The Slow March to e-Assessment in the Australian VET Sector
1. The Slow March to E-assessment
in the Australian VET Sector
* e-assessment in the VET sector - what does the
research tell us?
* do VET practitioners have the skills and
confidence to deliver assessment for the digital
age?
* the assessment obsession: whatever happened
to teaching?
Michael Coghlan
TAFE SA
31st July, 2013
4. Victor Callan (The University of Queensland)
Berwyn Clayton (Victoria University)
http://www.flexiblelearning.net.au/files/Eassessment_AQTF_final.pdf
5. Skills of the VET Teacher/Trainer
● Many VET staff don't have a proper
understanding of ASSESSMENT, let alone e-
assessment!
● 90% of e-assessment is done via quizzes!!
● Many practitioners not sure what
is acceptable to auditors -
result of a culture of meek
compliance > unwillingness to
innovate
6. Is a video created by an apprentice using POV
technology somewhere in remote Australia sufficient
to prove that s/he is competent at fitting service gauges?
WHAT CONSTITUTES FAIR AND VALID E- ASSESSMENT?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DrGbfYkuu8E
7. Is a video created by an apprentice using POV
technology sufficient to prove that s/he is competent at fitting
battens on a roof?
WHAT CONSTITUTES FAIR AND VALID E- ASSESSMENT?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=glj1zB-uoRc&feature=youtu.be
8. Is a video created by a student of one of his
peers to demonstrate their competence in the
safe use of hand and power tools sufficient
evidence for an auditor?
Is a video, or photographs, created by a student on
their mobile phone showing the various stages of
cutting someone’s hair sufficient to demonstrate
competence?
WHAT CONSTITUTES FAIR AND VALID E-ASSESSMENT?
http://www.flickr.com/photos/judybaxter/813957814/
10. do VET practitioners have the skills and
confidence to deliver assessment for the
digital age?
11. Where are the competent
eLearning Practitioners?
Mitchell and Ward:
● A report on the National Survey of Vocational Education
and Training (VET) Practitioner (January, 2010)
● Elearning seen as part of an advanced skill set; __%?__ of
VET lecturers see themselves in this category
● Elearning seen as part of an advanced skill set; less than 10%
of VET lecturers see themselves in this category
(http://www.voced.edu.au/content/ngv41236)
14. eAssesment (defined)
E-assessment covers a wide range of
activities where digital technologies
are used in assessment
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6VgB-GAbNs
20. GLOBAL TRENDS
(NMC sponsored retreat on
The Future of Education)
• Work is increasingly Global and
Collaborative
• People learn anywhere, anytime
(BYOD – bring your own device)
• Mobile
• Openness — content, resources,
courses, research, attitudes
• The CLOUD
• Ownership (copyright) and privacy
• Access, and Scale are redefining
what we mean by quality
and success (MOOCS)
• Notion of literacy is being
redefined (multi- or transliteracy)
• Rise of Informal Learning
• New Business Models
21. GLOBAL/COLLABORATIVE
APPROACHES TO WORK
• collaboration should be emphasised as a principal form of assessment
(design for cheating) - an alternative to testing/online quizzes done
alone in isolation
• this is not what happens in the real world; collaborative assessment more
accurately mirrors workplace practice
• more PD needed on other models of delivery - problem based learning
(PBL), scenario based, Assessment for Learning (A4L); Flipped Learning -
http://flipped-learning.com/
• strong links here with Employability Skills - they are the skills graduates
will need to function in a more global and collaborative workplace
22. EMPLOYABILITY SKILLS
COLLABORATION
• Communication √
• Teamwork √
• Problem Solving √
• Initiative and Enterprise √
• Planning and Organising √
• Self-management √
• Learning
• Technology
23. “Soft skills are the hard skills of industry.”
(Jeremy Blain - Cegos Asia Pacific)
24. PEER ASSESSMENT: Moodle Workshop Tool
Overview
• This project explored the role of online peer
assessment in helping to determine a candidate’s
competency
• Unit of study: Promote team effectiveness
http://accesstoskills.wikispaces.com/AS079
30. HOW WE’VE CHANGED:
• We have changed from being an organisation
primarily concerned with LEARNING, to an
organisation whose primary concern is
ASSESSMENT.
