This from yesterday's Guardian tgells how modern languages may be assessed by means of students sitting at computers. The argument for trying the method on mod lang (“because all the components – reading, writing, speaking and listening – could potentially be done with the use of the “common media” of a computer”) would be even stronger for Latin, where there is no oral or aural element.
First subjects get green light for online GCSE assessment
Alexandra Smith
Tuesday October 10, 2006
EducationGuardian.co.ukModern foreign languages could be the next GSCE subject to be entirely “e-assessed” following the launch yesterday of the first science course to be fully tested online.
The OCR exam board, part of Cambridge Assessment, has developed the environmental and land-based science GCSE, which it said would “put an end to endless reams of paper for both students and teachers”.
Pupils doing the new GCSE will sit computer-based tests involving a mixture of multiple choice and short answers without any need for pens or pencils. Coursework for the new GCSE will also be submitted electronically.
Marking for the multiple-choice section of exams will be done by computer but moderators will assess longer answers and coursework.
Storing work online eliminated the risk of mislaying papers and presenting work electronically allowed students to “take a much slicker and more professional approach to their work”, the exam board said.
OCR's head of e-assessment, Patrick Craven, said: “This new qualification is a real landmark in the assessment of students at school. With IT now playing such a significant role in education and indeed, employment, its only right that the currency of communication between the student and exam board should also be digital.”
Mr Craven said science subjects were the obvious choice for e-assessments because they were “slightly more objective” than humanities subjects and therefore more suited to online testing. However, Mr Craven said the exam board was careful not to “dilute subjects into just multiple-choice questions”.
Instead, OCR wanted to focus on preparing pupils for employment using the type of skills that would be expected of them in the workplace, he said.
The new GCSE aims to help students develop the skills to work in areas such as horticulture, farming, floristry, waste management, conservation, or veterinary medicine.
Mr Craven said modern foreign languages were the next likely subjects to be fully e-assessed because all the components – reading, writing, speaking and listening – could potentially be done with the use of the “common media” of a computer.
However, he conceded that some subjects such as art and design would be unlikely to ever be suited to complete e-assessment because of the nature of the subjects.
Mr Craven said many schools had backed the idea of e-assessments. One of the schools to have introduced the new GCSE is Thomas Alleyne's school in Uttoxeter, Staffordshire.
Advanced skills teacher Martin Wedgwood said: “With so many of our students using IT regularly, we wanted to introduce a GCSE that reflected this in its learning and assessment.”
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