Evidence for Learning are focused on supporting evidence-informed decision making through building, sharing and encouraging the use of evidence.
Our free webinars are designed to help education professionals learn how to turn evidence into practice in schools and how to use evidence to measure the impact of their teaching and leadership. Join Dr Tanya Vaughan, Associate Director at Evidence for Learning as she discusses different topics in evidence-informed practice.
We will continue to release webinar dates throughout 2019 so please keep checking back to this page. Alternatively, subscribe to the Evidence for Learning eNews.
Webinar: Evidence-informed science practice
Tuesday 5 March 2019
In this webinar educators will learn about seven key recommendations for teaching science. These include preconceptions, metacognition and self-regulation, modelling, memory, practical work, language of science and feedback. In addition, the elements of self-regulation of cognition, metacognition and motivation will be explored.
This webinar will help practitioners know how to teach their students to plan, monitor and evaluate their learning in science and what are the most useful areas to provide feedback (e.g. process and self-regulation) to improve student learning.
Supporting materials:
• Teaching & Learning Toolkit
A recording of the webinar is available and presentation slides for download.
Webinar - Putting evidence to work: a school’s guide to implementation
In this webinar educators will learn about the six recommendations for good implementation. These are:
- Treating implementation as a process rather than an event.
- Creating a leadership environment and school climate conducive to good implementation.
- Define the problem you want to solve.
- Creating a clear implementation plan.
- Supporting staff, monitoring progress and solving problems.
- Planning for sustaining and scaling the intervention.
The six recommendations are woven into the four key stages of implementation of 1) Explore, 2) Prepare, 3) Deliver and 4) Sustain. The stages and foundations of implementation will be investigated within the context of an Australian case study of a school’s improvement journey.
Co-presented by Robyn Mildon PhD, Executive Director of the Centre for Evidence and Implementation (CEI) and Tanya Vaughan PhD, Associate Director at Evidence for Learning (E4L).
A recording of the webinar is available and presentation slides for download.
Webinar: Effective feedback
Tuesday 14 May 2019
Effective feedback practice can increase student progress by as much as an extra eight months over a year. However, implementing feedback effectively would usually require schools investing significant time in research and external professional learning. To save schools this time and effort, the Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) in partnership with Evidence for Learning (E4L) have developed a suite of feedback resources for schools. The free-to-access, evidence-based resources provide practical support to hit the ground running in applying effective feedback practice in the classroom to enhance student learning outcomes.
In this webinar, participants will learn about how they can use the feedback resources in their school.
Co-presented by Erin Corbyn, Senior Project Officer at Australian Institute for Teaching and School Leadership (AITSL) and Tanya Vaughan PhD, Associate Director at Evidence for Learning (E4L).
Supporting materials:
- AITSL - feedback implementation
- Teaching & Learning Toolkit – Feedback
- Feedback Implementation Materials
- Blog - Effective feedback in action by Ollie Lovell and Dr Tanya Vaughan
- Blog - Getting more of what we want and less of what we don’t by Ollie Lovell and Dr Tanya Vaughan
A recording of the webinar is available and presentation slides for download.
Webinar: Boosting metacognition in classrooms: evidence meets practice
Tuesday 18 June 2019
Students need explicit strategies to help them practice and use metacognition in everyday problem solving. In this webinar, educators will learn about metacognition strategies and approaches that have large positive impacts, and then build on the evidence to develop practical strategies for practice.
This webinar draws evidence from robust research including the recent E4L’s Thinking Maths trial, a randomised controlled trial (RCT) independently evaluated by the Australian Council for Educational Research and other meta-analyses. Practitioners will:
- Learn about high impact metacognitive strategies that are effective in practice
- Discuss how to implement a whole-school metacognition strategy
- Develop practical strategies to help students plan, monitor and evaluate their learning
- Understand how a combination of teaching strategies including feedback, self-regulation, scaffolding and monitoring work together to improve metacognition in classrooms.
Co-presented by Dr Katherine Dix, Senior Research Fellow at Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER), Dr Pauline Ho, Associate Director at Evidence for Learning (E4L) and Dr Tanya Vaughan, Associate Director at Evidence for Learning (E4L).
Supporting materials:
- Thinking Maths Trial
- Thinking Maths Executive Summary
- E4L Thinking Maths Commentary
- Teaching & Learning Toolkit: Metacognition and self-regulation
- Article: Growth in the evidence ecosystem
- Article: An evidence broker for Australian schools
A recording of the webinar is available to watch and presentation slides for download.
