Major success: International SIG meeting 8 March 2021
Online seminar on competence development from lab work and fieldwork in university settings.
The third meeting in the DUN SIG 'Laboratory and Fieldwork Learning' was an online meeting hosted by the IQ-Lab group/ University of Copenhagen and centred around competence development from lab work and fieldwork. This was the first meeting open to international participants.
Around 40 participants from Danish and international institutions in higher education contributed to lively discussions about the learning outcomes associated with learning in laboratory work and fieldwork in university settings.
Based on a recent systematic review, Hendra Agustian and Maja Ingerslev Pedersen (University of Copenhagen) described what research tells us about outcomes of laboratory learning.
Following, two international scholars – Marcy Towns (Purdue University) and Alan Marvell (University of Gloucestershire) provided perspectives on aspects of competence development in lab work and fieldwork: Marcy Towns introduced the concept of ‘digital badging’ – an assessment tool for lab skills. Alan Marwell presented a study of emotional geographies and students’ reflections on their own learning experiences when doing fieldwork.
During breakout sessions and plenum discussions, the participants also shared their experiences in relation to e.g. various aspects on assessment of students’ skills and competences and how reflection could be implemented as a more common concept in traditional chemistry lab work.
In the final panel debate, a group of experts, among them Avi Hofstein, discussed the function and potentials of lab work and fieldwork in higher education settings in dialogue with the participants.
Overall, the seminar showed that a continuous discussion of lab teaching and fieldwork in general is of great interest nationally as well as internationally.
Thank you to all the participants, presenters and chairs for an inspiring afternoon.
If you would like to learn more about the SIG meeting, view the programme, or require the presentation slides, please contact iqlab@sund.ku.dk.