Bremnes Youth School saw the itslearning planner as a good tool for aligning teaching and used the time well before the summer, internally and in collaboration with itslearning, to create guidelines and templates ready for the start of the school year. We spoke to two teachers from Bremnes secondary school to find out how the school has worked with this project and what the reactions have been among the teachers at the school.
Broad anchoring and involvement
The school is working on embedding the planner through group time and workshops. Ellen, contact teacher at Bremnes secondary school, explains that "In the workshops, we have shown how to create plans with the new planner. It's really nice. Teachers find it useful that you can now enter learning objectives and keep track of which learning objectives you've been through." The secondary school is also in the process of changing its own planning practices, with the aim of avoiding duplication and being able to do all planning in one place. "A year plan that is live in itslearning means less work, and it clearly documents which goals you have been through," says Geoffery, contact teacher at Bremnes secondary school.
"Bremnes Ungdomsskule has allowed teachers to have their say both in common time and workshops, and in this way, more people feel included and have provided more positive and constructive feedback," Geoffery explains.
"It was an a-ha experience for us when we were shown how easy it is and how plans are used"
Ellen, Contact teacher, Bremnes Ungdomsskule
Simpler and more predictable everyday life
Ellen says: "The teachers are positive about the new way of planning and see the benefits of using planning templates, and that they can be reused over several years by different teachers. It makes everyday life as a teacher easier for them, and is also more predictable for students. Students can often find different practices confusing, but Bremnes secondary school wants to avoid this by developing similar planning templates for all subjects."
In addition to the planner, Bremnes secondary school also uses itslearning for assessment, communication with students, order and behavior and archiving of teaching resources. The principal, Christin Klubben, emphasizes this by saying that "At secondary schools, we must have a platform that takes care of learning and assessment. itslearning is specially developed for schools, and the other systems are not. In addition, the platform has undergone a major boost during the pandemic, and Fagfornyelsen has been integrated in a very good way."
Unlocking potential through good training
This fall's 8th graders have not used itslearning for a while, but from experience, the school knows that they already have a lot of knowledge with digital tools. Most of them know a lot, but what will be new for them is communicating and giving feedback to each other digitally.
Christin continues, "itslearning is an excellent learning platform that can improve learning, but we need to make sure that our teachers receive sufficient training". Therefore, one of itslearning's educators will soon return to Bømlo to review the planner with even more teachers, so they can learn more about how plans can be structured and shared in a simple way.
Want to learn more about our planner? Read here: The planner 2.0 - itslearning AS