Webinar series 2020

Tuesday 18 February 2020 

In this webinar educators will learn about seven key recommendations for teaching metacognition and self-regulated learning. These are:

• Teachers should acquire the professional understanding and skills to develop their students’ metacognitive knowledge.
• Explicitly teach students metacognitive strategies, including how to plan, monitor, and evaluate their learning.
• Model your own thinking to help students develop their metacognitive and cognitive skills.
• Set an appropriate level of challenge to develop students’ self-regulation and metacognition.
• Promote and develop metacognitive talk in the classroom.
• Explicitly teach students how to organise, and effectively manage their learning independently.
• Schools should support teachers to develop their knowledge of these approaches and expect them to be applied appropriately.

Co-presented by Susannah Schoeffel and Dr Tanya Vaughan.

Supporting materials:

• Guidance Report – Metacognition and self-regulation
• Teaching & Learning Toolkit - Metacognition and self-regulation
• Australasian Research Summaries - Metacognition and self-regulation
• Guidance Report – Putting evidence to work: a school’s guide to implementation
• Teacher Magazine article - Building students’ metacognition and self-regulation

A recording of the webinar is available and presentation slides for download. 

Oral language development in the early years

Tuesday 17 March 

Oral language is the way children communicate their views, learn to understand others, and make discoveries. Educators can support and enhance children’s oral language by engaging in sustained communication with children about ideas and experiences.

This webinar will discuss evidence-informed ways that educators can support the development of critical oral language skills for young children. It is relevant for educators in early learning settings and Foundation to Year 2 teachers.

What you’ll learn:

• Research on the importance of oral language development

• Evidence-informed strategies to support rich conversations with young learners including how to create spaces for children’s talk, what are quality questions to prompt children’s talk and participation in conversations and how to keep the conversation going.

Presented by researcher and former early childhood teacher Dr Sandy Houen and researcher Dr Sally Stanton from the Institute for Social Science Research at the University of Queensland, and E4L Associate Director Danielle Toon.

Supporting resources

• Tip Sheets
• Systematic review of the Australasian literature: Supporting Rich Conversations with Children aged 2-5 years in Early Childhood Education and Care within Australasian Studies
• Early Childhood Education Toolkit - Communication and language approaches
• Education Today article - Building your evidence engine: Five evidence-informed strategies for promoting rich conversations with young children

Webinar resources:

A recording of the webinar is available below and presentation slides for download.

Webinar activities can be accessed via the following links:

• Activity booklet
• Padlet activity 

Practical recommendations for supporting students in home-supported learning

Tuesday 21 April 2020

These are challenging times for educators, parents and students alike, with a rapidly changing education landscape to navigate in response to the COVID-19 pandemic. Many schools are moving to support young people in alternative ways including through online environments to ensure the continuity of their education. Not every family has the same resources and access to technology to support learning at home. For those experiencing vulnerability, we must ensure the digital divide and lack of other resources does not turn the current achievement gap into a chasm over the coming months. Evidence of what works in education can help leaders and teachers in this difficult time of transition to improve home-supported learning.

What you’ll learn:

• What are the challenges and opportunities for education during and post COVID-19?
• Building students ability to direct their own learning through metacognition and self-regulation.
• Technology at home.
• The role parents can play in supporting the education of their children.

Presented by Dr Tanya Vaughan and Susannah Schoeffel.

Webinar resources: 

• COVID-19 home supported learning
• Guidance Report -  Making best use of Teaching Assistants
• Article: Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools
• Article: Putting evidence to work: A school's guide to implementation
• Teacher Magazine article: Translating evidence of what works in schools to home-supported learning  
• Teacher Magazine article: Working with parents to provide practical strategies for home-supported learning

Resources on inclusion:

• InclusionED - coming in early May 2020
• The Communication Trust

A recording of the webinar is available and presentation slides for download.

