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Teacher’s Guide to Cambridge English Empower in the Cambridge Learning Management System CONTENTS 1 Introduction
2
2 The Learning Oriented Assessment (LOA) cycle
2
3 How to access your classes
3
4 Cambridge English Empower in the Cambridge LMS – Quick overview
4
4
Class Home
5 Cambridge English Empower in the Cambridge LMS – In depth
5
Content
5
Assessment and Practice
6
Online Workbook
13
Extension
13
Resources
13
Teacher’s Book
14
Printable Tests
14
Teacher’s Extra Resources
14
Class Audio and Class Video
15
Language Check
15
Class Tools
15
Learner Profile
16
Unit Progress Test scores
16
CEFR Report
17
Gradebook
18
Teacher view of Gradebook
18
Student view of Gradebook
23
Dashboard
24
Teacher view of Portfolio
24
Student view of Portfolio
25
6 Further Information
25
7 What’s special about the assessment in Cambridge English Empower?
26
Unit Progress Tests (formative)
26
Unit Speaking Tests (formative)
27
Competency Tests (summative)
27
1 INTRODUCTION Who is this guide for? This guide is intended for teachers of Cambridge English Empower using the online assessment and practice in the Cambridge Learning Management System (LMS).
What is included in this guide? This guide includes • information on the parts of the course delivered online through the Cambridge LMS • recommendations on when and how the online components can be used • the differences between teacher access and student access • links to further information about Cambridge LMS features.
What is not included in this guide? This guide does not include information about Cambridge LMS features that are not relevant to Cambridge English Empower.
How does this guide work? This guide is intended to help you as a teacher start using Cambridge English Empower in the Cambridge LMS immediately. A Quick overview of the Class Home offers an easy starting point for you to try out some of the main elements of the course. This is followed by an In depth visual walkthrough of all the Cambridge LMS features of the course. Further information provides links to more sources of assistance, including the Cambridge LMS FAQs and step by step help videos.
2 THE LEARNING ORIENTED ASSESSMENT (LOA) CYCLE
Class lesson D: Consolidation of core language via integrated skills, plus a writing focus
Class lessons A + B: Grammar, vocabulary and mixed skills Class lesson C: Everyday English
Mid-course and Endof-course competency assessment
Retake the Unit Progress Test
Take the Unit Progress Test Online
CEFR Report
Gradebook monitoring + reporting on test scores and practice activities
Follow the Personalised learning path (targeted online practice)
2 Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015
As a teacher, you’ll naturally be interested in your learners’ progress. Every time they step into your classroom, you’ll note if a learner is struggling with a language concept, is unable to read at a natural rate, or can understand a new grammar point but still can’t produce it in a practice activity. This is often an intuitive and spontaneous process. By the end of a course or a cycle of learning, you’ll know far more about a learner’s ability than an end-of-course test alone can show. An LOA approach to teaching and learning brings together this ongoing informal evaluation with more formal or structured assessment such as end-of-unit or end-of-course tests. Ideally ed by a learning management system, LOA is an approach that allows you to pull together all this information and knowledge in order to understand learners’ achievements and progress and to identify and address their needs in a targeted and informed way. A range of insights into learners and their progress feeds into total assessment of the learner. It also allows you to use all of this information not just to produce a report on a learner’s level of competence but also to plan and inform future learning. Cambridge English Empower in the Cambridge LMS provides all the necessary material and tools to help you successfully achieve total assessment of your learners, including a complete assessment package with automated grading, a comprehensive range of additional activities for extensive language practice and access to all the necessary performance data in one gradebook.
3 HOW TO ACCESS YOUR CLASSES This guide assumes that teachers are already ed and have classes set up to use Cambridge English Empower in the Cambridge LMS. For more information on how to on the Cambridge LMS please go to: www.cambridgelms.org/main/
After logging in, the My Teaching tab lists all the Cambridge English Empower classes that have been set up for you to teach. Click on the links to access the relevant course and section.
Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015 3
4 CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH EMPOWER IN THE CAMBRIDGE LMS –
QUICK OVERVIEW
Class Home Your Class Home will look something like this: Click here to access the Assessment material, Online Workbook and Extension activities.
Click here to access a range of additional material to help with your teaching of Cambridge English Empower.
Click here to access the Forum, Message Board and Blog tools.
Click here to access all the scores and data for the students in the class.
To Do Next, Calendar and Announcements are immediately available and allow you to keep track of work that is due and to notify learners of tasks.
Note: Logged in as Teacher, the main tabs for the course are Class Home, Content, Resources, Class Tools and Gradebook. Your learners, logged in as Students, have an extra Learner Profile tab:
There is more information on the Learner Profile below.
4 Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015
5 CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH EMPOWER IN THE CAMBRIDGE LMS –
IN DEPTH
Content This is where to access the Assessment material (Unit Progress Tests, Unit Speaking Tests and Competency Tests), Online Workbook and Extension activities.
Click here to access the Online Workbook and Extension activities.
Click on Show all to open the menu.
This icon shows if the activity or test is locked or unlocked.
Click this button to lock or unlock the content and the option to set time parameters for the test or activities to be available.
Indicates how much of the content has been accessed and submitted for scoring.
Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015 5
Assessment and Practice There is a Unit Progress Test and Unit Speaking Test for each unit (12 units for levels A1, A2 and B1, and 10 units for levels B1+, B2 and C1) and two Competency Tests (mid-course and end-of-course) for each level of the course.
