Newsletter January 2017
Welcome to the latest quarterly from the eAA
2016 was a very positive year for the association – a year of renewed energy from the board as a whole; the speed-learning event back in March; the launch of the e-Assessment Awards – and we are looking forward to an even more positive and productive 2017 for the association!
As a not-for-profit organisation, we rely completely on the financial support of our fantastic sponsors, and the huge amount of time given to us by all of our Board members.
We have just written a brand new sponsorship document, outlining all we can offer in return for financial support for the association, whilst keeping individual membership free for all. We know that our sponsors also believe in the importance of building and strengthening the Association for the good of the whole e-assessment community. Together we can do more.
Read on to find out what packages we have available and how your organisation or institution can get more involved.
We have an outstanding, diverse and highly supportive team on our Board who help drive the direction of the Association, propose and help with new initiatives from a brand new glossary of e-assessment terms to creating an entirely new Awards programme. You might like to consider gettng more involved yourself this year?
2016 was a great year for building our proifle on social media, blogging, updating our website and speaking at events. In fact we bring you two brand new blogs in this newsletter written by board members, Patrick Coates and Chris Peat.
Happy New Year to you all!
Matt Wingfield, eAA Chairman
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Newsletter reaches 31 countries
Our last newsletter was opened in 31 different countries, spanning every continent. If you’d like to know more about our international reach, please get in touch.
2017 e-Assessment Awards and Gala Dinner
At the time of publishing this newsletter on our website (our apologies for delayed publication), we find ourselves working furiously hard to launch the 2018 Awards. However, we would like to thank the 2017 Sponsors once more, without whose help the 2017 Awards would not have made it beyond the drawing board.
We are very grateful to PSI, our Headline Sponsors. Thanks also to
AlphaPlus Consultancy for sponsoring the Export Award
RM Results for sponsoring the Innovation Award
NFER for sponsoring the Research Award
ACER for sponsoring the Lifetime Achievement Award
New Blog: Remote invigilation / Remote proctoring
Patrick Coates, Director of International Skills UK and Board Member of the eAA
Remote invigilation or proctoring₁ has been around for a while and I have seen evidence of its use in the mainstream for exams in the professional and academic world in the UK, US and Australia for a number of years. However, it has not taken off as quickly as would have been expected or hoped. It is fair to say that there have been a number of technology innovations over the years in e-assessment, from adaptive testing to on-demand testing or machine marking of free text responses, which have not quite made it in the mainstream as yet. Remote invigilation is one of these. Why is that?
Review of 2016. Plans for 2017.
The e-Assessment Association would like to thank all of it’s sponsors for their support in 2016.
| In 2016, the e-Assessment Association went from strength to strength. We now have well over 1300 individual members, 17 corporate sponsors and over 1200 followers on twitter. Our LinkedIn group has grown to over 640 members and we are working with partners to develop our very first Special Interest Group. More news on that soon. We spoke at several events in the UK last year from the Examiners Conference for the Association of International Accountants to the EAMS Conference, for e-assessment in the mathematical sciences. At the annual e-Assessment Question, we ran a highly successful Speed Learning event discussing and debating five topics in just one hour, from the Future of Marking to the Future Learner. We worked with JISC in the UK to bring out an e-Assessment Survey of post-16 providers, and brought you nearly thirty news stories focused on e-Assessment. Not bad when you consider how little e-assessment makes the education or technology press. It certainly makes it worthwhile following our website for news updates you won’t find so easily elsewhere. We have also started writing monthly blogs on a wide range of topics from communication to working with open source technology and as you can see above, on remote invigilation. But a key highlight for 2016 was the launch of the first international e-Assessment Awards, sponsored by PSI, complete with a new website and PR campaign. We have had a fantastic range of entries to date, from every continent, and are looking forward to seeing how many more drop into our inbox before the deadline on 20th January at 5pm GMT. We employ one part-time member of staff, with the rest of our work undertaken voluntarily by our elected Board members, with support from all of you. Please get in touch if you have an article waiting to find an audience or want to know more about how we work. In 2017, we are planning to bring you an exciting new session at the 15th international e-Assessment Question, where we work with you to co-create something for the whole e-assessment community. We hold our first Awards Gala Dinner on the evening of 22nd March and today we are publishing a new resource for you all to comment on – a new, updated glossary of all terms relating to e-assessment. Our glossary is only the start, and we look forward to the discussion and debates and additions that follow. We will be building stronger partnerships with organisations such as CIEA, AELP and JISC – finding common ground and providing mutual support. We will be bringing you new updated case studies from our wide range of sponsors and from our Award winners. And on top of that, we will still be sending out tweets and newsletters, monthly blogs and looking for speaking opportunities and opportunities for new editorial to help build the story of e-assessment to a wider audience. |
New Blog: Assessment software; Best to do it yourself?
Chris Peat, Customer Services Director, Axia Interactive Media and Board Member of the eAA.
We all know how important it is to assess someone’s skills accurately. The result of an assessment has the potential to be highly motivational for the individual and conversely it can have a crushing effect. Why then are organisation content to adopt ‘do-it yourself’ online assessment systems and sites. Across the country there are internal technical teams making the case that they have skills to create an effective online assessment system, using one of the ‘kits’ that are openly available.
I wonder whether any of us would buy a car which we know had been built using a ‘Do it Yourself’ kit rather than in a factory. Of course it may well work as it should and even look the part but would we really take the risk?
A new glossary for e-assessment
The eAA is proud to announce a new resource for those using, developing or looking from the outside at all things e-assessment. A new glossary of key terms specific to this field.
This new resource is expected to be a work in progress, that we, the e-Assessment Association, can merely kickstart. It is up to the wider community to refine, add, subtract and improve this list.
You can find it on our website and we have linked to it via our LinkedIn group, where we actively encourage your input. What e-assessment terms are missing, what definitions would you seek to edit? Where do you agree or disagree?
There are 76 terms (we were aiming for a top 50!) including many question types.
Special thanks to Board Members John Winkley, Tim Burnett and Chris Peat who worked together with our Chairman, Matt Wingfield to bring you this new resource.
Do send your feedback via email, twitter or via LinkedIn.
Sponsorship Opportunities
Find out more about how your institution or organisation can support the work of the eAA. Individual membership is free.
Visit www.e-assessment.com for details of our new sponsorship opportunities.
Keep in touch with the eAA
Join us on Twitter @eAssess
#eAssessment #eAssessChat #eAAwards
Join us on LinkedIn
Our latest LinkedIn post also shows on the home page of our website.
Add your voice to the debate, especially around the new glossary!
Join our Board?
The e-Assessment Association holds annual elections every March, and you can help shape our future
| Whatever your involvement or interest in e-assessment, thank you for your support. Please spread the word about the Association and above all, keep in touch. Email: [email protected] Twitter: @eAssess |
This newsletter was emailed to the 1,309 individual members of the e-Assessment Association on 6 January 2017.
This newsletter was opened in 32 different countries, over 1,100 times.
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