Assessment training: Embarking on e-assessment: expectations, impediments and lessons learnt

Assessment training: Embarking on e-assessment: expectations, impediments and lessons learnt

Speakers: Sarah Hughes and Tom Barrance
Date: 24 Sep 2019 Venue: Cambridge Assessment The Triangle Building, Shaftesbury Road Cambridge CB2 8EA
Time: 09:30 - 12:30
Type: Training workshop Fee: £70.00

Workshop outline

This session is not about how to deliver e-assessments. This workshop aims to share with you an understanding of what research says about factors to consider when embarking upon an e-assessment initiative. The literature describes some potential benefits of different approaches to onscreen assessment. Advantages might be felt in operational or administrative functions and/or teaching and learning. Themes in the literature will be used to help you interrogate your motivations for considering e-assessment and what purposes you hope it will fulfill. 

Through presentations, activities and discussions you'll consider how the potential benefits of e-assessment may or may not be relevant to your situation and e-assessment context. You'll consider how the level of innovation which you intend to adopt might relate to validity (including reliability and comparability). Case studies from Cambridge Assessment professionals with first-hand experience of e-assessment initiatives will exemplify successes, downfalls, barriers and potential disruption.

"The facilitator had an entertaining and engaging presentation style and I enjoyed learning from other colleagues during the group discussions."

Key learning outcomes

  • Be introduced to the theory and research related to introducing e-assessment.
  • Understand practical considerations when considering introducing e-assessment.
  • Interrogate the impetus for introducing e-assessment in your context, what the pressures for change are and what that means for the nature of the e-assessment.
  • Consider the relationship between digitising assessments and validity, reliability and comparability.
  • Consider what the research says about the washback from e-assessment to classroom practice.
  • Utilise the opportunity to engage with experts and practitioners experienced in the field.

Intended audience

For assessment practitioners early in their e-assessment journey or considering introducing e-assessment. This session will provide a chance to learn from colleagues with experience of designing and developing e-assessments. It will help you identify you expectations for e-assessment and see what the literature says about how these might be met or not and even if they are in conflict with each other.

This workshop is now full. Please email the Network team to be added to the waiting list.

Course trainer

Sarah Hughes - Research Information Manager

Sarah Hughes is Research Information Manager at Cambridge Assessment International Education. She has taught in primary schools and been a researcher in UK and international awarding bodies and government agencies. Her particular research interests are the validity of assessment and the impact of research on practice and policy. She currently carries out and applies research to support assessment practitioners and to improve assessment quality.

Tom Barrance

Since joining Cambridge Assessment three years ago, Dr Tom Barrance has worked with Business Technology Services as a relationship manager, responsible for supporting the development of technology strategies and acting as the interface between the business needs and technology delivery.

Prior to this, he worked for over 13 years in local government in a variety of roles, including economic development and regeneration before moving into project managing technology driven business change. His research interests are in the interface between public policy and technology, specifically in how emerging technologies are understood by practitioners, and how they could act as a catalyst for disruptive change in areas that are often regarded as very traditional.

Tom has a PhD from University of Birmingham, where he researched practitioners’ perceptions and the implementation of second generation web technologies (known as Gov2.0) in English Local Government.

The Triangle Building, Shaftesbury Road Cambridge CB2 8EA

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