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Open access course to support teachers’ use of data for learning

Media release 3 minute read

The Australian Council for Educational Research (ACER) has just launched its first open access course in partnership with the digital learning platform FutureLearn.

The new course, How to Use Data in Assessment for Learning, draws on ACER’s international expertise and research in assessment design and delivery. The 3-week course is open to learners in more than 150 countries.

ACER Deputy Chief Executive Officer, Ralph Saubern, said the open access course is one of the ways ACER is working to support education professionals around the world.

“Engaging and supporting education professionals is key to addressing the great challenges that confront us in education,” Mr Saubern said. 

“The opportunity to make ACER’s high-quality professional learning available on FutureLearn’s open access platform is critical to our efforts to support education professionals around the world.”

“Teachers, school leaders, system leaders and education researchers confront complex situations which demand high-level skills and understanding. As an international centre for research into the use of evidence to understand and promote learning, ACER contributes actively to developing the capacity of education professionals to collect, analyse, interpret and apply evidence for learning,” Mr Saubern said.

Lead educator on the new open access course, ACER Senior Research Fellow Dr Katie Richardson, said the course would provide educators with fundamental knowledge of data and practical skills that would help them create better assessment to support their students’ learning.

“This course is a really valuable resource for teachers anywhere in the world, who want to learn how to better support their students by understanding where they are in their learning journey,” Dr Richardson said.

“We want to help educators understand how to create assessment that gives them meaningful insight into their students’ progress. The open-access course, How to Use Data in Assessment for Learning, provides vital foundational information on the use of data and assessment, which can be developed further throughout an educator’s career.

“For more advanced learning in assessment design, ACER will soon launch an Assessment Leader Program to empower leading teachers and education professionals,” Dr Richardson said.

View the online course, How to Use Data in Assessment for Learning, on FutureLearn.

Media enquiries:

ACER Communications
+61 419 340 058
communications@acer.org

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