Arte-non-Vi

Tag: Measurement

  • Making Learning Visible

    University of Melbourne 1888 Courtyard
    1888 Courtyard

    On a warm, almost balmy evening in Melbourne, I had the pleasure of attending the inaugural [and very heavily subscribed] Professorial Lecture by Professor John Hattie, entitled “The Future of Measurement – making learning visible” as part of the Dean’s Lecture series at the Melbourne Graduate School of Education.

    Returning to the university grounds is always a pleasure and the 1888 courtyard did not disappoint. The work of the Univeristy of Melbourne in the field of education has always been innovative and often challenging the status-quo. The work of the Graduate School, in general, and that of centres such as the Centre for Research on Education Systems (formerly CPELL), are always at the fore-front in their fields.

    Adding once again to the impressive depth and breadth of research talent, the Dean of the Melbourne Graduate School of Education, Professor Field Rickards, introduced and welcomed Professor Hattie, who has recently been appointed as the Director of The Melbourne Education Research Institute (MERI) which is the umbrella agency for research activities of the Graduate School of Education.

    The focus of Professor Hattie’s presentation was the evolution of testing and measurement techniques and the opportunities that new developments in technology bring to the development of measurement and feedback systems for classroom teachers.

    As someone that has a healthy, constructive and professional suspicion of schools and teaching, I view the work of John Hattie as very important.

    He posited that we are at a cusp in understanding, technology and delivery that would allow a new regime of online and other feedback systems, encouraging teachers to genuinely and routinely moderate and explicitly apply what they learn about the progress of students they teach.

    This can be near-or-real-time, moderated, researched based and most importantly,

    Dean's Lecture - Prof. John Hattie
    Dean's Lecture Dec 7 2011

    replicable between class-room teachers, across schools and even systems. This has the potential to profoundly effect what we understand is possible in a classroom and school.

    I have no-doubt it would also fundamentally reform teacher-education.

    The abstract for the lecture stated:

    Measurement invades so many aspects of our life, particularly in our schools. Indeed schools are awash with test data. Most of these tests look like those of 50 years ago. During the past ten years a new revolution has been occurring leading to fascinating new ways to think about measurement. These include the use of technologies, changing conceptions of how to assess the qualities of tests, the measurement of progress, assessing cognitive processes and the globalisation of measurement.

    This lecture will outline this revolution, showing how many of these advances can be included in a reporting engine accessible to teachers. These assessment reports can make learning more visible to the student and the teacher.

    Professor Hattie referred to his vast research [those of you who have followed my posts over the years will be aware of these] on student learning and his major meta-analyses on influences on achievement.

    Those interested in student achievement, teacher effectiveness and the mysteries of cognitive improvement will do well to follow the work of Melbourne Education Research Institute over the coming years.

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  • Identifying what matters…

    If ever there was essential reading for every teacher and every teacher-educator, the work of Professor John Hattie from the University of Auckland, New Zealand, would be at the top of my reading list.

    The clarity and focus of such an extensive, system-wide meta-study that focusses on the EFFECTs of what teachers, schools and education systems DO is very compelling.

    Professor Hattie delivered one of the key-note presentations at the 2007 EARLI conference [European Association for Research on Learning and Instruction]

    The abstract states:

    The session will overview a synthesis of over 600 meta-analyses of effects on achievement, highlighting the major themes that influence student learning. From these themes, the presentation will demonstrate the development of an assessment model of student learning that has been available and extensively used in NZ elementary and high schools over the past 5 years. A particular theme of the assessment model has been methods for helping teachers see and understand student progress, enable them to set targets/high expectations, and provide feedback so that there are more aware of the importance of some of the key competencies that act as enhancers or barriers to learning.

    I would highly recommend the work of Professor Hattie to all involved in educational research.  I would suggest you start by reading his Inaugural Lecture from August 1999; see the link at the bottom of this page.

    In this presentation, Professor Hattie presents three parts to his “story”. These are

    1. To identify major influences on achievement [ using 700+ meta-analyses ]
    2. To outline an assessment model based on these influences
    3. To demonstrate the power and joy of Educational Psychology
    Identifying what matters
    Prof John Hattie – 2007
    Links: 

  • Student Learning – Too much is known…

    An excerpt from Professor John Hattie’s Inaugural Lecture, Univeristy of Auckland, August 2nd 1999.

    Professor Hattie’s work resonates very strongly with my own experiences and limited research. It most certainly encourages me to continue with further study in this field.

    This was his third inaugural lecture.

    The excerpt reads;

    There is so much known about what makes a difference in the classroom. A glance at the journals on the shelves of most libraries, my colleagues’ shelves, and on web pages would indicate that the state of knowledge in the discipline of education is healthy. The worldwide picture certainly is one of plenty. We now can have a library solely consisting of Handbooks, most of which can not be held in the hand. Given this bounty, it would seem remarkable that there is much left to say. That never stopped an academic.

    Professor Hattie continues to say ;

    We all seek positive evidence in that which we love. Teachers/Researchers, like lovers, are often blind…..

    Hence, we have a school community peopled with teachers with self-fulfilling prophecies, all believing they are doing a good job, and with models of learning rarely based on any other evidence than “it works for me”. As well we have an educational research community peopled with academics chasing their pet theory, promoting their own methodology while passing each other in corridors, rarely asking for negative evidence, and pushing with passion that “if only the teachers would do this, or know that”. Both educational communities work behind closed doors, coming out to discuss kids, curricula, accountability, and each other, but rarely discussing the fundamental tenets about their teaching that leads to positive impacts on student learning.

    The potential for integration of research and practice in the school setting is enormous, yet woefully underestimated by both researchers and practitioners and [mysteriously -at least to me] not pursued as a genuine policy response by system leaders.

    I have worked with hundred’s of schools and hundreds if not thousands of teachers over many years, yet the focus, evidence and strength of the propositions within Professor Hattie’s paper and lecture are sadly absent from most schools and systems I have known.

    Let’s hope this can be changed.

    Link: