Insitution: Ringwood School

Language teachers at the Ringwood School in Ringwood, Hampshire personalise learning in KS4 classes by making use of their VLE and an element of Assessment for Learning (AfL) in the form of peer assessment of GCSE coursework and presentations.

Context
Ringwood School is in the historic market town of Ringwood, a lively community situated close to the New Forest National Park. It is the only state secondary school in the area with 1601 students aged 11-18. The school became a Specialist Language College in 2003, and welcomes international students from all over the world into the sixth form. Awarded hub status from the Specialist Schools and Academies Trust in 2006, focussing on curriculum innovation and the effective use of new technologies, the school has also been at the forefront of the introduction of language learning into the primary school cluster. Students have been learning French from Year 3 for the past 5 years. All students study at least one language to the end of Year 11. 46 students opted to take AS level in French last year.

What is the project?
Using a VLE for peer assessment of GCSE coursework and presentations.

Key objectives

• To use the assessment for learning (AfL) technique of peer assessment to improve learning.
• To enable students to identify examples of good practice in their own and in each others’ work.

Actions taken

• Presentations written by students for their GCSE were put onto one area of  the VLE.
• These presentations could then be accessed and commented upon by the teacher and peers as well as the student. Teachers and peers could both give suggestions for improvement.

Useful tips and principles of teaching
It is important to recognise that peer assessment is a skill that needs to be taught to students. Many students lack the confidence needed to peer assess, possibly due to the traditional teacher-student relationship where the teacher is seen as the one who imparts the knowledge to his/her students. It may take some time before students realise that they too can make an important contribution to learning – students may even resist this initially.

Comments from staff at the school
'Peer assessment has made me think more not only about the learning objectives for my lessons, but also about the steps the students need to take to achieve these objectives.  Clearly students cannot peer assess successfully if they are not aware of the criteria for a good piece of work. I have found that having to explain these criteria to students has forced me to think a lot harder about what exactly I wanted the students to learn.'
Andy Neil, responsible for setting up the VLE

'Using the VLE to peer assess is driving forwards the personalising learning agenda in the school. Students are growing in confidence and developing their ability to learn independently.'
Miss C Edwards, Headteacher

Comments from students on use of the VLE
'The advantage of having the Skills Passport on the VLE is that a) it cannot be ruined in any way and b) you can connect to it anywhere whereas if you have a piece of paper, you may not remember the piece of paper to bring with you!'

'An advantage is that you look more carefully at other peoples work and pick up on different points that you can miss on your own work.'

'It's easier to understand the way friends phrase things you need to improve.'

'When friends criticise your work, it doesn't sound so bad.'

Future developments
The VLE’s Forums have now started to be used as a vehicle for peer assessment. Students are able to type their work into the forums and then other students can peer assess this work quite easily by replying to the forum post. Students could also attach PowerPoint presentation, audio or video files to the Forum which could then be peer assessed.

It is intended that students will work in group of three, each student will assess the work of their two peers (in the form of two stars and a wish), and then the work will be improved by taking into account this peer assessment. This continuous cycle of improvement should be particularly valuable when students are preparing for their coursework or writing  their GCSE presentations. 

The final stage of this peer assessment will give the students who has had his/her work assessed the opportunity to judge the quality of the feedback. This can all be done using the VLE forums.

Author: Andy Neil

Return to case study summary to view associated video clips »