EDITORIAL.TECHNOLOGY AS A SUPPORT TO TRADITIONAL ASSESSMENT PRACTICES

Assessment in education is under pressure to change. Some drivers for change result from new ways of thinking about assessment and its educational purposes. Other drivers are external and are the result of wider changes in society. Technology falls into this second category. This special issue is concerned with change at the intersection of assessment and technology in education

Esperienza e apprendimento: il riconoscimento formale dei saperi acquisiti in contesti informali e non formali

Il contributo presenta una ricerca che nasce nell’ambito del progetto MOIRC – Modello Operativo Integrato per il Riconoscimento e la Certificazione delle Competenze realizzato pressa la Facoltà di Scienze della Formazione di Padova nel 2010 all’interno di una macro-azione della Regione Venetosul tema della certificazione delle competenze. La finalità dell’articolo è di fornire alcuni cenni di inquadramento teorico in tema di apprendimento dall’esperienza, la cornice politica europea e nazionale e lo sviluppo del paradigma della competenza, alcunebuone prassi di riconoscimento e validazione dei saperi acquisti in ambito non formale e informale. L’articolo presenta poi brevemente il percorso pionieristico realizzato da lavoratori studenti dell’Ateneo di Padova di costruzione di un “portfolio dei risultati di apprendimento” (finalizzato all’individuazione delle competenze maturate ai fini del loro riconoscimento in termini di crediti formativi universitari), la procedura e gli strumenti di monitoraggio e rilevazione delle possibili ricadute operative, formative e istituzionali del modello, in prospettiva di formulare una proposta di costituzione di un servizio di Ateneo dedicato alla validazionee accreditamento dell’apprendimento esperienziale

Riconoscimento e certificazione delle competenze tra apprendimento formale, non formale, informale

The research framework lies within the new lifelong learning scenario and focuses on the field of adult employed students who enter university study programmes with extensive knowledge and expertise gained in previous educational, professional and extra-professional contexts. The theoretical and political framework refers to the theories of experiential learning, to the development and application of the competence paradigm, to the approaches and tools for recognition and validation of prior experiential learning acquired in informal and non formal contexts and finally to the European and national directives in this field. The general aim of the research is to identify theories, models, methodologies and tools that respond to adult students’ need not only for the recognition and certification of qualifications, but also of competences. The specific objective is to design (following the relevant elements highlighted in the theories and models identified and analysed), apply and assess prototypal tools and procedures for recognising and certifying previously acquired competences within formal programmes that lead to academic qualifications. The main referential theories and practices for developing a model are the French Validation des acquis de l’experience - VAE and the English Accreditation of Prior Experiential Learning - APEL models, with specific focus on the educational value of the autobiographic reflective process and on the adviser’s methodological support. The empirical research context draws on a project - conducted by the Faculty of the Science of Education and Training of Padua University and located within a wider project of the Venetian Region - in the field of the certification of competences requiring adult employed students enrolled in Padua University to prepare a learning outcomes portfolio. This portfolio, which is the result of the description and documentation of experiences, the analysis of learning and the identification of competences to be recognized in terms of academic credits, is assessed by a specific Examination Board (composed of three lecturers) comparing the learning outcomes identified and demonstrated by the students with the learning outcomes expected at the end of the programme. The research strategy lies within the interpretativist paradigm and integrates quantitative and qualitative tools administered to all stakeholders involved, with a complementary purpose. The aim is to investigate, on the one hand, the practical elements, the strengths and weakness of the process in order to improve it, and, on the other hand, the model’s educational and professional implications, focussing on the development of adults’ wider comprehension and awareness of their own competences which is a necessary pre-requisite for obtaining external recognition. In the context of today’s uncertainty and the flexibilization of the socio-economic reality, the systematic exercise of identifying the main connecting thread and the coherence of individuals’ preceding personal pathway and the connections between formal, non formal and informal contexts may be an important strategy for developing autonomy and responsibility and for responding to educational, professional and personal transitions. The aim of the research, according to the European and national directives (particularly referring to the Italian Law 92/2012 and related to the legislative Decrees), is to propose a model which may be applied in analogous contexts and to suggest indications for building a University lifelong learning centre with services and processes for recognising prior experiential learning. In this way, Universities are called to fulfil a third mission, accepting the social challenge to propose educational, organisational and technological innovations that respond to the learning needs of adult and thereby interface with local networks of educational, training and professional systems

