12 Jan 2026
Setting standards with modeling
Designing an activity that leads to the introduction of using tools correctly.
Context
Where I teach we have a programme that helps students to improve their professionalism skills, supports wellbeing in an industry context and overall better prepares them for the workplace. The way this is done is by students reflecting on what they have done as part of each module related to a specific topic, the format of evidence and reflection is within Microsoft OneNote via Teams.
During what we call a block (“terms” for school) students will complete tasks and reflections, document them in OneNote and we will provide feedback. As with a lot of things in education there is always a format for consistency and formality. During a previous block I noticed a student had formatted their notebook to be [Year] - [Block] and inside that was a page for: Evidence, Reflection and Feedback. This format made it quicker to find exactly what I needed.
What I tried
During the first week of the block I created an activity that not only gets them to set up the notebook in this easy-to-read format but also gives them their first entry making it clear what the set standard is.
The prompt to class was to create the notebook layout in that format and to research how Wellbeing relates to Cloud Computing, which for some it could sound like a question of relating apples to elephants; how do they relate?
I gave them an example of how Netflix a Cloud-based service can be consumed in a good and bad way, I gave reasons and added an academic reference in Harvard style this way I’m modeling good practice by showing what an answer should look like and reminding them of how to format a reference as expected for their assessments.
Reflection
Generally it was a good exercise to get the kind of quality answer I would look for when it comes to the assessment portion, the downside was that it turns out there was a bug in OneNote which meant the students could not access their notebooks but that means that I just need to remember to check ahead of time what student can access. The alternative I gave was for them to add the notebook entry in an appropriately named Word document.
Next time
A better way of doing this could have been that I created an Assignment in Teams so all students had to submit and I could feedback to them, that way I could get them to try out a few things that are expected of them throughout their course and they get feedback. The students receiving feedback could be an opportunity for the students to feedback to me whether what I have written is of a high enough standard for them to improve future works.
TL;DR: Create a task involving using software students will have to use in the course, model an example.