The “International Junior Faculty Research Conference" (IJFRC) took place at the Humboldt University of Berlin from 5th to 8th December 2018. The conference brought together young researchers from the field of modeling and measuring competencies and learning outcomes in higher education. Young researchers from the KoKoHs program and international researchers from the field of assessing academic competencies had the possibility to meet up at the IJFRC. The young researchers presented their own current research, and generated and worked together on joint international research projects.
More than 40 researchers participated in the conference during the three days. On the first day, after a round of introduction, short inputs from the field of education research were given by the international IJFRC participants. After the coffee break, interdisciplinary working groups were formed and started to work on joint projects. In the evening, in a first keynote and succeeding workshop by Dr. Heidi Hyytinen (University of Helsinki) with the focus on “Computer-based Performance Assessment in Higher Education” took place. The second day started with two presentations by Dr. Harrison J. Kell and Dr. Lin Gu (Educational Testing Service) on “Innovative Assessment of Student Learning Outcomes in Higher Education and Predicting Real-World Outcomes”. In the afternoon, four keynotes gave valuable advice on “The Integration of Teaching, Learning and Assessment: A Design-Based Approach” (Prof. James Pellegrino, University of Illinois), “Measuring Tertiary Students' Higher-order Reasoning Capabilities: Implications for Higher Education Policies and Practices” (Prof. Patricia Alexander, University of Maryland), “Large Scale and Cross-national Assessment of Students’ Skills in Higher Education” (Dr. Lydia Liu, Educational Testing Service) and “Intelligent Learning Technologies for Fostering Student Learning in Higher Education” (Dr. Vinay Chaudhri, Stanford University). The day was concluded with the groups working on the projects under the supervision of experienced researchers. The conference ended on the third day with the working groups presenting their project results.
The meeting offered the possibility for the participants to discuss their research intensively in small groups, establish new collaborations, and develop joint research projects with the guidance of experienced researchers.
We would like to thank the experts, peer counselors and all international and national participants for their inspiring contributions which made this conference an outstanding event!