Teach Middle East Magazine Sep - Dec 2020 Issue 1 Volume 8 | Page 14

MORAL EDUCATION THE FINNISH WAY The assessment includes summative, formative and behavioral assessment and is based on a pre-defined success criteria, which is to be addressed after each period. Usually the completion of the success criteria is a quick verbal self-assessment, but now the teachers insert the success criteria in the Qridi self-evaluation tool and conduct the assessment digitally. After each lesson the students log in on Qridi with a mobile phone or a tablet and complete their assessment individually. Teachers at Garden City British School in Al Ain have been exploring new assessment methods and gamification to support the teaching and learning of the recently introduced Moral Education curriculum. Like most new things, the much needed curriculum has brought new challenges to teachers, for example how to handle the assessment of the learning outcomes and also how to make the lessons more engaging and fun. In Finland, the last curriculum reform also posed assessment challenges to teachers. The student assessment was to include a variety of student-engaging methods, such as self- peer- and group assessment and the students were given more responsibility to determine goals for their own learning. In addition, all schools were expected to teach not only subjects, but some cross-curricular themes, known as transversal competences. The evaluation of these themes is somewhat similar with the evaluation of Moral Education in UAE. Qridi, which was designed to meet the needs of teachers and students in a changing environment by providing a digital tool for student-centered, continuous and versatile assessment, is one of the new solutions being piloted at the Garden City British School. In their model, Moral Education is integrated in homeroom classes and taught together with other subjects. Ms. Jaana Wilkko, the principal at Garden City British School says that with the help of Qridi the teachers have been able to shift the topics from Moral Education to the core subjects more easily. “If the children are doing group work in math class for example, the success criteria could be related to responsibility. So we are using the themes and vocabulary from Moral Education as part of the success criteria.” "Qridi has helped the teachers to shift the topics from Moral Education to the core subjects." The greatest thing about Qridi according to Ms. Wilkko is that it provides consistency and evidence to support teaching and learning. “The overall idea is that Moral Education is the very core, something that we all need to focus on. With the help of Qridi there is now consistency in evaluation. The tool is there every week and provides us with evidence and data on how things are progressing. You can actually reflect back on how the students have answered and see their improvement!” In addition of making the assessment of the learning outcomes easier, Amal Farrag, Moral Education teacher at Garden City British School has been discovering the Seppo platform to make learning more engaging and fun. "Gamification reinforces student engagement and motivation and helps to spark the joy of learning." The Seppo platform ties the use of digital technology to the physical environment around us. The platform incorporates the benefits of gamification and use of game mechanics while encouraging the physical movement of the players. Since seppo is a game authoring platform, it helps teachers develop their digital skills and become game builders without having to know a line of code. Gamification also reinforces student engagement and motivation and helps to spark the joy of learning. The gamification element in Moral Education has had a major impact in the school says Ms. Farrag. “The students are actually learning through playing and on top of that they are very excited about Seppo”, she adds. “We have used Seppo especially with Cultural- and Civic studies. You have so many options with Seppo and it’s so versatile. You can add more visuals, videos and get the students interacting with each other or even go outside the classroom”. What makes Seppo so great according to Ms. Farrag, is that the students can have many different options to submit their answers, which enables the tailoring of the games to fit the needs of each individual. “Some students prefer answering by writing, some by video or audio. Students at all levels can reach their goals”, she says. Ms. Farrag has integrated Seppo to her classes to support the learning. Once the teacher is done with teaching the topic of the class, the students can deepen their understanding by playing a game of Seppo. For more information and to pilot at your school: [email protected]