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

Day One, Wednesday 12^th March 2008

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.

Isabel Nisbet, Director of Regulation and Standards, QCA

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

Andrew Bird, Deputy Director General, AQA

Andrew is a professional engineer with a background in business, operations and supply chain management in the European chemical industry.  He  joined AQA as Deputy Director General in late 2004.  He is responsible for process development, information technology and operations. As a parent and as a former school, college and university governor he has a layman’s interest in appropriate and effective assessment.

Emma Everitt, Business Development Manager for EMEA, Pearson VUE

Emma attended Newcastle University and has a BA (Hons) in Architecture. She joined Pearson VUE in 2005, just as CBT began to generate real interest in the UK. Building on a background in publishing and information management, she now heads up the EMEA business development team for Pearson VUE, whilst also managing our accounts on a day-to-day basis. Emma has an in-depth knowledge of the processes, challenges and successes experienced by organisations when moving from paper-and-pen to computer-based assessment.

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.

Robert A. Bullivant FCII, ASFA, Chartered Insurance Practitioner, Deputy Director General CII.
Bob Bullivant has been in the industry for over 35 years both as an IFA and as a Director of life companies. In 2000 he chaired a working party of the Society of Fellows of the Chartered Insurance Institute into the issues of giving advice in the retirement market.  He has been involved with the highest levels of Government in discussions regarding the issues facing Government for people who are living longer albeit not necessarily with a quality of life.  His work at the CII encompasses responsibility for the Awarding Body activities as well as being the CII group representative on the PFS board.  In this role he masterminded the change from paper to e-assessment

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.

Adrienne Jones, CPD Adviser, Teachers TV

After many years as a teacher and local authority adviser in London, Adrienne became an Education Officer with Channel 4, where she was not only involved in producing programmes for schools but developed and authored E-Learning resources for teachers and pupils. In her current role, managing the Teachers TV CPD Advisers, she is involved with in-school CPD, supporting professional development across a wide range of issues and subjects, both primary and secondary.  Teachers TV and E-Learning:  Teachers TV is for everyone interested in education. Over 2000 programmes and resources are currently available on both the web and digital TV channels. These range from acclaimed programmes on classroom management and behaviour, to subject specific material for primary and secondary. This workshop will give an overview of some of the E-Learning opportunities available through Teachers TV, with tips on the best ways to access content and ideas on how it can be used for in-school CPD. Participants will have an opportunity to explore some of the features of this unique resource and discover ways in which it can promote professional knowledge, understanding, values and practice.

Keith Bound, Image Dynamics

Keith has recently been nominated as a finalist in the prestigious “World of Learning Innovation of the Year Award 2007” for his pioneering and innovative learning process Image Dynamics TM. An international speaker, innovator and facilitator, Keith has taken individuals, teams and organisations through the Image Dynamics TM process - a rich and engaging rapid learning experience producing outstanding results. He has presented his process to many leading organisations including Unilever, O2, Marks & Spenser, Mars, Cancer Research and Warwick University. He recently presented at the European Creativity & Innovation Conference in Copenhagen, Denmark to forty different nations. He helped Warwick University to exceed their expectations in developing innovative research proposals for sustainable manufacturing. By applying the Image Dynamics TM techniques, the team created a research proposal with the wow factor, which received £1million funding.  Keith continues to impress delegates and corporations throughout the world using his powerful learning process which combines animated imagery, words and music. Although his main focus has been the corporate learning and development market, he is also developing his process for mobile communication systems to increase flexibility and integrate his development into mainstream education. His research is being further developed through a part-time MA (Design and Digital Media) at Coventry University which has enabled him to tap into other disciplines such as serious games, education and health. He has an international record of success and a substantial background in leading global new product development, design and innovation at the Brady Corporation, a billion dollar organisation. His talents as a designer and innovator have been recognised by the Design Council in 1989 through winning the DIA award and internationally, holding several patents and design awards.

Che Osborne, Director, 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.