Fostering student wellbeing

Tuesday 16 June 2020

Educators in this webinar will learn about effective approaches in fostering wellbeing and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) of students. Evidence for Learning, with our partners at VicHealth and ACER,  is developing a systematic review to understand robust evidence behind some of the most effective SEL approaches in which students work with (and alongside) their peers, teachers, family or community. Three broad categories of SEL interventions can be identified: 1. Universal programs; 2. More specialised programs which are targeted at students with particular social or emotional problems; 3. School-level approaches to developing a positive school ethos. 

What you’ll learn:

• Effective evidence-informed approaches in SEL.
• SEL approaches specific for peers, teachers, family or community working with students.
• An overview and general understanding of three categories of SEL interventions.

A panel discussion will be facilitated by Dr Tanya Vaughan in response to your submitted questions, joined by our panel members:  

• Dr Katherine Dix (ACER)
• Michael Rosenbrock (Wodonga Senior Secondary College) and
• Dr Pauline Ho (E4L).

Webinar resources: 

• Teaching & Learning Toolkit – Social and emotional learning and Australasian Research Summaries
• Guidance Report: Putting evidence to work: A school's guide to implementation
• inclusionED
• Guidance Report: Special Educational Needs in Mainstream Schools
• Be You – Fact sheets
• Be You – Wellbeing Tools for Students
• Be You – Australian SEL Programs Directory

A recording of the webinar is available and presentation slides for download.

Improving literacy in primary school

Tuesday 21 July 2020

Educators in this webinar will learn about how to improve literacy of their students. You will investigate the two Evidence for Learning Guidance Reports dedicated to primary literacy, along with the evidence from the Teaching & Learning Toolkit. This webinar will look at practical recommendations for primary school educators and school leaders.

What you’ll learn:

• A general overview of the evidence-based recommendations for improving literacy outcomes for primary students.
• Knowledge about the latest global research on what strategies are leading to improved literacy outcomes.
• Examples of how these recommendations are being translated into the classroom in an Australian school.
• Adoption of how these recommendations can be used at a whole school and classroom level.

This webinar will be facilitated by Dr Tanya Vaughan in conversation with Professor Anne Castles from Macquarie University, Jenny Mackay, Assistant Principal from Dandenong North PS and Susannah Schoeffel from Evidence for Learning.

Webinar resources:

• Guidance Report: Improving literacy in lower primary
• Guidance Report: Improving literacy in upper primary
• Teaching & Learning Toolkit: Oral language development
• Teaching & Learning Toolkit: Phonics
• Teaching & Learning Toolkit: Reading comprehension strategies
• Teacher Magazine article: Evidence informed literacy strategies to improve student’s literacy. 

A recording of the webinar is available and presentation slides for download. 

Effective student collaboration

Tuesday 4 August 2020

Educators in this webinar will learn about effective student collaboration by investigating the evidence about collaborative learning within the Teaching & Learning Toolkit (the Toolkit) and the wider evidence on online and remote learning. A collaborative (or cooperative) learning approach involves students working together on activities or learning tasks in a group small enough for everyone to participate on a collective task that has been clearly assigned. In online learning opportunities, students may work on separate tasks independently that contribute to common overall outcomes, or work together on a shared task in small groups through web-based collaboration tools or synchronous live discussion. Approaches which promote talk and interaction between learners tend to result in the best gains.

What you’ll learn:

• Techniques, tasks and approaches for helping students work together remotely.
• Creating effective collaboration and problem solving between student groups.
• How to support and encourage lower achieving students in collaborative tasks during remote learning.

This webinar will be facilitated by Dr Tanya Vaughan in conversation with Matthew McLaren, Assistant Principal from Western Port Secondary College and Dr Pauline Ho from Evidence for Learning.

Webinar resources:

• Teaching & Learning Toolkit: Collaborative learning and Australian Research Summaries
• Teaching & Learning Toolkit: Small group tuition
• Teaching & Learning Toolkit: Metacognition and self-regulation
• Blog: Thinking about Teaching 
• Meta-analysis of the effects of ABRACADABRA: A research reading on a small-group collaborative reading intervention
• Meta-analysis of the effects of PowerTeaching: A research reading on a whole-class collaborative maths approach

 A recording of the webinar is available and presentation slides for download. 

