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Transforming Vocational Education and Training: Harnessing the Power of Digital Assessment
Sad to say the eAssessment in Vocational Education and Training project, funded by the Erasmus+ programme and coordinated by Pontydsgu has come to an end. As far as we know it was the last Erasmus _ research and development project in the UK, with the end of June marking the end of the UKs involvement in the programme. The last piece of work undertaken in the project was to provide a Report and Policy Recommendations. The introduction to the report says how In recent years, the integration of digital technologies has revolutionised various sectors of society, and the field of […]Getting Digital Assessment Right
There is growing activity around eAssessment, largely driven it appears by concerns over AI and in particular Generative AI and large Language Models. On Thursday 15 June THE is holding a free webinar on the theme of 'Getting Digital Assessment Right.' Issues to be discussed, they say are" Register here for the Webinar.AI and Assessment
This podcast on AI and assessment was recorded for the Eramus+ eAssessment project. It forms part of an online course including four main sections: The course, hosted on the project Moodle site, is free of charge. Participants are welcome to follow the full course or can dip in and out of the sixteen different units. The podcast discusses the impact of Generative AI and advanced chatbots like ChatGPT and Bing on education and how they are changing the way we assess learning. Below is a transcript of the podcast. Scene 1 In late November 2022, OpenAI dropped ChatGPT, a chatbot that can generate well-structured […]Free MOOC on eAssessment
The Erasmus+ eAssessment project has launched its Massive Open Online Course and Community of Practice. Open to all, and free to participants, but with particular relevance to those working in vocational education and training, the course gives a comprehensive grounding in digital tools including AI, and how to use them for assessment and feedback. It comes at a particularity apposite time, with signs of panic in many institutions about the implications of ChatGPT and other Large Language Models for the future of traditional assessment practices. This course is also a community of practice. Somewhere you can ask questions, share ideas […]
eAssessment in VET course
Today the eAssessment project is launching its Massive Open Online Course and Community of Practice. Open to all but with particular relevance to those working in vocational education and training the course gives a comprehensive grounding in digital tools including AI, and how to use them for assessment and feedback. This course is also a community of practice. Somewhere you can ask questions, share ideas and resources and communicate with other like-minded educators. In the final section you will find a forum with discussion and reflection topics related to the course as well as a space to share resources, please […]Video Killed the Radio Star
Here's Graham Attwell exploring the impact of generative AI and advanced chatbots on assessment for learning.
This podcast is an excerpt from the eAssessment in VET course which is set to go live before the end of the month. Watch this space for furth...
More on Generative AI and education
It is hard to keep up with the avalanche of talks, posts, reports and so on about AI and education, sparked by Open AI's release of Chat GPT and then the many tools which have followed. Talking with teachers in different countries in Europe, I am impressed how many seem to have just quietly got on with it, accepting that AI is there and it is important that their students know how to use it properly and sensibly. Having said that, in Italy Chat GPT remains banned, as it is viewed by the government as being in conflict with the […]Scottish assessment to go digital
Education in Scotland is independent of the UK government in Westminster. And the Scottish government has launched an Independent Review of Qualifications and Assessment in Scotland chaired by Professor Louise Haywood. The interim report was published in March 2023. It recommends: The development of enhanced digital infrastructure that will enable the use of digital assessments and will also support learners to gather and present their achievements consistently no matter the educational setting within which they are based. A greater focus on digital assessments will reflect learning itself and for many will link better with the reality of the world of work […]Public values are key to efficient education and research
For those of us who have been working on AI in Education it is a bit of a strange time. On the one hand it is not difficult any longer to interest policy makers, managers or teachers and trainers in AI. But on the other hand, at the moment AI seems to be conflated with the hype around Chat GPT. As one senior policy person said to me yesterday: "I hadn't even heard of Generative AI models until two weeks ago." And of course there's a loge more things happening or about to happen on not just the AI side […]Chat GPT and Assessment
Photo by John Schnobrich on Unsplash In the last few weeks the discussions about technology for education and learning have been dominated by the impact of GPT3 on the future of education - discussion which as Alexandra Mihai characterises in a blog entitled Lets get...
