Is education preparing young people for the future?

Ben Whitaker from EduFuturists delivered the alternative keynote presentation at the 2019 Surpass Conference. Ben looked at education in England today and asked whether we are sufficiently preparing young learners for a career in the 21st century. In this passionate presentation, Ben highlights how despite increasing use of technology and innovation in the classroom, assessments are still conducted via the traditional exam hall, and how we need the regulators on board to digitise examinations from the start as opposed to current processes of digitising handwritten responses for marking.

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You’ll love this if you are looking at how you can reach new audiences on a global scale.

In this session, we invite representatives from local and international organisations to discuss their experiences in developing and delivering an assessment programme on a global scale. Our speakers will cover topics such as developing content for global audiences, overcoming cultural differences, and ensuring assessment security is maintained.

Assessment for a Global Audience with Ibidun Layi-Ojo from Prometric

Ibi talks to the Surpass Community about best practice for delivering assessments for a global audience. Ibi highlights the importance of considering the impact for different audiences at the very start of the test development process, and how simply repurposing the same tests for different audiences isn’t always enough.

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The Surpass selection process and journey so far with Laura Roach from Cardiff University

The School of Biosciences at Cardiff University are new to the Surpass Community, and in this presentation, Laura Roach tells us of her journey from being tasked with selecting an e-assessment platform for the School, to the recent trial with students. Laura talks through the selection process, and the positive influence of being part of the Surpass Community.

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Online Invigilation/Remote Proctoring insights with Alice Niezborala from ProctorExam

Alice Niezborala speaks to the Surpass Community about the work of ProctorExam, their online invigilation technology, and collaboration with BTL. Alice also shares her insights into the future potential of online invigilation.

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You’ll love this if you want to assess your candidates on the application of their skills, not just their ability to recall knowledge.

An exam is a unique experience that requires an array of skills to recall knowledge that won’t always be needed in real life. This session will focus on the use of various scenario-based questions that allow candidates to demonstrate how they would apply their skills and knowledge to situations in the real-world. These methods of testing enable candidates to showcase what they have learnt from a course, rather than traditional knowledge recall tests.

We will explore some of the innovative Surpass features that could be used to create a more true-to-life test, the authoring process of these tests, and a host of benefits of this approach to testing.

Using Surpass for functional skills with Granville Edwards from City & Guilds

Granville Edwards discusses how City & Guilds are using the functionality available in Surpass for the delivery of the reformed functional skills qualifications. In his presentation, Granville gives examples of some of the question types in use and some of the changes they’ve implemented since the reform.

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Innovation is at the heart of what we do at BTL, and keeps us at the cutting-edge of assessment technology. In this session, we invite members of the Surpass Community to the stage to share their own innovations in technology and assessment design and delivery by looking at what they’ve achieved over the last year, challenges they have overcome, and what the future holds.

Topics include the challenges facing General Qualifications, the future of Online Invigilation, and new opportunities within the vocational space. Finally, we’ll introduce our new platform for sharing and supporting enhancements to Surpass.

Challenges facing General Qualifications with Dave Mellor and Rachel Teale from AQA

In this presentation, Dave Mellor and Rachel Teale from AQA update the community on challenges faced by General Qualifications in the UK, and some of the reasons why in 2019, they are still largely paper-based. They discuss government policy, high test volumes, fear of technology and comparability of on-screen and paper tests, all of which contribute to barriers to on-screen testing in the sector. Dave and Rachel look to the future, suggesting it’s time to starting taking small steps towards delivering more on-screen.

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Innovation Insights: An Introduction to PregnancyVue with Janet King from NCFE CACHE

Janet King from NCFE CACHE talks about their PregancyVue product, which uses virtual reality to help learners understand child development from conception to birth. Janet discusses how this innovative use of technology has increased engagement with a subject that is increasingly difficult to teach and created a more interactive teaching programme. Janet also highlights the importance of introducing technology in a way that everyone can connect with, support by more traditional methods of learning, to give young learners the opportunities they deserve.

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Innovation in the vocational space with Paul Eeles from The Skills and Education Group

Paul Eeles discusses innovation in the vocational space, and how the pace of change is being felt much more quickly, suggesting that the further down an organisation innovation can be pushed, the better we are at it. Paul presents a case study of the MOT assessors’ qualification, which after being moved on-screen to meet the needs of the regulator, faced challenges due to assumptions that had been made about the technical capabilities of learners. Paul highlights the disparity between qualification such as this, and the choices given to young learners who are often given no choice but to handwrite despite it not being their usual way of working.