Overview of the day

Jonathan WolffCareers Consultant, Loughborough University

AGCAS East Midlands Regional Training Event“Supporting Students' Test Practice Needs Through Online Psychometric Testing Delivery”

Tuesday 16th September, Loughborough University

How this course has evolved

Large response to AGCAS group E-mail asking for advice on useful resources for testing as part of modules

Our use of Graduates First / PfS seemed worth sharing

Angus’s offer to contribute to an event added scope and depth

Course has continued to evolve (through phone calls) over the summer

This event has been a catalyst for a number of developments: Graduates First developed publicity materials and tightened their pricing structure

AGCAS Psychometric Task group updated their guide to resources

PfS speeded up the development of their new online platform

The day has continued to evolve! …

Change to course content

“This presentation will describe a new open access online course, Numeracy for employability and the workplace, which is being developed for the FutureLearn platform by the Mathematics Education Centre at Loughborough University. The course aims to prepare learners for employers’ numeracy testing and to increase their mathematical confidence.”

The two online group sessions looking at resources will be combined into one 75minute session

An additional 15minute session

We said: “At the end of this day you should have”:

Gained an up-to-date understanding of current trends in the use of psychometric assessments, and how they fit into graduate selection processes

Learnt about strategies for delivering high quality psychometric test practice experience and feedback to students/graduates both individually and in groups

Obtained hands-on experience of specific licensed online packages used by HE careers services (e.g. ‘Graduates First’, ‘Profiling for Success’ and others)

Learnt how practice can help students prepare for / improve test performance

+ Other ways in which students can be better prepared for psychometric tests

Considered the relevance of the British Psychological Society's Test User qualifications to careers practitioners in the current testing environment

Reflections on what this day is/isn’t aboutAbout half of the time will be spent in hands-on online learning

As regards input on practice test systems – we’ll only look at two packages in detail BUT we’ll also look at starting points for researching a wide range of resources

There’ll be an opportunity to talk about other tools YOU find useful

Web links to all resources used today will remain available; presentations to be added soon

We are not presenting an official AGCAS view or telling you how to do things!PATG are supportive of the day but are not involved in its planning or delivery

We’re sharing experiences/knowledge which you might find helpful in moving forward

We hope to learn from YOUR experience, expertise and insights!

The experience of group members varies enormouslySome of you will already be familiar with the majority of what we cover

For some, there might be information overload on the day (you can re-visit all materials later)

BUT Everyone has a contribution to make – please share knowledge and insights

Angus’s extensive knowledge of all things psychometric is a major asset for the dayWe must make the most of it!

Format for the day isn’t rigid, we can adapt it to the needs of the group, so …

Are there any specific issues or concerns you want us to cover today?

High quality delivery of test practice to individuals and groups

Jonathan WolffCareers Consultant, Loughborough University

AGCAS East Midlands Regional Training Event“Supporting Students' Test Practice Needs Through Online Psychometric Testing Delivery”

Tuesday 16th September, Loughborough University

Test practice in careers servicesHow we used to do it

Testing 10 - 30 students a week in classrooms using SHL paper & pencil tests. This required lots of:

Physical resources (test materials, pencils, rubbers, calculators etc.)

Up-front expense (costs of licensed materials / psychometric training)

Staff time (taking bookings; preparing for and running sessions; scoring answers and collating information; delivering one-one feedback)

Professional expertise: most services had at least two BPS Level A qualified practitioners

The ready availability of online tests, many of them free, has saved us a lot of expense and time and made everything easierOr has it!?

Pitfalls of the online practice test revolution

It’s easy to push students towards tools/experiences that won’t help themMany students assume that doing lots of practice will eventually get them through

Once they’ve exhausted the “free” tests they’ll spend lots of money on more tests

Students often fail to realise that it’s important to:− be absolutely certain they have all that is required for the job BEFORE they apply− (particularly with numeracy) refresh their skills before they take practice tests

The quality of tests found through “Googling” is extremely variableMany “free” tests are not psychometrically constructed

Unless they provide normed feedback reports, practice tests are of limited value

“Free” tests often suck students into “Buy 9 tests for £8” offers

There’s a danger of our expertise being lost or compromisedAll of us can use our guidance skills to help students make appropriate choices

Those of us with psychometric training can provide additional insight AND –

If we don’t use our knowledge we could lose it!

