Use of technology to assist with assessment

develop your own knowledge and skills in specific areas of assessment

develop your teams knowledge and skills

keep up with recent developments

Use of technology to assist with assessment

On screen marking - from exam room to marker

Computerised test marking

• multiple choice

• short answer

• extended answer

Digital pen

Revision - assisted note taking

Secure transmission of documents

Use of technology to assist with assessment

Online and on-screen marking

Over one million scripts to be marked online in 2007

No difference for candidates or centres

From the exam room to your home computer

Inside Edexcel: The e-revolution

Education Show TV News Clip

BenefitsFaster turnaround - interchanges of scripts between examiners are electronicbetter quality marking, through early detection and remediation of aberrant marking;

random distribution of scripts and items to markers;

specialisation of markers in a limited number of items;

reduction of clerical errors, because the computer sums the marks;

elimination of paper distribution; and

greater security

Reduced costs - no postage

Real-time monitoring during the marking process

Possible benefits and disadvantages of online marking

Disadvantages

Some experienced assessors are uncomfortable with this new way of working

Dependence on the central system and on assessors havinghigh speed internet connections

Reading on a computer screen can be awkward - and noteveryone has the same quality of screen

Little published research into the effects

Possible benefits and disadvantages of online marking

Multiple choice - currently tested

Short answer questions - currently tested

Extended answers - likely to be tested soon?

Computerised test marking

Multiple choice questions

Pro

Instant resultsAccurate feedback against criteriaSimple to administerCheap (compared to examiners)On demand / on lineCan be taken anywhere

Con

Restricts question typesFeedback often meaninglessRequires internet accessCostly in technician timeOn demand still needs supervisionCan be taken anywhere

Computerised test marking

Different from online marking - there is no direct human

involvement in the process

Marking is carried out by software

One of two methods used• Software is written to pre-empt the likely answers

• Software is based on the actual marking of human markers in

previous tests

Computerised marking of extended answers

Evaluation of such services

• save money• save teacher time only as good as the programmer - but this is also true of human

marking learners can easily adapt writing to suit the software use for extended writing could lead to very mechanical

appraisals - there could be a problem with style

Can computers read English?

You could allocate marks like this:

Sentence = Capital letter to full stop

IF paragraph = simple sentences THEN score 1

IF paragraph = more complex sentence forms THEN score 2

but

Ernest Hemingway would probably fail - even though he received a Nobel Prize for his writing.

Style is very difficult to analyse

How would a computer mark writing?

What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour."

What General Weygand called the Battle of France is over. I expect that the Battle of Britain is about to begin. Upon this battle depends the survival of Christian civilization. Upon it depends our own British life, and the long continuity of our institutions and our Empire. The whole fury and might of the enemy must very soon be turned on us. Hitler knows that he will have to break us in this Island or lose the war. If we can stand up to him, all Europe may be free and the life of the world may move forward into broad, sunlit uplands. But if we fail, then the whole world, including the United States, including all that we have known and cared for, will sink into the abyss of a new Dark Age made more sinister, and perhaps more protracted, by the lights of perverted science. Let us therefore brace ourselves to our duties, and so bear ourselves that, if the British Empire and its Commonwealth last for a thousand years, men will still say, "This was their finest hour."

Has the work gone into the layout or into the question?

Does the interface assist or confuse?

Style over substance?

How is this different?

QuickTime™ and aTIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor

are needed to see this picture.

LeapFrog Enterprises - aims new gadget at 8 - 14 year olds

Writes in ink on special paperPronounces words once written

Touch the interactive pen any place on this interactive, talking globe and learn thousands of amazing facts. Compare population and land area between say Dundee, Scotland and Oaxaca, Mexico.

Digital pen

Through so-called FlyTones, you can draw a simple piano keyboard, including flats and sharps, then play Do-Re-Mi (or whatever) by tapping various keys. What's more, by drawing a button next to the keyboard, you can change from piano to a flute, marimba, synthesizer or other instrument.

Digital pen

Write various commands (for example, "tell me a joke") and have the pen oblige.

Sketch a calculator and use the pen to solve basic math problems.

Fly Through Tests.

Students download to a home PC and print quizzes(onto interactive Fly paper)

Drawn from a database of 200,000 questions based on popular textbooks.

Choose the subject matter and level. Fly tells you the answers you missed and how quickly you finished the exam.

Digital pen

Security

Can pens be easily substituted?

Can the transceiver be hacked?

Is data in transmission encrypted or open?

Can material be loaded onto the pen during the examination?

Practical

How well does handwriting technology interface with the pen?

Do candidates like this method of working?

Access issues

Further research

Recall Plus - note-taking software - organises notes into graphics to suit the learning style of the user - generates areas for further revision based on number of times accessed (so why not add percentage of sample test questions answered correctly? etc)

Revision - assisted note taking

Can be used to transmit test papers, answers etc

Public key cryptography - same as used by banks

Practically unbreakable codes - it would take the resources of the NSA or GCHQ to open one file

Digital encryption

Online learning as well as or instead of classroom learning

Computer assisted revision

Assessments generated on demand and to the needs of the individual

No paper trail - all material transmitted electronically

Instant feedback on assessment performance

Tomorrow’s World