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Author Dobson, Stephen, 1963- author.

Title Assessing the viva in higher education : chasing moments of truth / Stephen Dobson
Published Cham, Switzerland : Springer, [2018]

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Description 1 online resource
Series The enabling power of assessment ; volume 6
Enabling power of assessment ; v. 6.
Contents Acknowledgements; Contents; Introduction; The Etymology of the Viva; The Life and Death of the Viva; Validity; Theorising the Viva; 1 The Life and Death of the Viva; Abstract; Typology or Genealogy?; The Viva in the Time of the Greeks and Greco-Romans; The Death of the Viva as Public Disputation; The Rebirth of the Viva in the Middle Ages; The Viva in Modern Times; The Contemporary Debate on the Viva; The Postmodern Viva; Foregrounding Debate on the Future of the Academic and Professional Viva; References; 2 The Global Under-Theorisation of the Viva; Abstract; The Professional Viva
The Academic Doctoral VivaComparing the Research Frames for the Professional Viva and the Academic Doctoral Viva; Researcher Frames on the Viva in North America and Non-English-Speaking Countries; Summary; References; 3 A Method to Theorise and Investigate the Social Practice of the Viva; Abstract; The Viva as a Functional Event; The Viva as a Social Practice; The Viva as an Existential Experience; Methodology; A Qualitative Approach; Selecting the Vivas to be Filmed and Generalisation; Transcription; Analysis of the Empirical Data: Stage 1; Analysis of the Empirical Data: Stage 2
Analysis of the Empirical Data: Stage 3Summary; References; 4 The Master Degree Viva 'Talked into Being'; Abstract; What Evidence Was There of Language Games?; Why Bother with Conversation Analysis?; The Coordination of Talk with Tools and Corporeal Movements; Narratives in the Final Stage of the Analysis; Extrinsic Narratives in Different Phases of the Viva; Summary; References; 5 Challenging the Genre of the Doctoral Viva; Abstract; Clarifying the Research Design; What Have You Learnt?; Challenging the Ontological Space of the Doctoral Viva
The Relationship Between the Textual Dissertation and Its Defence in a VivaReconceptualising the Ontological Space of Being of the Dissertation and Viva; Summary of the Chapter; References; 6 A Validity Argument for the Social Practice of the Viva; Abstract; A Short Exegesis on the Theory of Assessment Validation; Theoretical Rationales as Constructs; Generalisability and Construct Validity; Values; Social and Personal Consequences; Operationalising Messick Towards a Validity Argument for the Viva; Judgments; What Goes on When Judgments Are Made?
Can We Say in More Detail What Is Taking Place When Examiners in the Viva Make Their Judgments?A Validity Argument for the Viva; References; 7 Refining the Validity Argument Model: Examples from Bachelor and Master Degree Vivas; Abstract; Refining the Validity Argument Model: Some Preliminary Points; Case 1: A Travel and Tourism Viva; Case II: The Major in Education; Case III: The Postgraduate Viva in Education; Refining the Validity Argument Model of the Viva as a Social Practice; References; 8 (Re- )Theorising the Viva; Abstract; Questions; Theorising the Viva; Core Concepts; Social Practice
Summary This book makes the case for a revival in interest in the viva. As an oral assessment of a treatise or dissertation or of a student's performance in art or dance the viva has a long history dating back to the time of the Greeks. It can be found today in the form of professional, vocational and academic vivas, where a judgment of oral performance is required to gain entry into a profession or community of scholars. In a time when there are scandals about students selling essays to other students, the viva provides a fertile ground for probing the student to see whether they are in fact the authors of the work being assessed and know its content and how to think cognitively or otherwise. Given that we actually know so little about the viva, the book theorises the viva based on a unique sample of vivas that have been filmed or in which the author himself has been participant, and discusses why its format is so different in Anglo-Saxon languages and Latin and other languages. The book offers educational policy-makers and examiners a trade-off between arguments in support of the viva and the demand for other, ever more cost-effective forms of assessment as the numbers of both undergraduate and postgraduate students threaten to increase. It also argues that with demand in the labour market for qualified graduates who are better equipped with transferable skills, such as the ability to communicate complex ideas verbally in a competent, well-argued fashion and not merely through the use of rhetoric, what appear to be cost-effective forms of assessment in the short run (e.g. written exams with standardised questions or multiple choice) may actually in the long run be of less value if we are investing in a future workforce with so-called 21st century communication skills. If the viva were abandoned, the student would be robbed of the opportunity to stage a defence
Bibliography Includes bibliographical references
Notes Online resource; title from PDF title page (EBSCO, viewed September 13, 2017)
Subject Education, Higher -- Evaluation
EDUCATION -- Higher.
Education, Higher -- Evaluation
Form Electronic book
ISBN 9783319640167
331964016X