 1: How do you usually begin a lesson? (My answer: warmer, learning objectives; other answers: attention hooks, chat, emotional beginning, what do they already know about the topic…)

Question 2: Before your students start a task, do they know the activity…or the destination? (Varied answers!)

The activity and the destination are not the same thing. The activity is the what, the destination is the why/the goal.

Suggestions:

Here are some activities we can use to activate this idea of working with a goal.

My Learning Destination

Before starting, students complete:

  • Today I am learning to… (to is important.. so it isn’t just Today I am learning the present perfect)
  • This is useful because… they need to be able to connect what they are doing with how it will help them.
  • I will know I’m successful when…

Before I start checklist

Students tick before a task:

  • I understand the task
  • I know what the final product should look like
  • I know how much time I have
  • I know what resources I can use
  • I know what to do if i get stuck

This is practical for writing, projects, exam tasks or group work.

Success Criteria Builder

Instead of giving students success criteria, students build them. For example, before writing an email…

“What makes a good email?”

  • clear greeting
  • reason for writing
  • polite tone
  • closing phraase
  • correct punctuation

Students can then use this list to guide them while working to help them stay on track.

Choose your route

Give students different ways to approach a task.

E.g. learning new vocabulary

Students choose one:

  • make a mind map
  • group words by topic
  • write exmaple sentences
  • draw pictres
  • teach the words to a partner

Which route will you take today and why? (Activate metacognition)

Predict the roadblocks

Before the activity students complete:

  • I think this task will be easy because…
  • I think this task may be difficult because…
  • If I get stuck, I will…

Strategy passport

Before the lesson, students choose one strategy to travel with

Today I will use

  • underline key words
  • ask for clarification
  • use my notes
  • reread instructions
  • check a model
  • use a dictionary
  • rehearse bfore speaking
  • plan before writing

This kind of activity will help them become more aware of the strategies they use

KWL For Language learning

Before a topic:

  • K – What do I know?
  • W – What do I want/need to know?
  • L – What did I learn? (complete at end of class)

Plan my answer

Before speaking or writing, students complete:

  • My main idea:
  • Two words/phrases I want to use:
  • One grammar point I want to practise:
  • One thing I need to be carefrul with:

Traffic forecast

Before the task, students predict their confidence:

  • I don’t know how to start yet (red)
  • I may need some help (amber)
  • I think I can do this (green)

What would help you move from red to yellow? yellow to green? Then they need to think about their strategies

3 minute planning pause

Before any main task:

  • Minute 1: What do I have to do?
  • Minute 2: What do I already know that can help me?
  • Minute 3: What strategy will I use first?

So they need to think abotu the activity itself and what strategies they will use to complete it.

Goals: Students don’t need to know only what they’re doing. They need to know where they are going.

P – Progress

Question we need to ask: Am I on the right route? Why is this important? Learning doesn’t happen in a straight line. Effective learners constantly monitor their understanding, notice when something isn’t working and adjust their approach. If we help our students to do this, we will reduce the level/amount of frustration students have. It is ok to make mistakes and for things to go wrong but we need to be able to adjust or it is really frustrating.

It isn’t about asking “am I right?”. It is asking “is this strategy working?” “Do I need to make a change?”

Ideas:

Learning dashboard.

Instead of checking only answers, students monitor four aspects of their learning.

Self evaluation:

I am….

  • understanding
  • participating
  • using strategies
  • staying focused.

For each one, students choose where they are on a scale of smiley, neutral, sad. Then after they do this, ask “Which area needs your attention?”

GPS recalculating

Whenever students feel stuck, they cannot simply say:

“I don’t know”

Instead they complete:

  • I am stuck because…
  • The strategy I’ve tried is…
  • Now I’m going to….

E.g. I’ve already reread the text, now I’m going to underline the key words.

Midway Pit Stop

Halfway through the activity, students answer 3 questions:

  • What is going well?
  • What is still difficult?
  • What will I change during the second half?

One minute. Then continue working.

Then at the end ask: which area needs your attention?

Strategy tracker:

During the lesson they tick every strategy the actually used.

  • reread
  • asked a question
  • used a model
  • looked for examples
  • worked with a parnter
  • checked my mistakes
  • slowed down
  • explained my thinking

Which strategy helped you the most?

Strategy checkpoint

Did my strategy help me reach my destination?

  • How did planning your ideas help you write a better text?
  • Why is it important to link your ideas in and between paragraphs clearly?

Students have to think about the strategies implemented and check if the strategies they used help reach the destination

Confidence thermometer

Every 15 minutes students indicate:

  • I’m getting lost
  • Getting there
  • Very confident

Then ask what would move you one level higher?

Learning selfie

Pause.

Students finish the sentences:

  • Right now I feel… because… .
  • What I need next is…..

The selfie is an invitation to post and reflect on this particular moment.

My next best step

Instead of what should the teacher do? Students ask “What should I do next?”

Possible answers:

  • reread
  • ask a classmate
  • check my notes
  • practice another example
  • ask for feedback
  • keep going

Error detective

While working, students identify one mistake. Instead of correcting immediately, they ask: Why did I make this mistake? What strategy could prevent it? This makes mistakes part of the learning process positively.

Checkpoint cards

Every 15 minutes, students answer one question:

  1. CHeckpoint 1: What have I understood?
  2. Checkpoint 2: What strategy am I using?
  3. What should I keep doing?
  4. What should I change?

To help them be aware of what stratgies they are using while completing activities.

Stop – think – adjust: a simple routine that can become automatic in your lessons.

  • Stop: students think “What am I doing?”
  • Think: “Is it working?
  • Adjust: “What should I change?

Mid-journey questions – these help students do the same: pause, think and decide what to do next.

E.g. How does the way we read a text change when we use information from it in a new way? How can you practice this skill outside the classroom?

The three mirrors:

Students monitor learning through three lenses

  • Content: do I understand?
  • Strategy: is my strategy helping?
  • Effort: Am i giving my best attention to this?

S – Success

Have I reached my destination? What have I learned about my leanring? Succes is not completing a task, it is understanding the journey that led to it. So the most important thing is the learning process of the student.

The rear-view mirror:

Project an image of a rear-view mirror. Students complete:

  • Today I learned…
  • I was surprised by…
  • The most useful strategy I used was…
  • Next time I’ll…

This table can be related to strategies or techniques implemented in lessons.

Before and after

  • At the beginning of the lesson: I think…
  • At the end: Now I think…

Learning highlight

Students choose one moment. Concentrate on that moment and complete the sentence: Today the moment I learned the most was…because… The most important part is the wyy. This is encourages them to identify high impact learning experiences.

Strategy awards

Give students categories:

  • best strategy
  • biggest improvement
  • most helpful mistake
  • best question
  • most creative solution

This moves the focus away from marks, to focus on different areas to evaluate.

My future self:

Finish the lesson by writing:

Dear Future me,

Next time remember….

This creates transfer, which is the highest level of metacognition. Instead of only reflecting on the past, students prepare themselves for future learning.

A postcard to my future self:

Today I discovered… I hope you remember… See you next lesson!

Exit Ticket 2.0

Instead of Today I learned…

Use:

  • One thing I can do now that I couldn’t do before…
  • One strategy I’ll use again is…
  • One thing I still need to practise is…

The next destination:

Finish every lesson with:

  • Today I arrived at…
  • My next destination is…

Ask students to set their own goals. This reinforces that learning never ends. With these two sentences, you are adding metacognition.

Reflective hexagon

Students write six words:

  • What I learned
  • What helped
  • What challenged me
  • What surprised me
  • What I’ll remember
  • What’s next

My learning story:

Students complete:

  • At first…
  • Then…
  • Finally…
  • Now I know…

Metacognition promotes deeper learning, enhances self-regulation and motivation, fosters lifelong learning and supports 21st century skills.

My thoughts:

This was a great, if exhausting, session! Loads of great ideas that are really simple, I hope to try some of them out next academic year, in individual lessons and also in conjunction with the end of week reflection form I do with students. As ever, just need time to think about the hows and whens of it all!! 🙂

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Neurodiversity: inclusive pedagogy, fostering effective learning for all (Cambridge webinar)

My second webinar for the day! (Now yesterday!)

Speakers: Paul Ellis and Kate Trafford from Cambridge International dn Cambridge English respectively.

Hoping to: understand principles of inclusive pedagogy and build a tool box of inclusive classroom ideas to support all learners.

Terminology:

Neurodiversity: different ways that we all think, move, hear, see, understand, process, information and communicate with each other. We are all neurodiverse. This describes variation in peoples’ minds.

Neurotypical: the group whose thinking, moving etc reflect social or cultural norms, the typical way.

Neurodivergent: the group who have a type of brain often considered different from the socially constructed norm.

This reminds us that there is no single way that we learn. Our language needs to be up to date and inclusive. Inclusive terminology is important.

We started with a poll. How much do you agree?

  • Differentiation like giving dyslexic learners separate worksheets is the best way to creat an inclusive classroom.
  • Inclusive teaching practices are beneficial for all students, not just those with learning differences.
  • I feel confident teaching neurodivergent learners and have many strategies in my teacher toolbox ready to use.

