2024 Exam Sector Review
A curious year for the assessment sector. $25M fines for exam cheating. UK spluttering on plans for digitising school exams. A regulator...
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Nov 233 min read
How much is the UK exam sector worth? And what’s your Total Addressable Market?
What is the UK exam sector worth?
Sep 53 min read
When you forget about trialling school digital exams and assessment 20 years ago.
I read yesterday’s review report on curriculum and assessment, chaired by former Secretary of State for Education Charles Clarke,...
Jun 273 min read
Taboos and Fairy Stories - How will schools adopt digital exams?
The how and why of school digital exam delivery.
Jun 73 min read
Got issues? Don’t let Mr Angry stop the digital exam debate
Why do angry educators try to shut down the school digital exam debate? Read how mis-trust, inarticulacy, and passivity prevents advocacy.
Jun 43 min read
Move to digital exams, win a microwave?
Moving to digital exams for schools needs macro messages, not transactional retail offers.
May 72 min read
Digital exam readiness: think gas central heating, not smart meters.
What the digital exam sector can learn from the UK's move to 'wonderfuel' gas.
Apr 203 min read
Does the act you've known for all these years need a refresh?
20 years ago, England's exam regulator set the agenda for school digital exams. A fresh campaign to build consensus is now needed.
Mar 193 min read
Rage Against the Exam Regulatory Machine?
A sell-out Next Generation Assessment conference in Manchester this week saw digital exam contributions from learners, student voice,...
Feb 293 min read
It's a Vision Thing. 5 problems with the Digital School Exams vision, and how to improve it.
The school digital exam vision seems to have stalled. Here are five problems with the vision, and five solutions on how to improve it.
Jan 293 min read
A sure BETT? Why the Absent Punner’s 'snap and sneer' stunts digital exam adoption, and ignores learner impact.
The long-running UK exhibition BETT is a nexus for global ed-tech folk. There are plenty of visitors and booth workers, usually away from...
Jan 273 min read
Hey Paper Hostage, what’s the rush? Why school exam digitisation perpetuates inequality. But not how you think.
England’s school exam owners have presented their digital journey to 2030. Railway enthusiasts may scoff, but isn’t seven years too long...
Jan 223 min read
Can Gaming Developers Make Better Digital Exams?
Paper behind glass. It’s often what exam owner’s try when moving to digital exams. The same questions (usually multiple choice) with the...
Jan 172 min read
Are digital exams given a free (green) pass?
Are digital exams given a free (green) pass? Environmental evidence is still sparse, but lower power, sustainable computers may be an answer
Jan 163 min read
The new Metric Martyrs? Are digital exams really the same as paper ones?
England’s school exam owners are preparing to offer GCSE digital exams and their paper equivalent in parallel. But is that fair? Is one...
Jan 123 min read
Love Professional Career Invigilators! Leave Resting Actors to pull pints.
The tide is turning on casual exam invigilators. Career folk invigilating every day versus apathetic people wishing they were elsewhere....
Jan 92 min read
"But We Don't Have Enough Computers!" Delivering digital exams for UK schools
The main four England and Wales General Qualifications exam owners have set out their digital school exam stall. It's shook many digital...
Jan 42 min read
24 years ago we moved a big exam from paper to on-screen
Moving a 1.5M paper test to on-screen delivery
Dec 10, 20234 min read
2023 in Review
2023 was a seismic year in assessment. Many learners returned to an exam hall for the first time in a number of years. Three UK exam...
Dec 5, 20232 min read
Crisis, what crisis?
Last week's Federation of Awarding Bodies conference was an eye-opener. But not for the reasons you may think. What’s the...
Dec 20, 20222 min read
How ChatGPT changes the assessment sector
Each of us creates 1.7Mb of data every second of every day. With over a billion websites, that’s 5 billion gigabytes of data out there!...
Dec 3, 20223 min read
From Wallflower to Dance Captain – three steps for our sector to lead assessment debate.
Everyday, global exam sector stories ping my news trackers - white-hot opportunities to grapple assessment issues. But too often, those...
Jan 16, 20211 min read
Who needs facts when a shrieking headline does the job?
This week, a well-known publication ran an exam tech story, about insecure software being used. You might know that Adobe doesn't support...
Dec 16, 20206 min read
Best Left Unsaid: Digging into what Ofqual’s e-assessment report omits
As trade press gossip intensifies on Ofqual’s potential new interim leader, England’s exam regulator has published a new report – looking...
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