Unit Progress Tests We recommend that learners take the Unit Progress Test at the end of each C lesson as learners encounter all the language that features in the test in lessons A–C. However, if it suits your teaching situation, the Unit Progress Test could equally well be set for learners to take after the D lesson or after Review and Extension. Learners have two attempts at each Unit Progress Test. The first attempt is timed. On completion learners receive a recommendation and links to do some personalised online practice activities (My Practice). At the end of My Practice, learners are invited to take the test again, with no time restrictions, so they can correct those answers they got wrong the first time. Leaners can review test answers at any time.
Unit Speaking Tests We recommend that learners take the Unit Speaking Test when the unit has been completed so that they have covered the pronunciation points and have had as much opportunity as possible to practise speaking on the topics in the unit. Learners have one attempt at the Unit Speaking Test. There are no time restrictions and these tests give ample opportunity for learners to listen to a model, then record, listen and re-record their own answers before submitting.
Competency Tests There are two Competency Tests: students should take the Mid-course Competency Test halfway through the course, either at the end of Unit 5 for levels A1, A2 and B1, or at the end of Unit 6 for level levels B1+, B2 and C1. Students should take the End-of-course Competency Test at the end of the course. There are four sections to each Competency Test focussing on the four skills: Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. These Tests are completed online, apart from the Speaking Test, which is conducted by the teacher (see p14, 20–21). The purpose of the Competency Test is to give as accurate a measure as possible of a learner’s performance relative to the target CEFR level. There is, therefore, just one attempt and no Review mode for the Competency Tests. Note: To find out more about the assessment material in Cambridge English Empower please read section 7 What’s special about the assessment in Cambridge English Empower? Lock When you first access your Cambridge English Empower class, all the tests are locked and appear greyed out. This means that your learners cannot access the tests until you unlock them, giving you more control over your classes. As Teacher you will always be able to access and preview the tests. Settings To unlock a test for your learners, and (if you wish) to set a period of time that it is available, click on the settings icon. You can do this either for a complete set of tests or for an individual test. We recommend that you unlock each test when you want to make it available for your learners. In this way, the learners in your class will all access the test for the same period of time and will be able to check their progress at the appropriate points in the course.
6 Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015
Teacher view of Test Summary page To access a test, go to Assessment and click on the relevant test:
This opens the Test Summary page:
Note: As Teacher, there is no limit to the number of times you access any test.
Student view of Test Summary page
Here the learner can see how many attempts are allowed for the test and how many attempts they have remaining.
The (most recent) score for the test will appear here.
If you have set a time that the test is available, the time and date will appear here.
Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015 7
Students have a limited number of attempts for each test:
• • •
Unit Progress Test – 2 attempts Unit Speaking Test – 1 attempt Competency Test – 1 attempt for each section (Reading, Writing, Listening)
Click on Start test to open it. The test will appear in a new window and will look something like this, depending on which test you have opened (this is the opening screen for a Unit Progress Test):
8 Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015
My Practice After taking a Unit Progress Test and submitting it for scoring, learners receive a recommendation based on their test score, to do some personalised practice activities online. Links to My Practice are provided for each of the five language areas in the unit:
This is the score for this test attempt.
This is the score for this language section.
Click here to start the Unit Progress Test for the second attempt.
A score of 100% in this language section means there is no My Practice link.
One attempt has been made for the Unit Progress Test. There is one attempt remaining.
This is a link to the personalised online practice activities.
Learners are directed to do My Practice and then take the Unit Progress Test again.
This shows the score of the latest test attempt.
Click here to review the test attempt and see which answers are incorrect.
As teacher you can set when the test is available.
Note: If a learner scores 100% in all five language areas in the Unit Progress Test, they receive a recommendation to do Extension activities. Every learner receives a recommendation to do Extension activities after they have completed their second attempt at the Unit Progress Test. My Practice is intended for self-study and consists of a sequence of three parts: Language Check, Practice 1 and Practice 2.
Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015 9
Language Check imitates the way a teacher might present language in class, incorporating context setting, language presentation and concept checking stages.
The language point from the lesson is highlighted.
The teacher avatar presents the language in context.
The My Practice sequence.
10 Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015
Practice 1 follows Language Check and consists of a sequence of interactive activities to practise the language point. Practice 1 activities are carefully selected to offer learners additional before they progress to Practice 2. An example of a Practice 1 activity:
Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015 11
Practice 2 follows Practice 1. It offers an increased level of difficulty with activities often requiring a more productive response. An example of a Practice 2 activity:
If a learner performs poorly on a particular language point in the Unit Progress Test, then the My Practice link takes the learner to the Language Check at the start of the chain. The learner then proceeds through Practice 1 and Practice 2. If a learner gets a moderate score, the My Practice link begins at Practice 1 and a good score takes the learner to Practice 2. Learners starting at Practice 1 or Practice 2, if they wish to do so, can move backwards in the chain to Practice 1 or Language Check. This means that busy learners can focus on what they really need. After having the opportunity to work on their weaker areas in their personalised My Practice, learners are then ready to retake the Unit Progress Test, correct the answers they got wrong on their first attempt and improve their score. Note: The Language Check is also available from the Resources tab. This means that learners can access this material at any time, including as a way of catching up if they miss a class.
