Progress in practice: technology supporting learning

Edtech, correctly applied, enhances teaching and learning. When it comes to measuring progress it’s an essential tool that can engage students, build their confidence and help them to recognise the progress that they make – ultimately, driving improvement.

Leading IT provider Fujitsu explores capturing evidence of progress and the role technology can play in this
Most educators agree that individual student progress needs to be measured and understood in order for teachers to make the right interventions and improve attainment. The importance of capturing evidence of children’s progress – a Naace project we commissioned which is based on responses from near 100 schools – revealed a strong emphasis on capturing evidence of pupil progress and using this to drive, and celebrate, academic and creative success.
Supporting educational ownership

The whitepaper explains that capturing evidence of progress is a critical part of the ‘virtuous spiral’ (figure 1) and that following this spiral enables students to play an active part in their learning, which boosts their understanding of, and engagement with, progress towards their targets. As they build confidence and self-esteem, students take a greater role in leading learning – their own and that of their peers – which reinforces feedback.
The capture of student work is critical to measuring – and driving – progress. The schools studied placed great emphasis on sharing student work with parents and encouraging them to engage with their child’s learning; technology plays a pivotal role in capturing and disseminating this data. For example, providing digital files at the end of term instead of, or as a supplement to, paper-based work is more convenient for parents. These files can be shared online and encourage conversations between school and home, increasing feedback and praise, and further driving progress.
Thriving on progress
In the UK accountability measures in schools have evolved to include Progress8 and innovative processes are being developed to support students in this. In developing approaches to capturing evidence of progress, educators must support students and demonstrate accountability that feedback on progress is effective in improving learning. This is leading schools to structure feedback more formally and more schools are using their digital environment to do this. Fujitsu scanners can help in this regard by capturing a student’s work throughout the term so that students, teachers and parents can access and assess their ‘academic audit trail’.
Advancements in technology mean that previously ‘unscannable’ work, such as portfolios, art or design projects and 3D pieces of work, can be captured – for example, using Fujitsu’s SV600, an overhead scanner. Having data stored on an access-anywhere, online system enables wider audiences, stronger feedback and more visible progress and achievements. The only questions remaining are, what processes do you have in place to measure student progress? And are they supporting student learning experience?