PHUV9440 Assessment and Learning Course description

Approved by the Doctoral Committee 24 May 2018. Minor changes approved 27.04.2020.

This PhD course is open for candidates at the PhD Program in Educational Sciences for Teacher Education, other PhD candidates and academic employees.

Language: English (and Norwegian, dependent on the language of participants).

In this PhD course, epistemological, methodological, and ethical perspectives on action research will be presented, discussed and related to examples of research projects. Reflections on connections between epistemological conceptual frameworks and practical choices in educational action research are emphasized.

On completion of the course, the candidate will have achieved the following learning outcomes:

Knowledge

The candidate

• has in-depth knowledge of epistemological and methodological perspectives on Action Research projects
• has in-depth knowledge of the role of the researcher in action research projects

Skills

The candidate:

• has gained methodological competence in understanding and engaging in Action Research at a sufficiently high level to develop knowledge in his/her field of study.
• can give academically competent written presentations of a relevant topic within action research

General competence

The candidate:

• can identify and establish constructive connections between theories, empirical data, and practices based on developed methodological competence in Action Research
• has sufficient ethical competence to identify relevant ethical challenges in his/her research process.

The course comprises five areas of assessment and learning concerning children and young adults in education. The course covers the following topical seminars:

National and international research on assessment and learning

This seminar takes a close look at the most prominent national and international research on (formative) assessment, and discusses their implications for policy, research and practice.

Assessment and oral skills

This seminar explores how research related to different oral practices discusses ways of monitoring and assessing oral skills. Students will discuss valid, reliable (and practical) ways for teachers to monitor and assess students’ oracy assessment and how this may impact on the realization of inclusive and adapted education.

Assessment and written skills

Participants will work with theoretical and empirical frameworks of assessing reading and writing, discuss challenges and issues for reading assessment and will conclude with possible future directions.

Assessment and feedback

Participants will be introduced to theoretical and empirical frameworks of feedback to support students’ learning and discuss affordances on how to provide embedded feedback in learning activities.

Assessment and motivation

In this seminar, participants will discuss the integration of assessment and motivation theories in the effort to promote learning.

The course consists of a six-days workshop (18 hours of seminars in total). All seminars will be based on flipped-classroom methodology where participants will learn about assessment as part of their teaching and will experiment with a variety of assessments that fit the needs of their contexts. The seminars will engage students in lectures, presentations, discussions, group/pair and individual work with mandatory participation.

Students are expected to participate actively in all days seeking and using feedback for their self-regulation, autonomy and self-development. Students are expected to read the syllabus before the course and work on the pre-recorded lectures, pre-assigned research articles or questions/tasks before the seminars and any other materials following the seminars (set as part of the flipped-classroom orientation of the course) to be able to participate actively in discussions during the seminars.

Students will be given the opportunity to participate by electronic means. The necessary equipment (headset and webcam) and a good and stable internet connection are necessary for those students joining through online means.

After the course, the students will submit an individual paper that outlines how they may conduct an analysis based on knowledge and skills from the course and own empirical material on topics of their own choice. Students will work closely with their supervisor(s) to develop each stage of their individual projects.

Organised tuition is given in the form of lectures and seminars. Candidates are expected to actively participate in all the teaching activities. Candidates will receive academic supervision on writing essays.

Students are expected to read the syllabus before the course to be able to participate actively in discussions.

All aids are permitted, as long as the rules for source referencing are complied with APA style of referencing.

The learning outcomes serve as criteria for assessments. The grades are "pass" or "fail".

The learning outcomes serve as criteria for assessments. The grades are "pass" or "fail".

The essay will be assessed by the course coordinator and a member of the academic staff involved in the PhD program.

Professor Dina Tsagari (dina.tsagari@oslomet.no)