Paul and Kate’s principles: a holistic view

Equitable outcomes for all students – with or without a formal diagnosis. In some countries you can get a diagnosis for e.g. autism, dyslexia. Today we won’t be talking about specific conditions but rather inclusive education for all. The focus is on removing the barriers and not changing the learners themselves, just enabling them to show what they know and can do. Neuroinclusive approaches support all learners.

Performance = potential minus interference. (Timothy Gallwey, 1972) We all face barriers to performance that could be anything taht gets in the way of your potential to perform to your best. This can vary depending on the day, and what other influences there are going on. The good news is, you can use first class teaching strategies e.g. active learning, assessment for learning, self-management, UOL principles then you are already looking after a lot of learners in your class. Then only a small number of students will need also differentiated activities and testing, and additional support. An even smaller number will need personalised interventions.

Neuroinclusivity in education means a classroom culture that anticipates every kind of brain and removes barriers so that every learner can engage meaningfully.

Small consistent changes can have a big impact. Universal design for learning: divides into representation of content (multimodal, videos, quizzes, textbooks), action and expression (oral presentations, written text, digital portfolios, group work) and engagement and motivation (give choice and link units to relevant content and long-term goals).

Some common classroom behaviours and their possible causes:

  • difficulty getting started: can be due to not knowing where to start and having cognitive overload. Once working memory is too full, information cannot be processed so they may have difficulty progressing.
  • losing focus or “over-focusing”: can be due to lack of clear time or progress markers, not enough sensory or cognitive variation
  • emotional responses that seem disproportionate: learners may have a low sense of safety and predictability, or cognitive fatigue.
  • longer than average time to process spoken instructions: too much demand on working memory demands and auditory processing load.
  • sensory discomfort (light, noise, seating, temperature): learner is experience sensory overload from their environment which creates a barrier to learning and ability to complete tasks.

Environmental barriers are not learner deficits. The barriers are task design, instructions, pace, sensory overload and relational climate. Inclusion shouldn’t result in extra work, it is small, consistent adjustments that remove barriers for learners.

Neuroinclusive practice: removing the barriers

Part 1: Quick wins

  • Immersive reader: It is on Microsoft word but Apple has an equivalent. What you see is you get tabs that enable you to change page colour, text spacing, a read-aloud function, live focus which enables you to focus on one line at a time. Which of these things help depends on the individual. (Google docs enables you to change the page colour in page set up! I use that!)
  • Bionic reading: some parts of each word are in bold. Again, whether it is helpful depends on the individual. You need to involve the students not decide for them.
  • Different colour backgrounds: on paper or plastic coloured overlays.
  • Fonts: use sans serif fonts e.g Arial, Tahoma (we like Open Sans at work!)
  • Use a visible clock: to help students manage time especially during tests, exams and timed activities.
  • After asking a question, count to three before calling on anyone. Pause and then give them a chance to respond. (Usually teachers give 0.7 seconds for learners to respond. Waiting time is so important! Don’t be scared of silence!)
  • Vary the way you call on learners (e.g. written responses on a mini-whiteboard) (Wooclap is a digital example we use)

Part 2: long term strategies

These might take a bit more planning but will be very worthwhile. These are built on 6 core elements, 3 of which (the 3 in bold) we will focus on today:

  1. creating a clear lesson structure
  2. incorporating appropriate technology (if found beneficial)
  3. adapting the learning materials (e.g. level or physical nature)
  4. explicit classroom delivery and instructions
  5. integrating learning and asssessment
  6. setting the right environment

Creating a clear lesson structure

Have a visual lesson checklist. Use the pages of the coursework/resource as a springboard for your lesson.

  • Share learning objectives at the beginning of class so students know the starting point and the goal for the timeframe of the lesson.

If that checklist is only given verbally, it will be forgotten. If written down as a checklist, it will help keep learners on track, and help them maintain focus.

3 different ways to present a visual checklist:

  • AI generated: number, icon, description
  • whiteboard clipboard with numbered descriptions
  • pinboard note with numbered summarised descriptions

Try different ones, see what learners prefer.

Establish a clear and consistent routine. This allows a positive start to the lesson and review prior learning. It creates predictability so students know what they are coming into and what will be expected of them. This creates a psychologically safe environment. It also allows you to address any issues that arise and take the register quickly and quietly. 5-10 minutes is it all it takes. This can be any kind of do-now activity that students do as soon as they come in. If you have multiple lessons per week, you could have a particular routine for Lesson 1 of the week, Lesson 2 of the week etc that is the same each week.

Explicit classroom delivery and instructions

I do – we do – you do: teacher models, students do all together, student does individual attempt. This can help avoid cognitive overload and achieve a sense of teamwork as you are doing it together. Teacher writes a sentence, students complete it on mini whiteboards, students do an individual activity.

Use a variety of instruction techniques to ensure learners are following the class rhythm. Bring L1 into the classroom: get learners to explain the instruction/activity/concept to a grumpy grandad who doesn’t speak English (maybe be a bit less specific incase someone’s relative just died…)

Another example is: Say it, show it, write it, repeat it.

These ideas allow L1 into the classroom in a small, controlled way to check understanding.

Setting the right environment:

Sensory objects: when learners can channel their energy, they have improved concentration. Learners can have a specific sensory object of their choosing which they keep with them. Can take it out when needed. You could have a selection box for learners to choose from when they need a moment of self-regulation. This helps to create a safe environment. Being able to choose their own one encourages agency.

Individual headphones can be useful: excess background noise can be very distracting. Headphones can also be used for listening to audiobook or listening and reading a text at the same time.

Digital exams: What could be the benefits for learners sitting a digital exam ? More focus, fewer distractions, more control, more empowering.

(I would add:

  • use natural lighting rather than overhead lighting where possible.
  • if you are using a computer connected projection screen, enable “Night light” (in display settings on Windows) to minimise glare.
  • have quiet activities in between the group activities to allow overstimulated students to have a breather )

We only looked at three pillars today. We will be able to look at others ‘for homework’ via some wider reading we will be given.

Keep in mind:

  • neuroinclusive approaches support all learners
  • these approaches are good for adults as well!
  • focus on removing the barriers and not changing the learners
  • good teaching practises are inclusive teaching practices
  • small actions applied consistently lead to great impact

Next steps:

All of the ideas shared today are tried and tested!

We repeated the poll from the start of the webinar. There have been some changes since the start, more people feel confident: 4 and 5 have increased while 3 has decreased.

Resources:

The middle one, Neurodiversity and Education, I didn’t know about – looks interesting! (On a non-Cambridge note, Pavillion ELT recently brought out English Language Teaching in a Neurodiverse World.)

And some more cambridge stuff!

…And some more!

…and in list/link form.

Two webinars in one day was a lot! Anyway, it’s so nice to see neurodivergence being acknowledged and talked about in ELT in recent time. Hopefully, while it seems to be a current theme, it will not just be a passing craze! I have so much buzzing around in my head relating to inclusion and relating to group dynamics, and all the sessions I’ve attended this year so far, and all of it in relation to classroom practice. What I don’t have is time to really think deeply about it all and bring it all together (so much time pressure around other things right now)! Though on the plus side my end of semester feedback from my class in terms of learning envrionment was really positive this year for both semesters, so what I have been doing in relation to these things has nevertheless been well-received by students.

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BALEAP TAFSIG Webinar ‘Developing a viva-style assessment for a large language course: a collaboration between two large scale pre-sessional programmes’ –

I was keen to join this as in title it seems to be relevant to our ACP – Academic Coursework Presentation – which has a Q&A component. TAFSIG is Testing, Assessment and Feedback Special Interest Group within BALEAP (glad she clarified that because I didn’t know!) They have a YouTube channel with weinar recordings (I shall have a look at that!)

4 speakers: Craig Davis, Nicola Harding (Manchester), Lori-ann Miln, Phillippa Bunch (Southhamtpon).

Context and collaborative development:

The presessionals are similar in some respects: large student and tutor cohorts (100+ tutors). Both assess writing in an essay (challenges brought by genAI and suspected malpractice but no real way of authenticating engagement with writing components).

Manchester: Reading to writing (80% writing, 100% reading) L2S (50%S seminar, 100% listening). Previously seminar with brief presentation followed by discussion was 100% of speaking score.

Southhampton: Assessments are more separated out. One key difference from Manchester is that students can choose their own topic for their researched essay = a lot of different research areas. Reading is demonstrated through writing. Speaking is a presentation followed by Q&A. Listening is a lecture followed by discussion where skills are assessed. There are different read/writing tutors and speaking/listening tutors.

Manchester and Soutthampton had a collaboration, identifying similar challenges a few years ago and sharing ideas around assessments and after several meetings realised they were all moving in the same direction, as GenAI use became more prominent and they were trying to deal with that in the assessment design. They were also prompted by feedback from lecturers across the university, saying that rehearsed presentation was not effectively assessing their ability to produce spontaneous speech.

Manchester Case Study

Created the question and answer assessment:

  • Question 1: Prepared question, same for all students (2 mins)
  • Question 2: product focused from question bank (3 mins)
  • Question 3: process focused question seleted from question bank (3 mins).

All students were given the same question: To what extent should AI be integrated into HE?

Example of Product focus: Tell us about a specific source you used in your essay – how and why did you use it?

