See you: 20th and 21st March 2013 for the 11th
e-Assessment Question

 

ASSESSMENT TOMORROW

The e-Assessment Question
2003 to 2012 and on

‘Using  ICT   to  measure  skills,  understanding  and  knowledge

Annual Conference and Exhibition

2007 Speakers

 

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Speakers this year include - click on name for speaker profile

Kim Catcheside, Chair, Day One BBC Radio Education Correspondent

Colin Deal, Chair, Day Two

Isabel Nisbet, Director or Regulation and Standards

AQA Ann Trant and Bob Penrose, AQA

Jackie Bawden, Harcourt

Val Carpenter for Sue Parker, Learning-etc.

Geoff Chapman, Thomson Prometric

Gavin Cooney, Websonic

Richard Dorrance, Chief Executive, CACHE

Bobby Elliot, SQA

David Gardner, MD, Freedom2Learn

Professor Stephen Heppell

Paul Howarth, MD, Pearson VUE (UK)

Geraldine Kenney-Wallace, Group Director, New Ventures, City and Guilds

Jim Lacey, President and CEO, Linux Professional Institution

Chris Mason, experteese

Prof. Fred McBride, ALTA Systems (NI)

Peter Newman, MD, HAMLET

Che Osborne, BTL

Sue Parker, Learning etc.

Martin Ripley, 21st Century Learning Alliance,

Denis Saunders, MD, Calibrand

Stephen Scowcroft, Trade Advisor, Education, UKT&I

Sid Spalding, Senior Account Manager, Examinations and Assessment, DRS

Craig Strangwick and Kate Soper, ABC Awards

Graham Taylor, TestWise Development Manager, NferNelson

Peter Wilson, QCA

John Winkley, Alphaplus

 

Conference Chairs

Kim Catcheside, Chair, Day One

Kim Catcheside is the education and social affairs correspondent for BBC Radio, appearing frequently on flagship programmes like " Today ". She's specialised in social policy for radio and television for more than fifteen years. Kim began life as a local radio reporter in Sheffield and then Bedfordshire. She then cut her teeth in the local and regional Parliamentary Unit, shouting questions at Margaret Thatcher in the days before the bomb proof gates went up. One of these questions elicited the reply " we are a grandmother " the Royal overtones of which almost certainly heralded the Prime Ministers fall. Kim lives in central London with her husband and two children.

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Colin Deal, Chair, Day Two

A career spent mainly in the British computer industry which has covered both system and business development, in the UK and internationally. For the last twelve years has concentrated on the application of computers to the delivery of exams, initially the secure certification exams for professionals within the computer sector itself, and then the adoption of such approaches by the Financial Services sector, the Driving Standards Agency, and the Construction Industry’s Health and Safety certifications. Together, these exams represent annual volumes approaching 2 million, so are still dwarfed by the potential that exists in other sectors, which has yet to be exploited and on which his current activities are mainly focused.

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Isabel Nisbet, Director or Regulation and Standards

Isabel Nisbet has been Director of Regulation and Standards at the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority since July 2005. Her Division is responsible for ensuring that qualifications and national curriculum assessments meet the required standards for validity and fairness, that standards are maintained, and that the interests of the public and learners are protected. Before coming to the QCA, Isabel was involved in setting up new regulatory bodies and contributing to national thinking about regulation. In July 2004 she led the establishment of the Postgraduate Medical Education and Training Board (PMETB) and in 2003 she set up a new regulatory body, the Council for the Regulation of Healthcare Professionals, and was its Acting Chief Executive. Before that she held Director posts at the General Medical Council, at a time of comprehensive reform.  From 1995 - 1999 she was Deputy Health Service Commissioner (Ombudsman) for England, Scotland and Wales. She was a senior civil servant, with a career in Government spanning the Scottish Office, the Cabinet Office and the Department of Health. Isabel lives in London, but was brought up in Glasgow and retains links there. She is a keen musician when time permits.

