Tag: assessment
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Socrates Against The Machine: Can Looking Back Help Us to Think About the Future of Education?
Socrates Against The Machine: Can Looking Back Help Us to Think About the Future of Education? In the past two weeks, AI writing has gone mainstream. OpenAI’s ChatGPT, an app sitting on top of its latest large language model, was released for “public testing”, and it seems to have captured the imagination of a large chunk…
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A New Level of AI Essay
I’ve written a number of posts this year about Artificial Intelligence and education. Next week, I’ll start my PhD exploring AI and writing, and it’s fair to say I’ve been down the rabbit hole. The rate of change is very rapid, and it seems like every week a new app is released which builds on…
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Reading and Exploring: How to write the OC1 Personal Response
I just got back from the VATE conference after two days with some of the best English teachers and presenters in the state. We also heard directly from the VCAA and a handful of the examination panel about the new Study Design. It’s clear that the new SD is looming large for English teachers and…
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Choosing Mentor Texts
Before the new VCE English and EAL Study Design was launched for consultation I had already written a few posts about using texts as models, from students’ own writing through to literary classics. When the SD came out, it was great to see that idea translated into the ‘mentor texts’ for Crafting and Creating Texts.…
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Planning for Reading and Exploring Texts: The Personal Response
Now that we’re well and truly clear of the Year 12 exams, most schools in Victoria have turned their attention towards the new Study Design and preparing students for 2023. Whether your school has a head start or step up program or not, chances are you’ll be planning your approach to the new Personal Response…
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Aligning 7-10 with the new VCE English and EAL Study Design
Before beginning this article, I need to point out that I absolutely do not recommend turning the 7-10 curriculum into a “mini VCE”, or a funnel that only points students towards the senior certificate. There are many varied pathways students can take through secondary school, and the VCE is only one of them. When I…
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VCE English and EAL: Assessing the new Crafting and Creating Texts outcomes
In all of the Professional Learnings I’ve been running recently related to the new Study Design, the assessment question has cropped up more than any other. We don’t have a sample examination yet; and we won’t get one until well into next year. But the VCAA have provided us with Unit 3 and 4 Performance…
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Using Comparative Judgement to Assess Writing
If you’ve ever formally assessed senior English (at least here in Victoria), then you’ve used comparative judgement to assess writing. Comparative judgement, as the name suggests, is an assessment method based on comparing responses to determine their overall placement on an assessment scale. It’s an effective method supported by research, much of which is outlined…
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Why write?
This is an early extract from our book Practical Writing Strategies, which will be published in 2023 by Amba Press. The elephant in the room Most of the time, we get students to write so we can assess them on their knowledge. Simple. It’s a sad truth that the main purpose of most writing in…
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Planning for the 2023 VCE English/EAL Study Design
Update: Since writing these original posts VCAA have released even more advice about assessment. I’m adding my recent posts on comparative judgement and how to assess the VCE Crafting and Creating Texts outcomes below. I’ve also added the ‘Teachers as Writers’ series of posts because the new Crafting and Creating Texts units are going to…