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Kloodle is a technology platform which empowers students to evidence the achievements and successes of their educational journey, both academic and extra curricular. Kloodle provides students with a tool which not only facilitates the ongoing showcasing and evidencing of the full range of their achievements and skills, thus enabling students to learn how to best evidence those skills and achievements in the context of enhancing their future employment prospects, but also represents a Social Network via which students can learn how to follow, learn about and engage with a wide range of the countrys largest employers, with a view to post-study future employment.
In addition to helping students to maximise positive and appropriate exposure to potential future employers, Kloodle supports schools and colleges as a key student employability management tool. OFSTEDs Common Inspection Framework (CIF) contains a number of points which sustained Kloodle use satisfies. The new framework places heavy emphasis on the skills which studentsdemonstrate as well as students awareness of the potential career paths available to them.
The following blog, outlines a number of key CIF requirements and how Kloodle supports schools and colleges with these.
Overall effectiveness
Ofsted asseses overall effectiveness based on:
The providers ability to meet the needs of learners and other users
Inspectors use evidence to assess the following: –
– Outcome for learners
– The quality of teaching, learning and assessment
– The effectiveness of leadership and management
Inspectors assess the outcomes for learners by judging
– all learners achieve and make progress relative to their starting points and learning goals
Kloodle provides colleges with a platform via which they can establish their learners goals. This is done by the creation of an action plan between the teacher and student, outlining the progress a student is expected to make over a defined time period.
By creating individual Personal Profiles, students are able to begin to accrue evidence of their progress towards their goals by uploading evidence to their profile. Evidencing achievements on their Kloodle Personal Profiles takes the form of blogs, photos, videos, and document uploads. Students share this evidence with teachers, their peers, and ultimately employers and admissions tutors.
By collecting a range of evidence from throughout their education journey, students record the progress they are making. Kloodle allows institutions to visualise this progress through a students Kloodle timeline and the statistics and reports Kloodle provides.
– achievement gaps are narrowing between different groups of learners
– learners develop personal, social and employability skills
Kloodles key aim is to support students to evidence personal development. Learning takes place throughout students entire education, and to rely solely on the recording of academic grades restricts students from demonstrating their personal and social skills as well as a wide range of other employability-critical skills (evidencing team work strengths, problem solving skills, critical thinking skills, etc.). Kloodle allows students to evidence these skills whilst also providing a vehicle that allows teachers to emphasise and support this development, for example, encouraging a student to upload a picture of a presentation they have delivered, because it demonstrates communication skills and resilience, allows teachers to draw attention to nuanced skills that are acquired on a daily basis as a natural consequence of great teaching.
– learners progress to courses leading to higher-level qualifications and into jobs that meet local and national needs.
Increasingly, people who possess fantastic soft skills experience success in the jobs market. HE institutions realise the importance of this employability and increasingly look for these skills during the admissions process through UCAS personal statements and interview processes. Employers receive applications from rafts of similarly qualified young people. They then use employability skills as the differentiator. The students who have developed these skills to the highest level are the successful ones.
Kloodle allows teachers to place emphasis on these skills and the development of students. This emphasis creates a self-awareness amongst students that will help them during every progression point they experience thereafter.
Quality of teaching, learning and assessment
Kloodle assists with a number of points the CIF outlines regarding the quality of teaching learning and assessment.
Learners benefit from high expectations, engagement, care, support and motivation from staff
Kloodle allows staff and students to engage on a level that resonates strongly with the current generation of young people. Each time a student uploads content to Kloodle and tag in their skills, staff are able to comment, share and interact with that piece of content.
We have experienced a phenomenon as a result of this. Students are providing staff with insights into sides of their character the staff didnt know existed. The first reaction staff have when starting Kloodle is that we wont have time to take on that responsibility followed by a quick log on and then becoming instantly mesmerised by the feed of content presented to them: I didnt know he played basketball at the weekends, His writing is absolutely fantastic!, I hadnt realised she wanted to be a vet, They didnt tell me about all the money they have raised for charity!
Kloodle use provides a journey of surprise for members of staff. Layers of character a student possesses that were previously unrevealed come to the fore. Engagement between staff and students increase, and the staff-student relationship is strengthened through greater understanding.
Learners understand how to improve as a result of frequent, detailed and accurate feedback from staff following assessment of their learning
Kloodle encourages interaction between students and staff through commenting, posting to profiles and to groups. This interactivity allows staff to post constant feedback, enabling students to know where they are succeeding and where they require improvement. This aspect of Kloodle encourages students to engage more with their skills and employability. Students want to be led towards success. In order to lead effectively, they require constant feedback in order to know exactly what is expected, where they are currently at, and where they are aiming for. Commenting on Kloodle facilitates this discussion.
