24 September 2009

Awards recognise innovation in e-assessment

The winners of the inaugural Scottish eAssessment Awards, which recognise excellence in this developing field of educational assessment, will be announced in Dundee tomorrow.

The first eAssessment Scotland conference, hosted by the University of Dundee, will be held at the Hilton Hotel on Friday, September 25th. It will provide staff from schools, colleges and universities with the opportunity to come together and share their insights as to how e-assessment is being used to improve the student experience.

The conference will be opened by Dr Richard Parsons, Director of the Library & Learning Centre at the University, with closing remarks from the Principal, Professor Pete Downes. The conference will focus on the potential of e-assessment, and the ways in which the sector is embracing the concept.

Professor Downes said, 'I am delighted that the University is hosting this conference, particularly given the increasingly important role e-learning strategies can play in an aligned approach to the curriculum and to the student experience overall'.

Broadly defined, e-assessmentis the use of information technology for any assessment-related activity. The term encompasses a wide range of student activity ranging from the use of a word processor to on-screen testing.

The conference aims to draw together a number of examples of the rich and diverse e-assessment strategies and practice from across Scotland in order to provide a platform to share and discuss experiences across the sectors.

The partner organisations jointly hosting the conference with the University are the JISC Regional Support Centre; the Higher Education Academy; the eAssessment Association; the SQA; and the eLearning Alliance Scotland.

There is a growing focus on how to most effectively teach and assess learning throughout all levels of Scottish education, and how new technology can best be deployed.

The theme of the event is ‘Strategies across Sectors’. Keynote speakers and individual presentations will highlight innovation and best practice from institutions all across Scotland. Attendees will have the opportunity to meet with exhibitors and presenters to discuss how their experiences and products might be applied to specific learning institutions.

The Scottish eAssessment Awards will be presented at the conference, and recognise achievements in the categories of:

• Formative e-Assessment
• Summative e-Assessment
• e-Portfolio/ePDP
• Mobile e-Assessment
• e-Assessment Administration
• Innovation

More information about the conference, and awards, is available by visiting www.e-assessment-scotland.org/.

For media enquiries contact:
Grant Hill
Press Officer
University of Dundee
Nethergate, Dundee, DD1 4HN
TEL: 01382 384768
E-MAIL: g.hill@dundee.ac.uk
MOBILE: 07854 953277