Network 9 Keynote: Education in the Information Society – Assessment, Evaluation and other Challenges

Author(s):

Tjeerd Plomp(presenting / submitting)

Conference:

ECER 2014

Network:

09. Assessment, Evaluation, Testing and Measurement

Format:

Paper

Session Information

09 SES 09 A, Network 9 Keynote: Education in the Information Society - Assessment, Evaluation and other Challenges

Network Keynote Speech

Time:

2014-09-04

11:00-12:30

Room:

B010 Anfiteatro

Chair:

Wilfried Bos

Contribution

Given the technological developments over the last decades, many societies have transformed from an ‘industrial’ into an ‘information or knowledge’ society. Characteristic for the information society is the fundamental change in the nature of many jobs. Rule-based tasks have often been taken over by computers, with the consequence that more complex tasks can be found in many jobs.

That our societies are involved in unprecedented developments can be illustrated with some findings presented by Fisch et al. (2009) who report, for example, that

the projected top ten in demanded jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004 (source: US Secretary of Education),
we are currently preparing students for jobs that do not exist, where they will use technologies that have not been invented yet to solve problems we do not even know are problems yet.

A consequence of the developments sketched is that – at least in industrialised countries – most (if not almost all) households have access to the internet, but also that individuals (in all age groups) have to deal in their private lives with an overload of information which they have to value and to judge. Yet another facet of these developments is that many people actively use social media, which made Binkley et al. (2010) conclude that new social practices evolve due to increased use of new digital technologies, especially among young people.

If we reflect on these developments – both in many professions and in the home environment –then it is clear that young people have to acquire in schools and in their professional or higher education new skills and competencies to become competent professionals and to be able to live as responsible citizens in the information society. New skills or competences have to be taught in the information society – these are often called 21st century skills or competences[1].

With the characteristics outlined above, it would be a mistake to think that good education for the information age would comprise of the ‘traditional’ education just expanded with the teaching and utilisation of ICT (see also Plomp, 2013a; Voogt & Pareja Roblin, 2010). 21st Century skills have to be integrated in the curricula of our schools.

In this presentation, I will first reflect on some of the changes in our societies, after which I will discuss from different angles what these changes should mean for education. As the primary focus of Network 9 is on assessment and evaluation in education, it is legitimate to ask what research on assessment and evaluation is needed to assure that education in the information society meets high standards.

[1]) Others, for example OECD (2004) and European Union (2006), refer to these skills or competences as lifelong learning competences.

Method

Education for the future What was good education in an industrial society, is no longer good enough in the information society. Education at all levels needs to aim for a new type of aims and goals, often characterized as ‘21st century skills’ or competencies. Two frameworks for 21st century skills will be briefly discussed. First the framework developed in the project Assessing and Teaching 21st Century Skills (Binkley et al., 2010) will be presented comprising of 10 skills grouped into four categories, namely (i) ways of thinking, (ii) ways of working, (iii) tools for working and (iv) living in the world (see also Plomp, 2013a). In addition, the ideas of the USA Committee on Defining Deeper Learning and 21st Century Skills (2013) will be summarized. Challenges for education Introducing 21st century skills in the curricula will put enormous challenges to education both at the system level and the level of schools. At first, some curricular challenges will be summarized (Plomp, 2013b), starting from the question of how to link the 21st century skills with the existing curriculum, in other words, how to find a good balance between ‘old’ and ‘new’. Related aspects pertain to learning activities and teachers’ roles, to materials and resources used, and to organizational aspects such as the grouping, location and time of learning – in other words ‘with whom, where and when will students learn’. In addition, there are many assessment challenges. The Assessment Reform Group (2010; also Mansell et al., 2009) that existed in the UK from 1989-2010 have emphasized three types of purposes of assessment. In addition to the traditional of learning, assessment in schools also needs to help to build pupils’ understanding (assessment for learning), as well as to serve the accountability aspects of institutions. That our education systems and schools are confronted here with a real challenge can be illustrated by the conclusion of the Gordon Commission (2013) in the USA, namely that “The assessments that we will need in the future do not yet exist.” Finally, there are major implementation challenges (Plomp, 2013c). Real change in schools is multi-dimensional; it is a process and not an event! In other words, it is not reasonable to expect schools and teachers to change at ‘a point in time’.

