Use of technology to assist with assessment

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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
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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

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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
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Possible benefits and disadvantages of online
marking
Benefits Faster turnaround - interchanges of
scripts between examiners are electronic better
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
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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 having high speed internet
connections Reading on a computer screen can be
awkward - and not everyone has the same quality
of screen Little published research into the
effects
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Computerised test marking
Multiple choice - currently tested Short answer
questions - currently tested Extended answers -
likely to be tested soon?
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Computerised test marking
Multiple choice questions
Pro Instant results Accurate feedback against
criteria Simple to administer Cheap (compared to
examiners) On demand / on line Can be taken
anywhere
Con Restricts question types Feedback often
meaningless Requires internet access Costly in
technician time On demand still needs
supervision Can be taken anywhere
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Computerised marking of extended answers

• 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

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Can computers read English?

• 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

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How would a computer mark writing?
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
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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."
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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."
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Style over substance?
Has the work gone into the layout or into the
question? Does the interface assist or confuse?
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How is this different?
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Digital pen
LeapFrog Enterprises - aims new gadget at 8 - 14
year olds Writes in ink on special
paper Pronounces 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.
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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.
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.
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Digital pen
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.
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Further research
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? Prac
tical How well does handwriting technology
interface with the pen? Do candidates like this
method of working? Access issues
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Revision - assisted note taking
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)
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Digital encryption
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
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Tomorrows World
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