New Technology! New Approaches!

The workshop was delivered by Liam Campbell, European and External Funding Coordinator, SQA and David McCormick, Support Materials Officer, SQA. Tony Gurney from Ayr College and Robin McGee from Central College of Commerce were also invited give a first-hand account of their experiences of developing some of these materials.  Participants in each session included practitioners, quality managers, SQA contacts and senior managers within colleges.

The first part of the workshop took the format of a presentation which included:

• Background information on the ESF funded Modernising Scottish Higher National Provision (MSHNP) project 
• An overview of the variety of materials produced including e-assessments, web-based learning materials and Teaching and Learning packs. 
• Instructions on how the resource list of materials produced can be accessed via the SQA European funded pages of the website. 
• Instructions on where all the materials are available for download from the SQA Secure site.

The second part of the workshop included presentations from Tony and Robin on their experience in the development of web-based learning materials and paper based candidate packs. Participants welcomed the production of these resources and congratulated SQA on its achievement.

However, this part of the session also stimulated debate and participants raised the following points:

• How could the model be sustained given that the project was almost entirely funded from external sources?
• The developments had only been possible because staff from the Further Education sector had devoted a considerable amount of their own time and effort to producing the resources. It was suggested a better model would be for staff to be released to SQA during normal working hours to develop materials rather than them doing this in addition to their full-time college post.  
• There was some concern that those delivering HN qualifications would not have the opportunity to hear about the range of resources that were available.  SQA staff informed the group that they were available to deliver workshops at individual centres as and when required to ensure practitioners are fully aware of the resources available.  
• Tony and Robin both recognised the role SQA had played in funding the production of these materials and how it had a positive impact on Teaching and Learning within their individual qualifications.

Liam closed the session by informing the group that there was additional ESF funding available to continue development until the end of the year and asked them to influence what resources should be developed by completing and submitting an ‘ideas’ card to SQA staff.

The presentation for this workshop can be downloaded below:

Workshop Downloads and Links

• Workshop 8 - Technology Supported Learning  

Information on the MSHNP Project can downloaded here Put in link to SQA European Funded Project.

Learner Impact

Graeme Clark, SOLAR Project Manager, SQA facilitated a wide and varied round-table discussion with representatives from universities, SQA, and senior managers in colleges.

Graeme set the scene by saying that in an age when everything was learner focussed (learner-centred facilities, learner-focussed teaching methods and college learner-centric ICT infrastructures) it was appropriate to consider whether the learner was actually key to the implementation and use of e-assessment within Scottish FE. 

Under the broad banner ‘e-assessment – how can we impact on the learner and does it really matter anyway?’, Graeme asked participants to consider four questions.  These were:

• What approaches would be the most effective in demonstrating and measuring impact on learners by the use of technology in learning particularly in the area of assessment (e-assessment)?
• Is the use of technology as much about maintaining level of provision to learners as it is about improvement? 
• What benefits/challenges should be focused on when discussing the “case for e-assessment use” 
• What role do organisations like SQA have in this area?

It was suggested that student retention was a good measure of a learner’s satisfaction and enjoyment of a course. Participants then moved on to identify real benefits to colleges and organisations from using e-assessment approaches.  These included the opportunity for efficiency savings in marking and reduced verification processes and increased flexibility in the delivery and support of learning.  It was also felt that some learners now saw the use of paper as alien - using technology was becoming the norm in their everyday life so why not in learning and assessment.

Another key measure suggested was student achievement although there was disagreement on what this meant.  There was also a concern that improvement in achievement might imply that using e-assessment technologies and approaches was making assessment easier.  It was acknowledged, however, that current assessment approaches and methods were not necessarily the best way to measure students’ knowledge and skills.

The discussion then moved on to SQA’s role in this era of technology-based learning and assessment.  There was general enthusiasm for the approaches currently taken by SQA with participants encouraging SQA to take a leadership role in the area of e-assessment.

Overall the workshop participants left enthused about the use of technology in assessment and with a clear idea of  how their organisation could maximise its use for the benefit of their staff and ultimately their learners, through an active and engaging partnership with SQA.

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