Both these workshops represent an important stride towards enhancing technological literacy and adapting education to the rapidly evolving digital landscape. They are structured to offer robust training that can be practically applied in the classroom, ensuring teachers are well-prepared to educate future generations in this increasingly tech-driven world.
Teaching, learning and assessment
Equipping Teachers with Coding and Robotics Skills for the Foundation Phase
As the Fourth Industrial Revolution surges, integrating technology and digital literacy in education is essential. The new CAPS subject, Coding and Robotics, presents an opportunity to prepare young minds for the challenges of a technologically-driven future. Cambridge has developed a cutting-edge workshop, “Coding and Robotics for Foundation Phase Teachers,” to equip educators with the necessary skills and print and digital resources to effectively teach coding and robotics to young learners. I was the product owner for this subject area and these instructional products.
Assessment for Learning: Effective Strategies and Techniques
Assessment for learning is assessment used during teaching to find out what learners can already do, give them usable feedback, and change the next teaching move. The point is improvement in this lesson or this week, not a final grade.
It is close to formative assessment, and it is not the same as formative versus summative as a pair of exam types. It is also not formal versus informal. Last reviewed: 31 August 2026.
What it involves
- Clear intended learning, said in language learners can use
- Evidence gathered while work is happening: questions, observation, drafts, exit tickets, short tasks
- Feedback that names what to do next, not only a mark
- Learners looking at their own work, and sometimes a peer’s, against the same criteria
- The teacher adjusting the next task when the evidence says the class is not there yet
Classroom techniques
Questioning that requires an explanation, not only a yes. Observing a practical or a discussion and noting who is stuck. Self- and peer-assessment with a short rubric. A mid-lesson check that actually changes the second half of the lesson.
Time is the real constraint. A few techniques used well beat a long menu. Feedback that arrives after the work no longer matters is not assessment for learning.
What it is not
- Not more testing. A quiz can serve AfL if it is used to decide what happens next.
- Not AI marking as a substitute. Tools can draft comments. The teacher still judges whether the comment is true of this learner.
Sources
- Cambridge Assessment International Education. Getting started with assessment for learning. https://www.cambridge-community.org.uk/professional-development/gswafl/index.html
- Black, P. and Wiliam, D. Work on formative assessment as feedback that moves learning on.
Comparing Formative and Summative Assessment
Formative assessment is used during learning to check progress and change teaching. Summative assessment is used at the end of a stretch of teaching to judge how far learners got against a standard. Most courses need both. Neither is automatically better.
This is not the same distinction as formal versus informal assessment. A conversation can be formative. An exam can be summative. Last reviewed: 31 August 2026.
Side by side
| Formative | Summative | |
|---|---|---|
| When | During the work | At the end of a unit, term or course |
| Main job | Improve the next teaching and learning move | Certify or summarise achievement against criteria |
| Typical examples | Questions, drafts, exit tickets, observation, low-stakes quizzes | Final tests, end-of-unit tasks, standardised exams, performances used for a grade |
| Feedback | Specific, soon enough to use | Often a mark or level; feedback may come too late to retry the same task |
How they work together
Formative evidence should make the summative task less of a surprise. Summative evidence should not be the first time anyone finds out a class cannot do the thing. Assessment for learning is the classroom habit of using formative evidence well.
What this page is not
- Not “formative is monthly and summative is the exam.” Timing follows purpose, not a calendar.
- Not a claim that summative should always outweigh formative. High-stakes uses are a policy choice.
- Not an AI assessment guide. If you are generating items, check them. See Designing Assessments with AI.
Sources
- Black, P. and Wiliam, D. Formative assessment as evidence used to adapt teaching.
- Related distinction: formal and informal assessment.
Blooms Taxonomy Verbs
Bloom’s Taxonomy is a classification system used to define and categorise various cognitive skills and levels of learning. Read my full article on Bloom’s for background.
Bloom’s Taxonomy verbs are helpful tools for educators and course designers to construct meaningful learning objectives, questions, and activities that enable learners to move through various levels of understanding and mastery. Using these verbs also assists in assessing learning progress, ensuring that the objectives are measurable and aligned with the desired outcomes.
Is Online School the Right Fit for Your Child? Here’s How to Assess
Discover the key factors for choosing between online and traditional schooling to ensure your child’s academic success and future opportunities.
Table of Contents
Introduction
Choosing the right school for your child is a critical decision that can impact their future academic and career opportunities. While traditional schools have been the norm for decades, online schools are becoming increasingly popular. However, deciding which type of school is best for your child can be challenging. To help you make an informed decision, we’ve compiled a list of factors to consider when assessing whether your child is a good fit for an online or traditional school.
Assessing Your Child’s Fit for Online School: Factors to Consider
Social interaction
Physical schools provide ample opportunities for social interaction, extracurricular activities, and team sports. If social development and exchange are essential to you, a traditional school may be more suitable. Online schools may offer limited opportunities for socialization, which may impact your child’s overall development.
