Hey, it happens from time to time. You get busy or something happens and you lose the momentum that you built up on your first few assessments. Suddenly, you blink and months have passed and you still haven’t finished the qualification.

How do I get the ball rolling again on my NCALNE (Voc) embedded project?

1. Register on Pathways Awarua: First of all, you need to follow my instructions on how to register on Pathways Awarua. Do this straight away as Pathways Awarua is now the central place for all of our training and support around completing the NCALNE (Voc) qualification.
2. Do the modules: Work through the relevant interactive modules to refresh your memory of what you’ve already learned. If it’s just the project work, you’ll probably need to start at Module 3 or 4.
3. Get more info from our Youtube channel: Go to my YouTube channel and watch the clips that relate to the assessment or module that you need to complete. If you scroll down from the channel landing page you should see different playlists that relate to the different assessment tasks and modules.
4. Check out the relevant assessment tasks: If your fees are paid up we’ll be able to unlock the online versions of the assessments that you need to complete and you can do this from inside Pathways Awarua.
5. Understand the evidence requirements: You need to get your head around the various kinds of evidence that each assessment requires you to collect or generate. Hopefully, the notes below will summarise that as well.

What kind of assessment evidence do I need to compile for the NCALNE (Voc) project work?

Another good question… Here’s a summary. The list below relates to the evidence that you have to compile, collate, or otherwise generate for Assessments 4, 5, and 6. These combine together to make up the project work for the NCALNE (Voc).

This information updates anything I’ve written in the printed Assessment Guide and connects directly with the online assessments that sit inside Pathways Awarua in the online version of the course.

Keep in mind that this project work requires you to track at least two learners through the process of diagnostic assessment, some teaching and learning, and then some follow up formative assessment. We usually advise people to start with their whole class or at least 4 or 5 learners so that they still have at least the two they need by the end of the process.

Assessment 4: Literacy and numeracy diagnostic

1.  TEC literacy and numeracy Assessments: Use the Literacy and Numeracy for Adults Assessment Tool (otherwise known as the TEC Assessment) and supply completed:
   • Reading Assessment report for Learner A
   • Reading Assessment report for Learner B
   • General Numeracy Assessment report for Learner A
   • General Numeracy Assessment report for Learner B
2. Contextualised literacy and numeracy assessments: Create or adapt your own contextualised literacy and numeracy assessments and supply completed:
   • Contextualised “mini” assessment for some aspect of literacy (e.g. vocabulary) for Learner A
   • Contextualised “mini” assessment for some aspect of literacy (e.g. vocabulary) for Learner B
   • Contextualised “mini” assessment for some aspect of numeracy (e.g. measurement) for Learner A
   • Contextualised “mini” assessment for some aspect of numeracy (e.g. measurement) for Learner B
3. Learning plans: Write up the following:
   • Learning plan for Learner A
   • Learning plan for Learner B

In the process of completing this assessment online in Pathways Awarua you’ll need to comment on the process and describe what you did as well as supplying the things in the list above.

Assessment 5: The teaching component

1. Embedded learning outcomes.  Develop clear learning outcomes with related activities:
   • Develop 1 embedded literacy learning outcome
   • Plan a sequence of 5 embedded literacy activities that relate to the embedded literacy learning outcome as follows below. This is where you do the teaching, and your learners do the learning and practice:
     • 1 speaking & listening activity to set the scene and activate learners’ prior knowledge
     • 2 reading activities based around a text relevant to your embedded literacy learning outcome and wider context.
     • 2 writing activities also related to the same embedded literacy learning outcome.
   • Develop 1 embedded numeracy outcome
   • Plan a sequence of 3 embedded numeracy activities that relate to the embedded numeracy learning outcome as follows below. This is where you do the teaching, and your learners do the learning and practice:
     • 1 speaking and listening activity to set the scene and activate learners’ prior knowledge
     • 2 numeracy activities related to the embedded numeracy learning outcome.
2. Deliver the activities and teaching
   • You need to collect evidence that this teaching and learning actually took place. This might include photographs, video evidence, copies of resources, and copies of the work that your learners did.

Again, in the process of working through the online assessment in Pathways Awarua you’ll need to comment on the process including how the delivery went. Some part of your delivery here should include setting up your learners to do some aspect of the learning or practice on their own, e.g. independent learning.

Assessment 6: Measuring progress

1. Reuse the contextualised “mini” assessments you administered before you did the teaching.
   • This means reusing your material already developed for Assessment Task 4 of this course. When you used them the first time, they were like a pre-assessment. When you use them here it’s like a post-assessment. Test, teach, test… in other words.
2. Say what it all means. The online assessment in Pathways Awarua will prompt you all the way through just like the other assessments do. You need to comment on the pre and post assessment scores for your two learners. You’ll also need to draw some sensible conclusions about what your data is telling you.

Any questions…? Email us on assess@alec.ac.nz