12 Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015
Online Workbook The Online Workbook provides homework after every lesson. It includes practice activities for all the grammar, vocabulary and functional language plus extended coverage of the pronunciation from the Student’s Book. It also includes:
• Reading and Writing skills focussed activities, including a free writing activity which saves to the • •
learner’s Portfolio (see pp24–25). This activity can also be completed within the Portfolio itself. A Review section focussing on common errors and the Wordpower section Extra ‘vox pop’ video (only available in the Online Workbook)
Extension The Extension activities consist of two sequences of either three or four activities. Each sequence of activities practises either Reading or Listening skills based around a text (or multiple short texts) which then serves as a model for a final free Writing or Speaking activity. Writing activities can be saved to the learner’s Portfolio by ing a file. Speaking activities often suggest working with a partner and practising a short conversation.
Resources In Resources you will find a range of additional materials to help with your teaching of Cambridge English Empower.
Note: Your learners, logged in as Students, do not have access to the Teacher’s Book, Printable Tests or Teacher’s Extra Resources. Student view of Resources:
Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015 13
Teacher’s Book Click on the relevant section of the Teacher’s Book to view or as a PDF.
Printable Tests the PDFs of the Competency Speaking Test instructions and view the training videos.
Note: You can also find PDFs of all the Competency Tests and Unit Progress Tests here. We recommend, however, that all tests except the Competency Speaking Test are completed online, accessed from the Content tab. Only by doing the Unit Progress Tests online will your learners be able to do the My Practice personalised practice activities.
Teacher’s Extra Resources
There are Forum and Message Board activities for each unit, and suggestions for Blog activities that can be used with any unit. the relevant PDF for detailed instructions on how to set up and manage the activity. We recommend that the Forum activities are used after the Student’s Book Lesson A or B (see the relevant activity), the Message board activities after Lesson C and the Blog activities at the end of each unit.
14 Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015
Class Audio and Class Video All the Class Audio and Class Video is available, either to play directly online, or to . Note: Depending on the speed and reliability of your internet connection, you may prefer to the audio and video in advance of your class.
Language Check There are five Language Check presentations for each unit, covering the grammar and vocabulary from Lessons A and B, and Everyday English functional language from Lesson C. You could choose to use these in class, or direct your learners to use them for self-study, particularly for learners who would benefit from an extra review of a particular language point (or learners who have missed a class).
Note: Language Check presentations also form part of the personalised online practice (see My Practice (p9) for more information).
Class Tools The Forum, Message board and Blog tools are available from the Class Tools drop down menu:
There are unit by unit activities available for each of these tools either to use in class or to set students to do at home. These activities are available as printable PDFs in Resources (see p14).
Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015 15
Learner Profile The Learner Profile is available to learners logged in as Students and consists of:
• a visual representation of Unit Progress Test scores enabling learners to see easily their progress unit by unit • a CEFR Report that uses the Mid-course and End-of-course Competency Test scores to reliably measure learners against the target CEFR level
Unit Progress Test scores As learners work through the Cambridge English Empower course, they build up a record of their performance in the Unit Progress Tests. The Learner Profile shows both first and second attempt scores of the tests so they can easily see how they have improved:
Learners click here to access and print their CEFR Report.
16 Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015
CEFR Report The CEFR Report shows the scores for those sections of the Competency Test that have been completed. Learners need to complete all parts of the test, and the teacher must enter a score manually for the Competency Speaking Test, in order to receive an overall mark. The CEFR Report after the End-of-course Competency Test replaces that of the Mid-course Competency Test.
Leaners receive a recommendation on which internationally recognised standard Cambridge General English test they may wish to work towards after the End-of-course Competency Test. Learners can access and print out their CEFR Report from the tab in the Learner Profile at any time. Note: The Learner Profile and CEFR Report are only available to your learners. As a teacher you can use the Gradebook to access all the scores for Assessment, Online Workbook and Extension material, for the whole class and for individual learners.
Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015 17
Gradebook Teacher view of Gradebook The Gradebook allows you as Teacher to see a complete breakdown of scores by class or by individual learner and to access any test a learner has taken in order to review their answers. Click here to manually input scores.
This is the learner’s percentage score for the activities accessed.
Progress shows the percentage of activities accessed.
This shows the total time the learner has spent on activities that are graded in the Cambridge LMS.
Graded Score shows the score that a teacher manually enters.
18 Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015
Automatically scored tests and activities All of the tests (except for the Competency Speaking Tests) and all of the Online Workbook activities (except for the Writing activity) are automatically marked, and scores are recorded in the Gradebook.
Tracked activities The Extension activities and the Online Workbook writing activities are tracked in the Gradebook. This means that when the learner accesses the Extension activities or the Online Workbook writing activity this is indicated by a percentage mark under Progress, but as these include free practice activities, no score is given. Click on View by content to access scores and tracked activities:
This shows the percentage of activities attempted.
This shows the number of attempts at an activity.
The Writing activity is not scored because it includes free practice.
Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015 19
Extension activities are tracked and show Progress, but are not scored:
Manually added scores The Gradebook includes functionality for teachers to manually:
• add a comment to automatically scored tests (Unit Progress Tests, Unit Speaking Tests and Competency Tests)
• add a comment and override a score for Extension and Online Workbook activties • amend an overall course score to accommodate any extra work your learners may have done either online within the LMS (for example, contributions to Blog, Forum or Message Board activities) or offline (for example, a class speaking activity).
