Take A Look Inside The Most Effective Third Space Learning Experience Yet

2021/22 is shaping up to be a record year for the Third Space Learning community, with over 30,000 pupils from 1,200 schools receiving online maths tuition from our tutors. That’s over 300,000 one-to-one lessons delivered in our virtual classroom!

We’re now turning our thoughts to 2022/23, and how we can make the Third Space Learning experience even more enjoyable, engaging and effective for next year.

But what does that mean for you?

It means that every year, our Teaching & Learning Team reviews and analyses the thousands of sessions delivered to understand three important areas.

1. Which get the best response from pupils;
2. Which are helping to secure pupil understanding;
3. Which could be improved to give pupils more opportunities to develop their skills and apply their knowledge.

With an incredible 535 lessons in our tuition curriculum, this is no mean feat! The constant iteration and improvement process allows us to continue fine-tuning individual lessons and strengthen their pedagogical offering.

This year, we’ve got more schools and pupils signed up than ever before, so let’s jump into the 6 key features that will enhance your tuition programme experience!

1. Brand new classroom experience to drive engagement

All Third Space Learning tuition sessions take place in our secure interactive classroom. It’s here that pupils connect with their tutor; talking, drawing and typing their way through their personalised Learning Objectives.

This year, we’ve been testing a new, more interactive classroom with our secondary students and it’s now ready to roll out to all primary schools.

What’s new?

• The layout, motifs and tools have all been redesigned to increase pupil engagement in their learning journey, and make the overall classroom easier to navigate.
• Tutors are better able to provide specific and immediate feedback, especially around praising effort.
• A more consistent visual representation of concepts and learning aids supports mastery teaching.

Increased focus on pupil ‘effort’

Previously, tutors awarded pupils with ‘effort points’ throughout the sessions. Since we launched back in 2013, these have enabled our tutors to praise pupils when they give it a go, rather than just when they reach the right answer.

While these were effective, we felt we could do even more to encourage a growth mindset and help pupils see that it’s OK to try, even if you don’t get the answer right the first time.

‘Effort’ is a broad term, and actually what our tutors were praising pupils for was a range of different things. Whether it was a great explanation or a pupil who really persisted in working out a particular problem, tutors only had one tool at their disposal to praise their pupils.

So, in our new classroom, effort points have been replaced with 5 distinct praise stickers, enabling tutors to focus on categorised pupil achievements, and help pupils feel even prouder of the work they’ve done in each session.

• Great explanation
• Awesome effort
• New learning
• Good working out
• Excellent focus

See also: Effective Praise In The Classroom: What Works & What Doesn’t

2. Updated audio technology to reduce technical issues

As well as improving the pedagogical and visual side of our classroom experience, we also wanted to enhance the other key element of our tutor/pupil connection; audio.

This connection is crucial as the one-to-one conversations that happen in our online classroom are often where the maths magic really happens. Pupils need to talk for maths learning, so that means a smooth audio connection between tutor and pupil. 

What’s new?

• Completely new audio technology, developed by Amazon Web Services, to complement the new classroom experience.
• A significant reduction in technical issues, as shown by a recent successful pilot with a group of schools.
• Greater agility for pupils and teachers to pinpoint why audio might not be connected.
• Troubleshooting tips that allow pupils to quickly adjust their settings and get their conversations back on track.

3. Higher quality headsets for seamless one-to-one conversations

We’re constantly on the lookout for tools and technologies that will elevate our session experience for schools, including the headsets pupils wear.

We’ve chosen to go with the leaders in gaming headsets to make bespoke Third Space Learning headsets that will minimise any chances of headset-related disruption.

What’s new?

• Totally new headsets for a crystal clear connection between pupils and tutors.
• Durability: The wiring is covered in synthetic material, which means less tangling and the wiring is secure, so there is less chance of them breaking.
• Comfort: The ear cushioning is sewn in during the production for improved comfort and less distraction during the session, so pupils can focus on what really matters.
• Clarity: An improved audio chip enhances audio clarity.
• Child-proof: Removed audio controls reduce the likelihood of pupils muting themselves during sessions, so they can make the most of their tuition time.

