 Keynote Speakers
| | Tamara van Gog | |
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Diverse Perspectives on Example-Based Learning
Example-based learning has been extensively studied from different perspectives. Cognitive research inspired by Anderson’s ACT-R theory and Sweller’s cognitive load theory has mainly focused on worked examples, which allow students to acquire problem-solving skills by studying a written worked-out solution to a problem. Socio-cognitive research inspired by Bandura’s social learning theory and the theory of cognitive apprenticeship (Collins, Brown, and Newman) have mostly focused on modelling examples, which allow students to learn by observing a model performing the task. In this keynote, a short review is provided of research from both perspectives outlining commonalties and differences, and data from several empirical studies are presented that not only draw upon both perspectives but also include novel techniques (eye tracking) to enhance example-based learning.
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| | Read more about her research interests and publications. | |
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| | Helen Cowie | |
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Can young people themselves prevent cyberbullying? What research tells us
Peer support is widely recognised as an effective intervention to counteract school bullying. Most recently, researchers and educators have begun to think of ways in which young people themselves might be trained to intervene specifically to help resolve the emerging issues involved in cyberbullying. In this presentation, Helen Cowie connects diverse perspectives on possible ways in which educators might create contexts in which members of school communities might work collaboratively together to enhance positive interpersonal relationships in the peer group.
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| | Read more about her research interests and publications. | |
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| | Benö Csapó | |
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Adapting Educational Assessment to Changing Conceptions of Knowledge
By the end of the past century, results of cognitive revolution have substantially changed the way knowledge is conceptualized as an expected outcome of schooling. The aims of teaching and learning have been defined in terms of disciplinary content for centuries, while recent frameworks of education focus on application of knowledge and development of complex skills. However, modern society changes so fast that it is impossible to envisage the context in which students will apply their knowledge they master in today’s schools. Furthermore, many skills that will be vital in the future are related to handling instruments not invented until today. These contradictions prompted a study of issues like knowledge representation, depth of understanding, and transferability. The focus of research shifted from quantity to quality and organization of knowledge. Identification of specific and general skills essential in mastering the expected quality of knowledge and their crucial role in understanding processes, organization and transfer of knowledge has became a significant research area.
Meeting the new expectations requires considerable changes in teaching and learning methods as well as in assessing students’ knowledge. Over the past decades, the most obvious developments have taken place in the context of large-scale international and national student-assessment programs. These programs have achieved remarkable development in a number of areas, such as psychometric foundations of educational assessment and data analysis. However, these summative assessments do not provide a direct support for improving the quality of students’ knowledge. Therefore, a number of changes are in progress in the field of educational assessment. Beyond the macro and system level of feedback, there is a need to provide feedback for the micro level of teaching, for classroom, community and student level of learning. The aim of assessment is shifting from accountability of schools to supporting teaching and learning processes, from producing single indicators to gaining rich contextualized data, form summative assessments to diagnostics and therapy, from static/cross-sectional to developmental/longitudinal design of data collection, and from single tests to interrelated instruments and complex systems of assessment.
This presentation reviews the main tendencies of theoretical conceptualizations of knowledge, the orientations of the large-scale assessment programs and some other major international and national projects. It discusses the limitations of paper-based testing and introduces the possibilities offered by technology-based testing for the assessment of complex skills and the quality of knowledge.
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| | Read more about his research interests and publications. | |
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