Read how two visiting students found their trip to CRADLE
13 June 2024
CRADLE welcomed international PhD students Leire Pinedo and David Zamorano to Deakin University in June 2024. Both study at the University de Deusto in Spain and are supervised by CRADLE Honorary Professor Ernesto Panadero. In this post we hear about their experiences during their visit and CRADLE Associate Research Fellow Laura Hughes reflects on the highlights of Leire and David’s research presentations.
Not everyday do you have the chance to talk with the researchers you read and cite. However, during our visit to CRADLE in June, we, Leire Pinedo and David Zamorano, had the chance to do so. We are PhD students from the Education, Regulated Learning & Assessment research group (ERLA) and study at the University de Deusto in Bilbao, Spain.
As researchers deeply interested in the dynamics of assessment and learning, especially self-assessment (Leire Pinedo) and peer assessment (David Zamorano) our visit to CRADLE provided us with invaluable insights. CRADLE’s focus on the interplay between learning and assessment design, particularly in the context of academic security and integrity, aligns closely with our own academic pursuits.
The first day of our visit started with an enriching discussion on formative assessments, artificial intelligence, and the evolving role of assessments in future educational landscapes. This conversation opened new avenues for thinking about how technology can shape learning evaluations.
The following day we had the opportunity to participate in a meeting with senior researchers. This session not only gave us a firsthand look at the operational aspects of CRADLE but also allowed us to present our PhD projects. The feedback we received was both critical and insightful, pushing us to consider new perspectives and think critically about our contribution to the field.
Reflecting on our visit, the experience has been pivotal in broadening our understanding of cutting-edge research in educational assessment.
It was also a pleasure to connect with the CRADLE team, whose expertise and welcoming nature made our visit both productive and enjoyable.
Laura Hughes, CRADLE Associate Research Fellow, adds her thoughts and reflections on Leire and David’s research presentations.
Leire investigated how students generate internal feedback and self-assessment processes in secondary and higher education students, and how they map onto four self-assessment profiles:
- no self-assessment (read and recall);
- superficial (making more actions – read, rate and assess),
- intermediate self-assessment (the most common: read, rate and assess but also making more use of more complex external criteria);
- advanced (read, rate and assess but also actively making more active changes to the task).
Higher education students were asked to think aloud for self-assessment after performing a task, and a further two times; each after receiving feedback on the task. Some observations were that students showed feelings and rules of the subject during self-assessment, and then when redoing the task, they think about different answers before actively modifying them. Students mapped onto the four categories and showed movement through these categories when thinking aloud at different stages.
David conducted a systematic review on peer feedback roles and cognitive and non-cognitive outcomes. David reported that students learn more when providing feedback compared to receiving feedback in peer feedback encounters. David also used eye tracking, think aloud protocols and Exploratory Data Analysis (EDA) to investigate how “internal” cognitive processing occurs when processing feedback.
‘Just because you look, doesn’t mean you are processing’
David found that there was no change in internal processing as measured using eye tracking, ‘just because you look, doesn’t mean you are processing’, and recommended being careful when making inferences about cognitive processing.
About Leire Pinedo
Leire works as a PhD candidate at the ERLA research group at University de Deusto (Bilbao, Spain). Her research interests involve educational assessment and self-regulated learning, especially self-assessment, feedback and the use of rubrics. In her PhD thesis, funded by the Spanish Ministry of Universities (FPU 2018 call), Leire explores the effect of individual differences and feedback on the self-assessment process.
About David Zamorano
David works as a PhD candidate at the ERLA research group at the University de Deusto (Bilbao, Spain) with funding from the Spanish Government. His research focuses on assessment in higher education, especially the differences between assessor and assessee learning processes on peer assessment.