4. Improved tutor preparation for more personalised learning

Personalised learning is at the core of our online one-to-one tuition.

1. Pupils begin the programme with an initial assessment to diagnose individual learning gaps.
2. Lessons are selected to plug these gaps and provide support in the topics and concepts that each pupil struggles with.
3. Within each lesson, tutors adapt the pitch and pace to suit each pupil’s individual needs.
4. Post-session questions help to continuously update each pupil’s personalised learning journey.

As you can see, it’s not just the diagnostic element of the programme that enables personalisation, but the tutors themselves. That’s why we’ve revamped the way each pupil’s requirements are presented to the tutor before their session.

What’s new?

• A new pre-session tutor preparation area that empowers tutors to increasingly personalise their teaching and understand the pupils they’re teaching.
• More information about the pupils’ needs, including Special Educational Needs (SEN) and if the pupil has English as an additional language (EAL) requirements.

Read more: Providing An Accessible Online Learning Environment For Pupils With Special Educational Needs

As well as details of the lesson they’re about to teach, tutors will now be able to consult additional information more easily to get to know pupils even before the first lesson.

• The pupil’s first name, age and interests to help build rapport. No other personal or school information is disclosed to tutors.
• Any notes from the pupil’s teacher on how best to work with that pupil.
• How many sessions that pupil has completed so far in their programme.
• How many sessions that particular tutor and pupil have done together.
• Where that pupil is in their Third Space Learning journey.
• What level that pupil is currently working at.
• How that pupil has performed or experienced previous sessions.
• The Learning Objectives that the pupil has worked through.

5. More accurate session analysis for more effective teaching

So, we’ve already got a more seamless audio connection system in place. But how are we thinking about the actual conversations that happen in our maths tuition sessions?

What’s new?

• A partnership with TeachFX to help deeply analyse the maths talk in our sessions in real-time, which provides more detailed feedback to schools.
• More sophisticated recommendations for our tutors to learn about how their teaching style is supporting pupils, and focus on their own CPD.
• Greater emphasis on pupils receiving encouragement to ask questions, explain their working out and justify their reasoning.
• Voice AI technology to access meaningful data at scale about the maths discussions, concept understanding and knowledge application in our sessions.

There is also a strict protocol on what we are sending over for analysis; only the session ID and the audio recording itself.

6. More maths resources than ever to support your classroom

There are already over 10,000 KS1-KS5 maths resources available for our schools.

In the 2021/22 academic year, we added more new resources than ever before!

What’s new?

• Tarsia Puzzles Year 1-6 to encourage fine motor skills and interactive learning.
• Printable Maths Resources to help save schools money. Did you know that these are actually the same tools we use in our on-screen tuition programmes?
• Are Numbers Real? Why not try our fun new collection of activities to help pupils think more deeply about maths, which could be ideal for post-SATs engagement.
• Fluent in Five KS3 and KS4, previously only available at primary level and one of our most popular resources, is now available for secondary students too.
• GCSE maths past papers based on the 2022 advanced information.

What’s coming soon?

• Extension activities
• Flashcards
• Escape room activities
• Even more GCSE worksheets
• Even more GCSE revision guides 

We love seeing pupils all across the country using our resources and we’d love to see pupils at your school using them too! Make sure to share any images with us at @ThirdSpaceTweet.

Join the Third Space Learning community!

Want to be part of the Third Space Learning community next year?

We’d love to hear from you and show you how we can help! Let us know how many pupils you’re looking to support and we’ll be in touch with a personalised quote and more information about how it works.

Already signed up for our tuition and want to secure your timeslots for next year? Let us know a few details and we’ll get these booked for you today.