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PROFESSOR DAVID HAWKER, CONFERENCE CHAIR
PROFESSOR MASAHIRO ARIMOTO
Keynote Session on 7 September 2017 Using Classroom Assessment to Improve Pedagogy – the Japanese Experience This is the narrative from one high-school student; a positive response to the Tohoku/Fukushima tragedy of 2011. There exists a cultural foundation for this student's resilient disposition towards severe environmental challenge, introducing three closely-related and fundamental aspects of Japanese society: (a) inseparability of body/mind; (b) cultural unity from geographical circumstances; and, (c) "selflessness after emptying the ego" behind the scene of "quite dignity", which refers to the deference of individual needs to those of the local (and, by extension the national) community. Due to the personal and social processes related to the collective consciousness, the points of departure for Japanese people differ from those of their 'western' counterparts. That said, the assessment system has a great deal of internal accountability. Students are accountable to their peers, teachers and parents. Teachers are accountable to each other in a system in which all the teachers in the school know just how good or bad the other teachers’ performance is because of the Lesson-Study initiatives. These local, school-level development initiatives saw (beginning in the 1980’s) the emergence of innovative school-wide teacher-developed assessment tools influenced by affective domains of Bloom's taxonomy. In 2000s PISA results propelled a national survey of scholastic assessment. The survey revealed top-scoring schools at the prefectural level. The survey generated evidence from an inter-school collective of mathematics teachers in Akita prefecture, who developed an integrated learning unit entitled, "Relearning the Oedo Story from the Perspective of Mathematics". The grade-6 study team attempted to teach children how to use mathematics to “appreciate” the “knowledge” learned in social studies classes. As a result, they could not only understand people’s lives in Edo more realistically, but also realize the power of mathematical concepts. Authentic task or assessment can support students in reaching their full potential to understand issues of environmental sustainability, biodiversity, robotics, and other issues of twenty-first century relevance. In my lecture, I will discuss education as the purpose of human life, and I try to make ‘inside the black box’ into glass box using video recording of classroom and teachers/ principals interview as well as students with telop in English.
DR YURI BELFALI
Dr. Belfali joined the OECD in 2013 as a Senior Analyst in the Directorate for Education and Skills’ Policy Advice and Implementation Division, where she managed knowledge mobilisation, education policy country reviews and accession technical reviews. Dr. Belfali spent the last 20 years in France, the US, and in several countries of South East Asia, Africa and Middle East and North Africa regions. Before joining the OECD, she worked for UNICEF as Chief of the Education Section in Morocco and the World Bank in the field of human development between 2002 and 2012. She had a leadership role in advising governments for education reforms and gender mainstreaming, as well as managed co-operation projects on early childhood, teaching, learning, and youth development. Dr. Belfali, a Japanese national, holds a Master’s degree in International Educational Administration and Policy Analysis from Stanford University and a Bachelor’s degree in International Relations from Tsuda College, Tokyo. Keynote Session on 7 September 2017 Key Messages from PISA 2015 The OECD Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA) examines not just what students know in science, reading and mathematics, but what they can do with what they know. Results from PISA show educators and policy makers the quality and equity of learning outcomes achieved elsewhere, and allow them to learn from the policies and practices applied in other countries. This session discusses how 15-year-old students are performing in science, reading and mathematics in Asia Pacific and elsewhere, and how student performance is associated with various characteristics of individual schools and school systems, including the resources allocated to education, and the learning environment. The presentation also shed light on students’ well-being that covers both negative outcomes (e.g. anxiety, low performance) and the positive impulses that promote healthy development (e.g. interest, engagement, motivation to achieve). Seen through the lens of PISA 2015, participants are invited to reflect what challenges and opportunities education systems are facing and what school principals, teachers, parents, and governments can do to better help all young people to contribute to the building of the 21st century world.