Example of Process focus: What was the most significant/helpful piece of fb you received and how do you respond to it? (make sure student answers both parts of the question)

Follow up prompts: Why do you think that? /Is there anything else that you found helpful/unhelpful.

Scaffolded process:

  • Stage 1: Assessment overview (brief introduction during student orientation talks)
  • Stage 2: Tutor-led sesion focusing on the assessment (every assessment is supported by synchronous taught session, look at criteria and apply them to example answers).
  • Stage 3: individual tutorials x 2 redesigned to follow a Q&A format (existing activity, part of the course, mini QAA for that to enable practice.)
  • Stage 4: individual study (checklist of preparations and a reflection leading into final stage)
  • Stage 5 (final questions and preparations: final group tutorial, centres on the Q&A and the assessment coordinator drop-in – where students could ask any questions, not many did)

How were tutors supported?

  • The assessment was piloted with volunteer students from PS April 2025 and standardisation packs were created using videos from the pilot.
  • An answer guide (University of Manchester is quite prescriptive around this part of the assessment: pros and cons, but one of the pros is the easy ability to produce such a guide!) was created to support marking.
  • A streamlined criteria for live marking: was made as useful as possible for the tutors, as there are lots of students marking up to 18 students each, and doublemarking.
  • Marking template was provided with space to write which questions were asked and space for notes about the answers.

Students were assessed on speaking by focusing on: fluency, pronounciation, language. Students were also assessed response to the question by focusing on: relevance, specificity, development

Speaking (fluency, pronunciation, language) contributed only to speaking (25%) and Response to questions 1-3 each contibuted 25%. For writing score, 20% writing and then response to questions 1-3 contributed 33% each. So increasing the focus on process.

They were quite prescriptive in terms of what was provided to tutors, as it was the first time to run it large scale. Everything was live doublemarked, assessments all scheduled over 3 days.

How did students perform?

Generally fairly consistent. Outliers: Speaking: 57 students scored 20%+ higher on L2S than on Q&A. 12 students scored 50% or below in QAA but above 70% in L2S Writing: 20 students scored +25% lower on the Q&A

Overall, the assessment was well received by teachers and students. However, timetabling was a big challenging as everything was live doublemarked. Questions banks supported tutors and ensured consistency, while prompts supported students in speaking for the full 3 minutes (mostly). However more question-specific follow up prompts and more guidance on managing the discussion elements could be needed.

Part 1 and 2 had a lot of overlap and also some scripting and reading from the essay = more difficult to authenticate and mark, as not saying a lot about student engagement. Question 3 was more revealing about how students engaged with the process, and therefore more useful.

Next time: They want to switch the focus to process rather than product – product – process. Still the same components (1 rehearsed, 2 not). This will require revisiting the question and prompts. They may also change the ratings to make Q&A 40% of writing. In terms of identifying outliers earlier = having a minimum component threshold for referral, so if student falls below 40% for any component they will be flagged. They also want to have a gap cap between the writing and the speaking

Southhampton Case Study

Soutthampton did a formative presentation (4 minutes) and Q&A (2 minutes) then later a summative presentation (6 minutes) and Q&A (4 minutes). The Q&A consisted of 2 questions: 1) demonstrate understanding of content and 2) demonstrate reflection on research process.

They don’t have much quantitative data at the moment but plenty of qualitative. The Q&A was worth 20% of the assessment criteria with content, structure, communicaton, precision and accuracy also each worth 20%. Students needed to be able to talk about they used their sources and how they used feedback.

In terms of tutor support: they provided structured tutor training embedded in the induction programmes. They also provided a question bank to support consistent assessment delivery. Finally, they did standardisation sessions. They thought this would suffice. But, after moderation and observation of formative assessment, they saw a lot of variability and disparity/inconsistency in tutors’ ability to run the Q&A in terms of formulating suitable open ended questions, and scaffolding student responses in real time. There were also struggles around sustaining interaction beyond surface level clarifcation, in terms of not allowing enough time and space for students to develop detailed responses. Some interactions were very brief, while others were more developed and encouraged critical thinking, thereby resulting in a better score. So, based on the formatives, in preparation for the summatives, they produced an enhanced guidance and question bank with initial questions and possible follow up questions, which helped with the issues identified when it came to the summatives. It should be noted that the questions had to be able to fit everyone’s essay topc even though they would all be different.

Things they found interesting: students developed more confidence in oral academic English, there was stronger evidence of research engagement, fewer formal academic misconduct cases but also the quality of student enagement depended heavily on the tutor’s quetsioning technique. A positive outcome: students reported feeling more prepared to communicate in an academic environment.

Looking ahead, they want to perhaps shrink the prepared presentation and extend the Q&A, with increased emphasis on process, linked to student folder. They also want to enhance tutor development with targeted training.

Key considerations and shared findings

  • Both assessment designs responded to AI by increasing emphasis on more spontaneous and more authentic Q&A
  • Different approaches but common challenges particularly around questioning, interaction and consistency.
  • Overall positive student outcomes.

Ongoing debate on balancing the structure for fairness and reliability with flexibility for authenticity and responsiveness.

Discussion/Questions

The first question was about student grading: how much focused on subject knowledge, language etc. Manchester doesn’t score much for content, focuses more on language, and relevant response to questions (which is sort of content based).

The second question was about the degree of mitigation of AI use. The focus on process has helped, moving away from end-loaded assessment and building it in throughout the course as well as building in meaningful dialogue from day 1. Also makes feedback into more of a process as it is revisited. At each formative stage there is opportunity for discussion with the students and this can be very constructive. Also, knowing from day 1 that they will need to do this encourages engagement with the process. With online courses, the live transcription thing is a challenge. Live Q&As are much better quality than online, as students have to be more natural and spontaneous and use oral strategies when they aren’t sure what to say etc. Any suggestions to help with online are welcome!

Reading/writing team do a lot of critical reflection as part of the course. (This related to a question about how prepared students were for the level of criticality required by the speaking assessment.)

The question bank: Soutthampton are asking 6 questions each time formatively in reflective tutorials so students get used to the style of questioning. A list of questions is not given in advance, but they do get two practices so students get the chance to practice responding to that style of questioning process.

How important is the prepared part of the presentation, would it be better to get more quickly to the Q&A. Answer: good question, they have been tempted to do away with the presentation part but they keep coming back to the point that on most degree programmes ss have to give a presentation, whether or not they use AI to do that, so the presentation skills are stilll useful to take forward and therefore it still has value. Focus on process is very present already in the writing, this may be brought more into the speaking as well. In terms of keeping the presentation, the prepared part allows more confidence coming into the more spontaneous part. There is still thought about changing the weighting so that the prepared part has less weighting.

My thoughts

Phew! Interesting hour, well spent! Southhampton’s current approach seems more similar to ours – except we have 7-8 mins presentation and 2-3 mins of questions. We have a mock and final, which I guess equates to the formative-summative. The latest cycle did identify issues like those mentioned above around consistency in questioning, in terms of difficulty of questions asked and depth/length of interaction. We had already discussed the need to standardise this more, so there are some good ideas in this session to draw on!

I feel that the Q&A component of our criteria could also use fine-tuning, drawing on some of the ideas shared today. At the moment the Q&A is only worth half a criteria but that is not something we can change without a Studygroup-wide discussion and process so it is definitely not a very near future thing, but we definitely can improve on how we do and mark the Q&A part, then perhaps at some point if we can shift it towards representing more of the overall presentation score (which itself is 50% of students’ speaking score), we will be in a better position to do so.

For now, we have an entirely different kettle of fish spilling all over the place development-wise, however! 😉

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Cambridge Online Day session – Creating an inclusive learning environment: Teacher tips and takeaways (Ben Goldstein)

This session is part of a Cambridge day of webinars. I saw it advertised and had to break my not working at the weekend rule because it sounded too good to miss!

Ben will be talking about inclusion today. There will be a little bit of theory and some practical tips. Sounds awesome! (If anyone attended, or if Ben reads this – unlikely – and thinks I got anything down wrong, please do comment and I’ll be happy to correct it!)

Ben starts by asking: What do we mean by inclusion?

We had to write down in the chat what we think inclusion means. He said use nouns: I came up with welcoming, belonging – others said equity, fairness, embracing differences, differentiation, special educational needs, acceptance, empathy…

It’s a big topic, involving a lot of areas.

The next question was “Why is it important?” My answer: Because everyone has something to bring to the table so we need to make space for them. Everyone deserves a chance to be there. Others said it’s about not being an outcast (and other things I didn’t catch quickly enough to write down).

Inclusion may mean different things to you depending on who you are, your context, etc.

Ben’s view: Inclusion is about recognising, respecting and learning from the “other”. It is important because everybody should have the same rights and opportunities. This strengthens social cohesion.

He then shared a view from the literature:

He said keywords were “process” and “removing barriers” and “all students” – not only valid for special educational needs but for everybody.

Equality/Equity, Inclusion, Diversity were the next terms that Ben wanted to unpack. What is the difference between equality and equity?

If you look up EDI/DEI online, sometimes E stands for equity and sometimes equality. But they don’t mean the same thing.