Feedback to increase student learning

Tuesday 18 August 2020

Providing high-quality feedback to students is integral to effective teaching. Equally, gathering feedback on how well students have learned a topic is important in enabling teachers to address any misunderstanding and provide the right level of challenge in future lessons. Educators in this webinar will learn about effective approaches in feedback.

What you’ll learn:

• Unpack the global evidence about the characteristics of effective feedback.
• Explore the implementation of feedback through a case study of an Australian school.

This webinar will be facilitated by Dr Tanya Vaughan in conversation with Robyn Arri, Support Teacher at Our Lady Help of Christians Primary School and Anisha Ghani, Senior Project Officer in the Teaching and School Leadership Team at AITSL. 

Webinar resources:

• Teacher Magazine article: Improving students’ writing through feedback
• Teaching & Learning Toolkit approach: Feedback
• Australasian Research Summary: Feedback
• AITSL Feedback Implementation Materials
• Implementation plan for feedback
• E4L Blog: Getting more of what we want and less of what we don’t
• E4L Blog: Effective feedback in action
• The BRAIN Activity Booklet - Queensland Brain Institute, The University of Queensland

A recording of the webinar is available and presentation slides for download.

Improving literacy in secondary school 

Tuesday 1 September 2020

Educators in this webinar will learn about how to improve literacy of secondary students. You will investigate the Evidence for Learning Guidance Report dedicated to secondary literacy, along with the evidence from the Teaching & Learning Toolkit. This webinar will look at practical recommendations for secondary school educators and school leaders.

What you'll learn:

• A general overview of the evidence-based recommendations for improving literacy outcomes for secondary students.
• Knowledge about the latest global research on what strategies are leading to improved literacy outcomes.
• Examples of how these recommendations are being translated into the classroom in an Australian school.
• Adoption of how these recommendations can used at a whole school and classroom level.

This webinar will be facilitated by Dr Tanya Vaughan in conversation with Dr Kate De Bruin from Monash University, Mark Clutton, Lead Teacher of English and Drama at Gungahlin College, and Susannah Schoeffel from Evidence for Learning.

Webinar resources:

• Guidance Report: Improving literacy in secondary school
• Toolkit approach: Oral language development
• Toolkit approach: Phonics
• Toolkit approach: Reading comprehension strategies
• Guidance Report: Metacognition and self-regulated learning
• Article: What is Disciplinary Literacy and Why Does It Matter? 
• Mark Clutton’s online literacy plan at Gungahlin College
  

A recording of the webinar is available and presentation slides for download.

Unpacking the effective use of Teaching Assistants

Tuesday 15 September 2020

Teaching Assistants (TAs) are an invaluable resource in Australian schools supporting teachers in the classroom, TAs are a 90,500‑strong workforce. In 2017, on average, there were 10 teaching assistants in every school. During this webinar educators will learn about practical, evidence-based guidance to help primary and secondary schools make the best use of Teaching Assistants (TAs). Looking beyond the recommendations set out in E4L’s Guidance Report Making best use of Teaching Assistants, you will explore practical examples of where TAs have been essential in improving outcomes for students.

What you’ll learn:

• Learn about what effective use of TAs can look like
• Think about how to implement a whole-school strategy around the use of TAs
• Hear from Australian schools who are implementing TAs and learn about their change process

This webinar will be facilitated by Dr Tanya Vaughan in conversation with Luke Willsmore, Head of Secondary at Emmaus Christian School, Michelle Taylor, Teaching Assistant at Emmaus Christian School, and Susannah Schoeffel from Evidence for Learning.

Supporting resources

• Guidance Report: Making best use of Teaching Assistants
• Teacher Magazine article: Teaching Assistants in Australia
• Teacher Magazine article: The effective use of teaching assistants

Webinar resources:

• Toolkit approach: Teaching Assistants
• Guidance Report: Making best use of Teaching Assistants
• Teacher Magazine article: Implementing the evidence to maximise the impact of Teaching Assistants

A recording of the webinar is available and presentation slides for download.

Improving student behaviour 

Tuesday 20 October

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