The Competency Speaking Test scores must be manually inputted into the Gradebook so that your learners can receive a complete CEFR Report. To manually input scores into the Gradebook, click on View by content:
20 Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015
Then open the folders to the relevant Competency Speaking Test, click on the settings icon select Score & Comment.
and
Follow the same process if you wish to override automatic scoring and manually input scores for Online Workbook and Extension activities. It is not possible to override the automatic scores for the Reading, Listening and Writing sections of the Competency Tests, but it is possible to add a comment:
Note: Complete instructions on how to score your learners in the Mid-course and End-of-course Competency Speaking Tests are located in the Printable Tests tab of the Resources area.
Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015 21
View an individual learner’s answers To review answers for a test, Online Workbook activity or Extension activity for a particular learner, select View by content, then choose the test or activity you want to see and click on See answers via the settings button:
Then click on the
answers button next to the Student Name.
For more detailed information ing and customising the Gradebook, please view the step-bystep help videos (see the links in Further information).
22 Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015
Student view of Gradebook Your learners can get a breakdown of their scores and amount of time they have spent on tests and activities they have accessed from the Content area.
This shows how much of the total content the learner has accessed.
This is the learner’s percentage score in activities they have accessed.
Progress shows the percentage of activities accessed.
Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015 23
Dashboard The Dashboard becomes available after you open a test or activity from the Content area. It gives shortcuts to the Calendar and Announcement tools, the Resources area and the Portfolio.
Click here to Hide or Show the Dashboard.
Teacher view of Portfolio Your learners can keep a record of their work in their Portfolio by ing a range of file types, including audio and video files, or by writing directly into the Writing template. We recommend that for the Online Workbook Writing activity learners write directly into the writing template in the Task section of the Portfolio. As Teacher, you can access any work that your learners to the Portfolio.
Click here to see the work your learners have added to the Portfolio.
Click here to see the Online Workbook Writing activities your learners have added to the Task section of the Portfolio.
24 Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015
Student view of Portfolio Leaners access the Portfolio in the same way as teachers, via the Dashboard. On the Tasks tab learners can access the Online Workbook Writing activity and write directly into the writing template.
Learners can also add other work to their Portfolio by clicking on ‘Create a new task’ and either writing directly into the Writing template, or by ing a range of files (text, audio or video).
6 FURTHER INFORMATION For general information about the Cambridge LMS please visit the Frequently Asked Questions: www.cambridgelms.org/main/p/frequentlyaskedquestions For step-by-step videos on how to use the Cambridge LMS features please go to: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-oYKB0D9-E3AhcZOLloAsIWc4ycsyUu5 To as a Teacher on the Cambridge LMS please visit: www.cambridgelms.org/main/ For more information about Cambridge English Empower course please go to: cambridge.org/empower For more information about Learning Oriented Assessment from Cambridge English please visit: http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/research-and-validation/fitness-for-purpose/loa/
Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015 25
7 WHAT’S SPECIAL ABOUT THE ASSESSMENT IN CAMBRIDGE
ENGLISH EMPOWER?
The assessment material is validated and reliable. It has been written by expert test item writers at Cambridge English Language Assessment and is based entirely on the Student’s Book content. Over 23,000 trial tests were taken as part of the thorough test development and validation process, involving learners across over 40 different countries. You can be sure that the test material provides a reliable indication of learner progress and performance. The tests are also linked to the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) levels and provide useful preparation for the internationally recognised Cambridge English exams. The course includes both formative and summative assessment.
Unit Progress Tests (formative) At the end of Lesson C in the Student’s Book, learners are directed to do the Unit Progress Test.
The Unit Progress Tests focus on the grammar, vocabulary and Everyday English functional language and the learners receive a score for each of the five key language points in the unit. After taking the test learners receive recommendations for personalised practice (My Practice) based on their test performance. After completing the personalised practice pathway, learners are directed to the test for a second time and have the opportunity to re-do the questions they got wrong in their first attempt.
26 Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015
Unit Speaking Tests (formative) These tests are available for each unit (we recommend that they are taken at the end of the unit). They test the pronunciation that has been focused on in the unit and also test the learner’s fluency in talking about the topic of the unit. Developed with Carnegie Speech – software specialist for assessing spoken language skills – the tests use voice-recognition software that assesses to what extent the learner’s pronunciation matches the required pronunciation. The software also assesses the learner’s fluency: • The learner gets a mark that is broken down into one mark for each task. • There are three tasks in each test, using a range of the following task types: • Phonemes • Number of syllables • Word stress • Read aloud • Fluency • Within the time limit of the test, the learner is able to listen to themselves again and re-record their answer as many times as they like. In this way, the tests provide both self-assessment and practice.
Competency Tests (summative) Skills-based tests covering Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking are taken in the middle and at the end of each level. The Reading, Writing and Listening tests are automated and learners receive a score immediately after they have completed the test. The Competency Speaking Test is a face-to-face test that is istered by the teacher. The Speaking tests and instructions on how to use them, as well as Speaking test training materials, are available on the Resources area of the Cambridge LMS (see p14). The teacher marks the Speaking tests and can then input their scores directly into the Gradebook (see pp20–21). This score contributes, along with the other test scores, to the learner’s overall score which is given in their CEFR report. The Competency Writing Test is marked by a Writing tool that we have developed in conjunction with a Cambridge University department. The Writing tool has been programmed using a large bank of similar scripts and test scripts. We are therefore able to compare aspects of written performance against all other tests in the system, allowing us to give learners a CEFR level for their writing performance.
Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015 27
2
2 The Learning Oriented Assessment (LOA) cycle
2
3 How to access your classes
3
4 Cambridge English Empower in the Cambridge LMS – Quick overview
4
4
Class Home
5 Cambridge English Empower in the Cambridge LMS – In depth
5
Content
5
Assessment and Practice
6
Online Workbook
13
Extension
13
Resources
13
Teacher’s Book
14
Printable Tests
14
Teacher’s Extra Resources
14
Class Audio and Class Video
15
Language Check
15
Class Tools
15
Learner Profile
16
Unit Progress Test scores
16
CEFR Report
17
Gradebook
18
Teacher view of Gradebook
18
Student view of Gradebook
23
Dashboard
24
Teacher view of Portfolio
24
Student view of Portfolio
25
6 Further Information
25
7 What’s special about the assessment in Cambridge English Empower?
26
Unit Progress Tests (formative)
26
Unit Speaking Tests (formative)
27
Competency Tests (summative)
27
1 INTRODUCTION Who is this guide for? This guide is intended for teachers of Cambridge English Empower using the online assessment and practice in the Cambridge Learning Management System (LMS).
What is included in this guide? This guide includes • information on the parts of the course delivered online through the Cambridge LMS • recommendations on when and how the online components can be used • the differences between teacher access and student access • links to further information about Cambridge LMS features.
What is not included in this guide? This guide does not include information about Cambridge LMS features that are not relevant to Cambridge English Empower.
How does this guide work? This guide is intended to help you as a teacher start using Cambridge English Empower in the Cambridge LMS immediately. A Quick overview of the Class Home offers an easy starting point for you to try out some of the main elements of the course. This is followed by an In depth visual walkthrough of all the Cambridge LMS features of the course. Further information provides links to more sources of assistance, including the Cambridge LMS FAQs and step by step help videos.
2 THE LEARNING ORIENTED ASSESSMENT (LOA) CYCLE
Class lesson D: Consolidation of core language via integrated skills, plus a writing focus
Class lessons A + B: Grammar, vocabulary and mixed skills Class lesson C: Everyday English
Mid-course and Endof-course competency assessment
Retake the Unit Progress Test
Take the Unit Progress Test Online
CEFR Report
Gradebook monitoring + reporting on test scores and practice activities
Follow the Personalised learning path (targeted online practice)
2 Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015
As a teacher, you’ll naturally be interested in your learners’ progress. Every time they step into your classroom, you’ll note if a learner is struggling with a language concept, is unable to read at a natural rate, or can understand a new grammar point but still can’t produce it in a practice activity. This is often an intuitive and spontaneous process. By the end of a course or a cycle of learning, you’ll know far more about a learner’s ability than an end-of-course test alone can show. An LOA approach to teaching and learning brings together this ongoing informal evaluation with more formal or structured assessment such as end-of-unit or end-of-course tests. Ideally ed by a learning management system, LOA is an approach that allows you to pull together all this information and knowledge in order to understand learners’ achievements and progress and to identify and address their needs in a targeted and informed way. A range of insights into learners and their progress feeds into total assessment of the learner. It also allows you to use all of this information not just to produce a report on a learner’s level of competence but also to plan and inform future learning. Cambridge English Empower in the Cambridge LMS provides all the necessary material and tools to help you successfully achieve total assessment of your learners, including a complete assessment package with automated grading, a comprehensive range of additional activities for extensive language practice and access to all the necessary performance data in one gradebook.
3 HOW TO ACCESS YOUR CLASSES This guide assumes that teachers are already ed and have classes set up to use Cambridge English Empower in the Cambridge LMS. For more information on how to on the Cambridge LMS please go to: www.cambridgelms.org/main/
After logging in, the My Teaching tab lists all the Cambridge English Empower classes that have been set up for you to teach. Click on the links to access the relevant course and section.
Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015 3
4 CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH EMPOWER IN THE CAMBRIDGE LMS –
QUICK OVERVIEW
Class Home Your Class Home will look something like this: Click here to access the Assessment material, Online Workbook and Extension activities.
Click here to access a range of additional material to help with your teaching of Cambridge English Empower.
Click here to access the Forum, Message Board and Blog tools.
Click here to access all the scores and data for the students in the class.
To Do Next, Calendar and Announcements are immediately available and allow you to keep track of work that is due and to notify learners of tasks.
Note: Logged in as Teacher, the main tabs for the course are Class Home, Content, Resources, Class Tools and Gradebook. Your learners, logged in as Students, have an extra Learner Profile tab:
There is more information on the Learner Profile below.
4 Cambridge English Empower Teacher’s Guide to Empower on the LMS © Cambridge University Press 2015
5 CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH EMPOWER IN THE CAMBRIDGE LMS –
IN DEPTH
Content This is where to access the Assessment material (Unit Progress Tests, Unit Speaking Tests and Competency Tests), Online Workbook and Extension activities.
Click here to access the Online Workbook and Extension activities.
Click on Show all to open the menu.
This icon shows if the activity or test is locked or unlocked.
Click this button to lock or unlock the content and the option to set time parameters for the test or activities to be available.
Indicates how much of the content has been accessed and submitted for scoring.
