Professional Development Courses (Register at TRAISI: Click here)

ICT0306: Assessment Literacy 2.1 - Assessment for Learning & Teaching

In this course, participants will co-construct a deeper understanding of the relationship between learning and assessment. By the end of the course, participants should be able to identify essential aspects of assessment task design, formative assessment and feedback practice for the constructive alignment of assessment, curriculum and pedagogy.

ICT0309: Assessment Literacy 2.3 - Quality Assessment Rubrics

This course provides an introduction to key elements and principles of rubric design. Participants will review several different types of rubrics (e.g., holistic, analytic, general and task-specific rubrics) and discuss their effectiveness for different purposes of teaching and assessment. In particular, there will be an emphasis on distinguishing the use of a rubric in formative and/or summative assessment. The participants will be given an opportunity to design a rubric that should be immediately useful for their classroom teaching and assessment, leading to sharing of their works. Finally, issues of staff competency in effectively designing and using rubrics would be presented.

ICT0312 - Assessment Literacy 3.1 -Assessment Leadership - Policy and Practice

By the end of the course, participants should be able to have conceptual clarity in the distinction and relationship between assessment of and for learning. They will also understand the conditions for, and essential elements of, feedback practice in schools; and use rubrics to anticipate, articulate and accentuate academic standards in schools. Lastly, they will learn to appreciate the role and complexities of leadership in guiding and enhancing formative assessment practices in schools.

ICT0313: Assessment Literacy 2.5 - Designing Quality Alternative Assessments

This course is intended to increase participants' knowledge and skills about alternative assessment concepts and connections to curricular aims. It gives participants experience in developing or adapting alternative assessment tasks for use in schools. Participants will practise evaluating potential alternative assessment tasks for newly- emerging curricular goals (e.g., 21st century skills and citizenship education).

ICT0314: Assessment Literacy 2.6 - Self-assessment: Students as Self-regulated Learners

This course is intended to increase participants’ understanding of the two key concepts: Self-regulated Learning and Student Self-assessment; and more importantly, the relationship between the two. Participants will have opportunities to craft and critique classroom activities that will help promote student self-assessment and ultimately self-regulated learning.

ICT0320: Assessment Literacy 2.4 - Effective Questioning & Feedback as AfL Strategies

The course is designed to build teachers’ capacity in the areas of questioning and feedback, two important assessment for learning (AfL) strategies. Using research-informed best practices, participants explore and apply questioning and feedback within authentic contexts. While focusing on enhancing teachers’ use of AfL strategies, the course examines how participants may plan the conditions for ideal questioning and feedback practices. Through discussion, hands-on and reflective activities, participants will enhance their knowledge and skills in using Q&F strategies to support and evaluate teaching and learning. AfL practices and understandings will be set within the context of MOE Assessment Philosophy and assessment competencies.

ICT0323 - Student Self-Assessment: 5 Ws and 1 H

This Student Self-Assessment workshop hopes to provide teachers with a better understanding about student self-assessment (what) and its potential benefits to teachers and students (who & why). The workshop will look at how to set the stage for the implementation of self-assessment in the classroom (where), introduce a variety of self-assessment strategies (what & how) as well as discuss the issues and challenges of implementing student self-assessment (when & how). There will also be a hands-on session for teachers to work together to co-design self-assessment for their students’ use.

ICT0324 - Nurturing Self-regulated Learners Through Assessment Practices

This workshop hopes to provide teachers with a better understanding about self-regulated learning (SRL). It will focus especially on shaping classroom assessment practices to nurture SRL, as well as discuss the complexities involved as. There will also be many hands-on opportunities for teachers to plan for application of course content in their lessons.

ICT0325 - Design Alternative Assessments and their Rubrics

There is a growing recognition that we need a variety of assessment types in schools. These different assessment methods will help bring balance to the emphasis on conventional paper-and-pen tests as well as cater to diverse student abilities and cover a wider range of learning outcomes. Careful consideration is therefore required in evaluating and selecting alternative assessments that can deliver on these intended outcomes. Frameworks for designing alternative assessments and rubrics will be presented in this course. Participants will also be introduced to the salient issues involved in such alternative assessments. At the end of the course, participants will be able to make informed choices based on fundamental assessment principles.

ICT0328: Evidence-based Assessment for Learning

In this course, frameworks for designing unit assessment plans to ensure the quality of the evidence of learning will be presented. Principled approaches to interpret and use evidence collected to progress student learning will be introduced. By the end of the course, participants will be able to make informed instructional choices through knowing where learning is headed, where it is now, and using evidence to decide what to do next to improve student understanding. Click here to register.

Higher Degree Programmes

Master of Education (Curriculum and Teaching)

The Master of Education in Curriculum and Teaching (MCT) programme aims to facilitate the growth of experienced educators who are committed to developing advanced professional knowledge in curriculum and teaching and who intend to assume leadership roles in their educational settings. Specifically, the programme: provides participants with the theoretical underpinnings of the curriculum-making process, from design and implementation to evaluation, cultivates an openness of mind and a necessary criticality towards curriculum issues in local and international contexts,and develops an appreciation of the role and responsibilities of curriculum leaders in a changing global context, where education experience is marked by an urgent tension for both the holistic and the pragmatic.

Master of Arts (Leadership and Educational Change)

The Master of Arts (Leadership and Educational Change) - MALEC is an innovative programme with a dual focus on organisational and curriculum leadership. The programme aims to prepare educational leaders to go beyond organisational leadership towards embracing leadership capacities in curriculum, teaching and learning. Jointly taught by two internationally renowned teacher education institutions, the National Institute of Education (NIE), Nanyang Technological University, Singapore and Teachers College (TC), Columbia University, New York, the programme prepares a new generation of educational leaders for Singapore, the Asia-Pacific region and the larger international community. The programme provides opportunities to build new cross-national learning communities and fraternities steeped in both local and global perspectives.

Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)/ Master of Arts (Research)

The Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)/ Master of Arts (Research) programmes prepares scholars, researchers and educators for various roles in educational research and leadership positions in colleges and universities as well as in other educational institutions. Areas of research emphasis include curriculum policy and reform; curriculum development and implementation; curriculum leadership; teaching and learning; assessment and evaluation; teacher learning and professional development; citizenship and comparative education.

Doctor in Education (EdD)

The Doctor in Education (EdD) with a specialization in Curriculum and Teaching is a programme designed for professionals in educational and education-related fields who are interested in experiencing an intimate appreciation of the research-practices nexus. It aims to provide practitioners and leaders a theoretical and empirical basis for analysing issues in practice, to enable enhancement of practice and solution of practice-based problems in the field. The EdD offers opportunities to explore (but not limited to) the following areas of inquiry: policies in curriculum; programme development, implementation and evaluation; teaching and learning in formal and informal contexts; assessment and learning; instructional leadership; workplace professional development.