Teach Middle East Magazine Apr - Jun 2020 Issue 3 Volume 7 | Page 19

Sharing Good Practice
is particularly beneficial for students
with low reading ages, EAL students,
or students who may simply struggle
to decipher the teacher’s handwriting.
One teacher commented that the
best thing about the new approach
was that they are ‘able to tailor
feedback for each child, which is
particularly helpful for those with
SEN/EAL.’ Students can listen to the
feedback multiple times and revisit
the feedback after many months. The
use of ‘notifications’ means that the
students see feedback immediately,
without needing to log in.
Building Relationships
I believe that technology is at its
most powerful when it brings people
together, and that digitised verbal
feedback helps to build relationships
between students, teachers and
parents. Parents are also able to
receive notifications when a ‘voice
note’ is added to the student’s
work, prompting transformational
conversations around learning at
home. Parents can now see, in one
place, exactly what work their child is
producing at school, and what he or
she can do next to further improve.
This enables parents to engage in
conversations around learning - and
it is this, rather than simply parental
involvement in schooling, that makes
a difference in children’s achievement
(Harris and Goodall, 2007).
with technological tools has certainly
gone a long way to ensuring that new
possibilities are adopted, and in some
cases, has become a non-negotiable.
What’s next
For technology to have a transformative
impact in the classroom ‘it is critical to
move the focus beyond the technology
itself, to how technology enables
teaching and learning’ (McKnight et al,
2016 p194). The focus needs to be on
understanding what it is that we want
to use technology to improve, rather
than the hardware.
It is worth noting that the speed
of development for mobile tools
far exceeds the development on
portable devices. With this in mind
the consideration of mobile devices as
a tool that will become the norm for
students and teachers in the future is
worth serious consideration.
References
Black P and William D (1998); Assessment and
classroom learning. Assessment in Education
5(1): 7-73
Department for Education (2015); Workload
Challenge: Analysis of teacher consultation
responses.
Available
at
https://assets.
publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/
system/ uploads/attachment data/file/401406/
RR445_-_Workload_Challenge_-
_Analysis_of_teacher_consultation_responses_
FINAL.pdf (accessed 19 October 2018).
Elliot et al (2016); A Marked Improvement? A review
of the evidence on written marking. Available
at
https://educationendowmentfoundation.
org.uk/public/files/Publications/ EEF_Marking_
Review_April_2016.pdf (accessed 19 October
2018).
Harris A and Goodall J (2007); Engaging Parents
in Raising Achievement: Do Parents Know
They Matter? Available att http://dera.ioe.
ac.uk/6639/1/DCSF-RW004.pdf (accessed 19
October 2018)
Hattie, John (2009); Visible Learning: A
Synthesis of over 800 meta-analyses relating to
achievement. London; New York: Routledge
McKnight et al (2016); Teaching in a Digital Age:
How Educators Use Technology to Improve
Student Learning. Journal of Research on
Technology in Education 48(3): 194-211
Ward, Helen (2016); ‘Workload: Tens of
thousands of teachers spend more than 11
hours marking each week,’ TES, 18 April 2016
at https://www.tes.com/news/workload-tens-
thousands-
teachers-spend-more-11-hours-
marking-every-week (accessed November 4th
2018).
Challenges
The main challenge for school leaders
is to embed purposeful technological
change that impacts pedagogy in
a consistent manner. This could be
simply down to change management,
however, I think that understanding
the
possibilities
of
operational
efficiencies in schools, through the use
of mobile technology is a fairly new
concept that requires measurement
and an evidence base. In some schools,
teachers have been enthusiastic
adopters from the outset, and having
identified outstanding practitioners
from different key stages, it was
possible to form a working group.
This group modelled best practice,
offered support to any teachers who
were more unsure of how to use voice
feedback in their classroom. The
creation of a feedback policy in line
Abdul Chohan is the Director of ThinkSimple Ltd. The organisation works with
school leaders and Ministries of Education to develop operational efficiencies
and innovative learning approaches in education. Abdul is a former teacher of 20
years and is the Co-founder of a primary free school in Bolton, UK. He is also a
former Principal and former CEO of a multi academy trust based in the UK.
Class Time
Term 3 Apr - Jun 2020
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