Assessment train

The purpose of an assessment train is to make the learning process visible, concrete and easily monitorable regardless of the skills and knowledge of the learner. With the assessment train, students can practice learning, planning their learning, setting goals and assessing themselves throughout the learning process with the support of a teacher. In addition, the aim of the assessment train is to make information exchange and the transition from pre-school to 1st grade and from 2nd grade to 3rd grade easier.  

Assessment trains can be used in pre-primary education and early years education. The visual environment and user interface of the assessment train has been designed to be motivational, interesting and fit for the child while taking the learner’s age and stage of development into account. The student does not need to know how to read in order to use the assessment train.

Qridi includes a total of eight ready-made assessment trains.

• Reading train
• Writing train
• Expression train
• Geometry train
• Maths train
• Measurement train
• Learning and working skills
• Information and communications technology train

The content of the assessment trains has been designed according to the national core curriculum and divided into clear goals with their own cars. Experts of each subject have been consulted in dividing and grouping the content and allocating them to respective cars. Teachers/schools/cities can also create their own trains.

Each train consists of more than one car. A car includes a description of skills for the student. For example, the first cars of the maths train are “I know how to classify”, “I know how to compare” and “I know how to form a series and set things in order”.

Students can evaluate how their own skills meet the goals of the car together with the teacher. In most cases, the skills are evaluated a few times every term. In each car, it is possible to document the skills of a student in a form that suits the student, such as videos, images, audio clips or text. The documentation can be performed by the student themselves or a teacher.

Everyone involved in the learning process can monitor the students’ practising, goals and progress: the teacher, guardians and the learners themselves. The teacher, guardians and the students are provided with a real-time overall picture of the progress of students. The students can receive encouraging feedback from both their guardians and the teacher during the learning process.

Different colours in the teacher’s interface illustrate different levels of skills. The learning process of the entire group is visible to the teacher and the student.

Assessment trains are particularly useful in flexible pre-primary and early elementary education, grade-independent studies and classes that allow for individual learning paths for students. assessment trains are also ideal in individual learning paths for students who need particular attention, regardless of whether they need more support or advance faster. assessment trains also serve the purpose of assessment discussions. It can provide guardians with a clearer view of the goals and content of the curriculum, for instance. assessment trains do not require a specific textbook and they are easy to use in both conventional teacher-led environments as well as individual teaching settings.

History of the assessment train

The assessment train is a Finnish educational innovation which involved a pilot project as part of the Hundred Schools project carried out by HundrED in 2016–2018. HundrED is a Finnish non-profit organisation that studies innovations in education. The usability of the idea of the assessment train was tested in more than 160 schools throughout the pilot project, which was funded by the Centennial Foundation of the Technology Industries of Finland.

Qridi Oy continues using the assessment train from 2022 onwards. Read more from the Qridi blog.