{"id":550,"date":"2017-05-01T14:00:16","date_gmt":"2017-05-01T13:00:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.windmillinsights.co.uk\/blog\/?p=550"},"modified":"2018-09-30T14:05:48","modified_gmt":"2018-09-30T13:05:48","slug":"formative-assessment-a-great-if-unusual-example","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.windmillinsights.co.uk\/blog\/?p=550","title":{"rendered":"Formative assessment: A great if unusual example"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

In a previous post<\/a> I wrote about the value of formative assessment. In this I discussed the value of measuring learning during delivery, not just at the end.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

I also gave a practical example of of how I applied this in practice, getting great results, on a financial management course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

On a later course, this time on managing sewerage networks, I required each student to produce a summary of Supervisory Control and Data Acquisition (SCADA) systems and their use.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I needed to be sure that they understood what a SCADA system was, how it could be used and how the data needed to be protected.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Most students produced tidy, conventional one-pager but one apprentice technician, Josh Quin, decided to do his as a poem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I was initially taken aback, thinking it somewhat\u00a0frivolous. I could not have been more wrong.<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n

Reading it, it was clear that not only did the student understand all the required detail, they had turned it into a poem which scanned decently well.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Impressive. \u00a0And all in 20 minutes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The poem is below and you can download a copy here<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

SCADA Poem<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n


Once upon a time in a backwater called Coleshill there was a young operator, Jack. He was new to the site and had the plight: where he should plant his pack.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>

To run the site Jack needed the SCADA, but about which he currently knew nada.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>

He whipped out his work phone and made a call to John. Another operator who isn\u2019t a bundle of fun.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>

Jack excitedly ran up to John to ask him about SCADA, John reluctantly started giving the dogma:<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>

\u201cIt\u2019s mainly used for interrogating the kit, and show how well it is moving the s**t.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>

Most of the time it tells us things are fine, but on the odd occasion bits gets covered in slime.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>

Mainly it\u2019s a build-up which will need to be unclogged, but the job will most likely get backlogged<\/em>.\u201d\u00a0<\/em><\/p>

John doesn\u2019t like the SCADA, because it takes all his time, because he could get randomly called to check on the lime.<\/em><\/p>

<\/em>It records all the data, by day and by night, so the whole world can see that things are running right.<\/em><\/p>

<\/em>The data\u2019s backed up over servers and sites, so a computer crash doesn\u2019t cause a big fright.<\/em><\/p>

This is needed by the EA who keep an eye on things, and need lots of numbers to do their checking<\/em>\u00a0.<\/p>

So John needs to keep the logs because its required by law, even though everyone thinks it\u2019s a massive f*****g bore.<\/em><\/p>

<\/em>John tells Jack \u201cyou can find SCADA everywhere it\u2019s laying all around. It can even be above your head or even underground<\/em>.<\/p>

It\u2019s all interconnected, to a main place in the office, this is so that the bosses can keep on top of their profits.<\/em><\/p>

<\/em>They can see all the equipment and change things if needed, this is to keep to what the EA have told us is needed.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>

They can also see if anything has burst, so that an operator can be sent out but having checked on SCADA first.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>

If they wanted they can remotely control the valves from up top, but most of the time something\u2019s jammed against the stop.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>

The operator can then fix it, by pressing reset, if not something\u2019s f****d and they\u2019ll begin to fret.<\/em>\u00a0<\/p>

At this point a maintainer can look, from the other side of town, he\u2019ll then come over to have a look and make sure the operator doesn\u2019t drown.<\/em><\/p>

\u00a0The maintainer will then say \u201cthis kit is probably broke\u201d, and will ring the contractor who\u2019ll send out a bloke.<\/em><\/p>

\u00a0Both the maintainer and the operator both go home feeling lit, because it\u2019s the bloke from the contractor who\u2019s getting covered in s**t.<\/em><\/p>

This is the rundown Jack, there\u2019s not a lot to see. But it\u2019s important stuff, take it from me.<\/em><\/p>

Jack then ran out the van excited about what he has learned, happy with the knowledge that he had earned.<\/em><\/p>

Now he knew how we could all sleep at night, happy in the knowledge that the SCADA was on site.<\/em><\/p>Josh Quinn, Severn Trent Water<\/cite><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

Finally<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

I hope that you have enjoyed reading this post and found it useful. If you have thoughts on what I have written so far please leave a comment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Also if you have an idea for another business topic let me know and I\u2019ll be delighted to find a space for it.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Thanks again<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bob Windmill<\/p>\n\n\n\n

<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In a previous post I wrote about the value of formative assessment. In this I discussed the value of measuring learning during delivery, not just at the end. I also gave a practical example of of how I applied this in practice, getting great results, on a financial management course. On a later course, this […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-550","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-teaching"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"featured_image_src":null,"featured_image_src_square":null,"author_info":{"display_name":"Bob Windmill","author_link":"http:\/\/www.windmillinsights.co.uk\/blog\/?author=2"},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/pajodT-8S","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.windmillinsights.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.windmillinsights.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.windmillinsights.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.windmillinsights.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.windmillinsights.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=550"}],"version-history":[{"count":8,"href":"http:\/\/www.windmillinsights.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":774,"href":"http:\/\/www.windmillinsights.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/550\/revisions\/774"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.windmillinsights.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=550"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.windmillinsights.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=550"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.windmillinsights.co.uk\/blog\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=550"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}