Justifying, contextualising and operationalising performance indicators of learning and teaching: the role of theories and practice of learning and teaching

ABSTRACT

The paper characterises the learning and teaching process with a focus on higher education and describes the basics of contemporary theories of learning and teaching. Against this conceptual background, the interweaving of performance indicators and theories and practice of learning and teaching is analysed. For a small, selected number of exemplary performance indicators, it is shown that they are justified by theories and practice of learning and teaching. The justification link between indicators and theories of learning and teaching is usually not a straightforward relation but a complicated material inference that is multifactorial on both sides, the premises and the conclusions of the inference. The analysis contributes to improve the understanding of the epistemological justification of performance indicators of learning and teaching.

KEYWORDS:

• Higher education
• learning competences
• performance indicators in learning and teaching
• teaching competences
• theories of learning and teaching

Acknowledgments

The author would like to thank the European Commission (EC) for co-funding the Erasmus+ project SQELT (grant no. 2017-1-DE01-KA203-003527). However, the EC support for producing this publication does not constitute an endorsement of the contents, which reflect the views only of the author, and neither the EC nor the project’s national funding agency DAAD can be held responsible for any use which may be made of the information contained therein.

Disclosure statement

No potential conflict of interest was reported by the author.