DR CECILIA CHAN
Dr. Chan also has substantial experience in holistic competency development and assessment in higher education and has been researching in this area for over ten years. She has developed a framework to assist teachers to integrate competency into the university curriculum and is also researching in approaches to assess these competencies. Her work is being recognized in many parts of Asia. She has been invited as keynote speaker and panel speaker to many international educational conferences in Korea, Singapore, United States, Estonia, United Kingdom, Macau, Thailand, Malaysia and Switzerland on teaching, learning and the assessment of generic competency including the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Cecilia holds a PhD in Engineering from Trinity College, a postgraduate diploma and a MA in Higher Education. She also held a Fellowship from King’s College London. Dr. Chan is involved in over 30 research/project grants with a total funding of over $40,000,000. She is also the recipient of the University of Hong Kong’s Young Outstanding Researcher Award in 2015/16. Keynote Session on 8 September 2017 Assessing Holistic Competencies – Through the Eyes of Students There is no doubt that education puts heavy emphasis on academic knowledge as reflected by grades on transcripts. However, as the need for education to also address the personal and social growth of students continues to proliferate, attention is shifting towards graduate attributes which many institutions have now also included in their mission statements of educational aims (Chan, 2012). To refer to these attributes, we use the term “holistic competencies” to incorporate generic skills like critical thinking and leadership, as well as positive values and attitudes like appreciation, consideration, respect and integrity. Schools and universities are pushing out-of-class and extracurricular activities, for their students to develop these skills and attributes (e.g. Hawtrey, 2007). Yet, despite widespread recognition of the importance of holistic competencies, a great amount of assessment for these competencies “is going unreported in those instances where those skills are being inferred but not recorded, reported or certified” (Clayton, Blom, Meyers & Bateman, 2003). There is no sufficient and proper assessment for holistic competencies. Furthermore, teachers lack adequate understanding of designing assessments for holistic competencies. The examination-oriented culture in Asia also encourages students to focus on academic achievements at the expense of these development (Leung, Leung, & Zuo, 2014). Students often perceive developing holistic competencies as ‘time-consuming’ given the already heavy workload from their disciplines. Without a proper structure for assessing holistic competencies, the impact may be negligible. In this presentation, the presenter will discuss how holistic competencies could be assessed (if it should be assessed at all) and how can students document these learning outcomes as part of their learning, and present a new way of assessing competencies based on an evidence-based student-centred driven system.
PROFESSOR ROBERT COE
Before embarking on an academic career, Rob Coe was a teacher of mathematics, with experience in a range of secondary schools and colleges. He left teaching in 1995 to study full-time for a PhD at Durham University, and then stayed on as a Research Associate and Lecturer. His research interests are wide-ranging and include: evaluation methodology; Evidence-Based Education and the involvement of practitioners in research; school effectiveness and improvement, including the methodology of school effectiveness research; the use and effects of feedback, especially in performance monitoring information systems; and the statistical comparability of examinations in different subjects and over time. His teaching is also varied, including research methods courses from undergraduate to Ed.D. level, and specialist Masters level courses in Experiments in Education and in Educational Assessment, as well as contributing to initial teacher training. His methodological expertise lies in areas such as general statistical analysis, experimental design, meta-analysis, multilevel modelling, construct measurement and item response models. Keynote Session on 8 September 2017 Student Assessment and Effective Learning: We Know How It Works – or Do We? Assessment is one of the most powerful potential influencers of learning, but also one of the least well optimised in many schools; it is among the most widespread of classroom practices but perhaps one of the least well understood; assessment processes span the range from some of the most loved by teachers, to those most hated.
Assessment can support learning in a range of ways, for example through diagnosis, evaluation or retrieval practice. In this talk, I will discuss some issues that arise in trying to optimise the use of classroom assessment to support learning, according to the best available research.
Assessment provides measurement of a trait or construct, ideally one that is aligned with a learning progression. Measures are subject to measurement error, and an understanding of this is vital to optimising the communication of shared meanings. Valid measures of learning can enhance subsequent learning if they are used to evaluate teaching constructively, to monitor progress against challenging goals, and to exemplify the learning construct.