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Geraldine Kenney-Wallace, Group Director, New Ventures, City and Guilds

Dr Geraldine Kenney-Wallace was appointed to City & Guilds in May 2001 to establish the new Group e-Strategy & Learning Directorate (GeSL) and build the e-Business. In January 2004 she also became responsible for Information Technology. She has considerable experience in e-learning and e-business in the UK and internationally as a Managing Director of British Aerospace and non-Executive Director in multinational companies, Vice Chancellor of a research intensive University, and a leading researcher in ultra fast lasers and non linear optics when Professor of Physics and Chemistry. Today much of that field of research not only underpins the multimedia technologies and e-learning and e-assessment, but also the latest technologies to ensure learning is indeed a valuable and enduring asset.  In October 2006, she became the Group Director for New Ventures, incorporating GeSL

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Geoff Chapman, Head of Marketing, Thomson Prometric’s EMEA.

Geoff has worked in the assessment industry for over seven years and holds Chartered Marketer status with the Chartered Institute of Marketing, the highest distinction within the profession. His previous career experience includes marketing and client service management roles within large UK corporations, notably in financial services. He has worked in twelve countries and has spoken at CBT conferences in the United Kingdom and Europe regarding e-Assessment research.

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Richard Dorrance, Chief Executive, CACHE

Dr. Richard Dorrance, Chief Executive of CACHE,  will be describing some of the decisions which CACHE had to make when it commenced an e-assessment pilot two years ago. He will cover the impact it had on the existing business and staff, the readiness of the Market for e-assessment, the development work and staff training needed, the investment in new technology, the financials, changes in quality assurance and the risks.

Richard Dorrance has been the Chief Executive of the Council for Awards in Children’s Care and Education since its inception in 1994.  He was also Chief Executive of the Early Years NTO from 1997 to its closure in 2005. He taught for 11 years in schools and was General Adviser to Berkshire County Council for five years.  His previous posts have included Deputy Chief Executive of the School Examination and Assessment Council, and Assistant Chief Executive of the National Curriculum Council.  He is married to Priscilla, an educational publisher, and father of four year old Henry and seven year old Isabel.

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Craig Strangwick and Kate Soper, ABC Awards

 

Craig Strangwick is the Systems Manager for ABC Awards and is currently advising on ABC’s eStrategy. Since joining ABC Craig has designed and deployed the Awards Management System and Online Registration System which operate across ABC’s four regional offices and network of Centres. Current projects include providing online services for Moderators and Examiners. Prior to joining ABC in 2004 Craig designed and implemented advanced planning systems for the apparel and textiles industry.

Kate Soper recently joined the ABC development team as e-Assessment Projects Coordinator. Her current role is to co-ordinate trials of on-screen testing, to implement e-portfolio processes into the business and to identify further opportunities for e-Assessment within the vocational qualifications sector.

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Gavin Cooney

In 2001 Gavin Cooney BComm MBS was lecturing in University College Dublin while setting up web systems for a start-up mobile phone company in Ireland. Wanderlust got the better of him, and he went travelling for a few months. Five years later Gavin was still in Sydney, working for the NSW Board of Studies developing web sites and applications, including an e-Assessment website which to date has delivered 4 million self-test online exams. Specialising in e-Assessment systems, he now leads a development team, which in 2006 delivered the first state wide mandatory online exam to 56,000 fifteen year olds over three days. Returning home to Ireland, Gavin founded WebSonic Ltd. to supply e-Assessment solutions worldwide. He retains the Board of Studies as a client, while developing some innovative phone based e-Assessments to examine Irish language skills in students for the Irish Government.

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Chris Mason, experteese

Chris retired from his post as Sheffield's Project Manager for the South Yorkshire eLearning Programme in May 2006 where he had led this large, European funded programme since 2001. Prior to this Chris was a Deputy Headteacher in Sheffield and had spent twenty-two years as a senior secondary manager. He has led on a number of elearning projects developments and has been at the forefront of content development and content management programmes. He has been particularly active in working with Language Advisers and City Learning Centre staff to support the development of materials for the teaching of Modern Foreign Languages and was also part of the planning and strategy group for the city's Family Learning initiative - another European funded programme. Chris was also instrumental in the development of an eConfidence programme to support strategic planning in schools.

