Chalkface Blog

The best teaching materials in the most practical format.

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Author: Ian Grove-Stephensen

  • Yacapaca Gradebook and Feedback

    This is a guest post by Mr Chris Coleman, AST for E-Learning, Conyers School & Sixth Form College As a teacher of ICT, I am always striving to provide opportunities for students to access learning where feedback is not only summative but also personalised and formative. Over the last five years, Yacapaca has proven to…

  • How to kill your students’ curiosity

    Tell them the answers.

  • Reporting grades using New Zealand gradeschemes

    New Zealand National Curriculum levels, and NCEA grades, are now supported by Yacapaca. If you teach in New Zealand, you can now: view assignment marks in NZ-relevant grades set targets in NZ grades share progress charts calibrated in NZ grades with students and parents. Here’s how. To access NZ grading, you need to switch it…

  • (Slightly) improved accuracy in KS3 grading

    Our algorithm for converting quiz percentages into National Curriculum levels was originally based on a cross-grading exercise with some 2,400 students. We have just finished re-calibrating the algorithm with almost 100 times that number – 220,962 to be exact. We collected the data by asking every teacher the approximate average level of their class. As…

  • Question quality measurement

    The summer is upon those of us in the Northern Hemisphere, and I know you are just bursting to get down to some serious quiz authoring. So just in time, we have launched a new tool to help you raise your game – question quality metrics. Here’s the essential FAQ: Where do I see the…