Dianne Rees
Dianne is the Director of Learning and Teaching for the School of Health and Social Care and also the Associate Head of the Department of Allied Health Professions within the Faculty of Health and Life Sciences at the University of the West of England. She qualified as a physiotherapist in Leeds in 1980. Dianne has a keen interest in e-learning, as well as interprofessional education and the student experience of higher education.

Mandy Harbottle
Mandy qualified as a therapeutic radiographer from Cranfield University in 1996 and practiced clinically at the Radiotherapy Department at The Cheltenham Cancer Centre from 1996-2004. In November 2004 she took up a full time academic post at the University of the West of England teaching on both undergraduate and postgraduate Radiography and healthcare courses. In 2005 Mandy was awarded an MSc in Cancer Care from Oxford Brookes University. Current academic interests include on-line and blended learning strategies. Mandy is currently involved in a research project investigating the use of an e-portfolio as an assessment tool within healthcare education.

Simon Messer
Simon is a senior lecturer in Diagnostic Imaging at the University of the West of England. He is particularly interested in online learning and is involved with a number of such projects in Radiography in the Department of Allied Health Professions. Prior to becoming a lecturer, he worked as a radiographer in the National Health Service, specialising in Magnetic Resonance Imaging.

Dr Stephen Gomez
Stephen is a Principal Lecturer in Human Physiology and a National Teaching Fellow. He has developed numerous e-learning and e-assessment approaches to support undergraduate students, including Profile, a flexible electronic portfolio system which won the e-Tool of the Year Competition in 2006 organised by the Higher Education Academy, the Times Higher Education Supplement and Toshiba. He also produces video pod files to support his lectures but here he will focus on two developments to make feedback on assignments more meaningful by producing audio feedback in the form of audio files. These files are individual to the student and adds a dimension to the feedback lacking with written feedback. Because it is faster to say something than write it down, ‘marking’ scripts becomes less time-consuming. A second example Stephen will provide is the use of personal response systems in lectures to provide rapid feedback, not just to the student but also to the lecturer to see how effective he is at teaching.

Linda Steedman, MD, ecom Scotland
Managing Director of eCom Scotland, eCom is a premier provider of eAssessment and eLearning solutions. Linda setup eCom as part of an EU research project in 1996 and spun it out in 1999, then completed the MBO in 2001 to take overall control of the company.  Over the last 11 years eCom has been involved in research and development in new models and techniques of eAssessment & eLearning delivery.   Linda’s background is in education and technology over the past 20 years involved a variety of training & academic institutions, she has also run a number of very successful European research & development projects. Linda brings professionalism and enthusiasm to all her work, Linda has a personal focus on good instructional design and her attention to detail has resulted in client’s success with roll out of eLearning systems. Linda has experience of managing large public sector projects involving fully interactive eLearning resources including animation and video for a variety of learners.  Some examples include;  Scottish Parliament’s Discover-eNet system,  BIIAB’s Publicans qualification assessment system, SQA’s Security Qualification License Assessment System,  Careers Scotland’s Career Box system and  SQA’s Spa Therapies. Linda was a founder member and Chairperson of the eLearning Alliance from 2005/7. 

Mark Creeger, MD, Adventures in e-learning

To be provided

Gavin Cooney, MD, Learnosity

After lecturing in University College Dublin for a number of years, Gavin Cooney founded Learnosity and settled in Sydney Australia where he and his company worked with the NSW Board of Studies to develop their e-Assessment strategy and technologies, e-Learning systems, and many very large websites and applications. Specialising in e-Assessment systems, Gavin 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. We have also developed a self-test website for the Board of Studies which to date has delivered more than 4 million tests peaking at more than 110,000 tests in one day. Gavin returned home to Ireland in 2006, and Learnosity now supplies e-Assessment solutions worldwide from an European base. We retain the Board of Studies as a client, while developing innovative phone based e-Assessments to examine Irish language skills in students for the Irish Government, and supplying e-Assessment technology and consultancy to clients in Australia, Ireland, the UK, and Asia. Gavin is passionate about technology, and strives to continue to develop systems using the very latest technologies and assessment approaches.