Flexibility
Online schools often allow students to learn at their own pace and may offer more flexibility in scheduling. This can benefit students with other commitments or those who may struggle to keep up with the speed of a traditional school.
Curriculum and course offerings
Compare online and traditional schools’ curriculum and course offerings. Some online schools may offer a broader range of electives or specialized courses that may not be available in a physical school. Ensure your chosen school provides the subjects and programs that meet your child’s interests and needs.
ICT Skills Every Teacher Should Have
Teachers need a working set of information and communication technology skills: enough to run a class, prepare materials, communicate, and keep learner data reasonably safe. This is not the same as an ICT glossary of terms, and it is not an AI course.
Skill levels vary by school and role. A useful baseline is basic (can complete the task with guidance), intermediate (can do it independently), and proficient (can adapt the tool when the task changes). Last reviewed: 31 August 2026.
A practical skill set
Most teachers need some of:
- Email and calendars
- Cloud storage and file sharing
- Word processing, spreadsheets and slides
- Forms for quizzes and data collection
- A learning management system or class platform (Teams, Google Classroom, Moodle or the school equivalent)
- Finding, saving and sharing resources, with some judgement about licences
- Enough operating-system and device skill to keep a lesson running
For definitions of the terms, use the ICT glossary. For whether a tool is worth using in a lesson, see technology in the classroom.
What this is not
- Not a vendor checklist. Windows, Microsoft 365 or Google is an example environment, not a requirement.
- Not AI literacy as a substitute. Prompting and classroom AI sit on top of these basics. They do not replace them.
With Matt Hains I wrote ICT Skills Every Teacher Should Have, a Cambridge practical guide and SACE-endorsed workshop series for teachers who need step-by-step classroom ICT. Themes: ICT literacy, communication, the cloud, productivity software, content management, integration and online collaboration.
Sources
- Cambridge University Press. ICT Skills Every Teacher Should Have, with Matt Hains. Classroom ICT guide for teachers. Cambridge listing.
What is Computational Literacy?
Computational literacy is the ability to understand, use and question computational processes: how data is represented, how instructions run, and what a system can and cannot do. It is broader than writing code in one language.
It sits beside, but is not the same as, ICT skills (using school software) or a single coding course. Last reviewed: 31 August 2026.
What it includes
- Breaking a problem into steps (an algorithm, even on paper)
- Seeing patterns and data, not only tools
- Knowing that a computer follows instructions and will also follow bad ones
- Enough scepticism to ask what a system was trained or programmed to do
Computational thinking is the problem-solving habit inside this. Coding is one way to practise it. Unplugged tasks can be another.
Classroom use
In Foundation Phase this can be sequences, patterns and simple robots or paper algorithms. Later it can be data, models and actual programs. Age and curriculum decide the depth. See computational thinking in African schools.
What it is not
- Not “every child must be a programmer.”
- Not AI literacy as a synonym. AI systems are computational, but this page is the older, wider skill.
Sources
- Wing, J. Computational thinking as a general problem-solving approach, not only coding.
What is Foundation Phase Teaching?
In South Africa, Foundation Phase teaching is the first phase of formal schooling: Grade R and Grades 1 to 3, typically ages about 5 to 9. It is where home language, early literacy, numeracy and life skills are built as the base for later phases.
This page answers what the phase is. It is not a coding-and-robotics course, and it is not an AI primer. Last reviewed: 31 August 2026.
What the phase covers
- Home language as the main language of learning and teaching in these years, with additional language according to the school’s offering
- Literacy: listening, speaking, reading and writing at an early level
- Mathematics: number, operations, patterns, space and measurement at Foundation Phase depth
- Life Skills: beginning knowledge, personal and social well-being, creative arts and physical education as set out in CAPS
Play, routine and lots of oral language sit inside good Foundation Phase practice. That is a method, not a separate subject.
What it is not
- Not Intermediate or Senior Phase. Those have different CAPS documents and different subject splits.
- Not a promise that coding belongs in every Grade R lesson. Where a school teaches Coding and Robotics, that is an addition with its own guidance. See the Foundation Phase coding and robotics workshop note if that is the job you came for.
Related: computational thinking in African schools.
Sources
- Department of Basic Education (South Africa). Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statement (CAPS) for Foundation Phase (Grade R–3).
Which is better and why? Formal or informal assessment?
Neither formal nor informal assessment is inherently better. The better choice depends on the purpose, the evidence you need, the stakes for the learner, and how the results will be used.
This page is a personal classroom guide, not institutional policy. South African curriculum references are labelled as such. Last reviewed: 30 August 2026.