DR JOAN HERMAN
Joan Herman is Director Emeritus of the National Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing (CRESST) at UCLA. Her research has explored the effects of testing on schools and the design of assessment systems to support school planning and instructional improvement. Her recent work focuses on teachers' formative assessment practices and the assessment of deeper learning. She also has wide experience as an evaluator of school reform. Dr. Herman is noted in bridging research and practice. Among her books are Turnaround Toolkit and A Practical Guide to Alternative Assessment, which have been popular resources for schools across the United States. A former teacher and school board member, Dr. Herman also has published extensively in research journals and is a frequent speaker to policy audiences on evaluation and assessment topics. She is past president of the California Educational Research Association; has held a variety of leadership positions in the American Educational Research Association; and is a frequent contributor at the National Academies of Science, Engineering and Medicine. An elected member of the National Academy of Education and a fellow of the American Educational Research Association, Dr. Herman is current editor of Educational Assessment, chairs the management committee for the Standards for Educational and Psychological Testing, and is a member the National Academies’ Board on Testing and Assessment. Keynote Session on 7 September 2017 Supporting Students' College Success: The Role of Assessing Intrapersonal and Interpersonal Competencies Today’s students need a rich set of competencies to achieve success in life and work. US research shows that jobs requiring high levels of cognitive, intra-personal and inter-personal skills are growing at the highest rate and are the most highly compensated, while technology is replacing jobs at increasingly higher levels of the skill distribution (Autor et al., 2003; Levy and Murnane, 2013; Deming, 2015 & Weinberger, 2014). Employer surveys similarly echo the growing need for labor market entrants who are skilled in such competencies as communication, teamwork, ethics, and intercultural sensitivity (e.g., Hart Research Associates, 2015). Beyond these competency demands, research also shows a strong relationship between years of schooling and adult earnings and health and civic engagement (National Research Council, 2012). Post-secondary education is increasingly essential. Yet while college entrance rates in the US remain high, US students’ college completion rates are falling behind. These major research findings provided the context for a study of the role of intra- and interpersonal competencies in success in higher education and the role of assessment in fueling such success. Study results identified 8 malleable competencies that appeared to support students’ persistence and success: · Sense of belonging · Growth mindset: · Utility goals and values · Behaviors related to conscientiousness · Academic self-efficacy · Intrinsic goals and interest · Prosocial goals and values · Positive future self: In addition to sharing these competencies and interventions for improving them, the presentation also will review methods and offer guidance for assessing intra- and inter-personal competencies, and consider how various stakeholders, including K-12 educators and leaders, can use assessment to increase student success. The full study report can be found at https://www.nap.edu/catalog/24697/supporting-students-college-success-the-role-of-assessing-intrapersonal-and
MS MARTHA KAUFELDT
Keynote Session on 8 September 2017 Feedback to Feed-Forward and the Power of Do-Overs Feedback provides information about how we are doing in our efforts to reach a goal and is an essential element of Formative Assessment. The learning brain craves feedback and opportunities to re-do a task or process in order to achieve success. Feedback should help the learner understand where he or she is on the learning continuum toward a goal and provide helpful information on what still needs to happen to reach mastery. Feedback that indicates a failure or learning obstacle can be beneficial as well. Learning to react to Failure is believed to be as critical to success as academic achievement. This informative session will provide information on neural plasticity and how our brains react to feedback. It also investigates the research on how making mistakes and facing challenges during learning may actually help develop other non-cognitive skills such as grit, tenacity and perseverance.
PROFESSSOR ELAINE CHAPMAN
Keynote Session on 7 September 2017 How is Measurement Good for Education? Today, assessment is recognised as an integral element of the overall learning experience for students. Empirical evidence indicates that the way we assess student can have a significant effect on how students approach their learning tasks, as well as on the outcomes of their engagement with these tasks. Given this, it is important that these factors be taken into account in assessment design. This session will address the following questions. First, we will consider what are we measuring when we assess students, and how reliable those assessments are. In addressing this question, we will consider shifting notions of validity in education assessment over the past decade. Second, we will address the question of whether the practice of measuring progress through formal assessments is good or bad for education. In addressing this question, we will consider both positive and negative washback effects of assessment in education. The last question we will address is, How can we improve the way we measure, as well as the way we interpret and act upon our assessments? In addressing this question, we will consider current views on best practice in education assessment, as well as the ways in which assessment outcomes can be used to ensure that our education practices are evidence-based. DR MARTIN WALKER
Martin began to pursue a scientific approach to assessment when studying for an MSC in educational assessment at Durham University. He then developed that interest into a PhD study of the validity of UK national tests. Martin likes to bring the theoretical and the practical together in order to help teachers carry out better assessment and regularly carry out test analysis for professional companies to explore how well their tests are functioning. When not doing that, Martin sings and run up mountains.
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