Summary of the Content of Teaching Support Modules.

Creative Teaching Module 1

This module looks at the characteristics of creative and innovative teaching methods and the relevance of :

• Technology mediated learning
• Active Learning Techniques
• Games, Creating & Making learning activities
• Skills Learning

to tutors’ teaching practice.

Creative Teaching Module 2

This module looks at:

• The basic elements of Whole Brain or Power Teaching.
• The importance of ensuring that where technology is used, it adds value to the learning event.
• What Blended Learning is and how it can be incorporated within your teaching.
• Producing a robust personal Teaching Improvement Strategy.
• Identifying at least 3 creative teaching methods you could use in your teaching.

Initial Diagnostics & Assessment Module.

This module looks at:

• Why initial diagnostics are important.
• Why it is important and how, we can ensure that initial diagnostics are proportionate, appropriately sophisticated, and cover all the things they need to.
• How to integrate course specific and other initial assessment activities and why this is important.
• Why we need to make activities gradually more difficult for diagnostic purposes.
• How initial diagnostics for areas like literacy and numeracy can be integrated with subject specific diagnostic activities.
• The importance of thinking about the approach taken with learners.

Stretch & Challenge Module

This module looks at:

• What is meant by the phrase stretch and challenge in an adult learning setting.
• Differentiation of teaching, learning and assessment.
• The benefits to learners of differentiated learning activities.
• Nine effective techniques of differentiation.
• Stretch and challenge in a range of learning contexts.

 

Learning Support

This module looks at:

• What is meant by the term ‘learning support’ in an adult learning context?
• The types of learning support needs learners may have.
• The indicators that a learner may be in need of support.
• The types of support all tutors should be able to provide with  basic English and Math skills, and  ICT.
• Circumstances where the support required is quite significant and a case for an LSA needs to be made, or possibly a specialist diagnostic is needed.

Target Setting

This module looks at:

• Why we develop targets with learners
• Identifying different types of targets that need to be used
• Different ways to help learners own their targets
• Identifying the characteristics of well-written targets  
• Developing action plans to help learners achieve their targets.

Session Planning

This module looks at:

• The purpose of a session plan.
• Session plan structures.
• The importance of well defined session learning outcomes.
• Session-content sequencing.
• Timings for learning activities in sessions.
• What has to be taken into account regarding accommodation and equipment availability when developing session plans.
• The concept of episodes to support effective session planning.

 

Learning Outcomes

This module looks at:

• The purposes a session learning outcome serves.
• The difference between an Outcome and an Objective.
• 5 types of learning outcomes and  how these can apply to different subjects.
• The 3 domains of learning and how these relate to the learning outcomes.
• The application of conditions and standards / quality to learning outcomes.

Embedding Math and English Introduction Module.

This module looks at:

• Why you are being asked to incorporate Math and English skills development opportunities within the subject you teach.
• The benefits to learners of enhancing their Math and English skills.
• That tutors are not being asked to become Math and English teachers or artificially  insert English and Maths into courses.
• The purpose and value of doing a Math and English skills audit and how it should impact on course and delivery.
• How Peer Support can play a role in implementing Math and English development opportunities. 

 

Embedding English Module.

This module looks at:

• The categories and sub-categories we can use to describe the English skills that we should seek to provide development opportunities for.
• Practical ways of embedding:
  • speaking listening and communicating skills development opportunities
  • reading skills development opportunities
  • writing skills development opportunities.

Classroom Management

This module looks at:

• How to create  an engaging and stimulating learning environment.
• The value of and how to create appropriate and effective ground rules to regulate the learning environment.
• What effective behaviour management in adult learning contexts looks like.
• How effective organisation of resources and equipment helps to facilitate efficient learning.
• How the visual dimensions of the learning environment can contribute to learning.
• How the organisation of the learning area seating arrangements can enable or inhibit learning.
• How organising who sits with whom contributes to learning.

 

Assessment

This module looks at:

• what is meant by the term 'assessment', the different types of assessment, the activities assessment involves and whether you need to extend the range of assessment methods you use
• what an assessment strategy is and looks like, how the detail of a strategy can be developed, and how we go about choosing and amending an assessment strategy
• what formative assessment is and the role of questioning to enable learning
• common types of questions, how tutors can improve questioning methods including how questions can be asked at different levels to stretch and challenge learners
• how both Bloom's and Dalton's taxonomy can help tutors use questioning more effectively
• the wide range of assessment techniques tutors can use to enable and check learning
• the features of both poorly designed and well-designed assessments
• what effective summative assessment design and implementation looks like
• Internal Verifier tasks which check assessment decisions and assessment design
• the creation and use of assessment evidence portfolios, paper-based and e-portfolios
• significant considerations for the selection and implementation of commercial e-portfolios.

Embedding Math Module

This module looks at:

• the specific types off Math skills that could be explored in and through the subject you teach
• practical ways of embedding a range of different Math skills (as they apply to the subject you teach) including: 

• • basic Math operations
  • measurement / estimation
  • data analysis
  • representation of data
  • number operations.

Self Evaluation

This module looks at:

• what robust self evaluation criteria look like 
• identifying what a tutors’ teaching and training strengths are, and identifying areas where there is scope for improvement
• how tutors can go about achieving improvement to their teaching or training practice
• how learner feedback can and should inform how tutors’ evaluate their teaching.

RARPA

This module looks at:

• What is RARPA?
• Why RARPA exists?
• What the 5 stages of RARPA are.
• How RARPA applies to your teaching.