Second International Summer School 2019
SECOND INTERNATIONAL SUMMER SCHOOL 2019 (ISS 2019):
VARIETY OF ASSESSMENTS AN EVALUATIONS: RESEARCH, STRENGTHS AND CHALLENGES.
ETHNOGRAPHIC RESEARCH:
ATTRACTIVENESS, PRIORITIES AND ENTIRETY
11-14 June, 2019
Kaunas, Lithuania
The Academy of Education, Vytautas Magnus University (VMU) in collaboration with The School of Social Researcher (SSR) is pleased to invite you to the Second International Summer School, which is dedicated to methodology and specifically focused in assessment and evaluation methodologies and ethnography.
We are pleased to introduce to you the most known and regarded researchers internationally from Canada, USA and UK.
The ISS 2019 workshops, practical seminars, theoretical lectures and reflective discussions will last four days in total.
Four-days intensive inspiring and intellectually attractive methodological course will introduce to participants two the most topical topics:
- the peculiarities of research and methodology on assessment and evaluation and its relationship to teaching and learning, and teaching / learning outcomes;
- particularity of ethnographic research methodology from non-traditional methodological and conceptual perspectives.
The participants will learn about the practical approaches of the mentioned above methodologies and will construct their answers to questions such as “How to do the assessment / evaluation research?”, “What research methodologies are used to study the teaching / learning outcomes?”, “How to evaluate and assess the teaching and learning as it would be methodologically correct?”, “What are connections of ethnographic approach with different phenomena in social world?”, “What are possibilities to combine ethnographic research methodology with other quantitative and / or qualitative methodologies?”, “What are practical and methodological recommendations in regard to application of ethnographic research in humanities and social sciences?” and etc.
Join us at the International Summer School 2019 and be an active learner in workshops and in learning cooperation-based groups. Meet interesting people and discuss topics of your own interest concerning qualitative methods and how to give answer to your daily research problems. Relate these methodologies to you daily academic and research practices. Let’s improve our learning together!
What cover two topics about evaluation / assessment and ethnographic methodologies?
First. Evaluation and assessment are not rare seen as a pragmatic aspect of the academic environment, teaching and learning. Evaluation and assessment are often seen in a formalized way, and the research on evaluation / assessment methodologies that lack solidity, reliability and flexibility. We must also recognize that studies on evaluation and assessment methodologies and their application in teaching and learning and its relationship with teaching and learning outcomes are uncommon because we still lack the methodological skills, and there are few such research schools in regard to evaluation and assessment methodologies in the world. But assessment and evaluation are mandatory components of teaching and learning processes and outcomes, so understanding the assessment and evaluation methodologies is necessary. That requires skills to construct, design and apply assessment and evaluation methodologies within the teaching and learning.
In the world, research methodology courses on assessment and evaluation research and methodologies are a staple diet of postgraduate, PhD (doctoral) programmes in social sciences and humanities. Post-docs, young and senior researchers also lack such methodological courses. Even with the large number of courses teaching research methods, there is limited published research into research methodologies on assessment and evaluation in teaching and learning. To help tutors, supervisors, teachers and researchers use assessments and evaluations effectively, it is important to be familiar with the form and pattern of assessment and evaluation methodologies in the social sciences and humanities at postgraduate, undergraduate levels in relation to teaching and learning. However, innovative assessment and evaluation research methodologies may not be known to scholars, researchers, PhD students because of a lack of shared literature or community of practice. Without understanding the current assessment and evaluation research methodologies and practices of its application in teaching and learning, there is little scope for improving and extending these assessments and evaluation to encourage and enhance students’ and teacher’s engagement, including supporting the development of their identities as researchers and scholars.
Second. We often take for granted the importance of learning about other cultures and peoples who live outside our communities, however, if there are efforts to learn about others, we can begin to understand the importance of similarities among human civilizations and societies. There is a study that studies the importance of other cultures as well as during the process we learn about ourselves. We come from a place of extravagance, where the modern world allows us Westerners to have everything at our disposal; therefore, we must be cautious when we learn about other cultures especially from places with non-Western ways of doing things.
Suppose you were given several minutes to think about and write down problems facing your country today. What would you record? Teachers and researchers find that many of the issues that the students, researchers or practitioners consider problems facing the particular country or the world are social issues that requires change in social behaviour or social policy. The question asked attempts to go below the surface of the responses presented in order to understand the origin of the perceived problems. Ethnographic research, in much the same way, gets below the surface and challenges assumptions made regarding a variety of topics. In challenging basic assumptions, doing ethnographic research is like peeling an onion. As you peel back the layers of an onion, you discover there is yet more to be seen.
How does ethnographic research challenge assumptions? It describes a specific group of people and their interactions with each other and those not part of the group. Ethnographic research is conducted to contest and/or sustain stereotypes of particular groups by telling the stories of the lived experiences of individuals. This type of research is helpful in addressing stereotypes that are embedded within a society such as ideas about people based on their racial background, gender and etc. Ethnographic research may be done to challenge or “contest” the truth of variety of ideas. Note, however, that these experiences occur within time and space. As such, they are constantly changing. Thus, history and context (interrelated issues, settings, environment and social relationships) play important roles in the lives of individuals in determining the webs of significance.
Ethnographic research is also done in an attempt to discover patterns in human behaviour. Those engaging in ethnographic research are looking at society and cultures as integrated systems with interrelationships existing between communities and structures within and around them. In doing research that is detailed, descriptive and interpretive, researchers are better able to “see” the community through the eyes of those who live in the community. Researchers understand the danger in looking too closely at the part and not the whole.
Why it is worth attending the ISS 2019?
Researchers do not rare experience issues such as getting lost after collecting and coding data, overlooking possibilities for developing their ideas, and producing disjointed and mundane research reports. Your active engagement into learning in ISS 2019 will help you expedite analyzing your data and writing your report in regard to assessment and evaluation, and / or ethnographic research.
This ISS 2019 focuses on improving your skills in research on assessment and evaluation methodologies and its practical application, and in ethnographic research methodology.
Studies in the ISS 2019 will help you retain the flexibility of your research while furthering the conceptual depth and scope of your research design, data collection and analysis.
Who are invited to be participants of learning community in the ISS 2019?
The ISS 2019 invites to participate the researchers, scholars, PhD students and scientists who already have acquired their PhD’s and are working with different methodologies, are teaching in variety of contexts and institutions and still meet challenges in:
- finding the right assessment and evaluation methodology and researching it;
- using qualitative methodologies and still have not chosen the “right” methodology in their research-based scientific path.
All the study process will rely on learning, discussing, practicing, constructing and interacting. Representatives from the social and behavioural, humanitarian, health and technology sciences are particularly encouraged to participate in ISS 2019.
