CENTURY’s role in the classroom

Improve your students’ learning outcomes, access real-time insight into each learner and reduce your workload.

Lesson planning and preparation can be the most time consuming part of teaching. Ensuring your lesson meets the learning needs of each and every student in your class, both supporting the weakest while challenging the most able, takes careful and lengthy planning time.

Fortunately, technology can help.

CENTURY learns how each student learns and presents them with a unique route through the curriculum that addresses their individual learning needs. This means that, unlike other online learning resources, students do not all begin their learning journey at the same point: weaker students are directed towards consolidation activities, whereas those who are more able are pushed towards harder topics and more complex questions. As a result, teachers do not have to look through each individual exercise to choose an appropriate level for each student; the platform automatically adjusts to the needs and preferences of the learner, thereby reducing teacher workload.

As an online, cloud-based resource, CENTURY can be accessed at anytime and from any place.

Within the classroom, teachers can use CENTURY to develop a blended learning environment, combining teacher input with student led learning and automatic feedback. For example, a teacher will introduce a topic, then students will consolidate and build on their knowledge using the associated learning material (which we like to call ‘nuggets’ of learning) on CENTURY. Teachers can use the data presented to them to plan their follow-up lessons and identify any misconceptions among their students.

Outside of the classroom, teachers can use the platform to set and collect homework in the form of nuggets or typed essay style questions. Nuggets are auto-marked, providing students with immediate, personalised feedback, and teachers with insight into each learner. Having access to immediate learning insights also makes CENTURY an essential tool for flipped learning. Teachers can provide audio feedback by recording their voice on the platform, allowing students to have access to their feedback whenever needed. Audio feedback not only reduces teacher workload, but allows the feedback to be more detailed. Studies have shown that students pay little attention to written feedback (preferring just to know their grade or score), however, personalised audio feedback can be a far more powerful tool.

The data generated by CENTURY is invaluable for intervention purposes. Teachers and teaching assistants can see detailed feedback on students’ achievement, strengths, areas for improvement and skills, both in terms of effort and attainment. They have access to in-depth topic analyses which enable educators to easily pinpoint students’ areas for improvement. Nuggets can be repeated after a teacher-led intervention to measure impact and record progress. CENTURY’s advanced technology encourages students to revisit nuggets regularly so that knowledge is consolidated over time. By regularly revisiting material, students develop vital revision skills and are fully prepared for exam time.

So next time you find yourself planning, marking or data-inputting into the early hours of the morning, consider how much time technology could have saved you.

Written by Tom Thacker, Curriculum Lead at CENTURY Tech. Tom began his career as a Teach First maths teacher in the Midlands. Since then he has been Head of Department, Assistant Principal and School Governor. Tom then moved to Uganda where he taught for a further two years, before moving back to the UK and joining CENTURY.