Gareth Hegarty and colleagues from the IB’s Assessment Division joined over 30,000 people at London’s BETT show to give hands-on demonstrations of the new on-screen eAssessment that are offered to 16-year-olds in the IB’s Middle Years Programme (MYP). The BETT show has been well-established since 1985 to showcase the use of information technology in education.
“We are very excited to be showcasing our new technology with everyone at the BETT show,” said Carolyn Adams, Chief Assessment Officer at the IB, “The eAssessment is a reliable, globally consistent and highly innovative assessment model that provides quality assurance. Each exam is authored and marked by trained MYP examiners, and the exams use best-in-class security procedures. The IB uses cutting edge technology, but it is the concept-based nature of the tests themselves which is the most innovative aspect of the eAssessment and that students find engaging and that parents and schools will find immensely informative.”
MYP eAssessment examines each student’s work in two different ways: a moderated ePortfolio of the student’s coursework for four subject groups – language acquisition, physical and health education arts, and design, and personal project; and on-screen examinations. The examinations are in mathematics, language and literature, sciences, individuals and societies, and interdisciplinary learning whereby students demonstrate interdisciplinary understanding of at least two subject groups, bringing together concepts and methods to explain a phenomenon, solve a problem, create a product, or raise a new question.
Carolyn Adams continued: “The eAssessment measures students’ ability to think critically and creatively in novel and real world situations. It is a unique approach to examinations, and we will be using our 45 years of experience as an examining body to ensure the success of the model. Schools access the eAssessment exams as downloadable packages that can then be uploaded onto individual computers, with no need for internet access during the examination itself.
Take a look at this video demonstration of MYP eAssessment and find out more about the MYP here.
