Judith Gulikers

A Five-Dimensional Framework for Authentic Assessment

Authenticity is an important element of new modes of assessment. The problem is that what authentic assessment really is, is unspecified. In this article, we first review the literature on authenticity of assessments, along with a five-dimensional framework for designing authentic assessments with professional practice as the starting point. Then, we present the results of a qualitative study to determine if the framework is complete, and what the relative importance of the five dimensions is in the perceptions of students and teachers of a vocational college for nursing. We discuss implications for the framework, along with important issues that need to be considered when designing authentic assessments.

The Impact of Intrinsic Motivation on E-Learning in Authentic Computer Tasks

Students with high intrinsic motivation often outperform students with low intrinsic motivation. However, little is known about the processes that lead to these differences. In education based on simulations or authentic electronic learning environments, this lack of insight is even more clear. The present study investigated what students actually did in an electronic learning environment that was designed as a game-like realistic simulation in which students had to play the role of a junior consultant. The results show that students with high intrinsic motivation did not do more, rather they tended to do different things. Analysis of log files showed that the increased curiosity that students with high intrinsic motivation have, resulted in proportionally more explorative study behaviour. However, the learning outcomes of students with high intrinsic motivation were not better.

The surplus value of an authentic learning environment

This article presents a study that provides insight in the effects of an authentic electronic learning environment on student performance and experiences. It is expected that learning in an authentic learning environment results in higher performance and improves intrinsic motivation of students. The results of this study showed, contrary to what was expected, that student who worked in an authentic environment did not perform better than students who worked in a less authentic environment. Moreover, the reported experiences with the learning environments did not differ between both groups.

Towards Competence-Based VET: Dealing with the Pitfalls.

This article builds on a previous 2004 Journal of Vocational Education and Training (JVET) contribution by Biemans et al., in which several possible pitfalls in designing and implementing competence‐based education (CBE) were discussed. The present article reports on the results of an extensive research programme on competence development and CBE consisting of four empirical studies carried out in schools for secondary and higher vocational education in the life sciences in the Netherlands in the years 2004 to 2008. Based on the research findings, the article examines how the CBE pitfalls have been dealt with in Dutch VET. The conclusion can be drawn that the various pitfalls have received attention during the design and implementation of CBE, but not all problems have been solved yet. The article provides clues as to how the various pitfalls might be further addressed in the future to improve the quality of competence‐based VET.

Authentic assessment, student and teacher perceptions: the practical value of the five‐dimensional framework

This study focused on determining the facets of assessment authenticity by exploring the perceptions of both students and teachers of vocational education and training. It elaborates on a theoretical five‐dimensional framework (5DF) that differentiates between five dimensions and several sub‐elements of authenticity. This framework led to the development of a questionnaire for examining if the facets of the 5DF are recognised by students and teachers in practice. Reliability and factor analysis as well as readability scores were used. Teachers recognised both the dimensions and the sub‐elements as facets that determine assessment authenticity. In the eyes of the students, four of the five dimensions (task, physical context, form and result/criteria) determine authenticity, while students do not perceive the social context as a characteristic of assessment authenticity, nor do they differentiate the several sub‐elements. Implications for using the 5DF to develop or evaluate authentic assessments are discussed.

Authenticity is in the eye of the beholder: student and teacher perceptions of assessment authenticity

In vocational education and training (VET) in the Netherlands, learning and working are integrated from the start. Authentic assessments are used during competence‐based VET curricula to achieve correspondence between learning and working. The premise behind this study is that authenticity is subjective and that perceptions of assessment authenticity influence student learning for the assessments. It examines whether students and teachers differ in their perceptions of the authenticity of various assessment characteristics. Subsequently this study investigates whether freshman and senior students, who differ in their amount of practical experience, differ in their perceptions of assessment authenticity. The main findings were that teachers rated most assessment characteristics as more authentic than students did, while freshman and senior students did not differ in their perception of authenticity. Implications deal with communicating about and developing authentic assessment in the eyes of both students and teachers to stimulate students’ professional skills development during a VET curriculum

Moving beyond traditional measures of entrepreneurial intentions in a study among life‐sciences students in the Netherlands