Robert Smart, MD PF Global Ltd

Robert began his interest in training and development in 1991 when he worked his way up to become head of training for First Great Western.  After securing the position as Lead Assessor and Verifier For BMW/Rover group, then developed the worlds first awarding body accredited NVQ e-portfolio system in 1996 (City and Guilds and Institute of the Motor Industry).  In 2001 after a successful management buy out from BWM, formed the UK’s first commercial e-portfolio platform “PaperFree”.  This has enjoyed great success and was featured on the front page of the TES as saving FE £1 billion pounds a year (Evidence from LSC audit). Due to demands from overseas and the need to expand and attract investment opportunities, Robert then re-launched “PaperFree” as PF Global Ltd in early 2007.  Since this time, PF Global has gone from strength to strength to include Clients: Rolls Royce, Honda, Saudi Oil Contract assessments, The Employment Manpower Bureau of Hong Kong (Government), First Group etc to established FE and Training Provider services in all sectors from care to Engineering.  Now partners with a NASDAQ listed US company FutureMedia, PF Globals strategy is to build on its unique 3 platforms (on-line, Off-line and combined) and to cement its already unlimited capacity for any award at any time software solutions. 

Matt Wingfield – TAG Learning

Matt Wingfield, Business Development Director, TAG Learning Ltd.,: Matt's background is as a qualified teacher with 7 years teaching experience at primary school level and 9 years further experience within the education ICT market. Prior to joining TAG Learning in 1997, Matt worked as a Centre Director and Director of Education for the Kingswood ICT Study Centre Group where he was tasked with both establishing and running a busy residential study centre in Norfolk, catering for over 19,000 visiting pupils per year, and implementing the ICT curricula taught at each of the Kingswood Centres around the UK. It was in this capacity that Matt was first introduced to TAG Learning, building a close strategic relationship between the companies, so as to facilitate the use of TAG software products within the courses offered by Kingswood. Matt is committed to continuing to helping TAG to develop and grow their range of innovative online assessment and moderation systems, software tools and peripheral products, so that TAG can continue helping teachers and pupils to gain the most out of using ICT as an integral part of education

Dr Tom Holland, myknowledgemap

As Communications Director, Tom Holland is responsible for overseeing all written communications, both internal and external, at MyKnowledgeMap. Tom has a PhD and 1st Class Honours Degree in English and has written a wide range of courses, workshops, brochures and bids as well as copy for e-learning, systems user interface and user help guides. He is keen to enthuse people who’d like to use new learning technologies but are put off by the “techiness” of it all.

Chris Sherwood, Product Manager, CAPITA Children's Services and Neil Bradford, Deputy Headteacher, Featherstone High School

Chris Sherwood works as a Principal Product Manager with Capita Childrens™ Services. He is currently responsible for their Assessment, Examination and Curriculum suites of software. He has successfully brought to market two sizable products in the last two years, Assessment Manager 7 and Profiles 7. Both of these products were given extensive field trials and were well received by the users. He is currently managing the launch of Cover 7, which is now on field trial, with a release date of May 2008. Before joining Capita, Chris worked as a Senior Leader in a Comprehensive school in Special Measures and at a CityTechnologyCollege.

Neil Bradford is the Deputy Head Teacher at FeatherstoneHigh School with responsibility for pupil progress. Neil has worked with pupil tracking and reporting systems for 8 years and is currently using SIMS Assessment Manager 7 to track, report and self evaluate pupil progress. Neil has and is currently supporting many secondary and primary schools with their use of AM7. This Year Featherstone has achieved the following ‘Value Added’ scores, placing the school in the top 1% at Key Stage 3 and top 5% at Key Stage 4 Nationally. This significant turn around has been underpinned by a number of factors, one of which Neil believes is the schools extensive use of the SIMS assessment software.