  • Equality is giving everyone the same thing
  • Equity is giving everyone what they need. Giving everyone the same doesn’t help because everyone doesn’t begin from the same place. Giving everyone what they need is what we should aim for. Focus is on fairness and opportunity.
  • Diversity focuses on acknowledging, respecting and celebrating differences. It focuses on representation.
  • Inclusion is the specific ways in which Equity and Diversity are realised. So the focus is on participation.

How can inclusion be understood in a language learning/teaching context?

Ben recently ran a course on inclusive practice and got students to say what it means to them in their context.

Ana from Quito, Equador: For her inclusion means removing barriers, not lowering expectations. Students face barriers related to different types of things – language, cultural, background – not only physical or cognitive challenges. It’s about trying to anticipate these barriers and try to allow students to understand what you are teaching them. It’s about flexibility as a teacher. It’s important to have different strategies and materials and supports that can help any students that don’t follow a certain way. It also means creating a classroom culture where everyone feels valued and safe. That’s the first step and the most important one. If they feel safe they will be able to take risks and participate and feel like they are being supported and heard. Once you make a safe space for them for the students to feel part of, then anything else can move on. Something we should talk about constantly among colleagues and promote constantly.

After playing the video, Ben underlined the “it’s about creating a classroom culture where everyone feels valued and safe” and that it is a continuous process. He chose Ana’s video to show us because she emphasises this.

It’s the space that you create with your learners that allows them the opportunity to participate. The most important ingredient. (Yesss! I agree so hard!!!)

Universal Design for Learning:

It’s a practical framework for inclusive practice in education in general, also appropriate for language teaching. 3 central ideas.

  • The idea of engagement: how do you get your learners motivated? How do you stimulate their interest?
  • Representation: how do you present th information to them so that they find it accessible?
  • Action and expression: how do they express themselves/show what they know?

These 3 ideas are a very good way to think of practical applications for inclusive practice.

UDI allows us to be people led rather than label led, allows for intersectionality. Ben’s approach is a holistic/whole person approach. Learner variability is the norm in class. You know they will be very different from each other as well as sharing things. We need to account for this from the outset in our methodology and materials. You get to know your students on a human level as people not jus as students and this can allow you to adapt your material to them. An inclusive approach must be seen as beneficial to all. Our goal is for everyone to feel connected and belong.

Tips and takeaways for the classroom

Best practice: include frequent breaks, allow more time/use silence, make it visual (use colour), chunk it (break down instructions, write them up on the board), review language/concept check more, vary activities, allow freedom to move.

Doing these things is already being inclusive. It’s not rocket science. But we may not understand it as being inclusive, the difference is in the way we frame it.

  1. Offering choice
  2. Building a community
  3. Using and respecting learners’ own language
  4. Developing empathy

The above 4 takeaways come from Ben’s book 30 ideas on inclusion in ELT. Some of the ideas talked about now come from the book.

Offering choice is fundamental. How can we offer students choice? Choice of discussion, choice of who to work with, choice of task/topics. This is about being flexible with students. Ben offers:

  • seating arrangements
  • project/presentations (poster, essay, video) – related to action/expression in UDL.
  • Roles (research, organiser, spokesperson). Responses to text (describe a personal connection, answer comp questions, summarise…).
  • Goals (identify personal goals and established ones) – this becomes apparent when you get to know students on a personal level.
  • Review and reflection (logs/journals) – we all do this in different ways (e.g. today some people will be making notes, typing, or just listening and processing). Give learners choice on how they reflect.
  • Choice board – students can choose which activity to do. Google choiceboards to find more examples.

Building a community: classroom contracts. Many are familiar with this. Inclusive pracice is not rocket science, but with familiar things we can give an inclusive twist. E.g. for adult learners, add things like listen carefully to other people’s opinions and do not interrupt. Do not jump to conclusions or make assumptions, be curious and ask questions. Respect the student if you disagree. When showing disagreement, criticise the idea not the person. Keep an open mind with the expectation of learning something new.

Using and respecting learners own language: It is important to acknowledge and respect learners’ language. A plurilingual approach is encouraged by the European Framework. How can we use it?

  • Activating schemata/brainstorming ideas can be in L1, then summarise those ideas/reformulate in English. This can save time. This may enable more sophisticated ideas.
  • Provide input in L1 and then learners respond in English.
  • Own-language moments (e.g. self evaluation, contrastive analysis).
  • Sandwiching – e.g. give the instruction in English, translate into L1, then give the instruction again in English. This way students get an ear for the important instructions.
  • Conduct an own-language survey: at the start of tern, ask learners to share languages they speak/understand, how the learned them, how they use them.

A way to get them to reflect on their own language/culture in contrast with others:

Developing empathy: One way to develop empathy is to tell stories. Ben tells us a story about Hong Kong island, working with teenagers from quite wealthy backgrounds who weren’t particularly motivated, there because their parents wanted them to be. They all had English names. A lot of them liked having English names, made them feel part of the English class. One day he had to do a substitution class in Kowloon, was reading out the register, one of them didn’t have an English name, he didn’t want one. The others started laughing at him for that. Ben stopped the class and said listen if he doesn’t want an English name, that is ok, we need to respect that choice. The next day in that class again, and this time the other students were all ok with it. He realised something imorant: when we talk about empathy, we don’t just mean between teacher and students, but also among students. He realised he had to make sure they valued him and his choice. That was 25 years ago.

This is focusing on a humanist idea of education in terms of the role of teacher and learner. In Evolve (coursebook), they have students from different countries who are the same level as the coursebook user. When the student does an activity, they watch a video of someone like them doing it. See example below:

Closing thoughts

(There was no time for inclusive materials part of the session, but there will be another webinar about that he will be doing soon!)

  • A holistic approach to learning: Put the learner first not the label.
  • EDIB (what does the B stand for? Belonging. Why is it important? Because it should be the end goal. The need for social connection and identification within physical environments. Not a declared end state but an ongoing practice. It is not bestowed. No one is in a dominant position. Belonging emerges from meaningful contribution to group. There is a focus on community. Move away from just thinking about differentiation and teh individual and focus more on the classroom as a community.
  • Inclusion must be seen as an asset for all. No tokenism.
  • Be flexible, curious and kind.
  • Many changes can be made for free. Big changes can be made with small gestures. Not change your methodology overnight. Just one little change can make a huge difference in the environment of the class. Gestures made by teachers, school ethos, and in what we as a society decide we want for our future.

Ben’s webinar about inclusion in materials (yes please!):

Audience Question: Do you have any tips for inclusiveness for students who are troublemakers?

  • classroom contract
  • A chapter in his book – calling out and calling in – what to do in these situations. He will also focus more on this in May. You need to call out a student and having a contract helps with this. The contract is made with the students so that if the student is not following it and is causing trouble, then you can remind them that they participated in making the contract. Students can call out each other in this way too. Quite a complicated area, maybe requires a webinar on its own.

I have a lot of thoughts about all of this, and they tie in with a lot of my thoughts around everything I’ve read about group dynamics in the last year. But reflecting on and processing all that is far too much to tack onto the end of this already lengthy blog post summary so I shall keep that for another time! Watch this space… 🙂

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Navigating the New Classroom Landscape – Sharing Experiences of Mixed Cohorts and Emerging Challenges (ELTC/USIC TD workshop)

On Thursday 8th January, I was able to participate in this session, which brought together ELTC teachers (both those who teach Academic English Skills and some who don’t!) and USIC subject teachers, as it had been moved online due to potential adverse weather conditions. (Would have had to call in sick if it had been F2F but could manage attending by computer with lots of hot water, hot drinks, paracetamol and tissues!)

The goals of the session were:

  • Addressing recent shifts in student demographics
  • Sharing collective “tried and tested” strategies
  • Producing a collaborative “Tips and Strategies” summary

We were given four scenarios designed to stimulate discussion, based on some specific areas of concern that teachers have reported, and put into groups to discuss them, and add ideas to a google doc. The format of the session was to spend a chunk of time discussing scenario 1 in small groups and then coming together for each group to share ideas in turn, and then going back into small groups to discuss scenarios 2-4 followed by a similar but briefer feedback plenary. As such, I also found the online format beneficial because when discussing in small groups, being in breakout rooms, I could only hear my group rather than a wall of noise from all the other groups talking simultaneously! Thank you, weather!

The scenarios are laid out below, and beneath each one I will share some of the ideas that came out of the discussions as well as my own thoughts.

Scenario 1: The “Dribbling” Effect (Attendance & Transitions)

The Situation: It is 10 minutes past the start of your session. Only half the class is present. Over the next 20 minutes, students “dribble” in one by one. Later, after a 10-minute coffee break, three students do not return for nearly half an hour, claiming they were “just using the restroom”.

Discussion Prompt: How do you manage the disruption of latecomers without stopping the flow of the lesson? What strategies can be used to ensure break times are respected?.

For context, in 2hr lessons, it is common to give students a 5 minute break halfway through the lesson and the lesson attendance policy is:

  • if students arrive at the start of the lesson, they are marked present
  • if they arrive within 10 minutes of the start of the lesson, they are marked L (does not negatively impact visa requirements)
  • if they arrive more than 10 minutes after the lesson has started, they are allowed in and marked U (absent for via purposes but has been seen by the teacher)
  • if they do not attend, they are marked absent (also absent for visa purposes but unseen by the teacher).