Introduction
Teachers use assessment to find out what learners know, can do and still need. Formal and informal assessment both belong in that work. They are not the only useful distinction. Formative and summative assessment answer a different question: whether the evidence is used to improve learning as it happens, or to summarise achievement at a point in time.
A test can be formal and still used formatively if the teacher and learners act on the results. An observation can be informal and still contribute to a summative judgement if it is recorded against clear criteria. Mixing those dimensions is how this topic becomes confusing.
Types of assessment
Formal assessment
Formal assessment is planned, structured evidence-gathering with stated criteria, a defined task, and a record that can be shared or revisited. It often happens at agreed points in a programme. It can include tests, assignments, practical tasks, orals, performances and examinations.
Formal does not mean standardised. It does not mean multiple choice. It does not mean learners never generate their own answers. Constructed responses, investigations and performances can all be formal when they are planned, criteria-based and recorded.
Informal assessment
Informal assessment is the evidence teachers gather in the flow of teaching: questions, discussion, observation, drafts, quick writes and other classroom checks. It is often lighter and more frequent than a set-piece task. It is not the same as “no record” and not the same as “no criteria”.
If informal evidence will later support a mark, a report or a decision about extra help, write it down. Unrecorded impressions fade and are hard to defend.
Formal vs informal assessment
| Question | Formal assessment | Informal assessment |
|---|---|---|
| When it usually happens | At planned points, often after a unit or term | During teaching, often daily or weekly |
| How it is set up | Stated task, criteria and conditions | Embedded in classwork, discussion or observation |
| What it can look like | Test, assignment, practical, oral, performance, exam | Questioning, draft comments, exit ticket, observation note |
| Record | Usually a score, level or comment on a file | Should be recorded when it will guide teaching or reporting |
| Typical strength | Comparable evidence against shared criteria | Fast information that can change the next lesson |
| Typical risk | Anxiety, narrow tasks, delayed feedback | Bias, forgotten evidence, unclear criteria |
Formative versus summative sits across this table, not inside one column. Paul Black and Dylan Wiliam describe assessment as formative when the evidence is actually used to adapt teaching to meet learners’ needs. A formal test used only to rank, with no follow-up, is summative. An informal check that changes tomorrow’s grouping is formative.
Purpose of assessment
Choose the method after you can answer four questions:
- What decision or next step will this evidence support?
- What kind of evidence would actually show that learning?
- How high are the stakes for the learner?
- Who will use the results, and how soon?
The 2014 Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, published by AERA, APA and NCME, treat validity, reliability and fairness as properties of an assessment use, not as badges a test automatically owns. A neat marksheet is not proof that the task measured what you intended, or that every learner had a fair chance to show it.
In South African public schools, the Department of Basic Education’s Curriculum and Assessment Policy Statements and the National Protocol for Assessment Grades R-12 set recording, reporting and promotion requirements. That is national policy for that system. It does not make every formal task a standardised national test, and it does not make informal classroom checks optional extras with no professional duty of care.
Examples of formal assessment
- An end-of-unit test with a mark scheme, including short answers and a longer written or practical item.
- A planned oral or presentation assessed against a rubric.
- A practical or performance task with stated criteria and a recorded result.
- A school-based assessment or examination required by a curriculum or qualification.
- A standardised test, when one is actually being used for comparison or placement. Treat that as one formal option, not the definition of formal assessment.
Examples of informal assessment
- Exit tickets or entry tickets: one question on the way out or in, used to decide whether to reteach.
- 3-2-1: three ideas, two examples, one remaining question.
- A two-minute quick write after an explanation.
- A class vote used as a starting check, then followed by explanation, not as a mark.
- Concept maps or flashcards made in class and reviewed with a partner.
- Observation notes during group work or practical activity.
Using both in the classroom
Use informal checks to see whether today’s teaching landed, and to adjust before a high-stakes moment. Use formal tasks when you need a more comparable record against shared criteria, or when a curriculum requires it.
Do not assume that informal assessment is kinder and formal assessment is harsher. A surprise recitation can be more stressful than a published test. Do not assume younger learners can only be assessed informally. They can complete short planned tasks if the format fits.
Keep records that match the use. Informal notes can be brief. Formal files should show the task, the criteria, the result and any access arrangements. If you cannot explain a mark six weeks later, the record was too thin.
Challenges
Formal assessment goes wrong when the task is narrower than the learning, when feedback arrives too late to use, or when a multiple-choice paper is treated as the only respectable evidence. Multiple-choice items can be useful. They cannot, on their own, show extended reasoning.
Informal assessment goes wrong when it is only a feeling, when it favours the learners who speak first, or when it is never written down. “I just know how they are doing” is not a defence if a parent, inspector or the learner asks for the evidence.
AI tools can draft items, summarise comments or flag possible errors. They can also leak learner data, reproduce bias, and invent fluent nonsense. Keep learner work inside approved school systems, check every AI-generated item before it is used, and keep a human responsible for the judgement. This page is not a guide to automating marks.