Dr. Philip John and Gerry Toner, Heriot Watt University

Gerry Toner is the Director of the SCHOLAR Programme. He worked as a maths teacher and in promoted posts in Scottish schools and local authority Advisory Services for many years. He has worked on the SCHOLAR programme since its inception in 1999.  In addition to being involved in the development of the materials and the pedagogic model, he put together the consultation and management structures of the SCHOLAR Forum and was the inaugural Forum Coordinator. He had extensive involvement with SQA for many years in mathematics including 5 years on the paper-setting team.  He maintains an interest in mathematics organising the English-speaking section of the international maths competition Mathematiques sans Frontières. He also organises a number of European projects and was awarded Chevalier dans l’Ordre des Palmes Academiques by the French government for his work in supporting French teaching

Phillip John is Professor of Chemistry and Dean of Science & Engineering at Heriot-Watt University. Apart from his teaching, research and administrative duties he is Chair of the SCHOLAR Forum which is a national e-learning programme which delivers innovative web-based courses to all the Education Authorities in Scotland, the FE College sector and the majority of the independent schools in Scotland.  The Forum is currently embarking on a major expansion of the provision of learning materials so that by 2010/11 the SCHOLAR programme will provide over 15 complete subjects at Higher and Advanced Higher level (equivalent to AS & A2) in maths and science, modern languages and business portfolios.

Dr Ian Walker, Screen Learning

Ian Walker studied in the University of York's Centre for Reading and Language and then carried out research on language processing at the Max Planck Institute of Cognitive Neuroscience. He has also worked as a psychology lecturer for the dyslexia institute. He has been advising Screen Learning on psychology, psychometrics and research design since 2005

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. 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.

Martyn Ware, SQA

Martyn Ware is SQA’s Business Manager for CAA, a position he has held since SQA first established a dedicated CAA team in May 2003. Prior to this Martyn has worked in a number of areas of SQA’s operations including most recently managing some of its international activities. Martyn has an MBA from the University of Strathclyde Graduate School of Business.

Linden Harris, Nelson Thornes

Linden Harris is Managing Director of Nelson Thornes Limited, including NelsonThornes Distance Learning and BEAM Education.  As leaders in learning, teaching and training our aim is to support learning wherever it takes place, from pre-school to adult.  Through strong partnerships and innovative use of technology we are producing learning and assessment resources which support individual and personalised learning.  Prior to joining NelsonThornes, Linden was MD of Harcourt UK Secondary and Head of Harcourt e-learning.  Linden has had a successful career in educational publishing and e-learning for over 20-years working for Heinemann, HarperCollins and Longman.  

Adrian Wheaton, Nelson Thornes

Adrian Wheaton is Strategy Development Director at Nelson Thornes.  His current role is to guide and secure the success of future publishing activities through analysing market trends and creating the vision for future products, platforms and services.  Prior to joining the Company he was a secondary school teacher (Science and Geography). Over the past 15-years, with Stanley Thornes then Nelson Thornes, he has developed a track record of successful innovation and creativity in educational publishing.

'Innovation in blended learning' Linden Harris and Adrian Wheaton, Nelson Thornes
Nelson Thornes' unique approach to 'blended learning' supports teachers in engaging and motivating their students.  We have developed a range of innovative support materials for AQA's new specifications.  Learning content is focussed and supported by a variety of electronic assessment resources providing practice opportunities with feedback and reporting.

 

John Winkley, Alphaplus

John is an experienced e-learning and e-assessment business manager with a track record of business growth in new media learning technologies.  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 over the last 12 years: BTL Group Ltd, The Virtual College plc, and AlphaPlus. His consultancy work includes e-strategy projects for SQA (e-strategy, item banking, on-screen Higher Exams, the SOLAR project) BECTA (e-Portfolios, SCORM and IMS Content Tools), JISC (Standing Expert Consultant – e-assessment), QCA (various e-assessment development, delivery and regulation projects), TDA and LLUK (trainee teacher assessment) as well as numerous awarding bodies.  John leads the e-assessment consultancy function for AlphaPlus

Day Two, Thursday 13th March 2008

Kim Catcheside, BBC Education Correspondent, Radio 4, 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.

