Using InfoPath to record peer lesson observations
Esher College in Surrey is one of the leading sixth form colleges in the UK, and was judged as being a particularly successful college in its latest Ofsted inspection. Its commitment to providing outstanding teaching and learning is underpinned by its ICT policy.
Over recent years the college has encouraged peer lesson observation to support teacher development. This year, with Parabola’s help the college was able to use InfoPath to develop web based forms for recording the observation.
Using InfoPath the college ICT team was able to quickly create an InfoPath form, based on its existing paper-based system. However, the team needed to be able to integrate the forms with the college database so asked Parabola to provide the relevant expertise. In just a couple of days, Parabola developed an online form which loads the input data (e.g. dropdown lists) on the form and then validates and saves the output in the database.
As David Lloyd, IT Development Director at Esher College explained,
“We wanted users to be able to input information online, rather than having to re-key information. We were able to populate the form ourselves but needed help from Parabola to write the web element for us”.
Using the new system, observers will be able to complete an intuitive form on a laptop during the lesson. Once the observer is happy with the content, they submit the results over the Intranet and the College database is automatically updated. As Parabola used InfoPath Forms Services, staff do not need to have InfoPath installed on their laptops – they simply access it on the SharePoint Staff portal.
By standardising the way in which lesson observation findings are captured and automating database updates, staff at the College can rely on every observation report being up to date and can easily monitor and capture improvements from one observation to the next. It also means that administrators can quickly see who has performed observations or which teachers have not yet had peer observation.
David Lloyd said,
“We are testing this process with peer-to-peer review but are planning to build workflow onto the back of it with a view to eventually using it for professional practice reviews – it could be good for courses and professional development too. We are looking at doing more and more online and are aiming to have all internal processes and services accessible via the [SharePoint] portal”. He concluded,
“Parabola are very much our partners and offer brilliant support, making it easy to do small projects or big ones. We’ve evolved – which is testament to what they’ve done for us”.