It’s a new attendance policy this academic year (used to be if students arrived more than 5 minutes after the start of the lesson, they weren’t allowed in) and has given rise to situations like that described in Scenario 1. There were lots of ideas but they all basically boil down as follows:

  • Before the class:
    • Be aware of the students’ timetable – their previous lesson may finish just before your lesson.
    • Set expectations from the start of the course, e.g. within a class contract, and be consistent thereafter.
    • Plan for the issue – plan your lesson so that you don’t start on core material straightaway e.g. do review/standalone tasks initially.
  • In the class:
    • Have a system in place for dealing with the latecomers – e.g. a buddy system set up from the start of the course which directs certain students to help certain other students to catch up if they are late.
    • Have task instructions displayed on the board so that students can catch up independently. Such systems enable you not to have to interrupt the lesson repeatedly.
  • After the class:
    • Follow up with the students in question to ensure there isn’t a welfare issue going on and to raise awareness of the importance of taking responsibility for arriving on time.

As for ensuring break time durations are respected:

  • Write the time students are expected back on the board so that it is clear
  • Have consequences (e.g. no break next time or not allowed back in class after the break)

My thoughts:

With my class this year on Wednesdays in Semester 1, they had a 9 -11 lesson and then my lesson 11-1. We negotiated that they would have a ten minute break and then we’d start the lesson at 11.10 (the cut-off time for attendance being marked such that visa requirements are not affected). I think that’s fair, as no one can concentrate for 4hrs in a row with no break. Even a 10 minute break is minimal.

The other 11-1 slot (Thursday) is their first class for the day and they tend to be on time if they are going to attend. On the other hand, I need a few minutes to set up the lesson (get the computer going etc) and I’ve found that on Thursdays they respond well to scanning a QR code and carrying out a review task while they wait, though something paper-based works just as well. The key is making sure whatever it is won’t take too long, so that it doesn’t end up displacing something more important.

The timetable will be slightly different this semester, so there will be some renegotiation of how things will work. I tend to think treating the students like people and developing a positive and inviting learning environment at the start of the course will hopefully mean that problems are less likely to arise. One tricky thing in our context is that our module is often seen as less important by students than their subject-specific modules. This means that when the stress piles on, it is the first thing to ‘give’ as far as the students’ motivation and capacity are concerned. I think all we can do is do our best to make the relevance of the material clear, make our lessons as engaging as we can and beyond that just accept that the students are people rather than taking it personally.

Scenario 2: The Ideological Clash (Difficult Interactions)

The Situation: During a seminar discussion on global systems, a student begins pushing a specific ideological agenda, suggesting the inherent superiority of their own political or religious system. The comments are culturally insensitive and clearly make other students in the room feel uncomfortable or upset.

Discussion Prompt: How do you intervene to maintain a safe learning environment while handling “unpopular” viewpoints? How do you redirect the conversation back to academic inquiry?

The suggestions usefully group into the three categories used in Scenario 1:

  • Before the class:
    • Make sure that the global community is highlighted at the induction stage, including policies regarding tolerance, equality, diversity.
    • At the start of a course, in the classroom, make expectations clear regarding acceptable behaviour and respect for others (again, a class contract can be a vehicle for this).
    • Plan to use frameworks to ground any discussions (e.g. case studies, theories).
  • In the class:
    • At the start of the activity, remind students about expectations regarding communication in diverse groups.
    • Intervene early and calmly, using professional language to defuse the situation.
    • Reiterate the importance of academic objectivity and supporting views with evidence – this is something students in our context need to develop skills in: views should be evidence-based rather than unsupported or dismissive in order to be academically valid.
    • Point out that while free speech is part of academic culture, expressing views which marginalise, insult, discriminate or intimidate people is not acceptable.
    • Emphasise the importance of clarifying misunderstandings and apologising to maintain positive relationships.
  • After the class:
    • Check in with any students who were upset during the class to make sure they are ok.

My thoughts:

I think this is one where building and maintaining positive group dynamics goes a long way to avoiding such issues arising. Students need to both see the other students in the class as people and be seen as people by the others in the class. If that can be achieved, then they are much less likely to do or say things that might upset others and if they do it will be unintentional and therefore more easily able to be resolved. So, it’s important to have your strategies for how to handle it but equally important to try and ensure that it is unlikely to arise in the first place.

Scenario 3: The Wall of Silence (Engagement)

  • The Situation: You have set up a collaborative task. In the physical classroom, several students sit in silence, refusing to engage with their peers or the task. Simultaneously, your online students have their cameras and mics off and are not responding to prompts in their breakout rooms. No one has completed the preparatory work assigned outside of class.
  • Discussion Prompt: What teacher-led strategies can reignite engagement in both F2F and online environments? How do we address a systemic lack of out-of-class preparation?

For this prompt, the thoughts and ideas put forward can be grouped nicely into two categories: considerations and responses. In that, there can be different reasons for the type of behaviour described above and we need to keep that in mind in order to respond effectively to it.

  • Considerations:
    • What is the reason behind the silence? Silence does not necessarily equal disengagement or defiance or insolence or unwillingness to do tasks.
    • How long has it been since you asked the question or given the instruction? Students may still be processing what you are saying or figuring out what they need to do for the task.
    • What stage of the course is it? Early in the course, we may still be setting expectations and the students may still be adjusting to a new learning style.
    • Perhaps they have done the preparation but are shy to speak up?
    • Or, it could be a lack of understanding that is behind their silence.
    • Perhaps it could be due to personal issues or other external factors. It might be that they are having trouble with their group.
    • Might there be unmet special educational needs at play?
  • Responses: There are lots of levers we can pull in a situation like this. No single one is lightly to be a silver bullet solution and different ones may work better on different days with different students. As with the previous two situations, the early weeks of the course are important for acclimating students to the new learning situation.
    • Online
      • Establish expectations for audio and camera use at the start of the course, provide easier practice opportunities and follow up.
      • Use Google docs so there is an output to provide a focus for collaboration but praise participation not only output so that the process is recognised as important rather than only the product.
      • Use commenting on Google docs to show that you are monitoring their participation.
      • Group students strategically to maximise the chances for participation. Use polls.
      • Encourage students to share answers in the chatbox.
      • Provide sentence starters to scaffold production.
      • Nominate – students like to be recognised as individuals and are likely to respond better if you treat them as such.
      • Give thinking time – be comfortable with the silence of cognitive processing.
      • Spend time building rapport at the start of each lesson e.g. getting students to switch on their cameras and say hi.
    • Face to face
      • Give thinking time.
      • Check understanding of the task and provide repair instructions where needed.
      • Follow the think, pair, share format to build up participation.
      • Gently encourage students to participate.
      • As with online lessons, nominate students.
      • Spend time building rapport at the start of the lesson e.g. warmers.
      • Give students study tools and tips to support their participation (e.g. suggest that they research concepts online to help their understanding).
      • Using gentleness and sensitivity, encourage a culture of not having to be “right” so that students are more confident to participate.
      • Assign specific roles within groups so that students know what they need to do.
      • Create an information gap: have groups carry out different tasks which they then need to share with each other.
      • Recognise students’ time constraints and workloads – where possible integrate activities into lesson time rather than expecting students to do too much (in addition to all their coursework) outside of class.

My thoughts:

I think this is a scenario where there are a multitude of influencing factors. Therefore, curiosity is important rather than automatically assuming the worst. I also think that some of the factors can be mitigated to some extent again by developing and maintaining positive group dynamics such that students are comfortable working with one another and expressing their ideas to one another. As such, I highly recommend reading Sandy’s blog post about group dynamics as well as Dornyei and Murphey’s Group Dynamics in the Language Classroom (unaffiliated link) on this topic.

Scenario 4: The “Second Screen” Distraction (Low-level Disruption)

The Situation: The class is technically “on task,” but you notice a constant hum of whispering and giggling in L1 (first language) in the back row. Several other students are completing the work, but they are constantly toggling between the lesson and multiple tabs on their laptops (social media, shopping, or messaging).

Discussion Prompt: How do you address the “split attention” caused by devices without banning technology entirely? What are effective ways to pivot students away from L1 whispering and back to the whole-class activity?

This has become an issue mainly since the pandemic, as during the pandemic we switched to digital learning materials rather than a printed workbook and since the pandemic, we have had a period of readjustment to the physical classroom (with initial discouragement towards using paper because of infection risks). While now we are able to use the same range of activities as before the pandemic, our core materials are still all digital. Students all bring a laptop or tablet to their lessons.

The ideas resulted from the discussion prompt were mainly a mixture of considerations and responses, which were divided predominantly between pre- and in-lesson responses. So I shall use those categories to group them:

Considerations:

  • Technology
    • screen-based translation tools can be part of the problem, by creating a constant pull on students’ attention.
    • The development of AI which may or may not be used for unfair means is another draw.
  • Multitasking
    • students may think they are skilled at multi-tasking but a multi-tasking test (such as the gorilla test) may surprise them.
  • L1
    • This is another resource for students and is not necessarily problematic/suggestive of inattention/disruption.
    • Students may be on task while speaking in L1, especially as academic tasks are complex and involve complex cognitive processing which may be easier to achieve in L1.
    • If they are disrupting other students’ ability to concentrate/carry out a task or preventing students in their group from carrying out a task then it may be problematic.

