Learning Strand update
Our vibrant and diverse learning community in a unique and compelling part of the world has evolved from our rich history. We are a learning community and all members are learners.
GOAL:
Create flexible and adaptive structures for learning
NEW METRICS FOR SUCCESS
The focus of the New Metrics team in Term 4 has been a pilot trial looking at the assessment of Collaboration and Learner Resilience. Teaching staff across all three sub-schools have been using the fine-grained criteria that were written in the online workshops during Terms 2 and 3. These were collated by the New Metrics Team at the University of Melbourne and made available to all 37 participating schools.
College staff involved in the trial were registered on the university’s assessment platform (RUBY) enabling them to report back on their involvement in the trial directly. Feedback on the use of these rubrics has been very positive, Louise Viney from our Junior School commented as follows: “I have learnt so much about assessing collaboration and where to take my students learning next, through this project.”
The trial finished in late November and all teacher participants completed an online survey to give their feedback on the usefulness of the rubric descriptors that were used in trial. All the feedback, from all the participating schools, regarding the frameworks that mirror the SOC Learner Attributes, will ultimately lead to the refinement of user-friendly rubrics that we can use here at Scotch Oakburn that will enable us to better recognise attributes reflecting the whole student.
GOAL:
Develop the Scotch Oakburn College Learner Profile
LEARNER ATTRIBUTES
Across the College teaching teams have been focussed on looking at the recognition of Learner Attributes. Learner Attributes are the focus for the majority of Junior School Connect sessions which occur in class groups. In addition, Junior School reporting documentation requires that Early Learning (EL) teachers provide a future focus for students which is aligned to the attributes and that each term Prep to Year 5 teachers provide a semester goal aligned to the attributes.
Junior School ePortfolio reporting documentation includes Learner Attributes which are reflected on by the teacher each term for EL to Year 4. In Year 5, the students themselves must also reflect on their attribute focus. In 2021, the Year 5 Leadership Focus was around the attributes which led to an inquiry unit through Visual Art.
Continued focus on the Middle School connections to the Learner Attributes occurs at assemblies and links to the Learner Attributes occur through the Middle School specific projects like EY8, World Peace Game and SOC2City. During Term 4, Penquite Heads of Department have begun incorporating the language of the Learner Attributes both in the classroom and in reporting and there are moves to formalise the recognition of these through a new Progress Report model. This will focus on four attributes in particular: Self-Regulation, Collaboration, Communication and Curiosity.
