PHUV9440 Assessment and Learning Course description

Over the past twenty years, there has been a growing body of research on the relationship between assessment and learning. The course offers rich insights into various theories of and developments in assessment and raises awareness on how assessment can promote learning in the classroom. The course presents a variety of approaches to assessment while emphasis is placed on developing relevant research questions in order to analyze and discuss academic dilemmas in assessment. The course also provides a route for students to carry out their own research project: an investigation that will eventually contribute to the field of knowledge within the educational and social sciences.

The course is organized by Oslo Metropolitan University (OsloMet) and the University of South-Eastern Norway (USN) and offered in collaboration with Volda University College (HVO) and the national research school NAFOL.

Approved by LUI's educational committee 21.06.2021

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

Knowledge

The student:

• gains insight into the complex relations between assessment and learning in educating children and young adults according to the most relevant research conducted internationally and nationally
• understands and critically evaluates the mechanisms and research behind monitoring and assessing students’ oral and written skills
• can critically evaluate how assessment and learning are dependent on and intertwined with issues of feedback and motivation

Skills

The student:

• is able to critically evaluate the extent to which various forms of assessment are valid and reliable
• is able to discuss complex theoretical and methodological issues in their own thesis in light of the course content

General competence

The student:

• can critically discuss and evaluate complex issues related to assessment and learning at a level required in the international research field

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.

80 % attendence of the time of the course is required. If a student has attended at least 60 % of the course but less than 80 %, he/she must submit an extra paper of at least 3,000 words plus reference list on a given topic.

Students have to formulate a research question for their final paper which must be approved by the course instructors a week after the completion of the course.

On the basis of the approved research question, students need to submit a draft of 2,000 words (+/- 10%) no later than 20 days after the completion of the course.

The students will receive feedback on the draft from a course instructor a week after the submission of their draft that needs to be taken into consideration in the submission of their final paper (see ‘Assessment’ for details).

A paper of 5,000 words (+/-10% and excluding references and appendices) of 5 ECTs written in English, and related to one or more of the five areas of assessment in the course plan should be submitted after the course.

If a paper is not graded with "pass", the student must submit a revised version within a given deadline.

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 paper will be assessed by one internal and one external examiner.

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