UBC Paragon Lecture Series – Second Invited Address
Paragon Testing Enterprises and The University of British Columbia are proud to present the second lecture in the UBC-Paragon Lecture Series, “Talk in Tests: A Micro-analytic Perspective on Intimacy, Interaction and Affect in Computer-based Assessment“, presented by Bryan Maddox, PhD, University of East Anglia, U.K.
Where: Scarfe 310, Faculty of Education, University of British Columbia
When: Thursday March 16, 2017, from 2:30 p.m. to 4:00 p.m.
Summary
This lecture will examine the presence and status of talk in computer-based educational tests, and what it can tell us about embodied assessment performance and the ecology of testing situations. I will describe how video-ethnographic methods can be used to capture “missing data” on talk and gesture that usually flies under the radar of conventional studies of assessment performance and validity. The lecture will present transcripts and video animations from real-life assessment events observed in the OECD Adult Skills Survey (PIAAC). These allow us to dig deep into the roles of the computer and interviewer in the management of the testing situation and to investigate the character of human-computer-human interaction. I will conclude by discussing the potential of a micro-analytic approach to inform large-scale data analysis and machine learning.
About the Speaker
Bryan Maddox, PhD.
Dr. Bryan Maddox is a senior lecturer in Education and International Development at the School of International Development, University of East Anglia, and a Director of the Laboratory of International Assessment Studies www.international-assessments.org. He is an accomplished ethnographer with experience of research on literacy practices and literacy acquisition in South Asia. His ethnographic research with UNESCO and the OECD has focused on International Large-Scale Assessments (ILSAs). Dr. Maddox has developed a ‘micro-analytic’ approach to assessment research. It combines small-scale, ethnographic observations of ‘real-life’ assessment practice with larger-scale data. Those observations are used to inform understanding of assessment design, performance and validity.
UBC-Paragon Lecture Series
The Lecture Series is one of several initiatives that stem from the partnership among the University of British Columbia (Vancouver Campus) Faculty of Education, UBC Office of the Provost, and Paragon Testing Enterprises (a subsidiary of the University of British Columbia). This research initiative, its component activities, and collaboration with Paragon Testing enhance UBC’s standing as a global leader in research and graduate student training in the field of the statistical science of measurement and highlights UBC’s Faculty of Education as the Canadian centre of excellence drawing on visiting scholars and scientists to collaborate with researchers and interact with graduate students in the field.
