Conference Program

The aim of this contribution is to present the evaluation questionnaire developed for the pedagogy laboratory offered within the Early Childhood curriculum of the Bachelor’s Degree in Education and Training Sciences at eCampus University. It is situated within contemporary debates on the democratization of online higher education, with the goal of examining how assessment practices can be reconfigured as infrastructures of participation capable of fostering inclusive, collaborative, and sustainable academic cultures. Indeed, the research explores evaluation as a counter-narrative practice grounded in care, reflexivity, and the shared responsibility of educators and students.

The tool, approved by the coordinator of the Bachelor’s progamme (L-19) was designed to monitor and enhance the quality of learning in Early Childhood Pedagogy laboratories. The laboratory is conceived as a context in which experiential practice, collaborative inquiry, and critical reflection are central to the preparation of future educators (Mortari, 2017), and in which the co-construction of the learning environment can actively take place, thereby redistributing epistemic agency within online higher education.

The questionnaire comprises three sections. The first is a demographic and contextual section that supports a more accurate interpretation of students’ responses. The second section focused on investigating the relationship between theory and practice (analyse curricular coherence, teaching quality, the development of theoretical and practical competences, the value of collaborative work, and the professional engagement of the laboratory activities). The third section is dedicated to the online laboratory experience, exploring digital students’ perceptions, and the potential of digital setting for experiential learning (work relational dynamics, development of an inclusivity attitude, and the potential of digitally mediated environments for experiential learning).

In addition, the tool includes an open-ended question that allows for the collection of qualitative insights and suggestions. The thematic analysis conducted on these responses allows for an examination of the relevance of narrative practice work (Braun, Clarke, 2022), a premise that positions students not merely as respondents but as co-interpreters of educational processes.

The design of the tool draws on models for evaluating university laboratory settings, such as the Laboratory Evaluation Questionnaire (QVL) developed for Primary Teacher Education by Felisatti et al. (2021), and aligns with broader evaluation approaches that promote quality, transparency, and student participation (Trinchero, 2013).

The evaluation is framed as dialogic and formative; it strengthens students’ relational, reflective, and socio-emotional competences, contributing to the development of life skills essential for participatory and reflexive democratic agency. At the same time, the guidance function provided by a professor through timely feedback can be considered a crucial factor in ensuring the legitimacy and sustainability of didactic practices and in fostering a deep and continuous teaching and learning process.

The study contributes to reimagining university agency as an ecosystem of democratic practice, and the expected outcomes of the research conceptualize assessment as a form of infrastructuring. These analytic results can generate evidence to inform the continuous improvement of online laboratory activities and to strengthen a participatory evaluation model capable of supporting the professional development of future educators.