Assessment SIG meeting 220207

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The meeting was hosted by the School of Electronics and Computer Science at the University of Southampton

JISC Capital Programme - new assessment projects
JISC have funded three new projects under the Captial Programme which will build on previous work undertaken within the eLearning Framework and Distributed eLearning programmes. These projects will develop systems which will provide essential functionality for the development and delivery of assessment content:


 * Assessment authoring: AQuRate, University of Kingston;
 * Item banking: Minibix, University of Cambridge, University of Southampton and the Scottish Qualifications Authority;
 * Assessment delivery: AsDel, University of Southampton.

The projects started on 1 March, and are due to run for one year.

Steve Lay (Cambridge), David Livingstone (Kingston) and Gary Wills (Southampton) introduced the three projects to the SIG: their presentation is available through the QTITools website.

DfES developments on vocational education
Clive Church of Edexel and JISC CETIS presented some of the latest developments from DfES affecting vocational education in England, Wales and Northern Ireland.

The 14-19 specialised diploma raises particular challenges for assessment and accreditation, and the role of interoperability standards in this will be crucial.

Clive's presentation is available for download - [[media:clive_church_220207.ppt | click here]].

FREMA: modeling the eassessment domain
Yvonne Howard and Dave Millard of the University of Southampton presented a review of the work of the FREMA project, which produced a reference model for the assessment domain.

The projects outcomes are now available in the form of a semantic wiki based on Semantic MediaWiki to which the community is invited to contribute. The FREMA wiki consists of over 660 pages, and includes invaluable features such as a gap analysis tool as well as detailed information on many projects, tools and services.

Yvonne and Dave's presentation is available for download - [[media:FREMA_220207.ppt|click here]]

PeerPigeon
Dave Millard of the University of Southampton introduced the PeerPigeon project to the audience.

This JISC project supports the submission and distribution of resources for peer assessment, based on a common generate-submit-distribute workflow which can be elaborated signficantly. The outcomes of the project should also provide valuable functionality beyond the assessment domain, for example in supporting a wide range of eadministration activities.

Dave's presentation is available online - click here.

MCQFM
Steve Bennett of the University of Hertfordshire introduced the audience to the MCQFM - Multiple Choice Five Methods project, another JISC project this time looking at developing a web-based question generator with a simple text input system to make it user friendly for teachers.

The existing Question Generator on which MCQFM will be based is available online, with guidance documentation also available - [[Media:steveb_220207a.docx | click here]]. The work is inspired by work using JavaScript to develop course materials by Hélène Missou which can also be accessed online.

Steve's presentation is available for download - [[media:steveb_220207b.ppt | click here]].

Assessment and Lifelong Learning Mobility - the eForminfo experience
Gillian Palmer of ElementE Ltd discussed some of the assessment issues encountered by the eForminfo project, a European project led by the University of Versailles in partnership with Middlesex University and institutons in Spain, Poland and Romainia.

Gillian's presentation is available to download - [[Media:gillian_220207.ppt|click here]].

Recent work on QTI and item banking
Dick Bacon of the University of Surrey discussed some of his recent work on developing a physical sciences question bank, using items developed in SToMP, Questionmark Perception, e3an and Moodle.

Detailed notes on Dick's work are available for download - [[Media:dick_220207.doc|click here]].

XMarks and xml gradebook specification
Carol Shergold of the University of Sussex discussed the XMarks project, a JISC funded project looking at using web services to exchange marks and assessment data between institutional learning management and student records systems.

One issue of particular interest to the XMarks team is the development of an XML information model for handling assessment and gradebook data. The version of the information model that was then current is available online, and updates will be made available on the project website.

Carol's presentation is available online - click here.