33. LECTURER COMMENTS:
• wasting a huge amount of time on bureaucracy to meet auditors needs rather than
on delivery of outcomes to students
• the Audit /ASQA requirements for VET and Tafe training has increased the time
needed prepare and assess in training
• a lot of the time is spent on the quality requirements now e.g. filing assessments,
tracking training plans etc
• marking, documenting, recording, student information systems, fulfilling auditable
requirements takes the largest proportion of our time
• Very little time available for research, and development of materials past what is
already available due to the increased demands time for assessment ... Too much
time spent doing tasks that should be done by administrative staff.... Quality
system also demands multiple records of many outcomes and this takes significant
time also
• Administration and compliance requirements, especially in relation to assessment,
have significantly reduced the time available for quality lesson planning and
resource development
34. LECTURER COMMENTS:
TEACHING AND ASSESSMENT:
• They go together in my opinion, part of lesson planning is assessment planning
which is hard to isolate.
• it would be fair to say that immense learning takes place in the assessment
process. It's iterative, and distributed throughout the semester. It's very learner
focussed/learner choice. It's also very time intensive to assess.
35. STEMMING THE TIDE
Two questions:
1. Will this improve my
teaching?
2. Will it reduce the
amount of time I have
to prepare lessons?
Greg Whitby
36. What an assessor in the Australian
VET sector needs to show!
• Provide evidence to support your
decision to approve student X
competent in unit of competence Y on
day Z last semester
• extreme cases: need to report on every
student on every unit of competence
for every day
37. WHY HAS THIS HAPPENED?
because a couple of kids mucked around in class
38. • Sugata Mitra:
"the stupidity and short-sighted self-interest of
politicians combined with the laziness and
cowardice of many who work in education is a
powerful and deadly brake upon change."
(Sugata Mitra)
39. WHERE DID THE ASSESSMENT
OBSESSION COME FROM?
• RPL (Recognition of Prior Learning) – you could be
assessed without doing the course - GOOD
• National standards > regulator > auditing to ensure
consistent outcomes - GOOD
• The whole class must stay in at lunchtime (or we all
suffer for the sins of a few); weeding out the bad guys
(Dodgy Brothers RTOs; lazy, entrenched, permanent
TAFE employees) – NEEDED BUT WENT TOO FAR
• Risk aversion ↔ culture of compliance – JUST REALLY
SAD
• New funding models are outcome focused – THE LAST
STRAW
40. THE PROBLEM:
"The dominant culture of education has come to focus not on teaching
and learning, but testing...this...leads to a culture of compliance rather
than creativity.“
http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_how_to_escape_education_s_death_valley.html
41. TEACHING AND ASSESSING
NAPLAN: “It’s not the
test that counts but the
teaching that is critical
... and good teachers
know this.”
Greg Whitby
http://bluyonder.wordpress.com/2013/01/03/naplan-friend-foe-or-on-the-fence/
44. Resources
Australian Flexible Learning Framework (2011) E-assessment guidelines for the
VET sector, DEEWR, Canberra,
http://flexiblelearning.net.au/wp-content/uploads/E-assessment-guidelines-for-the-VET-sector.pdf
Case studies from the E-assessment guidelines
• http://flexiblelearning.net.au/wp-content/uploads/01_casestudy_Mobile_final.pdf
• http://flexiblelearning.net.au/wp-content/uploads/04_casestudy_ePortfolio_final.pdf
• http://flexiblelearning.net.au/wp-content/uploads/03_casestudy_Moodle_final.pdf
• http://flexiblelearning.net.au/wp-content/uploads/02_casestudy_Video_final.pdf
• http://flexiblelearning.net.au/wp-content/uploads/CaseStudyOverview_final.pdf
QVDC resources
http://online.evet.qld.edu.au/
YouTube videos: first one is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=A6VgB-GAbNs
eAssessment in the VET sector