Study-Unit Description

Study-Unit Description


CODE ACA1003

 
TITLE Preparing for Adult Pedagogy and Assessment

 
UM LEVEL 01 - Year 1 in Modular Undergraduate Course

 
MQF LEVEL 5

 
ECTS CREDITS 4

 
DEPARTMENT Arts, Open Communities and Adult Education

 
DESCRIPTION This study-unit is based on a critical discussion of main concepts, theories, paradigms and models of pedagogy and assessment that are relevant to adult education, training and development.

As regards pedagogy, this discussion will start with an overview of the Freirean tradition and how this juxtaposes banking education to liberating education.

The discussion will then proceed with a focus on pedagogies of difference to critically engage with the works of post-structuralist, feminist and post-colonial thinkers to explore how educators can dwell on socio-cultural differences and engage with 'Otherness' to contribute responsibly to just adult educational, training and development practices.

As regards assessment, this study unit reviews the main purposes of assessment in adult education, training and development. It considers the key role of assessment practices in relation to learning for the longer term and the key assessment strategies that motivate adult learners, including feedback, self- and peer- assessment. Practical examples will be used throughout to illustrate the links between learning and assessment. More specifically, the part on assessment will be organized around four main parts.

The first part will look at the way in which assessment contributes to lifelong learning. The second part will look at the debates on the ways in which assessments are used for grading, classification and warranting of individuals. The third part of the study unit will focus on feedback, how to give feedback, what kind of feedback to give, and how adults interpret and use feedback. It will also take a look at ways in which adults learners can learn how to self assess and how to assess peers. In the fourth and final part of the study unit, participants will discuss and analyze the kinds of assessment activities that focus on long-term learning and what these kinds of assessment activities might look like.

Study-Unit Aims:

The main aims of the study-unit are to:

- Question existing notions and dominant discourses of pedagogy to encourage deconstructive pedagogical approaches;
- Discuss adult educators and trainers' roles in engaging with pedagogies of difference and the challenges of socially just educational practices;
- Understand the main purposes of assessment;
- Reflect on the links between assessment and learning for the longer term;
- Provide students with the skills to provide feedback, assess themselves and assess peers;
- Encourage students to reflect on the role of assessment for certification and warranting;
- Enable students to critically reflect on the complex issues surrounding assessment practices including issues of fairness, equity and social justice; and
- Encourage students to think about new forms of assessment strategies for adults that can be used to inform judgment.

Learning Outcomes:

1. Knowledge & Understanding:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- Critically discuss concepts main concepts, theories and paradigms in pedagogical studies that are relevant to adult education, training and development;
- Discuss adult educators' and trainers' roles in engaging with pedagogies of difference;
- Describe the different purposes of assessment;
- Discuss the links between assessment and learning;
- Identify assessment strategies that can be used with adult learners;
- Describe various methods of providing qualitative feedback;
- Discuss ways of using self- and peer- assessment; and
- Describe ways in which assessment can be used to inform judgment in adult education.

2. Skills:

By the end of the study-unit the student will be able to:

- Analyze pedagogical discourses and learner cohort/s representation and/or under-representation in given educational settings and resources;
- Develop educational resources underpinned by a pedagogy that dwell on potential socio-cultural differences among learners and engage with 'Otherness' constructively and democratically;
- Evaluate critically the impact of assessment practices on adult learners;
- Use information from assessment tasks to provide qualitative feedback;
- carry out self- and peer- assessment;
- Develop assessment tasks that take into consideration fairness and equity; and
- Develop assessment tasks that can be used to inform judgment.

Main Text/s and any supplementary readings:

Main Texts:

- Boud, D., and Falchikov, N. (2007). Rethinking Assessment in Higher Education. London and New York: Routledge.
- Chetcuti, D. & Cutajar, C. (2014). Peer assessment in a post-secondary (16-18) physics classroom. In International Journal for Science Education 36(18), 3101- 3124.
- Darder A. (2009). Decolonizing the Flesh: The Body, Pedagogy and Inequality. In Sintos Coloma, R. (Ed.). The Postcolonial Challenges in Education (Counterpoints, Studies in the Postmodern Theory of Education) (pp. 217 - 232). New York: Peter Lang Publishing Inc.
- Freire, P., Fraser, J. W., Macedo, D., McKinnon, T. & Stokes, W. T. (Eds.). (1997) Mentoring the Mentor: A Critical Dialogue with Paulo Freire (pp. 303-329). New York: Peter Lang Publishing, Inc.
- Freire, P. & Faundez, A. (1989). Learning to Question: A Pedagogy of Liberation. Geneva: WCC Publications.
- Mayo, P. (2013). Echoes from Freire for a Critically Engaged Pedagogy. New York: Bloomsbury.
- Pisani, M. (2012). Addressing the ‘Citizenship Assumption’ in Critical Pedagogy: exploring the case of rejected female sub-Saharan African asylum seekers in Malta. In Power and Education, 4(2), 185 – 195.
- Shor, I. & Freire, P. (1987). A Pedagogy for Liberation: dialogues on transforming education. New York: Bergin & Garvey Publishers, Inc.

Supplementary Readings:

- Aarkrog, V. & Wahlgren, B.. (2015). Assessment of Prior Learning in Adult Vocational Education and Training. International Journal for Research in Vocational Education and Training, 2(1), 39-58.
- Mulder, M., & SpringerLink. (2017). Competence-based vocational and professional education : Bridging the worlds of work and education (Technical and Vocational Education and Training: Issues, Concerns and Prospects).
- Freire, P. (2000). Cultural Action for Freedom. Boston: Harvard Educational Review.
- Freire, P. (1998a). Teachers as Cultural Workers - Letters to Those Who Dare Teach. Boulder: Westview Press.
- Freire, P. (1998b). Pedagogy of Freedom: Ethics, Democracy and Civic Courage. Maryland: Rowman & Littlfield Publishers, Inc.
- Freire, P. (Ed.) (1997). Mentoring the Mentor. New York: Peter Lang.
- Freire, P. (1993). Pedagogy of the Oppressed (30th Anniversary edition). London: Penguin.

 
STUDY-UNIT TYPE Lecture

 
METHOD OF ASSESSMENT
Assessment Component/s Sept. Asst Session Weighting
Assignment Yes 100%

 
LECTURER/S Carmel P. Borg
Maria M. Brown
Maria Cutajar
Isabelle Gatt

 

 
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It should be noted that all the information in the description above applies to study-units available during the academic year 2023/4. It may be subject to change in subsequent years.

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