Graham Herbert, Institute of Educational Assessors

Graham was a senior manager in a large technology college, responsible for assessment, technology, science, ICT and maths across the school, before he joined QCA. At QCA he was involved in the GNVQ pilot and implementation. He joined the NAA in April 2004, where he developed an on line tool allowing users to apply for access arrangements. Since January 2006 he has worked with the IEA, responsible for the website development, all the interactive tools on the website and for the development and roll out of the Chartered Educational Assessor programme.

Richard Parry, UK Trade and Investment

Richard began his working life as a freelance writer, but is now completely cured. He has been involved in promoting UK exports for several years, working on overseas rail projects, heading the DTI's Arabian Peninsula team and, most recently, running the Education and Skills team in UK Trade & Investment. Richard believes that the learning and skills sector has almost limitless potential; "Practically every person on the planet has a learning and development requirement - so you could say we are looking at the ultimate market place. Part of the role of UKTI is to help companies and organisations define and gain access to those overseas markets most likely to produce business success. UKTI has a programme of activity in the UK and abroad into which we are keen to build and I look forward to using the Conference to better understand how to do this"

Graham Snape – UK T&I

Is the Education and Training Sector Specialist for  UKTI Team South East, the Government organisation jointly funded by the Foreign & Commonwealth Office and the Department for Business, Enterprise and Regulatory Reform. This entails working closely with companies in the South East, who are broadly based in the Education & Training sector and who are seeking to add an international perspective to their business plans.  He has taken several Trade Missions to India, on behalf of UK Trade & Investment (Team South East), over the past year and also contributed to events in Dubai, Cairo and South Africa. In previous roles he has experience of Africa, the Middle East, Malaysia, Thailand, China, Japan, Mexico and Brazil.  This has mainly been concerned with Corporate Training and Curriculum Development but also led to a National Training Award for programmes in Water Supply and Sanitation for Developing Countries during the United Nations Water Decade. Graham also spent some years on the Council of the Mid-Warwickshire Chamber of Commerce and Industry, including a period as its President.

David Wrigley, Wine & Spirit Education Trust

To be provided

Gavin Cooney, MD, Learnosity

After lecturing in University College Dublin for a number of years, Gavin Cooney founded Learnosity and settled in Sydney Australia where he and his company worked with the NSW Board of Studies to develop their e-Assessment strategy and technologies, e-Learning systems, and many very large websites and applications. Specialising in e-Assessment systems, Gavin 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. We have also developed a self-test website for the Board of Studies which to date has delivered more than 4 million tests peaking at more than 110,000 tests in one day. Gavin returned home to Ireland in 2006, and Learnosity now supplies e-Assessment solutions worldwide from an European base. We retain the Board of Studies as a client, while developing innovative phone based e-Assessments to examine Irish language skills in students for the Irish Government, and supplying e-Assessment technology and consultancy to clients in Australia, Ireland, the UK, and Asia. Gavin is passionate about technology, and strives to continue to develop systems using the very latest technologies and assessment approaches.

Dr I R Gomersall B.Sc., Ph.D., C.Phys., M.Inst.P., FRSA. Bob Gomersall is Chairman and founder of BTL Group Ltd. (set up in 1985) and Virtual College Group plc (set up in 1995). The focus of BTL’s work is on Learning and Assessment Systems and Content. Virtual College specialises in work based and online training. Bob is also Chairman of the Advanced Digital Institute, which he started developing in 2002, Chairman of the Yorkshire Forward Digital Cluster Board, and a member of the Airedale Partnership Board. He was educated at Leeds Grammar School and the universities of Durham and Bristol. He has worked as a Theoretical Physicist (at the Max Planck Institut, Stuttgart) and as a teacher of physics (at Manchester and Bradford Grammar Schools). He was Head of Physics at Bradford Grammar School before going full-time into business. He and his wife (who is a Medical General Practitioner in Bradford) have four children, 3 boys and a girl, ranging in age from 15 to 27 years old.

