Welcome to the QUINT Observation Systems Seminars (OBS seminars). This series will discuss classroom observation systems as a tool for understanding and improving teaching quality.
This and upcoming OBS seminars are open for all interested parties. We want it to become a meeting arena for scholars genuinely interested in observation systems and related issues. Therefore we recommend that you join our network by subscribing to the network mailing list. You must confirm your email address in the confirmation email you receive to complete signing up to the mailing list.
If you are interested in presenting your research or have questions, please contact the organizer, Mark White.
Program
As part of our mini-series on the challenges in linking observation scores and student outcome measures, on May 23rd at 14:30 CET/8:30am ET, Svenja Vieluf, Matthias Proske, and Alexander Naumann will present a talk entitled: What Role does Teaching play for Learning? A critical discussion of the assumption of direct linear causality and consequences for classroom observations.
Abstract: Teaching effectiveness research (TER) aims at supporting practical decisions in the field of education by searching for teacher behaviors that can produce student learning in a predictable, repeatable way. The underlying assumption is that if teachers learn how to implement relevant teaching methods, strategies and techniques well, then students will learn more. However, outside of TER this assumption of a direct causal effect of teaching on learning has long been criticized for being too simple. The link between both has alternatively been conceptualized as mediated, moderated and reciprocal. Moreover, the role of interpretations in the context of teaching as a socially interactive activity has been emphasized. This paper argues that the oversimplified assumption of a direct causal link between teaching and learning might be one reason, why TER finds weak and inconsistent empirical correlations between both. We will dicuss what this implies for observation approaches.