The canary in the coalmine
Image by Michael Gehlert from Pixabay I think my post appealing for a middle space of sanity in the debate over AI and education maybe was a little over optimistic.The hype over the ChatGPT chatbot has only increased, and the debate broadened as the newspapers and...
Changes to assessment in Wales
Photo by Akshay Chauhan on Unsplash Qualifications Wales have published a consultation document on changes to the GCSE exam system. GCSEs are singly subject exams usually taken at the age of 16 and important for progression to training of higher education. The...
eAssessment and pedagogy
As part of the EU Erasmus+ eAssessment project which I have reported about previously on this blog, we are developing a 'toolkit, aimed at supporting teachers and trainers in Europe in innovating with assessment. We have divided up the work between the project partners and I agreed to write the section of eAssessment and pedagogy. I finished the draft this week, with, typically, it taking me twice as long to write as I had expected. This is work in progress and now I am looking for feedback, before it is translated into the five project partner languages and published on […]
Assessment futures
As promised ore on eAssessment. The UK Jisc has launched an interesting project - Assessment futures: What will assessment look like in 2035? As part of this they are running workshops to explore some future scenarios around assessment. There are comprehensive reports of the activity online by Marieke Guy, a Digital Assessment Advisor at University College London, and Paul Bailey who is co-design lead for JISC. There is also access to a Miro Board if you are interested in seeing the work in progress. Perhaps the most important lesson from the first workshop is that If we are going to […]
Vlogging as a alternative to written assessment
I.m going to be writing more about eAssessment this week as I'm developing part of a toolkit for teachers on the subject. One of the bonuses of the increasing interest and critique of traditional assessment approaches is the growing number of examples of new assessment approaches. One dropped into my twitter feed this morning - Hearing the student voice: Vlogging as an alternative to written assessment by Amy Stickels. Amy teaches Philosophy to International Foundation Year students. Foundation Year students were tasked with creating a five-minute vlog on the topic of war, she explains. She goes on to say :the […]
Beyond the Technology: rethinking assessment and feedback
Just a quick follow up to that last post on the Principles of Good Assessment, Jisc have also released a series of podcasts - Beyond the Technology - on rethinking assessment and feedback. Here are links to some earlier editions: Rethinking assessment and feedback - how the landscape is changing Rethinking assessment and feedback - providing personalised feedback at scale Rethinking assessment and feedback - creating a shared vision Rethinking assessment and feedback - unlocking the power of comparison based feedback You can catch up on the latest June edition on the Jisc website.
Principles of good assessment
The UK Jisc have published the latest in a series of reports and examples of good practice around assessment - Principles of good assessment and feedback. This attention reflects the growing pressures for change in assessment practice following the pandemic. As Jisc say: Assessment and feedback forms a significant element of staff and student workload and many studies have shown that students, in higher education, are less satisfied with assessment and feedback than with any other aspect of the experience. Jisc go on to say that although "Previous research found good practice was often difficult to scale up because it […]
Rethinking Assessment
There is growing pressure for change in assessment systems in the UK. One of the organisations leading the campaign is Rethinking Assessment. On its website, Rethinking Assessment says its mission is to make the argument for change though case studies, analysis, evidence and thoughtful blogs and to start to provide some workable solutions, practical ideas and approaches that we will pilot in our schools and offer as real alternatives. Last week Rethinking Assessment announced that a group of leading educators, employers, policy experts, academics and politicians have released a joint statement calling for the adoption of a digital learner profile […]
Authentic Assessment
Authentic assessment relates to what students experience in the real world. Instead of testing students’ proficiency in completing tests, authentic assessment methods are designed to assess knowledge and test how students apply that knowledge in real world situations.
Goodbye exams, hullo ePortfolio
There is growing interest in the use of ePortfolios as an alternative to the use of exams for assessment. ePortfolios Are not exactly new. I can remember speaking at conferences and taking part in projects (see More Esteem with with my ePortfolio which developed an online course and guidance material for teachers and trainers in the use of e-portfolios) about this in the early years of the 21st century. Yet as technologies advance, and perhaps more importantly growing reflections and research on the pedagogy of assessment, ePortfolios are returning to the fore. The The Irish Journal of Technology Enhanced Learning […]