Metodo e strategie di studio: cosa sanno gli studenti? Un’indagine all’Università di Trento

Study Methods And Learning Strategies: What Do Students Know? A Survey At The University Of Trento.How do students study? What do students know about study methods and learning strategies? Recent research has shown that most students rely on ineffective study methods. This behavior could be ascribed to a limited knowledge about learning strategies: students might rely on ineffective study methods because they have erroneous views about which learning strategies are effective. The aim of our research has been to further address this topic at the University of Trento. Here, we present and discuss the results of a survey study that investigates the students’ knowledge of some common learning strategies, the beliefs about their utility, and how much students intended to use them during the semester. Our results confirm that students are often not aware of which learning strategies are most effective. Furthermore, our data suggests that even when students do know how they should study, they do not always reflect it in their study activities. These conclusions requires appropriate considerations and intervention in educational contexts

Competence Development and Portfolios: Promoting Reflection through Peer Review

Portfolios are widely used in higher education to support students' com-petence development, especially in professional disciplines. A claimed strength is that by actively engaging in portfolio construction, and in reflecting on and assessing their current competences and future de-velopment, students will grow as self-regulating professionals. How-ever, researchers argue that students require coaches to support their reflections. Yet coaching is time-consuming, and research shows that it often undermines the very reflective processes that it is meant to help develop. This article investigates peer review as an alternative ap-proach to supporting reflection. Education students identified three competences and justified and evidenced them in a portfolio. They then reviewed the competence claims of peers and received feedback on their own claims from peers. Findings showed that both reviewing and receipt prompted deep reflective thinking as evidenced by changes in the students\u2019 portfolios. The discussion focuses on the value of peer review in promoting reflection, on ways of extending this method, and on its relationship to coaching practices

Allineare le metodologie di insegnamento, apprendimento e valutazione ai learning outcomes: una proposta per i corsi di studio universitari

In coerenza con il Processo di Bologna lacentratura della didattica e della valutazioneuniversitaria si sposta verso la declinazionedi risultati di apprendimento attesi e dicompetenze da maturare al termine di unciclo di studi per l’inserimento nella societàe nel contesto professionale. Questo approcciorichiede un ripensamento dei metodi diinsegnamento, di apprendimento e di valutazionein direzione di un loro “allineamentocostruttivo” con i learning outcomes attesi.L’articolo presenta un’esperienza condotta in 10 corsi di laurea magistrale nell’ambito di un progetto gestito dall’Ateneo di Padova,assieme agli Atenei di Ca’ Foscari Venezia e Verona e finanziato dalla Regione del Veneto, che ha proposto un modello per l’identificazione delle competenze dei corsi di studio (espresse mediante i Descrittori di Dublino con un tentativo di corrispondenza con i livelli dell’EQF), per la traduzione delle stesse in risultati di apprendimento specifici raggiungibili e misurabili su ogni attività curricolare e per il loro allineamento con i sistemi di valutazione usati al fine di verificarne il raggiungimento

Peer assessment practices in an online context: does the group size matter?

