Elections 2018

Hello, I’m Robbie, Senior Manager with ICAS responsible for assessments and IT. One part examiner, one part geek, one part father, one part husband, one part football fan (too many parts?). Some might call me a veteran – others old. I have a passion for moving assessments from the shadows into the light and for making them a truly customer centric experience.

Having lead the development of a wide range of e-assessment tools over many years, coupled with responsibility for delivery of a variety of assessment and apprentice models, I believe that I can bring something different to the board – a user’s perspective, a strong understanding of customer needs and the direction of travel in a rapidly changing landscape.

If you have read this far – thank you, whilst it will be clear that self-promotion is not my strength, my passion for and commitment to the development of e-assessment are significantly stronger.

I am currently Head of Programmes at The London Institute of Banking and Finance and Associate Lecturer at The Open University.

As chief examiner, I maintain quality standards through the design of examinations, including significant e-assessment elements and other assessment methods, through to the qualification award. As an associate lecturer, I support students through online contact, assessment and provision of feedback.  As a holder of an additional quality assurance contract, I monitor online discussion forums and online assessment feedback. As a Fellow of the Higher Education Academy I’ve demonstrated my standards of rigour in assessment.

Previously, I have developed employer-led training products and apprenticeships. As IQA, I monitored the quality of distance learning and postgraduate programmes ensuring stakeholders requirements were met.

I taught on: leadership and management programs, customised training for employers, business studies and financial services courses. I look forward to using my experience with eAA.

Graham is a Chartered Mathematician and Scientist, with 23+ years’ experience of qualification, examination, assessment design and delivery, from professional, commercial, vocational and public awarding body settings. As Director, Examinations at CIMA, Graham led an innovative programme transforming CIMA’s professional examinations to e-assessment, and has many years of educational assessment experience gained as Head of Mathematics at AEB/AQA, and now is Head of Education at AXELOS.

As an Associate Lecturer at the Open University, and more recently in F.E., Graham’s interests are in e-learning and e-assessment, linked to the understanding of educational principles and pedagogical issues from a learner viewpoint, and the interaction between learning, teaching and leveraging technology in assessment. Graham has worked in research studies linking e-learning and assessment in mathematics.

Graham has extensive experience in education, has authored learning and assessment material, provided consultancy in assessment design, and acted as advisor in an international capacity to governments.

Dr. Sofie Emmertsen is Head of Business Growth at Inspera Assessment, a European leader and Nordic innovator in high-stakes e-examinations with a full-service cloud-based, SaaS, end-to-end solution.

Dr. Emmertsen specialises in the entire assessment lifecycle and has provided visionary leadership and advisory project management in e-assessment implementations at Higher Education institutions on the highly transformative journey towards digital assessments.

In addition to her business expertise, Dr. Emmertsen’s specialised experience as an academic researcher and professor allows for ease in facilitation of an engagement platform among all levels of the client institution including the  digitisation strategy and approach critical to success in large-scale implementations, ensuring key stakeholders have a seamless, secure and effective delivery.

Dr. Emmertsen has a leading role with world-class institutions in the UK for education programmes. Additionally, Dr. Emmertsen is engaged in Inspera’s innovative bring-your-own-device (BYOD) unique and robust platform implementation in Scandinavia.

I have been the e-assessment manager at Edinburgh Business School at Heriot-Watt University for 2 and half years. In that time, I have transitioned their traditional pen and paper exams for the distance global MBA programme to e-assessment. Before this, I worked for the British Council for 20 years in different locations in English and Exams, most recently as Client Relations Manager for UK Awarding Bodies and Universities, advising them on transitioning to e-assessment, whether it be 100% switch-over or gradual transition.

I’m currently studying for an MSc in Digital Education with specialism in e-assessment to support my work with Edinburgh Business School.

In 2017, in the first year of the E-Assessment Association Awards, I won in the Export category for Edinburgh Business School and was Highly Commended in the Best Institution Category. ​

Emma has worked in e-assessment since joining BTL in 2011, after graduating from Huddersfield University. Emma was responsible for leading the BTL Documentation and Training Team until 2016, where she oversaw the production of help and support guidance for e-assessment software.

Emma also worked with organisations to plan and deliver training programs designed to show users how to make best use of the technology. Working with new e-assessment users provided a great understanding of the challenges and demands of moving to a new assessment system, which Emma now applies to helping organisations through the process of selecting and implementing new solutions.

Her work with new e-assessment adopters has given Emma a keen interest in how we can better support people facing this change, to ensure the least stressful experience for every e-assessment user and candidate, and she is eager to bring this experience and passion to the eAA board.

My name is Dr Kieran McGeown and I am a Senior Lecturer/Course Team Leader at St Mary’s University, Belfast. I  presently serve as an external examiner at both Nottingham Trent and Bath SPA Universities for the PGCE (Design and Technology) programme.

I am also member of the Northern Ireland Policy Panel of The IET (Institution of Engineering and Technology) https://www.theiet.org/policy/panels/nireland/  Its two main tasks are to provide feedback into government thinking and to proactively raise matters of relevance with government. It is a body of senior advisors chosen to represent the Profession in satisfying these needs specifically for Northern Ireland.

I serve as one of two RSA Fellowship Councillors for Ireland. http://www.thersa.org/

Liaison Officer for the Arkwright Scholarships Trust (AST) in Northern Ireland. The AST (www.arkwright.org.uk) identify, inspire and nurture future leaders in engineering and related areas of design.

Current Research Interest include STEM within Initial Teacher Education.

My name is Giuseppe Ruggieri, and I’m an educator by vocation. I fell into the assessment industry purely by chance, back in 2005, when Educational Testing Service started migrating its paper-based TOEFL test to an internet-based format. I thought that by hosting this test in my school I would gain some visibility to increase my test preparation student population. Before I knew it, I was setting up test centres, for ETS, across Europe.

I eventually founded a company called International Testing and Training Services Ltd, with my business partner Tamas Legradi, which would be dedicated to providing Bricks and Mortar Services worldwide, and before long I was providing these services globally to a number of test providers. The next step has been extend our services to also offering candidate registration, payment, a test delivery and authoring platform. I am now looking forward to some very exciting times.

Having worked in the assessment sector as a technology vendor for over 15 years, predominantly with Questionmark Computing Ltd, Kerry is now working independently as Resera Consulting Ltd in the field of e-assessment supporting companies with their international strategy and implementation activities providing consultancy to AOs and Corporate certification clients.

The possibilities in terms of technology available to organisations, and its subsequent adoption are essential for the future of qualifications.  The complexity of this can often be daunting in terms of changing established processes but surely essential. Kerry is particularly interested in digital certifications, the adoption of technology to align the credibility and security of these qualifications with the latest technologies.  

Kerry has a personal interest in driving digital apprenticeships; supporting the debate around T-levels and post-16 education reform,  believing that we have a responsibility for future generations to introduce a credible choice.

With over twenty-seven years experience within the education market as a teacher and working in a variety of roles for technology providers, Matt has built-up significant understanding of the issues relating to the use of e-assessment within education.

In 2010 Matt joined the board of the eAssessment Association as the association’s Membership Secretary, and then in 2012 he was elected as Chairman, with a focus on supporting the association’s remit to support and inform policy-makers, providers and educators in the use of e-assessment as part of learning delivery.

Until recently Matt was Chief Business Development Officer for leading evidence-based assessment technology provider Digital Assess, a role that has seen him work closely with a number of leading assessment providers and awarding organisations. He now works as an independent consultant within the educational technology sector, supporting technology providers with market strategy development and educators in maximising the positive impact of technology.