Responses:

  • Before class:
    • Plan to have students use pen and paper for tasks which require deeper focus e.g. brainstorming, note-taking, short exercises, reflection activities. That way there will be less temptation to get distracted during these shorter, more demanding tasks.
    • Plan clear outcomes and timings for activities.
    • Think about where L1 use might be beneficial and where using English is essential so that you can guide students accordingly.
    • Plan a variety of tasks and interaction types to maximise student engagement.
    • Design tasks that require purposeful use of devices (e.g. Google Jamboard, collaborative writing in shared documents, live polls, vocabulary searches, timed grammar challenges) so that technology supports learning rather than distracting from it.
    • Adapt lessons to be as screen-free as possible, including movement, writing on whiteboards, spoken communication.
    • Think about whether you will need individual copies of a handout or whether one between two or three or four would work better. (This can save on printing and encourage collaboration!)
  • In class:
    • Monitor actively so that students are encouraged to stay on task and so that you have a better idea if they are on task or not.
    • Highlight that giving full focus is a sign of respect (caveat: this should not require them to be looking into your eyes, which may be uncomfortable for neurodivergent students)
    • Ensure that instructions regarding use/non-use of technology for a given task are clear. E.g. “Close your computers for this task./Phones down for this task.”
    • In lessons where this is relevant, make it clear to students initially that there will be an ‘open’ period of the lesson where they will be able to work on an assignment (which could include work for other modules if this is more urgent) IF they are able to achieve the lesson aims/complete all the lesson activities first.
    • Be clear about timings and keep these snappy so that there is less temptation to get distracted.
    • Use humour: say that you will confiscate phones to sell on ebay to raise funds for teachers or have a bell jar of liquid with an old phone in it to show what will happen if phones are used at the wrong time. Suggest that students don’t need to be there if they have more important things to discuss but they will of course be marked absent if they leave.
    • Use another language: speak to students using another language so that those who don’t speak it can feel how it is not to understand what is going on.
    • Use whiteboards/running dictations/post-it notes etc to get students moving.
    • During longer tasks, accept that students will take brain breaks and that’s ok.
    • If students are using AI inappropriately, emphasise the importance of acquiring the skills and understanding the lesson content.
    • Change the groups around so that students work with different classmates (mixing up language backgrounds where possible).
    • Make it clear where L1 use is and isn’t acceptable. Rather than trying to keep it out of the classroom for the whole lesson, isolate time frames/parts of activities where students should use English only.
    • Allow space for L1 e.g. let students use L1 in task preparation and encourage English only in task execution.

My thoughts:

During my last observed lesson (we have an annual lesson observation where we get feedback on our teaching), my line manager suggested I could have used paper for a particular activity rather than the digital document, and it might have worked better. And I’ll be honest, I was like “oh yeah, so I could have!” – since then, I have been making a conscious effort to think about what format to use for different activities, what could be more engaging, and have been doing a lot more that is paper-based/mini-whiteboard-based/main whiteboards-based. In my last lesson, we had a laugh when I brought out some A3 paper, to the effect that it wouldn’t be an AES lesson without some A3 paper!! (That has been an experiment this year, using different paper sizes!) It definitely keeps the lesson moving better.

I think as with many things, what you do ahead of the class thinking/planning-wise has a big impact on how the lesson unfolds and what issues arise, and gives you more flexibility for dealing with known potential issues. I also think that getting students to close their computers when not in use is important so that there isn’t that physical barrier between them and the other students, and there is space for paper etc to bring them together.

Lots of ideas and lots to think about. This was a great workshop to do at the start of a semester!

Do you experience any of the issues discussed above in your context? Do you have any suggestions not mentioned above? Please do comment and share, I’d love to hear from you!

They show a group of students working individually and a group of students working together. The students are a mixture of genders and nationalities. There are five students in the first picture and four students in the second picture.

Pictures above are both free stock photos!

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A getting to know you activity that worked!

Last week was the first week for the September cohort and in my first face to face lesson with my new group, I did a substantial getting to know you activity.

Step 1: the name game

The first step was getting them better acquainted with one another’s names (also indispensable for me getting their names down off the bat!) – I did my old reliable standby in which I start with “My name is Lizzie and I like running” and then Student 1 says “This is Lizzie and she likes running. I am X and I like y.” Student 2 says, “This is X and s/he likes y. This is Lizzie and she likes running. I am A and I like b. And so it goes on. With 15 students, it was a good challenge! And by the end of it, I knew all their names and they knew more names than they did before.

Step 2: the interview

I gave each student a sheet of paper with some questions printed on it. The questions had gaps in so that the students could complete them with their own ideas provided they fit grammatically. They were free to discuss their ideas together as they did it. Once they had done this (preparation), I moved them around so they were working with a new partner. With that partner they asked and answered questions and made a note of their answers, knowing they would be reporting to the whole class subsequently.

Step 3: the reporting

Before starting this stage, I gave each student a piece of paper with a table on it – one column for student name and one column for notes. Each student took a turn to introduce their partner. Those who were listening had instructions to write each student’s name in a new row and in the notes part, they had to note down anything in the report that was the same for them. So for example if the report said “Student x’s favourite animal is a dog” and the listener’s favourite animal was a dog, they’d write down “his/her favourite animal is also a dog!”. The purpose for this part was two-fold: one, give them a reason to listen, two enable them to find things in common with everyone in the class (useful for helping them on the way towards becoming a cohesive group).

Step 4: Filling in the gaps

Once they’d finished, they might have gaps next to some students’ names (either because they had missed what was said or because there was nothing in the report which was the same for them). The final part of the activity was for them to fill in those gaps. They had to do this by approaching the students for whom they had gaps and finding something in common with them so that they could write it in the gap.

At the end of the final lesson of the week, I had them complete short reflection handout (What I learnt this week… Good things for me this week were…because… Bad things this week for me were…because… Next week I would like to…) – prompts adapted from Dornyei and Murphy’s Group Dynamics in the Language Classroom. And the most commonly repeated good thing was around making friends and getting to know new classmates. This activity was a part of that.

It was a 2hr lesson and I think it probably took somewhere in the realm of 1.5hrs in total. There wasn’t time for a lot else in the lesson (just my sequence where they brainstorm ideas for studying effectively while they are at the college, I feed in a few more that I feel are important and often missed, and then introduce them to mindfulness meditation using a short video which explains what it is, how to do it and the benefits of it. Then we do an example one together. In future lessons we will start the lesson with that short meditation to give them time to draw breath after rushing in from their previous lesson.). Obviously the length of time it takes corresponds to the number of students.

If you try it, let me know how it goes! 🙂

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Teacher Identity

This blog post was inspired by Sandy Millin’s write-up of an IATEFL 2025 panel on the subject of Teacher Identity…

I think opportunities to discuss and reflect on teacher identity, such as the IATEFL 2025 panel written up by Sandy, are invaluable, as identity is constantly evolving and growing. In the first talk Sandy summarised, the speaker, Robyn Stewart, adapted Barkhulzen and Mandieta’s (2020) facets of language teacher professional identity to highlight the influence of the world on identity, external influence on it. It also shows the interplay between personal and professional identity and the elements that can be considered to be part of our professional identity:

Via Sandy Millin’s write-up of Robyn Stewart’s talk in the IATEFL 2025 teacher identity panel.

There are so many things that influence who we are in the classroom! One of the lessons Robyn Stewart drew from her dissertation research was “Don’t underestimate the role of context”. I’m inclined to agree:

On a personal level, I’m not that interested in generative AI, generally distrust it, disapprove of the resource consumption it represents and feel the amount of money, time, expertise and so on being ploughed into it everywhere could be better spent elsewhere (e.g. use of AI in medical contexts) rather than generating infinite quantities of text.

As a language learner, if I had the time, energy and spare brain, or was as driven as summer 2014 me, such that I could overcome the lack of all the afore-mentioned (and could override my concerns about unnecessary resource consumption!), I would perhaps explore the possibilities of communicating with it in Italian/French/German and using it to help me improve my production. I could get *well* in to a project like that. (And if I were teaching general English I could use the knowledge and skills I might develop in the process to help my students benefit from using the English version.)

However, my professional identity has the greatest influence on my interaction with AI: I have to embrace AI’s existence and figure out ways to work with students in a world which it is now very much a part of. In terms of context, I work specifically in higher education, preparing students to study at university by teaching them an Academic English skills course which they do alongside subject modules. Assessments are high stakes in terms of scores but they also need to ensure that students develop the skills necessary to succeed, including that of correctly treading the line between fair use of tools and academic misconduct regulations – a line that has been evolving with the evolution of AI. We used to mutter about Grammarly and translation tools, but ignore them other than prohibiting students from using them and putting a handful forward for misconduct each assessment cycle, and then generative AI came along and blew all that out of the water and onto a whole other level. We have been grappling with it ever since. However, it will only be come September of this year that I will engage with it fully as a teacher in the classroom beyond warning students off it (rather than only from the perspective of course coordination, course/materials development – as in, integrating teaching AI – related skills into our materials, currently in progress, rather than developing materials using AI – and misconduct evaluation).