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Jackie Bawden, Head of Assessment, Harcourt

Jackie started her career as a mathematics teacher in a secondary school.  Her interest in assessment grew when she stopped working full time to look after her two young children and started marking examination papers. She started revising mathematics papers and then became senior examiner for GCSE statistics.  Jackie has led mathematics teams in a number of secondary schools and tertiary colleges before becoming head of mathematics at an awarding body.  In 1995 she moved to SCAA, a predecessor body of QCA, where she was responsible for developing the assessment structure for Part One GNVQs.  In 2000, Jackie became Director for National Curriculum Assessment at QCA.  She chose to take early retirement in 2005 although still working for QCA as a consultant.  She is currently Head of Assessment at Harcourt and been involved in developing Harcourt’s on-line formative assessment product Achieve.

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Martin Ripley, 21st Century Learning Alliance

 

Martin Ripley is a leading international adviser on 21st century learning and technology.  Martin is co-founder of the 21st Century Learning Alliance www.21stcenturylearningalliance.com This group uniquely brings together industry, policy makers and practitioners, and its aims include the creation of compelling views of learning for the future.  Acting on behalf of sponsors, Martin is also involved in establishing a new academy in Hammersmith & Fulham and which will focus on the new ICT and Creative/Media specialised diplomas.  Martin is also a Director of the National Academy for Gifted and Talented Youth, based at the University of Warwick. In 2005 Martin’s teams won two prestigious awards in the UK – one from the Computing Industry, for Innovative Project of the Year; and one from government, for Public Sector Project of the Year.

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Paul Howarth, MD, Pearson VUE (UK)

Paul Howarth will illustrate just some of the aspects of Best Practice worth considering when developing e-Assessments, such as the initiation of a solid test development process, trialling, standardised test delivery, data capture and analysis. This brief presentation will outline the test development process and how Best Practice can be implemented.

When considering Best Practice, there are four key areas for consideration:

      • Content development
      • Test delivery
      • Information and data
      • Communication.

Paul Howarth is Managing Director of Pearson VUE Europe, Middle East and Africa. He oversees a wide variety of computer-based assessment programmes including the Driving Standards Agency Theory Test, university entrance exams in law, medicine and dentistry and numerous financial services and IT certification clients

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Denis Saunders, MD, Calibrand

Denis Saunders, MBA, BSc is Managing Director of Calibrand, the currency for talent© which he founded in 1991. He has spent several years working in both the Financial Services and Government sectors and has been involved in many skills and training related projects both in the UK and internationally Calibrand, the currency for talent® work with 5 of the 7 largest Financial Services companies in the UK and Eire, have delivered over 2m online tests and are ISO 9001 TickIT Quality Assured to the 2000 standard. They provide the online software for the 'Life in the UK' Citizenship test on behalf of the Home Office. Although happy to provide a range of solutions Calibrand believes that, today, it is possible to deliver competence assessment securely to anyone, at anytime, anywhere and on any device. Calibrand solutions are designed to achieve that objective

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Peter Wilson, QCA

Peter Wilson works for NIACE as a Development Officer for Credit and Qualifications. From 1999 to 2003 he was seconded to Ufi as Head of Qualifications and Assessment, and since April 2004 he has been seconded part-time to the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority as Principal Adviser to the team developing the new Qualifications and Credit Framework, where he has been responsible for leading work on the technical features of the Framework. As part of his work for QCA he is leading work on the development of e-assessment opportunities within the new QCF

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John Winkley, Alphaplus

John has a track record of business growth in e-learning and e-assessment.  He has specialised in developing innovative systems for education and assessment, working with a range of public and private sector clients through the four companies he has helped to build: BTL Group Ltd (www.btl.com), The Virtual College plc (www.virtual-college.co.uk) and AlphaPlus (www.alphaplusconsultancy.co.uk). His consultancy work includes e-strategy projects for DFES, QCA, SQA, ACCAC, BECTA, JISC, learndirect, Edexcel and Tribal.