The present study examined how groupsize may impact students\u2019participation, perceptions, and work quality in an online peer assessment activity. One hundred sixty-three college freshmen were randomly assigned into three conditions that consisted of either 3-student groups, 6-student groups, or 9-student groups. Students reviewed each other\u2019s projects within their groups. Upon receiving peer feedback, students improved their own work. The data analysis suggested that students in bigger groups more actively participated in peer review discussion than students in smaller groups. For students\u2019perceptions, students\u2019responses to SCS and IMI questionnaires did not show considerable differences between the three groups. For work quality, it seemed that students in bigger groups outperformed students in smaller groups

Professionalità docente e innovazione didattica. Una proposta dell’Università di Padova per lo sviluppo professionale dei docenti universitari

Nel contesto di cambiamento e sfide cui sono chiamate le istituzioni accademiche, considerando le dimensioni valutative dell’insegnamento e le pratiche internazionali di formazione dei docenti universitari, questo articolo presenta PRODID (PReparazione alla prOfessionalità Docente e InnovazioneDidattica), un progetto di ricerca avviato dall’Università di Padova,che si pone l’obiettivo di sviluppare strategie di supporto ai docenti universitari nella prospettiva di crescita delle loro competenze pedagogiche. Per supportare i docenti nella transizione verso il loro ruolo nuovo e sempre più complesso, la sfida raccolta dal progetto è quella di promuovere attività formative per promuovere una riflessione costante e un ripensamento delle pratiche didattiche in prospettiva di sempre maggiore centralità dello studente. Un processo riflessivo individuale, supportato dalla riflessionecollettiva nella comunità docente e da opportune metodologie erisorse didattiche, potrà infatti accompagnare i docenti verso una maggiore comprensione dei bisogni degli studenti e quindi una progressiva innovazione del loro insegnamento verso standard di eccellenza

Apprendere per imparare: formazione e sviluppo professionale dei docenti universitari. Un progetto innovativo dell’Università di Padova

This paper presents PRODID (PReparazione alla prOfessionalità Docente e Innovazione Didattica), a two-year research project started by Universityof Padova, which aims at developing strategies to support academic teachers to enhance their teaching and learning competences. According to the literature and previous researches on teacher conceptions of teaching (Gow, Kember, 1993; Kember, 1998; Samuelowicz, Bain, 200; Trigwell et al., 1994), PRODID will reach its goal through a mix-methods preliminary local analysisof teachers’ practices, beliefs and needs as well as of students’ opinion of teaching activities. In the second phase, the project will deliver training sessionsfor the professional development of new teachers to enhance their pedagogical competences as well as training for a pool of senior university experts (Learning Teaching Designers) with a role of mentoring, coaching and scaffolding in designing and implementing courses. Training effects will be measured during the whole implementation (Postareff et al., 2007). The final aim of the project, pioneer in the Italian context, is to build an academic Teaching and LearningCentre. The Research Group will develop project activities through 4 specific research units, with a multisciplinary approach, and continuous supervisionby an external Scientific Committee of experts.L’articolo presenta PRODID (PReparazione alla prOfessionalità Docente e Innovazione Didattica), progetto biennale sviluppato dall’Università di Padova con l’obiettivo di sviluppare strategie di sostegno alla professionalità docente nello sviluppo di competenze di insegnamento e apprendimento. Nel quadro della letteratura e delle precedenti ricerche sulle concezioni di insegnamento (Gow, Kember, 1993; Kember, 1998; Samuelowicz, Bain, 200;Trigwell et al., 1994), PRODID si propone di raggiungere il proprio scopo attraverso un’analisi di contesto con un approccio mixed methods per identificare pratiche, credenze e bisogni dei docenti e mappare le opinioni degli studenti sulla didattica. Nella seconda fase, il progetto proporrà percorsi formativi rivolti ai docenti neoassunti per migliorare le competenzedi insegnamento, ma anche a docenti esperti che assumano il ruolo di mentor (Learning Teaching Designers) di colleghi più giovani. Gli effetti dei percorsiproposti verranno monitorati nel corso della realizzazione (Postareff et al., 2007). Obiettivo ultimo del progetto sarà di costituire un Teaching and LearningCentre di Ateneo, il primo in contesto italiano. Il Gruppo di Progetto sviluppa le proprie azioni articolandosi in 4 unità di ricerca, secondo un approccio multidisciplinare, supervisionato da un Comitato di Saggi esterno, composto da studiosi di chiara fama