Moving into e-assessment will bring challenges and changes with significant impact on the culture of your organisation and the expectations of individuals. People, including management, tutors/teachers, support staff learners, awarding body representatives will all be vital to the success of your e-assessment strategy.
Involve your people in the consultation and decision making at an early stage. This will help incubate developing policies and at the same time strike a balance with support for existing practices. Key 'people' questions to ask in formulating your strategy include:
Is there a need for new roles and responsibilities?
Have staff training needs and development been considered and planned for?
Are there clearly identified 'people' targets that will determine success?
Is there a need for new roles and responsibilities?
Senior management will be required to assess the readiness of their organisation for e-assessment. This will include staff planning and capacity building. Developing an e-assessment strategy will change the traditional pedagogy in your organisation. This will place new demands and challenges on staff, who may feel threatened by changes in their role. The change process will require sensitive planning and implementation. There may be a need to create more technical support roles or even an e-assessment resource department.
Have staff training needs and development been considered and planned for?
To support the development and implementation of an e-assessment strategy, there will need to be a coherent approach to staff development. This should be embedded in your ILT strategy looking at the links between curriculum (subject) development, technology support and ICT skills. Staff roles will have to be clear and opportunities may arise for more collaborative teaching and assessment.
Are there clearly identified 'people' targets that will determine success?
The staff involved in the e-assessment strategy must be clear on what will make it a success. Firm and tangible outcomes need to be defined and suitable evaluation processes put in place. It may be opportune to get staff involved in piloting some e-assessment projects across a number of qualifications or within a department. This way your organisation can see its people and e-assessment processes interrelate.
