Online assessment initiative setting a course for success

When the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) set out its blueprint for online assessments last April, it said that no technological and educational barriers stood in the way of the adoption of online testing.

But at that time, the organisation made it clear that a lack of political will remained a significant impediment to success.

All that has changed in the past month.

First, Education Secretary Ruth Kelly unveiled the government's education White Paper, which announced its aim to ensure young people acquire higher standards in basic skills by the age of 14.

Central to this strategy was the proposal to introduce a new online test of pupils' information and communication technology (ICT) skills.

Then, two weeks ago, plans for the full rollout of e-assessment were approved by the government's procurement agency, the Office of Government Commerce (OGC).

The QCA is currently piloting an e-assessment project, with the aim of extending the service to more than half a million Year Nine students (aged 13 and 14) annually by 2008.

And plans for the £26m project have passed through the OGC's fourth Gateway review stage, which examined the scheme's readiness for service.

QCA head of e-strategy Martin Ripley says the White Paper and OGC review provide an important sense of direction.

'The government wouldn't have made this commitment unless they believe we can deliver it,' he says. 'The sceptics are now convinced that e-assessments are something worth committing to.'

As in the case of failed online learning venture UKeU (Computing, 3 March) and the problematic 'University for Industry' (Ufi) elearning initiative (Computing, 9 December), plans for e-assessment were first announced by David Blunkett when he was Education Secretary.

E-assessments will need to be more successful than UKeU, which recently closed after costing the UK taxpayer £50m and attracting just 900 students.

But the signs for the online tests are far more promising. Now entering the third year of a six-year project, the QCA has already prepared the back-office, central server and administrative systems.

And Ripley says the project will provide the impetus to wire up all of the UK's 4,000 secondary schools, so the tests can be delivered to more than half a million students annually by 2008. Money for purchasing IT equipment is allocated in annual school budgets.

'The White Paper makes it vital that whatever kit schools are buying, they have got to be able to run ICT tests across their infrastructure,' he says. 'We're using e-assessments as a catalyst to get the changes we require in terms of technology in schools.'

The important point for secondary schools, he adds, is to teach children the appropriate use and application of technology.

'IT is no longer peripheral,' he says. 'It's part of the core of UK education, alongside English and mathematics.'

Ripley says there will be significant expectations placed on awarding bodies to ensure they deliver on-demand testing. And as the rollout of the e-assessment project continues, a number of regulatory issues will become important for the QCA in the next 12 months, both in terms of the year nine test and more generally.

Ripley says that certain standards for interoperability , such as those of the British Standards Institute, are already robust. But he adds that the QCA needs to prepare a clearer position on other standards issues for awarding bodies.

'As a regulator, we need to be more optimistic and aggressive in the targets we set,' he says. 'We need to be more ambitious than we have in the past year in requiring awarding bodies to show reliability and market penetration.'

One of this year's targets for awarding bodies includes delivering 75 per cent of adult key and basic skills tests on screen. Last year, the QCA worked closely with awarding bodies as they piloted systems to deliver e-assessments, and encouraged them to move to the next step.

Awarding bodies are already at the 75 per cent level of delivery, nine months ahead of schedule.

'We've learned that we can lead and convert the industry to e-assessment far quicker than was suspected,' says Ripley. And he adds that the move towards on-screen testing provides clear benefits for candidates.

'We're talking about more choice, control and flexibility: you can register for a test at the start of the week, and you'll know by the end of the week that you'll be able to register and take the examination,' he says.

'With some of the awarding bodies, you'll know that when you walk out of the exam you'll have a provisional result in your hand. And you'll know that within 48 hours the result will be confirmed.'

This rapid form of testing and results will also be attractive to businesses.

'When an employer is looking for skills, that speed of turnaround is absolutely critical,' says Ripley. 'There's already huge interest in the marketplace that we will have enabled.'

Organisations talking of the benefits of e-assessments tend to refer to educational benefits and lower costs.

The Securities and Investment Institute, an awarding body that covers financial qualifications, has recently completed a successful e-assessment pilot in the City.

'They're clear that in their client group, a young graduate moving to a high-powered City career needs to be able to walk out of the examination room with a certification in their hand,' says Ripley. 'If they haven't passed, they need to be able to come back the next day to retake it.'

But for now, the QCA's priority remains ensuring that its ICT e-assessment for 14-year-olds is a hit. If the technology test proves a success, other subjects could follow.

'We're absolutely clear that once this project is established the world is our oyster, and the question is where next,' says Ripley. 'I don't think any of us is yet ready to make irreversible decisions. 'Let's get this test working first.'

Project specification

The government has allocated funding of £26m to the e-assessment project. Offshore specialist Tata Infotech has undertaken most of the £15m of software development, while the remaining £11m will be used to build a bank of test materials to administer the e-assessments and run a helpdesk.

The Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA), which is now entering the third year of the six-year project, has already prepared the back-office, administrative and central server systems.

The organisation's head of e-strategy, Martin Ripley, says the ICT project will provide the impetus to allow the UK's 4,000 secondary schools to deliver the tests to more than half a million students annually by 2008.

Movement in that direction is already being made: last summer, the QCA ran a pilot scheme with 100 schools to gauge training, infrastructure and development needs.

And following last week's successful Office of Government Commerce review, the QCA will start a national implementation of the test environment. Next month it will start working with another 600 pilot schools, and continue to roll out e-assessments at the rate of 100 schools a week throughout the summer.