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Assessment and Practice There is a Unit Progress Test and Unit Speaking Test for each unit (12 units for levels A1, A2 and B1, and 10 units for levels B1+, B2 and C1) and two Competency Tests (mid-course and end-of-course) for each level of the course.
Unit Progress Tests We recommend that learners take the Unit Progress Test at the end of each C lesson as learners encounter all the language that features in the test in lessons A–C. However, if it suits your teaching situation, the Unit Progress Test could equally well be set for learners to take after the D lesson or after Review and Extension. Learners have two attempts at each Unit Progress Test. The first attempt is timed. On completion learners receive a recommendation and links to do some personalised online practice activities (My Practice). At the end of My Practice, learners are invited to take the test again, with no time restrictions, so they can correct those answers they got wrong the first time. Leaners can review test answers at any time.
Unit Speaking Tests We recommend that learners take the Unit Speaking Test when the unit has been completed so that they have covered the pronunciation points and have had as much opportunity as possible to practise speaking on the topics in the unit. Learners have one attempt at the Unit Speaking Test. There are no time restrictions and these tests give ample opportunity for learners to listen to a model, then record, listen and re-record their own answers before submitting.
Competency Tests There are two Competency Tests: students should take the Mid-course Competency Test halfway through the course, either at the end of Unit 5 for levels A1, A2 and B1, or at the end of Unit 6 for level levels B1+, B2 and C1. Students should take the End-of-course Competency Test at the end of the course. There are four sections to each Competency Test focussing on the four skills: Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. These Tests are completed online, apart from the Speaking Test, which is conducted by the teacher (see p14, 20–21). The purpose of the Competency Test is to give as accurate a measure as possible of a learner’s performance relative to the target CEFR level. There is, therefore, just one attempt and no Review mode for the Competency Tests. Note: To find out more about the assessment material in Cambridge English Empower please read section 7 What’s special about the assessment in Cambridge English Empower? Lock When you first access your Cambridge English Empower class, all the tests are locked and appear greyed out. This means that your learners cannot access the tests until you unlock them, giving you more control over your classes. As Teacher you will always be able to access and preview the tests. Settings To unlock a test for your learners, and (if you wish) to set a period of time that it is available, click on the settings icon. You can do this either for a complete set of tests or for an individual test. We recommend that you unlock each test when you want to make it available for your learners. In this way, the learners in your class will all access the test for the same period of time and will be able to check their progress at the appropriate points in the course.
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Teacher view of Test Summary page To access a test, go to Assessment and click on the relevant test:
This opens the Test Summary page:
Note: As Teacher, there is no limit to the number of times you access any test.
Student view of Test Summary page
Here the learner can see how many attempts are allowed for the test and how many attempts they have remaining.
The (most recent) score for the test will appear here.
If you have set a time that the test is available, the time and date will appear here.
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Students have a limited number of attempts for each test:
• • •
Unit Progress Test – 2 attempts Unit Speaking Test – 1 attempt Competency Test – 1 attempt for each section (Reading, Writing, Listening)
Click on Start test to open it. The test will appear in a new window and will look something like this, depending on which test you have opened (this is the opening screen for a Unit Progress Test):
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My Practice After taking a Unit Progress Test and submitting it for scoring, learners receive a recommendation based on their test score, to do some personalised practice activities online. Links to My Practice are provided for each of the five language areas in the unit:
This is the score for this test attempt.
This is the score for this language section.
Click here to start the Unit Progress Test for the second attempt.
A score of 100% in this language section means there is no My Practice link.
One attempt has been made for the Unit Progress Test. There is one attempt remaining.
This is a link to the personalised online practice activities.
Learners are directed to do My Practice and then take the Unit Progress Test again.
This shows the score of the latest test attempt.
Click here to review the test attempt and see which answers are incorrect.
As teacher you can set when the test is available.
Note: If a learner scores 100% in all five language areas in the Unit Progress Test, they receive a recommendation to do Extension activities. Every learner receives a recommendation to do Extension activities after they have completed their second attempt at the Unit Progress Test. My Practice is intended for self-study and consists of a sequence of three parts: Language Check, Practice 1 and Practice 2.
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Language Check imitates the way a teacher might present language in class, incorporating context setting, language presentation and concept checking stages.
The language point from the lesson is highlighted.
The teacher avatar presents the language in context.
The My Practice sequence.
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Practice 1 follows Language Check and consists of a sequence of interactive activities to practise the language point. Practice 1 activities are carefully selected to offer learners additional before they progress to Practice 2. An example of a Practice 1 activity:
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Practice 2 follows Practice 1. It offers an increased level of difficulty with activities often requiring a more productive response. An example of a Practice 2 activity:
If a learner performs poorly on a particular language point in the Unit Progress Test, then the My Practice link takes the learner to the Language Check at the start of the chain. The learner then proceeds through Practice 1 and Practice 2. If a learner gets a moderate score, the My Practice link begins at Practice 1 and a good score takes the learner to Practice 2. Learners starting at Practice 1 or Practice 2, if they wish to do so, can move backwards in the chain to Practice 1 or Language Check. This means that busy learners can focus on what they really need. After having the opportunity to work on their weaker areas in their personalised My Practice, learners are then ready to retake the Unit Progress Test, correct the answers they got wrong on their first attempt and improve their score. Note: The Language Check is also available from the Resources tab. This means that learners can access this material at any time, including as a way of catching up if they miss a class.