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Che Osborne, BTL

Che has worked in the e-assessment arena for a number of years, working with Educational and Corporate organisations to leverage the benefits of e-assessment. He is currently Sales Director with BTL.

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Sid Spalding, Senior Account Manager, Examinations and Assessment, DRS

Sid’s position within DRS as Senior Account Manager for Examinations and Assessment gives him responsibility for all awarding bodies in the UK. Sid has over ten years experience in IT and this has served him will in implementing electronic marking solutions primarily using the DRS e-Marker® service. Last year this amounted to processing over 4.5 million scripts from awarding bodies such as AQA and WJEC as well as non-unitary Awarding bodies and Professional bodies.

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Stephen Scowcroft, Trade Advisor, Education, UKT&I

Stephen has extensive experience in the sector including lecturing at higher educational institutes in Asia, developing resources for leading educational technology providers and has worked in international education and training business development. Stephen’s aim is to provide high quality international trade advice in order to help regional businesses across all sectors use education and training to support their international business, giving them a vital competitive edge overseas.

  • The East of England has world renowned centres of academic excellence.
  • Educational Institutions collaborate with local business to advance trade.
  • The UK’s education and training (E&T) exports are estimated to be worth around £10 billion a year to the economy.

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Jim Lacey, President and CEO, Linux Professional Institution

Jim is former President and CEO of Bradford Learning Incorporated--one of the first organizations to provide LPI Approved Training Materials. Jim's past positions include: General Manager of Linuxcare University (Linuxcare Corporation), Director of Operations for the Technology Training division of CompUSA, Regional Training Director for the Ohio Valley for CompUSA and Territory Sales Manager with Serono Diagnostics. Jim graduated with a B.S. degree in Civil Engineering from the UnitedStates Military Academy, West Point, N.Y.  Jim lives in California, USA.

Conference Presentation Summary:

Linux Professional Institute's (LPI) presentation will focus on the challenges of creating an international certification program across multiple languages and cultures. This work includes ongoing consultation with major industry players to ensure the certification program meets global standards and involves IT professionals from a variety of employment situations. In addition, the presentation will describe how these transparency initiatives are supported by associate organizations which represent specific regions, countries and industry sectors. The presentation will also note LPI's certification development for other clients (i.e. Canonical/Ubuntu) and our work in the developing world and with non-governmental/voluntary sector.

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Peter Newman, MD, HAMLET

 

Peter has a background in Training and more recently Sales & Marketing.  He worked as the Training Manager for two major UK Corporations in the Leisure Industry before moving into a Sales Management role in the IT industry in 1982.  He joined Hamlet in 1988 as Business Development Manager and has been responsible for Hamlet gaining its high profile in the education market place. He took over as Managing Director in 1997 and still plays a key sales and client management role in both the UK and overseas.

Hamlet currently work outside of the UK with National Examination Boards in Africa and the Caribbean.

In his presentation, Peter will look at how Hamlet have developed its export strategy and some of the lessons to be learnt when working in the Qualifications market place overseas.

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David Gardner, MD, Freedom2Learn

David has been involved in digital learning since the 1980's. He is passionate about the benefits that it will bring to education. David is the winner of several international multi media awards including a Sony Silver Apple for the world's best Educational CD Rom in 1997 and a Cannes multi media award for the best European interactive CD in 1998.  David has been a teacher for 20 years and in 1999 he co-founded DDL. He provides DDL with its future development planning ideas and is a key player in providing the company with much of its existing and future networks. David also has a hand in the conceptualization of many of its educational projects

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Emeritus Professor Fred McBride  BSc, MSc, PhD, CEng, FBCS, CITP ALTA Systems (NI)

Formerly, Honorary Lecturer in Computer Science, Honorary Professor of Education, Director of Computing Services and (founding) Director of the Institute of Computer Based Learning at The Queen’s University of Belfast, with academic interests including adaptive learning, teaching and assessment systems; conceptual programming tools for mathematics; functional programming languages; and models of processes in polymer chemistry.  Currently working as the Chief Executive and R&D Director of ALTA Systems (NI) Ltd, which is engaged in a major project with CCEA to pilot large-scale, formative assessment systems in schools in Northern Ireland.  This project has been extended to Scotland, England and the Isle of Man, where similar projects on a smaller scale are now underway