Expected Outcomes

Need for much assessment and evaluation research If education has to change into the direction sketched above, many challenges have to be addressed. Many of these can be phrased in terms of ‘How can …’ questions, such as ‘how can we integrate 21st century skills in the curriculum of our schools?’, and ‘how can we assess 21st century skills?’. To address these research questions, a ‘non-traditional’ type of research design might be needed – I will discuss briefly how design research may result in the ‘research-based design’ of solutions to the type of problems mentioned. In addition – given the interest of Network 9 in international large-scale assessments as well, there are also major challenges for international comparative assessment studies like PISA and the IEA studies. If education nowadays should focus not only on ‘traditional’ subjects like mathematics, science and/or reading but also should include 21st century skills, a legitimate question for these studies is how these new skills can be incorporated in these large-scale assessments.

References

ARG – Assessment Reform Group UK (2010). About ARG. Retrieved 11 June 2013 from http://assessment-reform-group.org/ Binkley, M., Erstad, O., Herman, J., Raizen, S., Ripley, M., & . Rumble, M. (2010). Defining 21st century skills. In P. Griffin, , B. McGaw, & E. Care (Eds). (2011). Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills. New York: Springer. Committee on Defining Deeper Learning and 21st Century Skills (2013). Education for life and work: Developing transferable knowledge and skills in the 21st century – Summary. Washington, DC: National Academy of Sciences. Retrieved 11 June 2013 from http://www.nap.edu/catalog.php?record_id=13398 European Union (2006). Recommendation of the European Parliament and of the Council on Key Competences for Lifelong Learning. Official Journal of the European Union, L394, 10-18. Fisch, K., & McLeod, S. (2009). Did You Know? 3.0 – 2009 Edition. Retrieved 15 May 2009 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PHmwZ96_Gos. Gordon Commission on the Future of Assessment in Education (2013). A Public Policy Statement. Princeton, NJ (USA). Retrieved 11 June 2013 from http://www.gordoncommission.org/rsc/pdfs/gordon_commission_public_policy_report.pdf . Mansell, W., James, M. & the Assessment Reform Group (2009) Assessment in schools. Fit for purpose? A commentary by the Teaching and Learning Research Programme. London, UK: Economic and Social Research Council, Teaching and Learning Research Programme. Retrieved 11 June 2013 from http://www.tlrp.org/pub/documents/assessment.pdf. OECD. (2004). Lifelong learning. Observer. February, 1–8. Retrieved 30 June 2005 from http://www.oecd.org/dataoecd/17/11/29478789.pdf Plomp, T. (2013a). Preparing education for the information society: the need for new knowledge and skills. Int. J. Social Media and Interactive Learning Environments, 1(1), 3-18. Plomp, T. (2013b). Preparing education for the information society: Curricular challenges. Int. J. Social Media and Interactive Learning Environments, 1(2), pp. 109-125. Plomp, T. (2013c). Preparing education for the information society: implementation challenges. Int. J. Social Media and Interactive Learning Environments, 1(3), 224-238. Plomp, T., & Nieveen, N. (Eds). (2013). Educational Design Research – Part A: Introduction. Enschede, The Netherlands: Netherlands Institute for Curriculum Development – SLO. U.S. Department of Education. (2010). Transforming American Education: Learning Powered by Technology. Washington: U.S. Department of Education, Office of Educational Techology. Retrieved from http://www.ed.gov/about/offices/list/opepd/ppss/reports.html. Voogt, J. & Pareja Roblin, N. (2010). 21st Century Skills – Discussion Paper. Enschede, The Netherlands: University of Twente. Retrieved 5 May 2014 from http://onderzoek.kennisnet.nl/onderzoeken-totaal/21stecentury

Author Information

Tjeerd Plomp (presenting / submitting)

University of Twente

Curriculum development and Educational Innovation

Oosterbeek

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