University of Warwick’s Centre for Teacher Education
In 2024, Axia Digital won a competitive tender to supply a solution for the University of Warwick’s Centre for Teacher Education (CTE). The aim was to provide an assessment and information sharing tool for primary, secondary, and international PGCE trainees which would enable the CTE to collaboratively manage trainee progress through the formative and summative assessment of competencies.
Collaborative Development and Tailored Design
During late spring and early summer, Axia worked closely with the Warwick team to develop a custom solution tailored to their specific needs. The resulting platform supports collaboration between a range of role types including trainees, general mentors, lead mentors, and personal tutors, enabling them to co-create a portfolio of evidence that reflects trainees’ development throughout their placements. There are minor but important differences between the primary, secondary and international portfolios, as well as different roles (e.g. general mentors, lead mentors, and professional mentors). The system accommodates these nuances, allowing trainees to easily link relevant mentors to their placements.
Previously, the Warwick team used a combination of tools – primarily Excel forms – to manage placement activity. One particularly complex assessment document had proven difficult to manage due to challenges with access control and user permissions. Axia successfully integrated this document into the solution, enabling clear access rights and controlling workflow based upon user type.
The Collaborative Assessment Document
The Collaborative Assessment Document (now the core assessment tool within the solution) was a key deliverable for the project. Axia worked to make this simple to use while maintaining its robustness and flexibility. This area now underpins much of the assessment process, allowing contributions from trainees, mentors, and lead mentors, all in one centralised dashboard.
Placement Structure and User Roles
Trainees can create placements and link them to their work-based (general) mentors. Together, they record progress and reflect on classroom experiences. The solution distinguishes between tasks to be completed during placements and those required across the overall programme. These are clearly organised within the dashboard, which provides an at-a-glance view of current progress.
Student Dashboard
Mentors can create their own accounts, reducing the administrative burden on CTE staff – a necessary feature given the dynamic nature of school-based mentors. Trainees are responsible for linking mentors to their placements, but lead mentors, tutors and administrators are able to oversee all activity for monitoring and support. Upon login, mentors see a dashboard of their linked trainees and can access each trainee’s detailed dashboard.
While trainees and mentors share a common dashboard interface, access to features and content is role dependent. Permissions govern which forms are visible, who can complete them, and what fields are editable – ensuring appropriate boundaries between roles.
Support for Academic Staff and Real-Time Reporting
CTE administrators manage lead mentor and personal tutor accounts. While trainees can link these roles to their dashboard, administrators are able to grant access as needed.
The system updates assessment records in real time, enabling lead mentors, personal tutors, and administrative staff to monitor trainee progress at any stage of the programme. The system also includes built-in reporting tools, giving Programme Leads a clear overview of cohort progress and allowing them to drill down into individual trainee records.
User Feedback and Reflections
As the first year of rollout ends, feedback from trainees, general mentors, and CTE staff has been overwhelmingly positive.
Richard Etheridge, Axia Digital’s Managing Director, said:
“As the husband of a primary school teacher, I’ve long believed our solutions could support student teachers in capturing meaningful evidence from their workplace experience. We were delighted to win the Warwick tender. Teachers do an incredible job educating our children – they work hard and long hours. If our platform can simplify the assessment process, we help ensure the focus remains where it matters: developing the student teacher and supporting their pupils.”
Abigail Ball MA, PCTHE, SFHEA, SCMALT, Assistant Professor: Head of Technology Enhanced Learning, in CTE added:
“Working with Axia has been a pleasure. From the outset they have been professional and responsive. They have taken the time to understand our needs and worked collaboratively with us to develop a bespoke platform that enables us to manage our PGCE Professional Practice module effectively and efficiently. Feedback from trainees, mentors and CTE staff has been universally positive with one lead mentor commenting that it is ‘really good to have all this information at our fingertips.’ Max and the team are approachable and really want to find a solution that works for us.”
Accessibility and Broader Application
The solution we developed is fully web-based and can be accessed from any device with a browser and internet connection, making it highly flexible and adaptable to on-the-go working environments. Axia Digital also provides evidence gathering and assessment platforms for other universities, supporting students in health and life sciences disciplines.
To discover more about the Warwick solution, download the case study here. Alternatively, to hear about our other solutions, get in touch via the form on our contact page.