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?
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,...
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 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 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...
Jun 18, 20209 min read
Boom and Bust - English Language Exams
How English language digital exams impact learners
Jun 2, 20203 min read
Coming of Age – the e-Assessment Question
Reaching the age of 18 is a momentous birthday year, celebrated in western societies with the gift of porcelain. 2020 sees the 18th...
Dec 12, 20194 min read
The Comeback Kid: Is formative assessment back for good?
Seldom a day passes without calls to reduce summative exams, replacing them with the measurement of soft ‘21st Century’ skills. But how...
Jan 30, 20193 min read
When data gets uncomfortable - how does better assessment change UK university admission?
The UK university sector is witnessing seismic changes. The undergraduate application sector-governed body called UCAS will shortly...
Nov 16, 20185 min read
Chatting for better exams!
Back in July, I was intrigued by the use of a chatbot for conducting university admission at Leeds Beckett University, wondering what...
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