Appropriate and timely information, advice and guidance support learning effectively
The nature of Kloodle as a social network encourages this support and provision of information on a real time basis. This increases participation and engagement, providing a learning community through which students can effectively develop.
Kloodles aim is to provide a platform via which great teachers are empowered to further flourish and extend their own skills sets. We have found amongst user colleges, teachers leveraging Kloodle in ways which we had not foreseen. In these instances, teacher creativity has come to the fore; they have identified ways Kloodle will help them to deliver great lessons and have used the tool to very great creative effect, resulting directly in the educating of young people on how to use a technology/social media platform to enhance their future career prospects.
Employers, parents and carers, as appropriate, are engaged in planning learners development; they are kept informed by the provider of each learners attendance, progress and improvement
Kloodle allows each of these stakeholders access to a students profile. A profile becomes a record of achievement; a place to record everything they are most proud of throughout their studies. Whats more, Kloodle does this through the lens of skills. Students are able to see that, by participating actively in lessons and college life, they are developing the skills they require to be successful in their future chosen career.
This progress, from the day they enter the door to the day they leave, is recorded on Kloodle as a consequence if a students and teachers participation.
Teaching, learning and assessment support learners to develop their skills in English, mathematics and ICT and their employability skills, including appropriate attitudes and behaviours for work, in order to achieve their learning goals and career aims
Naturally, Kloodle places focus on employability skills. Students are made aware of the idea of employability skills, an continually reinforced trough consistent Kloodle use. Teachers are able to identify moments throughout the day where students are displaying employability skills, and provide encouragement to upload and record to their profile. These skills become part of the natural progression of a lesson??Kloodle allows due attention to these skills.
Part of the evidence OFSTED requires for this section is
Direct observations in learning sessions and, where appropriate, in the workplace will be supplemented by a range of other evidence to enable inspectors to evaluate the impact that staff and support assistants have on learners progress over time
Kloodle records work experiences in great detail, allowing students to attach evidence to each item of work experience they undertake. This allows a student to record their learnings throughout their work experience, and share these with employers, teachers and other stakeholders. Photos and videos also provide other means of actively evidencing the learning that takes place in a classroom. Teachers spend a good deal of time organising great lessons throughout the year, only for them to be forgotten when the focus remains on merely the grade a student finishes with.Kloodle records the journey. Kloodle records each of these learning moments and provides a reference to the great work teachers are doing on a daily basis in our educational establishments.
The assessment section outlines the importance of students work as examples of effective teaching and learning. Kloodle allows students to record this work in one place, with tags of the skills a student learns, allowing easy access when the time for OFSTED inspection arises.
The CIF constantly outlines the need for sustained progression. Kloodle provides a holistic approach to this. As opposed to concentrating on grades, Kloodle records the learning journey in great detail, detail that demonstrates progress in a much more meaningful way. The timeline a student creates by natural consequence of Kloodle use enables teachers to look back at all a student has achieved throughout their time in education. Teachers can access points in time and view a students progress at that particular point.
Personal development , behaviour and welfare
Kloodle is committed to supporting the increased self-awareness that students must have if they are to focus successfully on their own development, to increase their personal future employability rating. The CIF outlines the need for continual personal development during a students time with an institution.
OFSTED assesses
The proportion of learners who benefit from purposeful work-related learning, including external work experience where appropriate to their learning programmes and/or their future career plans, and how well they contribute to their workplace, including on work experience, as a valued member of the workforce.
How well learners develop the personal, social and employability skills, including English, mathematics and ICT skills, required to achieve their core learning aims and appreciate the importance of these skills in the context of their progression and career aims
Kloodle records this learning through students work experience diaries. Additionally, Kloodle provides colleges with means of posting work experience and career vacancies to learners. This creates a coherent and organised journey. Members of staff can post vacancies to the student population. A student can see this vacancy and click apply. Students Kloodle Personal Profilea aresent to their designated tutor to review, and the work experience or job interview can be organised.
Once a student is successful in obtaining a position of work experience. They can continue to record the experience on Kloodle using blogs, photos, documents and videos. Teachers, careers people at the college, and work place mentors can log in to Kloodle and comment on these records, allowing a student to be assessed and receive feedback on their progress.
Learners use of the information they receive on the full range of relevant career pathways from the provider and other partners, including employers, to help them develop challenging and realistic plans for their future careers
Posting of content is not only the reserve of students on Kloodle. Members of staff also are able to post photos, videos, blogs, documents and links to relevant sites on their profile and the colleges profile. This enables the college to provide a real time, social feed of careers information a student can access from anywhere. A student receives content in their newsfeed. They can comment on this content, and careers staff can respond, providing a conversation around careers information that will help a student.
Staff can also create relevant interest groups where content can be posted. These groups work well for students interested in certain career paths, and provides a forum for students and staff to engage with one another around a theme of a particular career.