The young Vietnamese participants in the study carried out by Hang Vu, the third speaker of the IATEFL 2025 panel on teacher identity, demonstrated a high level of insight and awareness into the issues they face in developing their professional identity as teachers in a world dominated by AI, and what kind of training they need in order to do that successfully. Sandy described Hang Vu’s idea of “emerging identities”, as summarised on the slide below:

Via Sandy Millin’s write up of Hang Vu’s talk in the IATEFL 2025 panel on Teacher Identity.

There’s a lot to think about there! I suppose I have mainly been teacher/coordinator as AI inspector in professional terms, but also teacher as learner as despite my personal misgivings: I have made an effort to attend (whether live or via recording) all the training available to us regarding AI. I have been teacher as AI user when I have used it to generate discussion questions (and then teacher as critical thinker when I have deleted half of them as unsuitable and edited/adapted others!). Teacher as AI instructor/facilitator, of course, as mentioned above, is still in the “coming soon to a classroom near you” stage. I suppose will have to be “teacher as AI supporter” within the “teacher as instructor/facilitator” side of things – regarding what we decide are acceptable uses of AI…but I predict it will be more along the lines of channeling inevitable use rather than encouraging use vs non-use! And I think alongside that, I will definitely be encouraging critical discussion in my classroom regarding the use of AI and surrounding issues. It will be interesting to see what the students think. It seems to me that just as much as the youngsters in the Vietnamese study, us old fossils who have been teaching a good while also need to regularly engage with our professional identities and figure out how we are going to move with the times professionally, regardless of (although obviously also interlinked/connected with/influenced by!) our personal feelings towards the various changes (which as Catherine Walters’ plenary discussed, have been many and varied over the last 50 years!)

Sandy’s post finished with some of the questions posed by the audience, one of which was “Should we proactively work with learners about how to do AI? Maybe we should ask learners for the whole AI conversation, not just the final result.” – It’s an interesting one. I definitely want critical discussion and to find out the students’ take on it, and as with other things potentially their feedback/ideas/thoughts can feed into future iterations of the course, but ultimately, in terms of assessment, what is and isn’t acceptable has to align with university and college policy on AI use. One thing I do hope is that I will be able to persuade students of the importance of developing their own voice, as I think if I can do that, then reasonable/acceptable use (with the appropriate guidance on how) will be a natural progression. For sure, all this thinking I am doing at the moment (I’m on annual leave – I have time to think!!) will be a useful form of preparation for the task ahead!

This blog post is plenty long enough already, yet I haven’t even scratched the surface of identity, personal and professional, and the interplays between identity and classroom. But, another time… 🙂

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2024 – and what have I done?

It seems odd to think another year has elapsed. Feels like it began simultaneously yesterday and a million years ago! We are in our final week before Christmas. It is a non-teaching week but there are still plenty of other tasks to be done. I decided that one of mine is to look back and reflect on what I have done this calendar year…

Teaching:

  • The January cohort seems a long time ago but they completed their course between January and August this year. JFPH02 (January, Foundation, Physics, Group 2) was my group. They were a very mixed level group and a nice mixture of nationalities were represented. There were 19 of them but their attendance was abysmal so for F2F classes (of which there are 2 a week) it seemed as though I only had a much smaller group. A rotating cast of characters appeared each lesson, with only one or two whose attendance was much more consistent. Attendance was reflected in assessment scores! Low attendance was generally due to students struggling more on other modules and choosing to dedicate more time to them (or oversleeping and missing the 9am as a result of burning the midnight oil in that dedication!). It was frustrating and difficult, but I did my best with the situation, ensuring that those who attended benefitted from it, and ultimately that is all I can do.
  • This semester, I also did some teaching on a programme which consisted of 1-1 lessons on Google meet to women in a location with poor internet connectivity and limited options. They were speaking-focused lessons, with the other course component being app-based learning materials released each week. The 1-1 speaking sessions were based on the topic of the previous week’s materials. It was a very rewarding programme to participate in, as well as very intense (somewhat unsurprisingly)!. It was a very different kind of teaching to the kind I usually do and it was good to have the opportunity to experience it.

ADoSing

I started ADoSing in April 2018 so a fair bit of time ago now – over 6 years. Work is in flux at the moment and we aren’t sure how things will look on the other side but nevertheless this year I did another iteration of ADoSing the January cohort, with my co-ADoS. This included:

  • preparing January course materials
  • preparing and running induction sessions about our programme for the teachers joining us to teach on the January cohort
  • preparing and running weekly module meetings with the January cohort teaching team
  • preparing and running standardisation sessions for three pieces of coursework (reading, writing, speaking) and one exam (the speaking seminar discussion exam)
  • checking rubrics and .rbc files for coursework submissions
  • preparing Turnitin coursework submission points on Blackboard for two pieces of coursework
  • preparing Blackboard announcements for students, relating to coursework, mock exams, real exams, results, tutorials. Many of these include multiple versions due to reminders.
  • responding to queries from teachers
  • attending weekly ADoS team meetings
  • preparing writing exam standardisation materials
  • correcting any errors that show up in course materials
  • preparing submission points, Blackboard announcements, email templates and information packs about resits
  • generally ensuring the smooth running of the January cohort AES programme (to include all the other tasks not in this list but that nevertheless get done!)

This semester, while not actively ADoSing, I have:

  • co-led an SpLD project which involved preparing preview materials for students and listing content topics to act as a trigger warning.
  • worked on development for the 2025-2026 academic year course materials
  • been part of the process of deciding how to integrate the existence of AI into our assessments and course materials
  • started preparation for another January cohort which lies just around the corner!

One thing I will say about ADoSing, it is a good test of organisational and time-management skills! You have to always be thinking many weeks ahead of the current week so that everything is in place when it needs to be and all communications happen when they need to happen. You also need strong attention to detail as there are so many tiny bits of information in so many different documents (and also in things like submission points) in different locations with the potential to create big problems if done incorrectly.

Development

I’ve already written a post about the development I’ve done this calendar year so I will just mention some highlights here:

  • Instructional design course – 10 week course, now completed!
  • FutureLearn expert track on Autism (4 x 4 week courses)
  • Several online sessions about supporting students with SpLD and students with Autism
  • AI – focused sessions run by our digital lead (attended a combination of live online and via catching up on recordings)
  • Hatching a plan to do an EdDoc and doing some preparatory reading (lots more to go but the instructional design course maxed my development hours this semester! Still, there’s time! I’m not starting it until at least 2026-2027 academic year!)
  • Other than the above, I have also finally started blogging again, which I am really enjoying. I had forgotten about the joys of informal publication!

So, it’s been a pretty busy year, as ever! Another January cohort safely shepherded through two semesters. Plenty of teaching, ADoS tasks and professional development. A lot of learning.

Being as it is the 19th December and tomorrow is the last working day before Christmas break, I’m going to go out on a limb and say this is probably the last blog post for this year! I will look forward to picking it up again in the new year.

Thanks to all who have read and commented on this year’s posts. Merry Christmas to those who celebrate it and a happy 2025 to all!

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What do you do in the first week of a new course?

(This post may seem somewhat counterintuitive at the end of a semester, just before the Christmas break, but I am looking ahead to our new January cohort who are beginning in the new year, which actually isn’t so very far away!)

I always love the first week of a new course. Our courses follow a blended approach with Semester 1 being 10 weeks at 6hrs of learning per week, divided up into 2 x 1hr online lessons and 2 x F2F lessons, and Semester 2 being 12 weeks at 5hrs of learning per week, divided up into 1 x 1hr online lesson and 2 x 2hr F2F lessons. In Lesson 1, we introduce the course, reviewing its structure, how they will be assessed and how to navigate the VLE (Blackboard). In Lesson 2, students attend a tech induction, to familiarise them with how to use Blackboard Collaborate (for the online lessons) and the Google Suite. In the 2 F2F lessons, students learn about the asynchronous learning content, including establishing the importance of it and guiding them through accessing it, and write a letter to the teacher introducing themselves. All remaining time in the F2F lessons is dedicated to getting to know you activities. There is one provided but teachers are free to use the time as they wish.

These are the activities that I always try to include in Week 1, together with an explanation of why:

In addition to the core content of the Week 1 lessons, there are some elements that always feature in my Week 1 lessons. Here they are:

  • The name game: Like the shopping list game where items are added at every turn, but in this case the items are a student’s name and something they like. This is generally the first activity in the first F2F lesson.

Learning students’ names is hugely important in establishing a rapport with them and being able to interact with them as individuals. For me, the easiest way to achieve this is by playing the name game with them. This is because as well as supporting students when they can’t remember a name or a like here and there, I am constantly repeating the information in my mind along with them. A class’s worth of repetition really helps to get the names embedded in my brain. As well as allowing me to learn their names, they get to know each other’s names as well which is helpful in the process of becoming able to work together effectively.

  • Focus on pair-work and group-work: This starts with a describe and draw activity where, in each pair of students, one student describes a picture that the other must draw without sight of it. The describing and drawing stage is followed by a brief evaluation, in groups, of what is produced and what is missed. Finally, students, in groups come up with a list rules for effective group work.

Pair and group-work are a core part of our lessons, but may not have been much of a feature in students’ previous learning. The describe, draw and evaluate portion of the activity is light-hearted and provides a low-stakes way to experience pair-work and group-work. It also provides inspiration for the following part in which students come up with their rules. These rules can be referred back to in subsequent lessons when students take part in pair-work and group-work activities. For neurodivergent students particularly, a clear understanding of what is expected in group-work, with rules to follow, can help to alleviate anxiety.

