The two Scottish JISC Regional Support Centres have been asked by the Scottish Funding Council to support the use of eAssessment in the sector. These pages have been developed to give you an overview of current initiatives in this area and to keep you informed of eAssessment events and workshops which the RSC Scotland South and West will be running in the future. For further information about any of the items included call the RSC's Information Helpdesk on 0141 585 0022 or contact Celeste McLaughlin or Joan Walker at the RSC.
Bank on Success, a project focusing on e-Assessment was piloted by us here at the JISC RSC Scotland South & West during June 2008.
Based on a model the RSC team has used before, the aim is to up-skill staff in the art of designing valid and reliable e-Assessments and at the same time build up an assessment bank for the sector to use. e-Assessments created as part of the Bank on Success project can be freely downloaded and used in the Moodle or Blackboard learning platform. Visit the Bank on Success section of our website to view and download e-Assessment resources.
The RSC regularly offer e-Assessment workshops, details of which can be found on the events section of our website or you can email the RSC to find out when the next workshop will take place.
The two Scottish Regional Support Centres conducted an eAssessment survey during May 2007. The purpose of the survey was to establish the level of eAssessment usage throughout the FE sector in Scotland. To download the report please follow this link. If you have any comments to make about the report, please contact Celeste McLaughlin.
More details about RSC support for eAssessment can be found by downloading the eAssessment 07/08 Training & Support Initiatives report.
eAssessment is increasingly being used within the education sector. Although emerging technology has a role to play, the main drivers are those of pedagogy and the needs of the learner.
The following definition of online assessment or e-Assessment is taken from the JISC Effective Practice with e-Assessment publication:
"e-Assessment is the end-to-end electronic assessment processes where ICT is used for the presentation for assessment activity, and the recording of responses. This includes the end-to-end assessment process from the perspective of learners, tutors, learning establishments, awarding bodies and regulators, and the general public."
There are a number of advantages in using eAssessment. These include:-
Using eAssessment resources will require some adjustments to current working practices and there are a number of issues which need to be addressed including the following:-
It is recognised that producing eAssessment resources is a timely process; however there are assessment banks available for the sector to use.
The COLA materials are a bank of formative assessment resources covering a wide range and level of subjects across the Scottish curriculum. The materials have been developed by COLEG (now Scotland's Colleges) and there are more than 250 assessments available. The assessments need to run via your college VLE (Virtual Learning Environment) before they can be used with your students. The assessments can be found via the Scotland's Colleges VLE (Moodle). Further details about the Moodle can be found on the Find Learning Materials section of the Scotland's Colleges website.
The SOLAR project being led by SQA makes available online Summative assessment resources. There are currently over 600 eAssessment resources available at HN level. Over the lifetime of the project resources are expected to be developed for Computing & IT, Engineering, Health and Social Care, & Languages. Further details, including a list of available assessments can be found on the SOLAR website - access the SOLAR project website
Effective Practice with e-AssessmentA JISC effective practice guide which focuses on the institutional practices surrounding e-Assessment including a number of useful case studies from both Further and Higher Education.
Effective Practice with e-PortfoliosA JISC effective practice publication highlighting the use of e-Portfolios in Further and Higher education.
JISC InfoNetThere is a useful e-Assessment section contained in the JISC InfoNet Effective use of Virtual Learning Environments toolkit. Follow this link to access the toolkit.
JISC InfoNet have also launched an infoKit on e-Portfolios which complements the e-Portfolio publication. The infoKit looks at the main drivers, purposes, processes, perspectives and issues around ePortfolios.
Further information about the infoKit is available from the JISC InfoNet website.
JISC LegalThe paper Legal Aspects of the Use of Technology in Assessment, published in September 2009 is available from the the JISC Legal website.
TechDisTechDis are a JISC advisory service specialising in accessibility and inclusion. They have a useful area of their website looking at these issues in the context of e-Assessment. Follow this link to go to the eAssessment area of the TechDis website.
The e-Assessment area of the SQA's website contains information about their plans for e-Assessment, strategy materials and details of projects such as SOLAR.
JISCJISC is playing an important role in the sphere of e-assessment, helping educational institutions to reduce staff workload, to explore innovative ways to deliver feedback, and to make effective use of automated marking systems. As software suppliers and test developers become increasingly involved in producing e-assessment tools and content, so JISC is bringing the issues associated with this complex area to the attention of colleges and universities.
An overview of JISC activities in the area of e-Assessment can be found on their website.
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