How well learners attend learning sessions and/or work regularly and punctually, including through participation in any distance learning activities, such as online learning and the use of virtual learning environments
Staff and students are able to create a network buzzing with activity and learning. Being an online application, Kloodle can be accessed anywhere. This facilitates continual learning and engagement. The more staff and students participate on Kloodle, the more conversations around learning are built and the greater the engagement.
They are proud of their achievements and take pride in the work they complete with the provider and in the workplace
Kloodle emphasises a students achievements. Great Kloodle profiles are works of art. Students care fiercely about how they are represented through their profile, and take time and effort to upload content they are proud of. Kloodle celebrates students achievements by providing a place for them to show off.
High quality careers guidance helps learners to make informed choices about which courses suit their needs and aspirations. They are prepared for the next stage of their education, employment, self-employment or training
Kloodle provides the mouthpiece for these guides to reach students and a platform through which they can engage students.
Learners understand how their education and training equip them with the behaviours and attitudes necessary for success in the future as reflected by the excellent employability skills they acquire and the achievement of relevant additional qualifications
Using Kloodle integrates the attitudes of careers and employability into the curriculum. Staff are given the vocabulary required to integrate careers thinking into their lessons, and Kloodlebecomes a vehicle through which careers is integrated into lessons.
Learners, where appropriate, participate in purposeful and challenging work experience and placements relevant to their future career plans. These learners often quickly become an asset to the business and make a highly valued contribution
Kloodle records these experiences, providing the evidence of impact a student has on a business.
Learners have an excellent understanding of how to stay safe online and of the dangers of inappropriate use of mobile technology and social networking sites
Kloodle integrates the concepts of social networks into lessons. This is a concept many students have grown up with but may not fully understand the implications. Increasingly, employers are checking students social media profiles to make judgements about their application for a job. Students often do not realise the consequences of an inappropriate tweet or dodgy Facebook picture.
Employers even go as far as to check students following lists on Twitter. This weeds out students who profess an interest in a particular subject but follow little or no Twitter accounts relating to this subject.
Kloodle allows colleges to introduce students to the notion of a professional online appearance, and, that whilst social networks can be fun, your posts may have an adverse affect on any future career.
OFSTED emphasise the ability a student has to articulate their learning
Learners, and groups of learners, are typically able to articulate their knowledge and understanding clearly and demonstrate the skills they have acquired convincingly. The standard of learners work is high and, where appropriate, meets industry standards very well
At Kloodle, we want students to take responsibility for their profile and their professional appearance on the internet. In order for them to do this, they have to understand the relationship between their daily activities at college, the soft skills these activities develop, how these soft skills are important, and how a student can articulate these to any future employer.
Apprenticeships
Kloodles Social Network infrastructure is based upon inter communications between teachers, learning providers, students and the employers. This places us in an ideal location to record the learning that occurs during an apprenticeship, and the organisation of the apprenticeship.
The providers staff engage with employers to plan the training and assessments, agree any additional qualifications to be included, and monitor and support apprentices to progress quickly and achieve to their full potential
As students and Apprentices Personal Profiles accrue increasing evidence of their skills and achievements, learning providers and work mentors are better placed to identify each student/Apprentice is progressing and any gaps in learning.
Apprentices develop the vocational and employability skills that enable them to achieve their qualifications, contribute to their workplace and are relevant to their career aims
By actively recording these skills on a Kloodle profile, apprentices gain familiarity with the employability skills that are valued by their chosen career, and build up a portfolio of evidence to support this.
They progress and develop relevant skills to industry standards
A Kloodle profile actively demonstrates exactly how the learner hits these standards.
High quality impartial careers guidance ensures that apprentices follow programmes that build on their prior attainment and enable them to develop clear, ambitious and realistic plans for their future. Apprentices understand the options available and are informed about local and national skills needs
Apprentices can access the information posted by high quality careers guides, even whilst out on placement. The constant stream of information to a Kloodle newsfeed allows an apprentice to engage with their career on a regular and sustained basis, making them aware of the opportunities available to them.
They have excellent personal, social and employability skills and undertake high quality training activities and additional qualifications that enhance their chances of sustained employment in their relevant industry
Kloodle displays these employability skills for all to see. We also provide means for college careers departments to post a stream of highly relevant vacancies to apprentices, allowing them to access a meaningful career upon qualification.
Conclusion
Much of the CIF revolves around student progression and the development of skills. Kloodle provides a robust, easy to use, creative platform through which this can be facilitated and recorded.Kloodle as a learning platform supports schools and colleges to maximise their assessment ratings in the context of student progression recording and post study employability prospects.
In the hands of great educational leaders and committed teachers, Kloodle levels the playing field for all students, regardless of their socio demographic background, gender or ethnicity to evidence their progression and skills; we think thats Outstanding!