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Online Workbook The Online Workbook provides homework after every lesson. It includes practice activities for all the grammar, vocabulary and functional language plus extended coverage of the pronunciation from the Student’s Book. It also includes:
• Reading and Writing skills focussed activities, including a free writing activity which saves to the • •
learner’s Portfolio (see pp24–25). This activity can also be completed within the Portfolio itself. A Review section focussing on common errors and the Wordpower section Extra ‘vox pop’ video (only available in the Online Workbook)
Extension The Extension activities consist of two sequences of either three or four activities. Each sequence of activities practises either Reading or Listening skills based around a text (or multiple short texts) which then serves as a model for a final free Writing or Speaking activity. Writing activities can be saved to the learner’s Portfolio by ing a file. Speaking activities often suggest working with a partner and practising a short conversation.
Resources In Resources you will find a range of additional materials to help with your teaching of Cambridge English Empower.
Note: Your learners, logged in as Students, do not have access to the Teacher’s Book, Printable Tests or Teacher’s Extra Resources. Student view of Resources:
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Teacher’s Book Click on the relevant section of the Teacher’s Book to view or as a PDF.
Printable Tests the PDFs of the Competency Speaking Test instructions and view the training videos.
Note: You can also find PDFs of all the Competency Tests and Unit Progress Tests here. We recommend, however, that all tests except the Competency Speaking Test are completed online, accessed from the Content tab. Only by doing the Unit Progress Tests online will your learners be able to do the My Practice personalised practice activities.
Teacher’s Extra Resources
There are Forum and Message Board activities for each unit, and suggestions for Blog activities that can be used with any unit. the relevant PDF for detailed instructions on how to set up and manage the activity. We recommend that the Forum activities are used after the Student’s Book Lesson A or B (see the relevant activity), the Message board activities after Lesson C and the Blog activities at the end of each unit.
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Class Audio and Class Video All the Class Audio and Class Video is available, either to play directly online, or to . Note: Depending on the speed and reliability of your internet connection, you may prefer to the audio and video in advance of your class.
Language Check There are five Language Check presentations for each unit, covering the grammar and vocabulary from Lessons A and B, and Everyday English functional language from Lesson C. You could choose to use these in class, or direct your learners to use them for self-study, particularly for learners who would benefit from an extra review of a particular language point (or learners who have missed a class).
Note: Language Check presentations also form part of the personalised online practice (see My Practice (p9) for more information).
Class Tools The Forum, Message board and Blog tools are available from the Class Tools drop down menu:
There are unit by unit activities available for each of these tools either to use in class or to set students to do at home. These activities are available as printable PDFs in Resources (see p14).
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Learner Profile The Learner Profile is available to learners logged in as Students and consists of:
• a visual representation of Unit Progress Test scores enabling learners to see easily their progress unit by unit • a CEFR Report that uses the Mid-course and End-of-course Competency Test scores to reliably measure learners against the target CEFR level
Unit Progress Test scores As learners work through the Cambridge English Empower course, they build up a record of their performance in the Unit Progress Tests. The Learner Profile shows both first and second attempt scores of the tests so they can easily see how they have improved:
Learners click here to access and print their CEFR Report.
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CEFR Report The CEFR Report shows the scores for those sections of the Competency Test that have been completed. Learners need to complete all parts of the test, and the teacher must enter a score manually for the Competency Speaking Test, in order to receive an overall mark. The CEFR Report after the End-of-course Competency Test replaces that of the Mid-course Competency Test.
Leaners receive a recommendation on which internationally recognised standard Cambridge General English test they may wish to work towards after the End-of-course Competency Test. Learners can access and print out their CEFR Report from the tab in the Learner Profile at any time. Note: The Learner Profile and CEFR Report are only available to your learners. As a teacher you can use the Gradebook to access all the scores for Assessment, Online Workbook and Extension material, for the whole class and for individual learners.
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Gradebook Teacher view of Gradebook The Gradebook allows you as Teacher to see a complete breakdown of scores by class or by individual learner and to access any test a learner has taken in order to review their answers. Click here to manually input scores.
This is the learner’s percentage score for the activities accessed.
Progress shows the percentage of activities accessed.
This shows the total time the learner has spent on activities that are graded in the Cambridge LMS.
Graded Score shows the score that a teacher manually enters.
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Automatically scored tests and activities All of the tests (except for the Competency Speaking Tests) and all of the Online Workbook activities (except for the Writing activity) are automatically marked, and scores are recorded in the Gradebook.
Tracked activities The Extension activities and the Online Workbook writing activities are tracked in the Gradebook. This means that when the learner accesses the Extension activities or the Online Workbook writing activity this is indicated by a percentage mark under Progress, but as these include free practice activities, no score is given. Click on View by content to access scores and tracked activities:
This shows the percentage of activities attempted.
This shows the number of attempts at an activity.
The Writing activity is not scored because it includes free practice.
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Extension activities are tracked and show Progress, but are not scored:
Manually added scores The Gradebook includes functionality for teachers to manually:
• add a comment to automatically scored tests (Unit Progress Tests, Unit Speaking Tests and Competency Tests)
• add a comment and override a score for Extension and Online Workbook activties • amend an overall course score to accommodate any extra work your learners may have done either online within the LMS (for example, contributions to Blog, Forum or Message Board activities) or offline (for example, a class speaking activity).
