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| Learner's experience |
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Twenty-two year-old Sarah is working to complete her Level 3 NVQ in Hospitality and Supervision. She is employed by a leading hotel and attends the local college on a part time basis.
The School of Hospitality and Catering at Sarah's college recently introduced e-assessment into its vocational training programme. Sarah is one of the learners involved.
"The main benefit of e-assessment is the flexibility it gives me and my employer," says Sarah. "I am not tied into a strict timetable of college attendance, which didn't always fit with my shift patterns. I also have the advantage of building my portfolio online, which I can present to my assessor as soon as I am ready for assessment."
When her qualification is completed Sarah has the chance to apply for a permanent position and promotion at the hotel, so she wants to ensure she builds a complete profile in her e-portfolio.
"I'm working towards units HS9.1 Contribute to the development and introduction of new recipes and HS9.2 Support the implementation of new menu items so the college provided me with an e-portfolio on its VLE. It's a really good personal learning space with four sections - work in progress, a qualification evidence portfolio, an archive and a showcase. I am able to access this over the internet at college or on my PC at home or at work.
"The way it works is that I create the evidence - budget plans and menu costs saved as Word files and spreadsheets, and also videos of me carrying out day to day activities like devising new recipe ideas, consulting with staff and management, briefing staff on new menu ideas and supervising the process. I upload the material to the work in progress section, where I demonstrate working out ingredient ratios, cooking times and temperatures for varying quantities.
"The assessor can access this section and provide me with assessment plans. We can also agree timescales for completion.
"Once I am ready for assessment I'll move the completed work into the qualification evidence portfolio section and email the assessor that I'm ready for assessment.
"When I move the completed work over to the qualification evidence portfolio it will be organised against the units ready to be assessed. My assessor will then able to go in to check it from home or college using a secure user name and password. I also get my feedback online.
"The internal verifier will access it in a similar manner and can sample the assessments to quality assure the process. The external verifier will also view my evidence online and hopefully sign it off as being of sufficient standard. The EV report is submitted electronically to the awarding body and if I am successful they will forward me my certificate.
"I should mention the other parts of my portfolio, the archive and showcase sections. In the archive I keep records of past achievements from school through to college. My GCSE certificates are there, my Level 2 NVQ in Food Processing and Cooking, and a food hygiene certificate and Key Skills certificates. I'm the only one who can access the archive, but I can give permission for others to go in.
"The showcase section is where I present my CV. There is also a certificate I recently got from the college for excellent performance and my employee of the month award. Currently, I'm the only one with access to the showcase section, but again I can give permission to others, such as a prospective employer. I am now thinking of adding a few digital pictures of my most successful menu items which I'll add to as my work progresses."
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