Lichtgedanken 02

Editorial 49 02 | LICHT GEDANKEN Taking a camera into class The government is funding two digitization projects in university education with around €840,000. The objectives are to achieve a higher quality of examinations and video feedback for beginning teacher candidates. Digital media are conquering the world – and they do not stop short of German universities. As part of the funding programme »Research into di- gital university education«, the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) will fund two FSU projects in the coming three years, both of which are established at the Institute of Educa- tional Science. Reflection instead of cramming facts With KAT-HS (»Kriteriumsorientiertes adaptives Testen in der Hochschule«), Prof. Dr Andreas Frey and Dr Chris- tian Spoden are aiming to make writ- ten University exams more meaning- ful. »Exams are incredibly relevant for students and the marks often count towards their degree, but the psycho- metric quality of the exams often fails to do justice to their importance,« Frey explains. For example, lecturers would like to encourage students to think for themselves but instead they only test their knowledge of facts – or vice versa. Projects The purpose of the KAT-HS project, which is enjoying funding of almost €450,000, is to redress this discrepancy. »The aim of our project is to develop and test a concept for precise, crite- rion-referenced, computer-based exams that can be used across universities and faculties,« Frey explains. The exams of the future are also to adapt to each individual examinee: »In the case of adaptive tests, the follow-up questions are based on the answers given before. Anyone, for example, who answers a lot of questions correctly, will be given more difficult ones,« Frey reports. Video documents teaching experience Prof. Dr Alexander Gröschner is also bringing new media into play. His re- search project OVID-PRAX (»Online- based Video Feedback in practicum«) enjoys funding of around €390,000 from the BMBF, and takes as its starting point the support given to student teachers in their school internship. This is taken in the third year of study and for the tea- cher candidates it usually means actu- ally standing in front of a class for the first time. Gröschner and his team want to find out whether feedback on video recordings of the lesson generates grea- ter added value for the student teachers. Hitherto it has frequently been the case, he explains, that they describe their ex- perience of taking lessons in final pro- ject reports. There are hardly any video-based re- flections or feedback from peers or lec- turers. As well as the video group, there will also be a text-based group for com- parison in the OVID-PRAX project and one containing no reflection on their ex- perience, either by video or in writing. A test both before and after their prac- ticum deployment is intended to show who has achieved the greatest gain in knowledge and feedback competence. The BMBF’s funding programme »Re- search on digital University Educati- on« focuses on the universities’ cur- rent e-learning practice and looks into opportunities to apply new technical developments from other spheres of so- ciety. Video recordings of their own lessons are to give student teachers feedback on their teaching during their school internship. BY JULIANE DÖLITZSCH