Conclusion
Ask which is better only after you know what the assessment is for. Formal and informal assessment answer different classroom jobs. Most teaching needs both, plus a clear line between evidence used to improve learning and evidence used to summarise it.
Related: ICT terms and definitions and comparing formative and summative assessment.
Sources
- Department of Basic Education, Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements and the National Protocol for Assessment Grades R-12. education.gov.za CAPS
- American Educational Research Association, American Psychological Association and National Council on Measurement in Education, Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing (2014). APA testing standards
- Black, P. and Wiliam, D. (1998). “Inside the Black Box: Raising Standards Through Classroom Assessment.” Phi Delta Kappan 80(2), 139-148.
Simplify your teaching now, using Bloom’s Taxonomy Question Stems
This is a classroom question-stem bank organised by the six revised Bloom levels. A stem is a starting phrase, not a guarantee of cognitive demand. The complete task, the knowledge required and the criteria decide the level.
Use it to plan discussion and written questions. It is not a printable PDF unless you export the page yourself. Last reviewed: 30 August 2026.
Bloom’s Taxonomy questions
Plan questions against the lesson objective. Use closed questions to check recall. Use open questions when you want explanation, comparison or judgement. Move up the levels only when learners have something worth thinking with. For the framework itself, see the introduction.
Remember
Retrieve facts, terms or simple sequences. Worked example in science: “List the parts of a plant cell named in yesterday’s diagram.”
- Can you name …?
- What is …?
- When did …?
- List … in order.
- What do you remember about …?
- How would you define …, using the glossary meaning?
- Where in the text does it say …?
Understand
Construct meaning: explain, summarise, give an example. Worked example in history: “Explain in your own words why the 1913 Land Act mattered to black South African farmers.”
- How would you summarise …?
- What is the main idea of …?
- Can you explain … in your own words?
- Give an example of …
- What does … mean in this context?
- How is … different from …, at the level of meaning rather than judgement?
Apply
Use a method in a new but similar situation. Worked example in maths: “Use the percentage method we practised to calculate the discount on this price.”
- How would you use … to …?
- What would you need to do to apply … here?
- Can you show how … works with this new example?
- Using the rule, solve …
- Where else could you apply …?
Analyse
Break material into parts and relate them. Worked example in English: “Which details in the extract support the narrator’s claim, and which details undermine it?”
- How does … relate to …?
- What are the parts of …?
- Which evidence supports …?
- What pattern do you notice in …?
- How would you distinguish … from …?
- What is the function of … in the whole?
Evaluate
Judge against stated criteria. Worked example in geography: “Using the three criteria on the board, which flood-management option is stronger for this town, and why?”
- Which option is stronger, according to …?
- How would you justify …?
- What are the strengths and limits of …?
- Is … valid, given …?
- How well does … meet the criteria?
- What would you recommend, and on what grounds?
Stems such as “What is the best one?” belong here only if criteria are named. They do not belong under Remember.
Create
Put elements together into an original product or plan. Worked example in technology: “Design a poster that teaches one safety rule to Grade 4, using only the facts we checked.”
- How would you design …?
- What would you compose to …?
- Can you propose an alternative that still meets …?
- How would you combine … to produce …?
- What plan would you construct for …?
Using AI with these stems
A chatbot can draft extra stems. You still have to check classification, reading level and subject accuracy. A verb is not proof of the level.
Example: if you ask for Remember questions on plant cells and the model returns “Which option is stronger, and why?”, that is Evaluate, not Remember. Keep this stem bank beside the output and reject the mismatch.
For a method that generates assessment items and then checks them, see Designing Assessments with AI. Related: practical guide and digital tasks.
Sources
- Anderson, L. W. and Krathwohl, D. R. (eds.) (2001). A Taxonomy for Learning, Teaching, and Assessing.
- Bloom, B. S. (ed.) (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives. Handbook I: Cognitive Domain.
5 Ways Technology Is Helping Teachers Do Their Jobs Better
Technology helps teachers when it removes a specific piece of friction: finding out who understood the lesson, collecting work, sharing a model, or keeping a record. It does not help when it adds logins, noise or a gap between learners who have data and learners who do not.
Last reviewed: 31 August 2026.
Five durable uses
- A mid-lesson check. A short quiz or poll so you can change the second half of the lesson.
- A shared place for files and deadlines. An LMS or class folder so work is not only in one inbox.
- A model you cannot bring into the room. A simulation, a digitised collection, a process that would be unsafe live.
- Feedback that arrives while the work still matters. Comments on a draft, not only a mark at the end.
- Admin you should not be rewriting by hand. Registers, repeating instructions, a calendar of due dates.
None of these requires an AI tool. If you add one, you still have to check the output. See technology in the classroom and ICT skills.