C-T8 Engaging with Assessment, Evaluation and Examination research and community: a learning journey as an AEE researcher
Coordinators of ICO themegroup 8 “Assessment, Evaluation and Examination”
- Judith Gulikers, Wageningen University
- Liesbeth Baartman, Hogeschool Utrecht / Maastricht University
- Petra Kroon (PhD, coordinator)
Engaging with the Assessment, Evaluation and Examination (AEE) Research & Community
Are you conducting PhD research on assessment, evaluation or examination (AEE) or interested in these topics? Would you like to broaden your perspective, strengthen your research, and become part of a community of AEE scholars?
This flexible two-year ICO course is designed to support your development as an Assessment, Evaluation and Examination (AEE) researcher. Rather than following a traditional course structure, this course offers flexibility and variety. Through a combination of online masterclasses, peer intervision sessions, and an annual face-to-face meeting, you will engage with leading researchers as well with your PhD peers, discuss cutting-edge AEE research, and present, discuss and critically reflect on your own work. Throughout the programme, you will engage with a variety of assignments and develop a Learning Journey Portfolio that captures your growth, learning, and emerging identity as an AEE researcher.
You can start at any time (though the “starting meeting Nov 4rd” is a natural start). Within the requirements of the course, you put together your own trajectory from a varied program that combines different types of sessions – masterclasses, intervision sessions and the annual face-to-face day.
If you are interested, please send an email to the Theme group coordinators and ICO secretariat: Judith.gulikers@wur.nl ; Liesbeth.Baartman@hu.nl (coordinators); p.m.d.koorn@pl.hanze.nl (PhD coordinator); c.vonk@uu.nl.
Judith or Liesbeth will contact you for a short online intake session to discuss the course and your motives/goals and questions.
The course in short:
This is a flexible course – with mostly online sessions of diverse formats – and one f2f meeting in which PhDs are engaging with each other, with the wider AEE community, with recent AEE content and their own PhD project.
After an individual intake the course will offer online “intervision” sessions amongst the PhD participants, masterclasses given by ICO theme group 8 fellows (open to all ICO members), a yearly f2f session amongst PhDs focused on presenting and discussing their work and community building, in between activities and working towards a portfolio reflecting your learning journey as an assessment researcher and AEE member.
Within 2 years time, PhDs can flexibly attend sessions of this course, providing they fulfill the requirements regarding diversity of activities.
Learning outcomes
- Get (more) integrated into the community of education researchers in the Netherlands, with a focus on assessment, evaluation, and examination (AEE).
- Critically reflect on one’s own research and its position within the field of AEE research and (when appropriate) consider new perspectives and ideas.
- Engage with recent research papers in the field of AEE.
- Broaden understanding of / perspective on the AEE field, widen their own research area.
- Critically review and discuss recent AEE papers in terms of theoretical embedding, and methodological approaches.
- Identify collaboration opportunities (e.g., collaborative symposia, analyzing data, peer learning etc.)
- Ask better feedback questions (as feedback is a key topic of AEE).
- Developing ideas on future research for AEE.
Table 1. course schedule, type of sessions, preparations and related assignments
| Date | Time & place | Type of session | Facilitators | More info on the session + related assignment ** | Preparations |
| To be scheduled individually | To be scheduled individually | One on one talk intake session to start up the course ONLINE | Individual talk with either Judith or Liesbeth | Getting to know each other and the course | Reading the course guide What do you want to learn? Why do you take this course? Any plans/questions regarding the course? |
| Nov 4th 2026 | 15.30-16.30 | Theme group meeting ONLINE | ICO theme group 8 coordinators | Theme group coordinators share their work Opportunity to share and ask questions | None |
| Last week of Nov | To be decided by the presenter | Masterclass by ICO theme group fellow (ONLINE, PRESENTER AND TOPIC TO BE ANNOUNCED) | (at least one) of the theme group coordinators | 30 min presentation, 30 min interaction Assignment 6 | Decided by the presenter |
| Jan 22h 2027 | 10.30 – 15.30 (Face to face meeting; Utrecht Science park Minnaert Building) | Full day f2f meeting: Your PhD workCommunity buildingcontent activity | All three theme group coordinators | All PhD’s present and discuss their PhD project and their mood board (see assignment 1) community building + a content related activity Assignment 1&2 Ideas on assignment 7 will be discussed | Assignment 1 and 2: Presentation + discussion of your own PhD work Mood board |
| Last week of January | To be decided by the presenter | Masterclass by ICO theme group fellow (ONLINE, PRESENTER AND TOPIC TO BE ANNOUNCED) | (at least one) of the theme group coordinators | 30 min presentation, 30 min interaction Assignment 6 | Decided by the presenter |
| April 5th 2027 | 15.30-17.00 | PhD intervision session | (at least one) of the theme group coordinators + prepared together with 2 participating PhD’s | See set up in course guide Assignment 3 & 5 | AEE paper that will be discussed (1 or 2) |
| Second week of April 2027 | To be decided by the presenter | Masterclass by ICO theme group fellow (ONLINE, PRESENTER AND TOPIC TO BE ANNOUNCED) | (at least one) of the theme group coordinators | 30 min presentation, 30 min interaction Assignment 6 | Decided by the presenter |
| Tuesday May 25th | 15.00-16.00 Online | Masterclass by ICO theme group fellow Prof. Kim Schildkamp (UT) Measuring Data and AI literatcy | (at least one) of the theme group coordinators | 30 min presentation, 30 min interaction Data- and AI-literacy (AID) are core competences in today’s society. To be able to support data- and AI-literacy of educational professionals and students, we first need to have a clear conceptualization. Next, we need to be able to measure the current levels of AID. In this session, drawing on a Npuls project (Onderwijs dat klaar is voor de toekomst | Npuls) and a NKO project, we will discuss frameworks for AID, as well as possible measurement instruments (e.g., surveys, assessments), including advantages and disadvantages of different measurement instruments. Assignment 6 | Decided by the presenter |
| June 8th 2027 | 15.30-17.00 | PhD intervision session | (at least one) of the theme group coordinators + prepared together with 2 participating PhD’s | See set up in course guide Assignment 3 & 5 | AEE paper that will be discussed (1 or 2) |
** Assignment 4 (interview a senior AEE scholar) is done in your own time ; Assignment 7 is ongoing (learning portfolio) and builds on assignment 1-5 to finalise this PhD course.
For the full details of the course, download the Course Manual: https://ico-education.nl/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Course-Manual-2026-T8-AEE_Masterclass-set-up-schedule-and-assignments_final-sept-2026.docx