Bobby Eilliot, SQA

Current   position:   Qualifications   Manager   within   the   Scottish    Qualifications  Authority.  Previously  taught  for  22 years in various positions  in  school and college sectors; his last position was Head of   Department in a large Further Education College in Glasgow. Graduated in 1978   with  a  degree  in  Computer  Science  from  the  University  of Strathclyde,  he is currently undertaking a Masters Degree in E-Learning at  Edinburgh  University.  Bobby  was  responsible for developing SQA's Diploma  in  E-Assessment  - the world's first national qualification in e-assessment  -  and a number of successful IT qualifications (including PC  Passport).  He has most recently just completed development of SQA's  first   paperless  qualification  (Internet  Safety).  His  professional  interests  include  the  theory of assessment and the use of Internet in the  assessment  process,  having  recently  published  a paper entitled  "Assessment 2.0 - Using Web 2.0 to modernise assessment."

Phil Wileman, nferNelson

Honours Graduate of Leeds University with post graduate training at Liverpool University School of Education. Twenty years of teaching experience in schools across the country and in numerous roles: academic, pastoral and management. After final role as Assistant Head-teacher at a large Comprehensive school in Yorkshire joined nfer-Nelson as an Assessment Consultant. Present role is that of Lead Education Consultant for training at GL-Assessment.

Denis Saunders, MBA, BSc is Managing Director of Calibrand, the currency for talent® which he founded in 1991. Denis 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 3,000,000 online tests and are ISO 9001 TickIT Quality Assured to the 2000 standard. Calibrand provides 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 assessments securely to anyone, at anytime, anywhere and on any device and Calibrand solutions are designed to achieve this objective.

Martyn Roads, MR Educational Consultants, Chair, Becta e-Assessment Advisory Panel

Martyn Roads is an independent education and assessment consultant. He spent 13 years in Further Education, developing and managing a wide range of vocational programmes before joining BTEC in 1994. In 2001, he was responsible for managing, on behalf of a consortium of Awarding Bodies, the successful bid for the development of the current Key Skills and Skills for Life National Tests. For the past 4 years, Martyn has been researching and implementing the use of IT in assessment which has included working with a consortium of organisations on the development of a range of screening and initial assessment tools for the SfLSU.  Martyn was co-author of QCA’s “Use of ICT in Assessment” report to the DfES in 2002 and is currently working with QCA on a number of projects including supporting the production of the e-Assessment – Effective Practice Guide. Martyn is also Chair of Becta’s e-assessment advisory group

Graham Hudson, DRS

Graham Hudson is National Business Development Manager for Education at DRS.  Graham has over twenty years’ experience of implementing and managing large-scale assessments within the UK, including the key stage national curriculum tests for QCA.  At DRS, he currently manages the delivery of electronic marking services for over 8 million exam scripts for awarding bodies in the UK and internationally.  The importance or improving marking accuracy and reliability are at the forefront of DRS’s work in this sector through the use of new technologies.  The presentation will cover recent research undertaken in this area

Eric Shepherd, CEO, Questionmark
Eric Shepherd leads Questionmark in producing groundbreaking software for running tests and assessments. This includes the company's flagship product, Questionmark™ Perception™. Eric has advised many corporations, government departments, universities, and schools on the deployment of computerized assessments and has presented numerous workshops on this topic. In addition to his work with Questionmark, Eric has been instrumental in the development of the IMS Learning Consortium's Question and Test Interoperability standard and chairs the European division of the Association of Test Publishers.

• A New Paradigm in Testing and eAssessment:  We live in a flatter, more competitive world. Globalisation has sparked a paradigm shift in eAssessment, compelling organisations to accommodate the needs of multi-lingual stakeholders who are more geographically and culturally diverse than ever before. Meeting these challenges not only demands delivery anywhere and anytime with 24/7 blended availability and multilingual deployment of assessments, but also requires globally accessible, secure and collaborative environments for subject matter experts, instructional designers, psychometricians and professionals who participate in the authoring and reporting process.  The increasing use of assessments in certification and compliance also plays a role in this paradigm shift, fueling a proliferation of technologies that ensure the sound processes, data integrity, item security and test analytics crucial to the validity, reliability and defensibility of testing programs.  In this session, Questionmark CEO Eric Shepherd will examine the changing eAssessment landscape and what our futures might hold in store for us.

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25 October 2012

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