Roundtable Discussion and Interdisciplinary Colloquium for Young Researchers (2016)

Second KoKoHs Roundtable Discussion and Interdisciplinary Colloquium for Young Researchers on the 18th and 19th October 2016 in Mainz

In April 2016, the opening conference of the new BMBF funded research program “Modeling and Measuring Competencies in Higher Education – Validation and Methodological Innovations (KoKoHs)”, took place in Berlin. Now the second KoKoHs Roundtable Discussion and Interdisciplinary Colloquium for Young Researchers took place on the 18th and 19th October 2016 at the Johannes Gutenberg-University (JGU).

Prof. Dr. Olga Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia, head of KoKoHs scientific transfer project in Mainz, opened the conference by welcoming roughly 100 participants as well as renowned international guests in the Alte Mensa building of JGU.

Directly after that Prof. Dr. Jacqueline Leighton from the Department of Educational Psychology at the University of Alberta gave the keynote speech of the first day. Her presentation titled „Integrity of Interview Methods & Evidence to Measure Response Processing for Validation“ was a prelude for a lively discussion in the course of which all KoKoHs project groups presented their validation concepts. In follow-up discussion rounds moderated by renowned national and international cooperation partners of the research program the projects had the opportunity for exchange on various ideas, concepts and methods related to the subject matter of validation.

The second conference day was opened with the keynote on “Analysis of Data from PIAAC: Preliminary Findings and Methodological Considerations“ by Prof. Dr. Henry Braun from Lynch School of Education at Boston College.

It was followed by a lively and constructive project-internal discussion on future steps and joint publication projects, moderated by Prof. Dr. Olga Zlatkin-Troitschanskaia and Prof. Dr. Hans Anand Pant.

A highlight for the young researchers was the speed-coaching with renowned national and international experts. In one-on-one discussions, the young researchers gained stimulating impulses while introducing their individual research and dissertation projects.

The Interdisciplinary Colloquium for Young Researchers was intended for mutual acquaintance and direct exchange between the project groups’ young researchers in order to discuss future opportunities for collaboration as well as optimization possibilities.