The rationale behind this study is that entrepreneurship education programmes (EEP) in post‐compulsory education mainly address entrepreneurial intentions, instead of actual entrepreneurial behaviour, and that students, compared to practicing entrepreneurs, might have a wide range of entrepreneurial intentions when entering such a programme. The question is whether or not students indeed have different entrepreneurial intentions and, if so, whether it is possible to predict these intentions based on various classical antecedents known to influence these intentions. A quantitative study among 102 life‐sciences students was carried out in order to investigate this question. The results show that students, independent of their domain of study, differentiate between different types of entrepreneurial intentions. Furthermore, the results illustrate that gender and entrepreneurial self‐efficacy have a direct influence on entrepreneurial intentions. However, the effect of gender depended on the type of entrepreneurial intentions studied. As EEP aim to increase entrepreneurship not only as a start‐up activity but also more generally in the world of work, the outcomes of this study suggest that it is fruitful for such programmes to rethink the way they operationalise, approach and aim to stimulate entrepreneurial behaviour of students.

Show me your network and I'll tell you who you are: social competence and social capital of early-stage entrepreneurs

Recognizing that detailed work on social competence in the context of early entrepreneurial processes is still scarce and, at the same time, building further on existing work, we investigated how and to what extent social competence influences social capital among students with latent entrepreneurial ambitions. For this purpose, an empirical study was carried out among 131 Masters students following a university entrepreneurship education programme. Hierarchal regression analysis showed that social competence, as a composite variable, had a significant effect on the social capital of early-stage entrepreneurs. In particular, social competence directly influenced (structural) aspects of social capital, namely the number of people the early-stage entrepreneur had access to via strong and weak links, as well as the range of occupations these people represented. Thus, social competence increased not only the number of ties (either strong or weak), but also the range of occupations the entrepreneur had access to. Additional analyses – adding social competence as five separate underlying social skills – showed a more differentiated picture, suggesting that the whole (e.g. social competence) is more than the sum of its parts (e.g. the individual skills). The outcomes of this research contribute to the scientific literature concerning the role and impact of social competence on social capital in general, and entrepreneurial networking in particular. Furthermore, it provides the first stepping-stones for social competence development in entrepreneurship education programmes.

Exploring the Validity and Robustness of a Competency Self-Report Instrument for Vocational and Higher Competence-Based Education

Research on the effectiveness of competence-based education (CB-education) across educational contexts and levels requires a new evaluation measurement. This study explores the face validity, construct validity, and robustness of a competency self-report instrument that is aligned with contemporary competence theory and with current educational practice based on CB-qualification frameworks. A pilot study showed face validity of the competency constructs and indicators according to students from various levels in tertiary education. The results of the principal components analyses and parallel analyses, using data from 351 secondary vocational education and academic students, show more construct validity and robustness for competency constructs that are concrete and easy to relate to specific situations (e.g., “applying expertise”) compared with the abstract competencies (e.g., “deciding and initiating”). This article sets out implications for designing and administrating uniform competency self-reports across educational levels and discusses suggestions for subsequent research.

Characteristics of Hands-On Simulations with Added Value for Innovative Secondary and Higher Vocational Education.

The intentions with which hands-on simulations are used in vocational education are not always clear. Also, pedagogical-didactic approaches in hands-on simulations are not well conceptualised from a learning theory perspective. This makes it difficult to pinpoint the added value that hands-on simulations can have in an innovative vocational curriculum that not only aims at developing technical and procedural skills, but also at developing competencies and professional identity. This paper introduces a more explicit conceptual discussion regarding the opportunities for using hands-on simulations in innovative curricula. A systematic literature review aimed at positioning hands-on simulations in relation to other work-related contexts, based on their learning environment characteristics and outcomes, shows that certain constructivist characteristics and outcomes are underexposed in empirical research about simulations. The results of an additional in-depth analysis of literature specifically focusing on two fundamental characteristics of constructive vocational learning (i.e. authenticity and increasing students’ ownership) propose ideas about how hands-on simulations can have added value to innovative curricula. This paper concludes with concrete strategies for designing and implementing hands-on simulations from the social constructive learning theory with the aim of stimulating not only technical and procedural skills, but also competencies and professional identity.