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Planning for Learning

Formative Assessment

Andrea Mapplebeck, Yeasmin Mortuza, Jane Winter, and Matt Cornock

Most FutureLearn courses run multiple times. Every run of a course has a set start date but you can join it and work through it after it starts. Find out more This course is for teachers, curriculum leaders, teaching assistants, newly qualified teachers, trainee teachers and others involved in teaching Science, Engineering, Technology, Computing or Maths. It’s suitable for educators working at primary, secondary or further education (ages 5-19 years). Teachers of other disciplines may find this course useful in applying assessment for learning approaches. You can use the hashtag #FLSTEMPlanning to talk about this course on social media.

Topics Covered

Planning to gather evidence about your students’ learning
Planning to address misconceptions
Collecting evidence to inform your teaching
Planning to respond to student understanding during lessons
Medium-term planning to respond to student understanding across lessons

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Reviews summary

Practical formative assessment for educators

According to students, 'Planning for Learning: Formative Assessment' is a highly practical and applicable course, particularly beneficial for educators seeking to improve their formative assessment practices. Learners consistently highlight the course's strength in providing concrete methods for identifying and addressing student misconceptions. The content is clear and well-organized, making complex concepts easy to grasp. While it offers valuable strategies for daily classroom integration, some experienced professionals found the content to be foundational rather than advanced, suggesting it's best suited for new or less familiar teachers, including NQTs and trainees.

Presents complex ideas in an understandable way.

"I appreciated the clear explanations and examples."

"The material is well-organized and presented."

"The structure was logical, and the concepts were easy to grasp, even for someone relatively new to formal assessment theory."

Strong insights into identifying and correcting student errors.

"It provided concrete methods for identifying and addressing student misconceptions."

"The module on addressing misconceptions was particularly insightful."

"This course significantly improved my ability to plan for and collect evidence of student learning. The module on addressing misconceptions was a standout."

Highly beneficial for trainees and newly qualified educators.

"It's probably better suited for new teachers or those less familiar with assessment for learning."

"I'm a newly qualified teacher in maths, and this course was a godsend."

"A very useful course, especially for understanding how to plan for and gather evidence of learning. I'm a trainee secondary science teacher..."

"As a teaching assistant, it gave me a better understanding of the 'why' behind many teaching strategies."

Provides immediately applicable tools and methods for teaching.

"This course was absolutely fantastic! ...I found the strategies for formative assessment incredibly practical and immediately applicable to my classroom."

"Excellent content! ...This course delivered practical tools and frameworks."

"It gave me a clear roadmap for integrating formative assessment into my daily teaching. The practical tips and downloadable resources were incredibly helpful."

"I learned how to use practical tools and strategies that I could apply immediately to my work."

May be too foundational for seasoned professionals.

"The course provided a good introduction to formative assessment, but I felt some of the content could have been more in-depth. As a seasoned curriculum leader, I was hoping for more advanced strategies."

"While the topic is important, I found the course content to be quite basic and a bit dry. I already implement many of these strategies."

"It's a foundational course, not super advanced, but very effective for its stated goals."

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