First week at The University of Eastern Finland
One of the first things I noticed at the University of Eastern Finland is how highly prioritised assessment is. The lecturers made it clear on our first meeting that they found it very important for the quality of their teaching that we remembered to give them feedback on their lectures and courses. One could think that they ask for feedback but that it does not have any consequences on future teaching - but this is not the case here.
Both lecturers and students pointed out changes that had been made in the organisation and content of the courses since last semester.
All organisations at the University have exclusive sections where students can evaluate the teaching and their experiences from courses, meetings with lecturers, tutors and teachers, library services, practice placement, etc.
As far as I can tell, the feedback is most often given in writing and can be directly sent to the head of the organisation or to the people who the feedback is minded at.
One striking difference from the (negative) feedback at my home university in Denmark, is that the (negative) feedback is not shown in public but is always directed at the people who it was intended to and who can do something about it. At the University of Eastern Finland they don't have any public forums on the University's intranet where students and lecturers can comment on issues at the University.
In the Orientation Program, the students (me inclusive) were asked to comment on and evaluate their first meeting with the University and the cooperation with the tutors. I do not know what the other exchange students had to say about the organisation of their study program and the practical things for their stay in Joensuu, but my own experence was above my expectations and I could my self not find anything that I would want differently. Since my experience was this good, I have a hard time imagining that other exchange students might have had major difficulties and therefore I found it both veird and interesting that the International Coordinator formulated the question as if they expected negative feedback on this exact issue.
I can of course not make any conclusions based on my assumptions since I still have not asked the international coordinator - or others in charge - what thoughts they had behind the question and which answers they got (or usually get).
Third week at The University of Eastern Finland
During my observation lessons (5 lessons) at the University's public school, I noticed that the teachers went through the pupils' homework by showing them the right answers to the assignments. The pupils then corrected the assignments themselves.
The pupils were welcome to ask for clarifications if they did not understand why they had some wrong answers.
- Freedom and responsibility in assessment. What learning is actually taking place? Are the pupils capable of having the responsibility of assessing themselves in grade 4 and 6?
I will know more when I have experienced more....
The pupils will be tested in English in 1-2 weeks from now and I look forward to learn more about the structure and organisation of the tests, thoughts behind them, and results from the tests.
Fourth Week at The University of Eastern Finland
..has just started.
Yesterday I observed four lessons in three different classrooms and especially one thing caught my interest. This was during a duble lesson in Crafts where 12 4th graders were finalising a project. They were making wooden "instruments" to put hangers on and it was very amusing for me to see the effort they put in to doing a good job and working on the details of their product.
I was wondering why the pupils actually wanted to do a good job and not just have fun and be intertained during crafts and I think I found one possible answer to this question at the end of the lesson when the pupils were waiting for the paint to dry.
They all spent around 10 minutes on filling in an individual evaluation sheet, then went to get their product and finally waited in a line outside a see-through-room in the craft's classroom where the teacher gave them personal, oral feedback behind closed doors. When the pupils had gotten their feedback all pupils except two went for recess. The two pupils had some constructional mistakes in their products that had to be corrected for the instrument to work properly and the teacher helped them out before they also left for recess.
Unfortunately the teacher did not have time to explain me more about this method of evaluation, but I will try to find someone who can.