Webinar: Teaching & Learning Toolkit: Q&A with lead author, Professor Steve Higgins
Tuesday 23 July 2019
In this webinar educators will learn about the Teaching & Learning Toolkit (the Toolkit), including the Early Childhood Education Toolkit (ECE Toolkit) due to be released in Australia later this year. This webinar will include a walkthrough of the Toolkits. The Toolkits are an accessible summary of educational research. The Toolkit aims to:
- Support evidence-informed decision-making in Australian schools and pre-schools;
- Provide guidance for principals, teachers and schools on how to use their resources to improve educational outcomes for their students, particularly those from low-income families;
- Act as an introduction to educational research.
The majority of the webinar will be spent in a question and answer session with Professor Steve Higgins from Durham University, who is the lead author of the Toolkits. Educators planning to attend this webinar can submit their questions for Steve to info@evidenceforlearning.org.au.
Supporting materials:
A full list of further reading links mentioned by Professor Steve Higgins can be found here.
A recording of the webinar is available to watch and presentation slides for download.
Webinar: Unpacking the effective use of Teaching Assistants
3 September 2019
Our second guidance report ‘Making Best Use of Teaching Assistants’ will be released in September 2019. The guide is designed to provide practical, evidence-based guidance to help primary and secondary schools make the best use of teaching assistants (TAs). It contains seven recommendations, based on the latest research examining the use of TAs in classrooms.
During this webinar, practitioners will explore the newly developed resource and its recommendations, using practical examples of where TAs have been essential in improving outcomes for students.
Practitioners will:
- Learn about what effective use of TAs can look like
- Think about how to implement a whole-school strategy around the use of TAs
- Develop practical strategies to help TAs work effectively in the classroom
Co-presented by Professor Jonathan Sharples, Senior Researcher at the Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), Dr Tanya Vaughan, Associate Director at Evidence for Learning (E4L) and Susannah Schoeffel, Associate Director at E4L.
Supporting materials:
- The Teaching & Learning Toolkit
- Article: The effective use of teaching assistants
- Article: Teaching assistants in Australia
A recording of the webinar is available to watch and presentation slides for download.
Webinar: What does the evidence say about engaging parents in children’s learning?
15 October 2019
Our next guidance report ‘Working with parents to support children’s learning' will be released in October 2019. The guide is designed to provide practical, evidence-based guidance to help primary and secondary schools think about their work with parents. It contains four recommendations, based on the latest research, which can support schools to engage parents in a positive and impactful way.
During this webinar, practitioners will explore the newly developed resource and its recommendations, using practical examples from Australian schools.
Practitioners will:
• Learn about the four evidence-based recommendations
• Think about how to work with parents to support students' learning
• Hear examples of this work from Australian schools
Co-presented by Barbara Barker, Research Manager at Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY), Dr Tanya Vaughan, Associate Director at Evidence for Learning (E4L) and Susannah Schoeffel, Associate Director at E4L.
We look forward to sharing this new resource with you.
Supporting materials:
A recording of the webinar is available to watch and presentation slides for download.
Webinar: Bringing evidence to life: promising projects in Australia
12 November 2019
Our final webinar for 2019 will explore how evidence is currently being built and mobilised in Australia. This webinar will be hosted by Dr Tanya Vaughan, Associate Director, Evidence for Learning with special guest John Cleary, General Manager of School & System Improvement at the Department of Education for the Northern Territory Government.
The webinar will highlight key 2019 initiatives including progress in the Northern Territory Learning Commission, findings from trials conducted throughout the year and the development of new resources which are supporting schools to use evidence to improve outcomes for students.
Practitioners will
- Hear about the work of the Northern Territory Learning Commission – engaging students in research and evidence
- Understand new work in building robust evidence through Evidence for Learning’s trials – unpack evidence of promising programs in Australia and how these can be best applied to school decisions and impact on teaching and learning
- Learn about resources that are available to support schools on their improvement journey
Supporting materials
- The Toolkits
- Learning Impact Fund: Our Projects
- Guidance Reports
- Blog - Collaboration and flow in Katherine
- Article - Change leading to improvement
- Article (forthcoming) - Students as partners in learning in rural and remote settings
A recording of the webinar is available to watch and presentation slides for download.