Features of a high quality practice serviceI’d argue that we should work towards an offer that is:

Professional, well marketed & “owned” by the Careers Centre

Free – for all the students, staff (and graduates?) of the institutionStudents are actively discouraged from paying for tests

Good quality – using psychometrically constructed productsIdeally, a variety of complimentary tools would be usedQuality and effectiveness of feedback to students is of primary importance

Supported by guidance Test practice provision should be integrated into other guidance servicesIdeally, psychometrically qualified guidance practitioners are involved

Responsive – to the specific needs of students (individuals/groups)

Available online – for students to access easily in their own space

Introduced in group sessions – both centrally and in courses

Why we like using Graduates First for our main test service deliveryThe tests are constructed psychometrically by experienced psychologists

It’s easy for students to use, free of charge, wherever they are

It enables students to replicate the online experience in their own room

It’s also ideal for introducing in group sessions, centrally or in departments

The reports are very detailed, containing normed scores and helpful tips

A key feature is the ability to see solutions for wrong answers

The branded portal gives us ownership

The administration option gives us control over users and usage stats

The technical support is quick and effective

It costs £750 per year but we can use it to deliver a more cost-effective, higher quality service to greater numbers than we did with SHL tests

Graduates First are very responsive to our suggestions for changes and have several major improvements in the pipeline

Overview of other psychometric test practice products &

assessment tools

AGCAS East Midlands Regional Training Event“Supporting Students' Test Practice Needs Through Online Psychometric Testing Delivery”

Tuesday 16th September, Loughborough University

Assessing the master resources1. In groups, decide which of the following major resources to review:

A) PATG guide: Psychometric Assessment Tools for Students and Graduates

B) Profiling for Success resource and guide to services: pfsforum.com

2. Spend 5 -10 minutes, individually, skimming through the resource keep in mind the questions you will look at as a group (see below)

You are reviewing the resource as a whole, not specific assessment tools

3. Spend the remainder of the twenty minutes putting your thoughts together as a group to the following questions

What do you think are the strengths of this resource?

What do you thinks are its weaknesses or limitations?

How might you use this resource in discussion with colleagues in your department to decide which assessments to select to support students' development?

Be prepared to feed your group discussions back to the main group

Assessing individual resources1. Go to: “Resources to be used in the afternoon online sessions”

Use any of these links to spend 5 -10 minutes, individually, browsing to find specific assessment tools that look as if they could be useful to your clients

2. Decide, in your group which assessment tools you want to look at furtherPick one or two different ones each – you can either choose tools you are already familiar with or new ones that look interesting to you

3. Individually, spend a few minutes looking in more detail at the tools you have agreed to review. Put your thoughts together about each tool:

What do you think are the strengths of this tool?

What do you thinks are its weaknesses or limitations?

How might you use this tool with specific groups of students‘ to support their individual development?

4. Use the remainder of the 25 minutes to demonstrate to each other what you’ve learned about the tools you’ve explored

Careers and Employability Centre

www.careers.lboro.ac.uk

www.facebook.com/LboroCEC

www.twitter.com/lborocareers

careers@lboro.ac.uk

01509 222039

Have we helped you to do the following?:

Gain an up-to-date understanding of current trends in the use of psychometric assessments, and how they fit into graduate selection processes?

Learn about strategies for delivering high quality psychometric test practice experience and feedback to students/graduates both individually and in groups?

Obtain hands-on experience of specific licensed online packages used by HE careers services (e.g. ‘Graduates First’, ‘Profiling for Success’ and others)?

Learn how practice can help students prepare for / improve test performance?

+ Other ways in which students can be better prepared for psychometric tests?

Consider the relevance of the British Psychological Society's Test User qualifications to careers practitioners in the current testing environment?