Questioning Questions

On Thursday 23 November 2017 we hosted a one-day conference in London.

View videos of the presentations #CamEdLive

How can assessment be used to drive effective learning? Effective questioning is fundamental to the quality of teaching, learning and assessment, whether questions are posed in a classroom, in an examination hall or mediated through technology in a test centre. What is the correct balance between preparing for summative assessment and using formative assessment to secure deep learning?  What are the best kinds of questions to ask and what are the best kinds of answers to elicit? Does using summative exam questions for formative assessment work? 

As Michael O’Sullivan, Chief Executive of Cambridge Assessment International Education, told the world's education ministers, gathered at the Education World Forum in January this year, good assessment should not be just about measuring what students know. “Good assessment is at the heart of a good education,” said Michael. “And for assessment to work well, the questions used to test students’ understanding need to have been designed well. This is true for both formative assessment – the questions that teachers ask every day in the classroom – and for summative assessment – the end-of-year tests and public exams.” Read more.

To help unpick the issues surrounding the debate we are delighted to be joined, alongside researchers from across the Group, by Professor Bill Lucas, Director of the Centre for Real-World Learning and Professor of Learning at the University of Winchester, and No More Marking's Director of Education Daisy Christodoulou. 

This one-day conference is designed to stimulate debate about the importance of effective questioning. It is primarily for those involved in setting and influencing education policy in the UK and around the world, school leaders who are responsible for delivering the curriculum, and those interested in the education research and the issues being discussed.

Agenda 

Morning sessions

The importance of question design in education - Michael O’Sullivan, Chief Executive, Cambridge Assessment International Education

A framework for exploring ‘rich’ questions in different contexts - Simon Child and Martin Johnson, Assessment Research and Development, Cambridge Assessment

Issues in question design: research into examination questions - Victoria Crisp, Assessment Research and Development, Cambridge Assessment

Tests, tasks and technology - Dr Evelina Galaczi, Head of Research Strategy, Cambridge Assessment English

Afternoon sessions

Global Classroom Perspective - Lucy Crehan, Education Explorer and International Education Consultant

As seen from another angle – crowd sourcing questions - Simon Peyton Jones, Principal Researcher, Microsoft Research

Re-claiming formative assessment - Daisy Christodoulou, Director of Education, No More Marking

Harnessing the power of curiosity: using questions to drive learning habits - Professor Bill Lucas, Director, Centre for Real-World Learning and Professor of Learning, University of Winchester

Floor opened up for debate of the issues - Chaired by Bene't Steinberg, Group Director Public Affairs, Cambridge Assessment

Answering the questions - Simon Lebus, Group Chief Executive, Cambridge Assessment