Holmer Green Junior School Innovative ICT Project Progress Report

School Contacts - Lyn Cox and Angie Easterling

Project Aims and Description

Following our successful bid for funding, we purchased a camcorder, digital camera, laptop and accessories in order to develop our assessment strategies in lessons such as PE, Music, Design and Technology.

The attached timeline outlines our plan and further detail is provided below.

• Angie's Year 4 class was studying a unit of work on balance. I videoed the opening lesson in Week 2 in which Angie set out the learning objectives for pupils and began teaching the skills required.
• In this lesson, a considerable amount of time was spent on pupils evaluating each group's work which meant that there were periods of time when no activity was taking place.
• After the lesson, Angie and I discussed the lesson format and realised that the evaluation could be done in a cross-curricular ICT lesson as the pupils watched themselves on video and judged their own and others' performances.
• The class watched the video very attentively and were able to identify strengths and weaknesses very accurately, discussing points eagerly and making helpful and thoughtful contributions.
• Angie had devised a pupil self-assessment sheet which focussed on the main objectives and these were completed at the end of the video session. Angie was also able to make her own assessments as the video ran, replaying sections when necessary and questioning aspects of each sequence to further enhance pupil learning. Pupils identified one strength and one area to improve in the next lesson. (see Appendix 1)
• I videoed a second lesson in Week 4, by which time I noticed a considerable improvement in skills, particularly in the careful way pupils were linking sequences of movement together showing awareness of the importance of making every part of the sequence equally good. Partners were reminding each other of patch and point balances, pointing toes, standing well, etc. At least 90% of the lesson involved pupils working actively, only stopping to demonstrate where necessary and to listen to further instructions or guidance.
• Pupils again watched the video and further evaluated their skills and progress (see Appendix 2).
• The final video was made in Week 7 at the end of the unit of work. Pupils were now able to sequence a complex set of balances using apparatus. They worked confidently and accurately, taking great pride in their work - by now they were very comfortable with the idea of being filmed and were keen to show their skills. The final sequences were filmed individually and the rest of the class watched attentively and appreciatively, recognising the important features of the sequence and being aware when something was excellent or perhaps missing.
• Pupils watched the video and made a final evaluation, adding a summary sentence at the bottom of the page (see Appendix 3)

Video Sessions

Evaluation

The pupils were very interested in being filmed and were very aware of the camera at first but this soon wore off for the majority of the class and they worked without watching me. They took great care when their own sequence was being filmed and tried very hard to complete the task to the best of their ability. It was noticeable how much more involved the pupils were when they were involved in active work for the majority of the lesson, evaluating each other as they worked and improving weak points as they went along - being told what you need to do at the end of a lesson is less helpful as it has to be recalled a week later.
The evaluation after watching the video was excellent, leading to interesting and helpful discussions - most pupils were able to identify their own strengths and weaknesses without being told after watching their performance.
The quality of work by the end of the unit was very good and there was an air of excitement as groups prepared for the final filming. As an aid to teacher assessment, the camcorder proved very helpful as it is difficult to write assessments whilst managing a PE lesson and the initial impact fades when trying to recall each sequence later.
The evaluation format now needs to be fine tuned and pupils need clear guidance on the exact meaning of each question so that their responses are as accurate as possible - this could form part of a Literacy task where appropriate.

Development of the project

Year 3 and Year 5 classes have since recorded their own PE lessons and evaluated them, and a Year 4 class has recorded a musical performance. Training of staff in the use of the camcorder is ongoing and feedback has been very positive.
The digital camera is in constant use now and photos of projects, artwork, D&T work, class events etc. are now becoming widely evident.
All year groups have their own camcorder tape, videocassette for editing recordings and digital camera memory card so that images can be edited and stored without fear of them being accidentally erased by another class.
Staff are becoming proficient at downloading images to the laptop and printing them themselves.

Spring Term 2002

• It is our aim that by the end of this academic year, all teaching staff will be using the camcorder, digital camera and laptop to enhance their assessment of pupils in PE, Music, Art, D&T and any other subject where evidence of achievement is difficult to show or where pupil self-assessment could be developed.
• Subject leaders will identify opportunities to use the cameras.
• Project will be fed back to the local liaison group.

Sample Gymnastics Assessment Sheet

Completed Sheets