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| e-regulation |
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The regulators (OFQUAL, DCELLS and CCEA) are considering the increased use of technology for the development, delivery, administration and reporting of assessment. The following paragraphs provide an overview of the work to date on e-regulation.
 | The regulation of e-assessment | | Aims for the regulation of e-assessment | | Developments in the regulation of e-assessment | | Regulating in an electronic environment | | Contact information | | Consultation |
The regulation of e-assessment
As more awarding bodies develop their own e-assessment strategies and systems, the regulators need to ensure that they maintain a consistent approach to accreditation and monitoring and that regulatory arrangements encourage innovative methods of assessment without barriers to development. At the same time, assessments must continue to be fair and standards secure so that public confidence is sustained.
Aims for the regulation of e-assessment
The regulators aim to:
| ensure that e-assessment strategy and operations are recognised as being robust | | guide operations, developments and innovative practice in e-assessment in a consistent way through principles of regulation | | support the extension of access to e-assessment opportunities for the benefit of learners | | identify and address parameters for success and areas at risk for innovative e-assessment strategy | | ensure that all regulation allows for flexibility, promotes and guides innovative development, and maintains the integrity, reliability and validity of e-assessment systems. |
Developments in the regulation of e-assessment
The regulators have developed regulatory principles for the following 12 areas:
| validity and reliability of e-assessment | | security | | data integrity - input/output | | functionality of e-assessment systems | | integrity of e-assessment system | | access to e-assessment | | business continuity / disaster recovery | | electronic assessment item / question banks | | test conditions and environment | | adaptive testing | | training of assessors and systems administrators | | use of e-portfolios for assessment. |
The principles sit alongside existing regulatory criteria and codes of practice, and will facilitate, promote and encourage developments and a move towards more flexible, risk-based, targeted and proportionate regulation. The regulators recognise that regulations must be suitably flexible, to allow awarding bodies that are already using e-assessment to develop and maintain the existing functionality in their systems for procedures such as the awarding and reporting of results. They will therefore keep existing regulatory criteria and codes of practice under review.
Regulating in an electronic environment
The regulators will also consider the implications of wider technological developments on existing regulatory policies and procedures. These developments include the migration of the regulators' accreditation and monitoring processes into the electronic environment and the increased number of services that awarding bodies are offering via their websites.
Contact information
Ofqual
Michelle Alpren
0207 2037 5490
alprenm@qca.org.uk
DCELLS
Paul Oliver
029 2037 5490
Paul.Oliver@Wales.GSI.Gov.UK
CCEA
David Crosbie
028 9026 1200
dcrosbie@ccea.org.uk
Scottish Qualifications Authority
Carole Brown
0845 213 5252
Carole.Brown@Sqa.org.uk
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