CIEA Educational Assessment Outcomes Award

A ground-breaking project, working with partners, to deliver a digitally enabled assessment of Essential Digital Skills Qualifications (EDSQ) within prisons that has equity and parity with the digital assessments taken in the community whilst addressing the security protocols and operational constraints of Her Majesty's Prison and Probation Service (HMPPS). Following a pilot with 4 prisons, we have successfully created a fair, reliable and comparable assessment, using digital simulations developed alongside HMPPS, to replicate certain aspects of the assessment delivery to enable prisoners, who are not normally permitted to access the Internet, to engage, sit assessments and achieve Essential Digital Skills Qualifications, allowing them to progress in life and work.

This is an online, self-study course comprised of 6 modules focusing on key areas of assessment knowledge:  Assessment theory, a strategic approach to assessment, designing and asking effective questions, collecting and critically interpreting assessment data, optimising feedback for learners and metacognition, self and peer-assessment.
The course was piloted to 100 teachers in a wide range of international settings with the course content refined to ensure it was as accessible and applicable as possible. Peer-assessment was identified by participants as a key pedagogical area and included in the course .
Since the post-pilot course launched in August 2024, over 100 teachers have enrolled from 27 different countries. 62% of participants rating their experience as excellent, and 96% rating their experience as good or higher.