New e-Assessments to support National Certificates and NPAs

SQA, in partnership with Scotlands Colleges, is developing a range of e-assessment and web-based teaching and learning materials across a range of National Certificates and National Progression Awards (NPAs).  The ESF-funded TranSETT Project (Transforming Scottish Education Through Technology) will be developing resources to provide significant added-value to this important suite of qualifications.

e-Assessments in Solar
The e-assessment resources being developed will either be for summative or formative use by learners through the Solar e-assessment delivery system (www.sqasolar.org.uk )  The  summative e-assessments will be pre-verified and guaranteed on delivery, providing real benefits for learners and learning providers alike.   In addition to the extensive range of e-assessments already available through Solar, TranSETT will be making available summative e-assessments to support:-

• Digital Media Computing (8 units)
• NC Sport  (4 units)
• NPA Playwork (5 units)
• NC Engineering (4 units)
• NC Building and NPA Construction (9 units)
• NC Health & Social Care (3 units)

The formative e-assessment content will also be quality assured by subject specialists but will have the added benefit of detailed learner feedback built-in.  These formative assessments will be available to support the following curricular areas:-

• NPA Internet Technologies incl. Internet Safety
• NPA Applied Sciences (with innovative teaching and learning materials)
• PDA Management (integrated formative questions and learning resources)
• Hairdressing and Beauty (4 units)
• NC Early Education and Childcare (3 units)
• First Aid (Level 5) , HIV, Hepatitis B and C Infections (Level 6), Understanding of Mental Health and Mental Illness (Level 6) ,  Prevention of Infection (Level 5) 

All of these assessments are developed using an Itembank approach, with each delivery of an assessment to a learner dynamically generated by the system based on a selection of pre-specified rules.  The Project is also developing a range of web-enabled teaching and learning materials to complement these e-assessments.

With piloting of the e-assessments taking place in June, we fully expect these assessments to be available for use by August 2009 .