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Ann Trant and Bob Penrose, AQA

 

Anne Trant, Manager in subject administration at AQA. Head of the department which administers A Level Maths and GCSE Science examinations.  Involved in the development of new examination specifications and their subsequent operation, including the production of question papers.  Has worked for AQA with Maths and Science subjects for 10 years.  Previously taught science.  Her involvement with e-Assessment began with GCSE Science in winter 2004/5.

Bob Penrose, AQA Principal Manager New Technology. Taken the lead in developing electronic marking, on-screen assessment, e-portfolios and e-standardising amongst other new initiatives with external suppliers. Previously Project Manager of World Class Tests with QCA and currently supporting the e-scape project in D&T. Represents AQA on national bodies such as the national e-Assessment group and QCA e-regulation. Has worked in examining and assessment for 29 years from CSE to present.

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Val Carpenter speaking on behalf of Sue Parker.

Val currently works as an education consultant and has been working with the QCA for 6months where she has worked on a range of policy developments surrounding the Diploma. A key focus of this work has been assessment and grading but has also included other aspects including the project and work experience components. She has been in the education and training field for most of her working life and was a Director with the LSC until about 2 years ago. As such she has specialised in 14 to 19 developments and has been a member of schools and college governing bodies as well as having served as a board member of a local Connexions company. Having worked as a senior manager with a Training of Commerce, Training and Enterprise, she has led strategic planning and operational delivery. She has wide experience of working with employers and employer organisations and has facilitated local and strategic industry/education partnerships.

Sue Parker, Learning etc.

Sue has been a Director of Learning for years.  Previously she was a senior manager in further education, with an awarding body and with KPMG. Sue’s activities include research, strategy and implementation for LSCs and RDAs on 14-19, the skills agenda, LLDD, the voluntary and community sector and writing qualifications and materials for private providers.  She runs many public training consultation events and is an accomplished speaker and report writer.  She has researched apprenticeship completions, adult IAG, and distributed learning, including through e-learning.  Sue has been an interim manager for a LSC, a County Council and for a group of social businesses. Sue coordinated the development of the subject criteria for the first five specialised Diplomas for QCA, working closely with Diploma Development Partnerships (DDPs), Awarding Bodies and writers.

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Graham Taylor, TestWise Development Manager, NferNelson

Graham Taylor, Testwise Development Manager, nferNelson Granada Learning, runs nferNelson's Testwise electronic assessment  service  having  overseen its development over the past three years from a small scale server based VLE module to its current incarnation as a huge web based service which has delivered  around 400,000 tests. He joined Granada Learning in 2000. He had a background initially in computer journalism and later in software development working as part of the Pearson Group with both Future Publishing and Rough Guides on web based versions of their magazines and books. Graham is married with two children Juila (13) and Stuart (15), and lives in Essex near Chelmsford

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Bobby Elliot, SQA

Current position: Qualifications Manager within the Scottish Qualifications Authority (from 2000 to present). Responsible for Computing/IT and E-Learning/E-Assessment qualifications. Previously taught for 22 years in various positions in school and college sectors. Last position was Head of Department in a large Further Education College. Graduated in 1978 with degree in Computer Science from Strathclyde Uni. Currently doing a Masters in E-Learning at Edinburgh University. He was responsible for developing SQA's Diploma in E-Assessment - the world's first national qualification in e-assessment. Currently on secondment  to develop SQA's first paperless qualification.

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Professor Stephen Heppell

Stephen was formerly director of ULTRALAB which had (and indeed still has) an enviable global reputation for creativity, innovation and common sense. After 22 years he left there to consolidate his policy and learning consultancy heppell.net before being head hunted to create and run the radical learning technology research team learn3k in Dublin, Ireland.  Stephen's inaugural lecture as a new professor back in 1987 was "eyes on the horizon, feet on the ground!".

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