E-assessment

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SQA believes that e-assessment will play an increasingly important role in supporting delivery of our qualifications. We believe that e-assessment offers significant benefits to SQA, centres and in particular the candidates that take our qualifications.

Building on the pilot and research activity that we have undertaken, we are now making plans to increase the availability of e-assessment to centres.

For more information about e-assessment please select from the following links:


Research Bulletin 32: Delivering and Assessing Learning on Mobile Devices

Findings of a small-scale pilot project undertaken by the Scottish Qualifications Authority to take a preliminary look at the prospects for using mobile devices, such as mobile phones and smartphones, for the delivery and assessment of learning.


SOLAR White Paper

The Solar Project is an important e-assessment development project for the Scottish Qualifications Authority and Scotland's colleges. This White Paper gives information on how the project has developed so far and how we see it moving forward.


SQA's Vision and Strategy for E-assessment

Following a consultation exercise earlier this year, we are now pleased to re-launch our Vision and Strategy for E-assessment. First published in March 2005, this document aims to set out clearly our priorities for this area of work and the likely implications for SQA and its various stakeholder groups.

As we hoped the consultation did not suggest that any radical revision of the text was required. However a number of issues were highlighted in the responses, including a reminder of the need for SQA to take full account of the preparedness of our many centres to meet the challenges of delivering e-assessment. The text has been amended to give greater prominence to some of these issues and the opportunity taken to update the document generally in terms of e-assessment activity both within and outwith SQA.


E-assessment: Guide to Effective Practice

The four organisations which regulate qualifications in the UK - the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), DELLS (Wales), CCEA (Northern Ireland) and SQA - have collaborated to develop a publication, E-assessment: Guide to Effective Practice. The guide covers two key aspects of e-assessment: the management and delivery of e-testing and the use of e-portfolios for assessment.

Regulatory Principles for E-assessment

SQA, QCA, DELLS and CCEA also collaborated to produce Regulatory Principles for E-assessment, intended to encourage innovative practice and also to enhance the quality assurance of e-assessment.

Assessment 2.0

There's been a lot of buzz around 'Web 2.0' - the 'second version' of the World Wide Web - and SQA has been exploring the potential of Web 2.0 for student assessment. Web services such as Flickr, Blogger and Wikipedia have great potential as sources of candidate evidence and Futurelab recently published a paper entitled 'Assessment 2.0' which describes our findings.


Computer Assisted Assessment Case Studies GRAPHIC: PDF Icon.

E-assessments have been piloted in various centres throughout Scotland - primary schools, secondary schools and colleges. This piloting has involved a variety of approaches and delivery methods. These Case Studies describe some of these pilots from various perspectives - teachers, Verifiers, Chief Invigilators and learners.


Computer Assisted Assessment Resources for Centres

We have issued centres with a pack of CAA resources containing:

  • a DVD outlining some of SQA’s e-assessment activities and emphasising our intention to increase the availability of e-assessments in future
  • the final report of the Pass-IT e-assessment research project
  • e-assessment case studies, describing some of the pilots SQA carried out as part of Pass-IT and 5-14 assessment
  • information about a new glossary of e-assessment terms, which SQA has contributed to, and how to access this

CAA packs for schools and Education Authorities also contain SQA Guidelines on e-assessment for Schools, mirroring a publication provided for colleges in 2003, SQA Guidelines on Online Assessment for Further Education. Enquires relating to the pack should be directed to Campbell White, CAA Centre Liaison Manager. E-mail: campbell.white@sqa.org.uk GRAPHIC: email icon.

Extending Access to NQ Assessments

The Pass-IT online assessment research project, in which e-assessments were created and piloted, finished in December 2004. Access to some National Qualification e-assessments (eNABs) was extended to a limited number of centres for the period to June 2005. The access was further extended for the session 2005/06. The full report evaluating this access to eNABs, as well as a summary of the evaluation are available.

Online Assessment Guidance Group

In February 2005 SQA surveyed centres to establish the types of advice our customers and partners need to use online assessments effectively to support SQA qualifications. Further information on the OAGG and the results of the survey.

 

Understanding Standards

Understanding Standards Logo.

To learn more about SQA standards and how they are applied, you can visit the Understanding Standards Website.

The Understanding Standards Website has been developed to allow teaching professionals the opportunity to more fully understand the standards of assessment as they are applied by the SQA examination teams. Visitors will have the opportunity to consider the principles which underlie the marking of their subjects. They can also apply this understanding by marking a number of candidate responses and comparing the marks they give to those given by the marking team.