The Competency Speaking Test scores must be manually inputted into the Gradebook so that your learners can receive a complete CEFR Report. To manually input scores into the Gradebook, click on View by content:
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Then open the folders to the relevant Competency Speaking Test, click on the settings icon select Score & Comment.
and
Follow the same process if you wish to override automatic scoring and manually input scores for Online Workbook and Extension activities. It is not possible to override the automatic scores for the Reading, Listening and Writing sections of the Competency Tests, but it is possible to add a comment:
Note: Complete instructions on how to score your learners in the Mid-course and End-of-course Competency Speaking Tests are located in the Printable Tests tab of the Resources area.
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View an individual learner’s answers To review answers for a test, Online Workbook activity or Extension activity for a particular learner, select View by content, then choose the test or activity you want to see and click on See answers via the settings button:
Then click on the
answers button next to the Student Name.
For more detailed information ing and customising the Gradebook, please view the step-bystep help videos (see the links in Further information).
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Student view of Gradebook Your learners can get a breakdown of their scores and amount of time they have spent on tests and activities they have accessed from the Content area.
This shows how much of the total content the learner has accessed.
This is the learner’s percentage score in activities they have accessed.
Progress shows the percentage of activities accessed.
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Dashboard The Dashboard becomes available after you open a test or activity from the Content area. It gives shortcuts to the Calendar and Announcement tools, the Resources area and the Portfolio.
Click here to Hide or Show the Dashboard.
Teacher view of Portfolio Your learners can keep a record of their work in their Portfolio by ing a range of file types, including audio and video files, or by writing directly into the Writing template. We recommend that for the Online Workbook Writing activity learners write directly into the writing template in the Task section of the Portfolio. As Teacher, you can access any work that your learners to the Portfolio.
Click here to see the work your learners have added to the Portfolio.
Click here to see the Online Workbook Writing activities your learners have added to the Task section of the Portfolio.
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Student view of Portfolio Leaners access the Portfolio in the same way as teachers, via the Dashboard. On the Tasks tab learners can access the Online Workbook Writing activity and write directly into the writing template.
Learners can also add other work to their Portfolio by clicking on ‘Create a new task’ and either writing directly into the Writing template, or by ing a range of files (text, audio or video).
6 FURTHER INFORMATION For general information about the Cambridge LMS please visit the Frequently Asked Questions: www.cambridgelms.org/main/p/frequentlyaskedquestions For step-by-step videos on how to use the Cambridge LMS features please go to: www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PL-oYKB0D9-E3AhcZOLloAsIWc4ycsyUu5 To as a Teacher on the Cambridge LMS please visit: www.cambridgelms.org/main/ For more information about Cambridge English Empower course please go to: cambridge.org/empower For more information about Learning Oriented Assessment from Cambridge English please visit: http://www.cambridgeenglish.org/research-and-validation/fitness-for-purpose/loa/
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7 WHAT’S SPECIAL ABOUT THE ASSESSMENT IN CAMBRIDGE
ENGLISH EMPOWER?
The assessment material is validated and reliable. It has been written by expert test item writers at Cambridge English Language Assessment and is based entirely on the Student’s Book content. Over 23,000 trial tests were taken as part of the thorough test development and validation process, involving learners across over 40 different countries. You can be sure that the test material provides a reliable indication of learner progress and performance. The tests are also linked to the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) levels and provide useful preparation for the internationally recognised Cambridge English exams. The course includes both formative and summative assessment.
Unit Progress Tests (formative) At the end of Lesson C in the Student’s Book, learners are directed to do the Unit Progress Test.
The Unit Progress Tests focus on the grammar, vocabulary and Everyday English functional language and the learners receive a score for each of the five key language points in the unit. After taking the test learners receive recommendations for personalised practice (My Practice) based on their test performance. After completing the personalised practice pathway, learners are directed to the test for a second time and have the opportunity to re-do the questions they got wrong in their first attempt.
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Unit Speaking Tests (formative) These tests are available for each unit (we recommend that they are taken at the end of the unit). They test the pronunciation that has been focused on in the unit and also test the learner’s fluency in talking about the topic of the unit. Developed with Carnegie Speech – software specialist for assessing spoken language skills – the tests use voice-recognition software that assesses to what extent the learner’s pronunciation matches the required pronunciation. The software also assesses the learner’s fluency: • The learner gets a mark that is broken down into one mark for each task. • There are three tasks in each test, using a range of the following task types: • Phonemes • Number of syllables • Word stress • Read aloud • Fluency • Within the time limit of the test, the learner is able to listen to themselves again and re-record their answer as many times as they like. In this way, the tests provide both self-assessment and practice.
Competency Tests (summative) Skills-based tests covering Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking are taken in the middle and at the end of each level. The Reading, Writing and Listening tests are automated and learners receive a score immediately after they have completed the test. The Competency Speaking Test is a face-to-face test that is istered by the teacher. The Speaking tests and instructions on how to use them, as well as Speaking test training materials, are available on the Resources area of the Cambridge LMS (see p14). The teacher marks the Speaking tests and can then input their scores directly into the Gradebook (see pp20–21). This score contributes, along with the other test scores, to the learner’s overall score which is given in their CEFR report. The Competency Writing Test is marked by a Writing tool that we have developed in conjunction with a Cambridge University department. The Writing tool has been programmed using a large bank of similar scripts and test scripts. We are therefore able to compare aspects of written performance against all other tests in the system, allowing us to give learners a CEFR level for their writing performance.
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