Supporting the assessment community here and now – COVID-19

The following is a summary of resources, guidance and support available from some of the e-Assessment Association’s sponsors to help and support organisations through the current COVID-19 crisis: 

AlphaPlus Consultancy: (http://www.alphaplusconsultancy.co.uk/)

AlphaPlus is a specialist assessment organisation – our mission is to help make educational assessments better, and we have teams of assessment experts and psychometricians working across school, vocational and professional assessment.  We are helping certification bodies with selecting and implementing the best approach for awarding certifications in the absence of final exams, which includes

1. Options appraisal for how evidence is used and combined, including if appropriate prior attainment data
2. Modelling of outcomes (experimental methods to see which options work best)
3. Processing of data to produce outcomes

If you think this might be of interest, contact [email protected] for a confidential discussion about how we can help.

British Council: (https://www.britishcouncil.org/education/exams)

The British Council Global Account Management team in the UK is working closely with our Awarding Organisation clients to provide updates on exam delivery worldwide, communications to candidates and to support clients with future exam planning.

For more information please contact the team at [email protected]

https://www.britishcouncil.org/coronavirus-covid-response

Whether your school in delivering the British Council’s International Award or not, teachers may also find the following online learning resources helpful in supporting and delivering on-going learning for their students at the current time: https://www.britishcouncil.org/school-resources/accreditation/international-school-award/tips-ideas

BTL: (http://www.btl.com/)

To help universities, colleges and other educational institutions who have been affected by the Coronavirus (COVID-19) and are unable to deliver exams on-site, BTL are offering access to our Surpass Online Invigilation Service, so that students can continue to sit their exams in a secure, invigilated environment from their home. Click here for further details.

Calibrand: (http://www.calibrand.com/)

Until the end of August 2020 Calibrand and Caliqual are offering test publishers the chance to deliver practice assessments free of charge using our SnapAssess app (https://bit.ly/39zOW4F). Tests are delivered using the app or android store and are multiple choice only.

For further details please email [email protected]

Inspera Assessment: (https://www.inspera.com)

Inspera Assessment is a secure cloud-based e-assessment platform that covers the entire digital examination process from initial question creation to exam delivery and collaborative marking.

Join our free live webinar on Thursday, 16th April, 4pm CEST to learn more about how to safely do high-stakes assessments from home, and ask questions to our educational experts. Click here to register for this webinar.

PebblePad: (https://www.pebblepad.co.uk/)

PebbleVision is a newly created series of videos inspired by examples of practice from the PebblePad community. From the flipped classroom to supporting extra and co-curricular learning, through to personal tutoring and authentic assessment, it’s hoped that the video series will spark ideas to help educators during these challenging times. Click here to access PebbleVision.

PSI: (http://psionline.com/international)

The days when invigilation/proctoring was restricted to a scheduled time and physical exam location or test centre are over. The advent of Internet Based Testing (IBT) created a need for secure administration and technological advancements have made online proctoring/invigilation possible.

This e-book from PSI offers a high-level, practical introduction to the different elements of online proctoring/invigilation, providing a really useful resource for anyone considering this approach to invigilation to support assessment at this challenging time.

Discover Online Proctoring – an e-book available here.

If you are considering remote proctoring/invigilation within higher education, you may also find this article in Education Technology by PSI Executive Vice President Doug Winneg of interest, detailing what should be considered before moving assessments online.

RM Results: (http://rmresults.co.uk/)

• RM Easimaths (rm.com/products/rm-easimaths)

With many school children currently at home, RM would like to offer schools access to RM Easimaths for free for 4 months as a way for children aged 4–12 to keep their maths skills up to date. Just 10-15 minutes a day can maintain and improve core maths skills and allow children to grow at a pace that suits them.

Suitable for primary and special schools of any size, the online lessons are compatible with most devices and operating systems, except iOS.

Note: School licensing only – RM Easimaths cannot currently by licensed directly to parents.

• RM Compare (rmresults.com/rmcompare)

Utilising Adaptive Comparative Judgement (ACJ), RM Compare is suitable for organisations across the educational spectrum, from primary schools to awarding organisations, to facilitate the marking, standardisation and moderation of assessments.

It also offers a unique way to support online formative assessment, peer-to-peer and on-going learning to support students’ understanding of what good looks like, particularly in relation to open-ended pieces of work such as essays or projects.

Read more about how RM Compare is being used to support summative and formative assessment here.

TCS iON: (https://www.tcsion.com/)

These are challenging times and TATA Group has pledged nearly £170m to protect and empower the affected communities. Knowledge management is a key initiative and so we extend our support to all the schools, universities, training providers and awarding bodies of UK. TCS has launched a new offering – TCS iON Glass Room – a mobile and web education platform where we have tried to mimic every activity of learning/ assessments virtually. TCS iON Glass Room is now free for a limited period of 3 months with absolutely no obligations in future.

Please register at the link – https://learning.tcsionhub.uk/organisation/intl-glass-room/

The platform enables real time sharing of lessons, videos, worksheets, assignments and assessments, using interactive methods like polls, debates, quiz, surveys and many more tools, with an option to offer an embedded live classroom to support teaching.

If it is of interest, please contact me at [email protected]

TestReach: (https://www.testreach.com/)

Remote invigilation offers an opportunity in these difficult times to continue to offer formal exams online, without requiring candidates to come to a test centre.

For example, the TestReach remote invigilation service continues to be fully operational.

If you’d like to learn more about remote invigilation (or online proctoring) and how it might help you, please download a free Whitepaper: Guide to Remote Invigilation here.

Vretta: (https://www.vretta.com/)

• Intromath (www.intromath.ca)

During the remainder of this academic year, Vretta is offering colleges and universities the ability to host and administer tests and examinations in maths free of charge.  Using its award winning Intromath platform, we will support departments/staff to ensure that students can access learning supports for preparation and complete their courses as seamlessly as possible.

• Elevate My Maths (www.elevatemymaths.co.uk)

In the coming academic year (2020-21), universities and colleges will be admitting many students with less than the usual evidence of knowledge and skills in maths.  Vretta’s Elevate My Maths platform is designed to support precisely those students through diagnostic assessment, online interactive upgrading lessons as required, and summative assessment.  This proven and award-winning program is available at low cost to all universities and colleges in the UK.

For details on both of the above please email  [email protected].