Students monitoring their learning with Professor Geoff Masters

In today’s video Teacher magazine sits down with Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) CEO Professor Geoff Masters AO to discuss why it is important that students can monitor their own learning.

Masters says it’s important that students have an understanding of what’s expected of them, that they’re involved in the process of setting goals for their own learning and that they have the opportunity to monitor the progress that they’re making in their learning.

‘It’s not just a matter of judging and grading students on how well they’ve learned what they’ve been taught, but they themselves need to be thinking about – “Where am I up to? What progress have I made? What comes next?”’ Masters says.

‘That’s important because one of the most effective ways to build students’ confidence in their ability to learn is to help them see the progress they’re making and I think too often in our schools we don’t help students see that they are in fact making progress over time.’

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Professor Geoff Masters has written extensively about the topic of assessment in his monthly Teacher column.

ACER is pursuing a new approach to assessment through its ACER Certificates program in Mathematics and Reading. Open to all students in Australia, the certificates recognise excellence and assess knowledge and skills, independent of school year. Visit the website to find out more.

Professor Geoff Masters says one of the most effective ways to build students’ confidence in their ability to learn is to help them see the progress they’re making.

How are you monitoring student progress? How is this information made available to students? How often do you give feedback to students on their learning and progress? Are students aware of the next steps in their learning and how they can continue to improve?