  • Introducing Mindfulness meditation: I start this sequence by showing a still (see below – and click on the link if you’d like to watch the clip!) from a short youtube clip about mindfulness meditation and its benefits, and asking them what they think the video will be about. They then watch the video and make notes, which they use to answer two key questions: What are the benefits of mindfulness? Which of those benefits would be most useful for you? In the final part of the sequence, I show the students the wording of an example short mindfulness meditation and suggest we try it, with me saying the words. Afterwards I ask them how they feel and finish by suggesting that we start each F2F lesson by doing it.

I have been using Mindfulness Meditation with students for some years now and remain convinced that it is beneficial for them. When they come into a lesson, their minds are all over the place – other lessons, assignment-related stress, workload, future plans etc – and doing a short guided meditation at the start of the lesson gives them a few moments of transition time, to really arrive in the lesson. Neurodivergent students particularly struggle with transitions so this is one way to make the switch from one lesson to another less abrupt and painful. The effect is always a class of students who go from being distracted by each other, their devices, their thoughts to being focused, calm and ready to learn. I introduce it the way I do (described above) to give them the opportunity to learn about and experience some of the potential benefits of meditation and evaluate which of those they would most benefit from, thereby turning it from being a random thing that is imposed on them to being something that they understand as beneficial to them. I do this in the first F2F lesson so that the second F2F lesson can already begin with it – start as we mean to go on! As we do the meditation at the start of every F2F lesson, it also becomes one of the many little routines which enable a secure, stable classroom environment for students.

  • Focus on strategies for effective studying: “How can we study effectively?”: This is a simple activity – students work in groups (getting to practise using the group-work rules they have already established) to make a list of strategies. Then, after eliciting all of theirs, I share some of my own.

Students generally come up with ideas that centre around study-skills, time management, organisation, collaboration and the like. My list contains some of those but also focuses on wellbeing, so for example “take breaks”, “exercise”, “meditate”, “try to get plenty of sleep”, and psychology, for example “have a growth mindset” and “tell your teacher when you have a problem”. Each item is accompanied by a brief explanation. Students’ two semesters with us are going to be loaded and stress levels are likely to be high, so looking after themselves is critical to being able to study effectively.

  • a speaking-focused icebreaker: this is less set in stone. My current go-to, though, is “Interview a classmate and then introduce them to the class”. Nothing spectacular, the task is scaffolded by a handout which guides students through question preparation and provides space for notes to be made during the interview. Students then use those notes to tell the class about the classmate they interviewed.

Speaking-focused icebreakers are useful for two key things: giving students the opportunity to learn more about one another (as well as me to learn more about them!), and giving me a reasonable starting idea of students’ speaking abilities. With the above-mentioned activity, I can listen in to their interviews to hear unprepared responses and then the feedback stage demonstrates what they can do with a bit of preparation and some notes. Of course I also get to learn a lot about them as people which is lovely. Happily, remembering it all isn’t critical because the “Letter to the teacher” activity which is part of the core content provides a similar swathe of information in written form. Both the speaking activity and the writing activity inform the initial RAG (Red Amber Green) rating we give students at the start of the course.

Why is Week 1 important?

Week 1 sets the tone for what is to follow. At the end of a good Week 1, you have a class who have started to mesh and who are prepared for what lies ahead. They know a bit about what is expected of them and a bit about what they can expect from your lessons. They feel positive, encouraged, comfortable, respected and this means their brains will be more open to learning. You also have a teacher who knows their students’ names and has started to get to know them as individuals, a rapport being built. These are the foundations of a successful course of study. Also, and I think you will agree, there is nothing like the excitement tinged with nervous anticipation of embarking on Week 1 and meeting your new group of students!

Over to you

What do you always do in the first week of a course with a new group of students? Why? Tell me all about your go-to activities for Week 1 using the comments function – I’d love to hear from you (well, read anyway!).

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Generative AI and Assessment

A session about Generative AI and EAP that I attended recently provided the above quote for our consideration. I think one of the things that is challenging about the Generative AI landscape and its presence in the context of higher education is that it evolves so rapidly. This rapid evolution contrasts starkly with much slower-moving policy-making and curriculum development processes. Certainly in my current context, this issue of becoming “left behind” has been one that we have been grappling with for a few years now. Initially, there was a period where once generative AI had emerged into existence, all we could do was watch, as it became increasingly apparent that students were using it in their assessments, while awaiting a university policy to inform our response. An extra layer of waiting then ensued because as well as being university policy-informed, we are Studygroup policy-informed. During that wait, our response to generative AI had to be “No. You can’t use this tool. It is against the rules. It will result in academic misconduct.” Of course, being as assessment in pathway colleges is high stakes (the deciding factor in whether or not a student can access their chosen university course), students use it anyway, due to running out of time, due to desperation, due to self-perceived inadequacy.

Now, we have the university policy which centres on ethical and appropriate use of AI, and acknowledging how and where it is used, and, in cooperation with Studygroup, are figuring out how to integrate AI use into our programme. We started by focusing on one of our coursework assessments, an extended essay, and discussing what aspects we thought were and weren’t suitable for students to use AI to help them with. So, for example, we thought it acceptable for students to do the following in their use of AI:

  • generate ideas around a topic, which they could then research using suitable resources e.g. the university library website and Google Scholar.
  • ask AI to suggest keywords to help them find information about the topics they want to research.
  • ask AI to suggest possible essay structures (but not paragraph level structure)
  • generate ideas for possible paragraph topics
  • get AI to proofread the essay but only at surface level, to suggest language corrections (this would only be the case if we no longer gave scores for grammar and vocabulary so will require rubric-level change)

Of course we can’t just implement this, we need to go through the process of getting approval from Studygroup for it and then building it into our materials. We can’t just expect learners to meet our expectations with no guidance other than the above list embedded in an assignment brief. Much like was discussed in the AI and Independent Learning webinar, we need to help the students to develop the skills that they need in order to use AI appropriately and effectively. This will include things as basic as how to access the university-approved AI (Gemini) and how to use it (including how to write prompts that get it to do things that are helpful and appropriate and equally avoid accidentally getting it to do things that aren’t helpful or acceptable). Also important will be raising their awareness of ethical issues surrounding the use of AI and of its inbuilt bias, as its output depends on what it has been trained on and there is always the risk of “hallucination” or false output. They will need to be cognisant of its strengths and weaknesses, and to develop an ability to evaluate its output so that they don’t blindly use or base actions on output which is flawed. Their ability to evaluate will also need to extend to being able to assess when and when not to use it, and how to proceed with its output.

All of the above is far from straightforward! When you look at it like that, it’s little wonder that left to their own devices students use it in the wrong way. So, in order to have an effective policy regarding the use of AI, there is a lot of preparation that is required. That skill-development and awareness-raising needs to be built in throughout the course into all relevant lessons. And that means a lot of (wo)man hours, given our course materials are developed by people who are also teaching, coordinating and so on. In addition, teachers will need sufficient training to ensure they have the level of knowledge and skill necessary to successfully guide students through the materials/lessons where AI features. The other complicating factor is that the extent of the changes means that new materials/lessons cannot be implemented part way through an academic year as all cohorts of a given year need the same input and to take assessments that are assessed consistently through the year. So, if we are not ready by a September, then we are immediately already looking at a delay of another year. It is a complex business!

So, I absolutely agree with the quote at the start of this post but I think it is also a LOT easier said than done. As developing an approach in a high stakes environment takes time but generative AI and tide wait for no man. By the time we reach the stage of being able to implement our plans fully, they will probably need adapting to whatever new developments have arisen in the meantime (already there is the question of Google Note and similar which we have not yet addressed!). For sure, the assessment landscape is changing and will continue to change, but I do believe that we can’t rely on “catching students out” e.g. with AI detection tools and the like. We need to support them in using AI effectively and acceptably, so that they can benefit from its strengths and be able to use it in such a way as to mitigate its weaknesses and avoid misuse. Of course, as mentioned earlier, to be able to do that, we, ourselves, as teachers, need to develop our own knowledge and skills in the use of AI so that we can guide them through this decidedly tricky terrain. Providing training is a means of ensuring a base level of competence rather than relying on teachers to learn what is required independently. Training objectives would need to mirror the objectives for students but with an extra layer that addresses how to assist students in their use of AI, and how to help them develop their criticality in relation to it. Obviously there will be skills and knowledge that teachers have that will be transferable e.g. around criticality, metacognition and so on, but support and collaboration that enables them to explore the application of them in the context of AI would be beneficial.

Apart from the issue of addressing AI use in the context of learning and assessments, in terms of not getting left behind, we also need to ensure that what we are offering students is sufficiently worthwhile that they continue to come and do our courses rather than deciding to rely on AI to support them through their studies, from application through completion and side-stepping what we offer. But that’s for another blog post!

I would be interested to hear how your workplace has integrated use of AI into materials and lessons, and recognised its existence (for better and for worse) in the context of assessment. I wold also be interested to hear how teachers have been supported in negotiating teaching, learning and assessment in an AI world. Please use the comments to let me know! 🙂