April 2007
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| IEAMail, Issue 9 | April 2007 |
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Welcome Welcome to IEAMail, the topical monthly members e-newsletter, carrying news and views from the Institute of Educational Assessors (IEA). Content:
New
- IEA National Assessment Conference - Last few places remaining!
New - IEA National Assessment Conference - Last few places remaining! Places at the Institute of Educational Assessors (IEA) National Assessment Conference are limited. With only a few places available, we recommend you book now to avoid disappointment later. The IEA will be hosting the 2-day conference, to be held in London at the Novotel Euston on 3rd and 4th May 2007. Along with keynote sessions, delegates will also be given an opportunity to attend a series of workshops and seminars on the latest thinking on assessment hosted by leading organisations such as AQA, the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority, Cambridge Assessment, the National Assessment Agency and NFER. Guest speakers include:
IEA members pay just £50 per day or £75 for both days, excluding accommodation; non-members £150 per day. To find out more about the conference and how to book your place, please follow the link below.
Institute News - Happy 1st Anniversary IEA! On the 9th May the IEA celebrates its first anniversary and is pleased to announce that over 4,000 educational assessors have applied for membership since launch - 500 more than expected! Over the past 12 months the IEA has advanced in leaps and bounds. The website has seen a brand new Student area containing quality resources and assessment-specific information. Make the Grade magazine continues to grow in popularity, and more and more member benefits are being added each month. Over the next couple of months more activity is planned including the first ever IEA annual National Assessment Conference and the launch of Member and Fellow grades to examiner members. The Member area on the IEA website will include a new online membership upgrade facility, an interactive formative version of the IEA Professional Framework, a vocational assessor-specific assessment compendium, as well as an interactive toolkit. Not only is the IEA offering these new member benefits, but also (as you should already be aware) membership will continue to be completely free of charge for another 12 months!
Institute News - Make the Grade - Next issue on its way! You will shortly receive the summer edition of the IEA's member magazine Make the Grade. The forthcoming issue contains:
To view past issues of our termly magazine please follow the link below.
Institute News - IEA Professional Framework; Formative Assessment Version Coming Soon! Over the past year the IEA has been formulating a formative assessment version of the IEA Professional Framework. Various stakeholder groups (including AAIA, GTCE, LLUK, TDA, QCA and NAA) have been consulted and it was felt that it was about time to consult the most important stakeholder group of all - The membership! Focus group volunteers were recruited in London and Leeds, and attendees included a mixture of existing IEA members, Education Leeds Members and AAIA Executive Members. Volunteers came from a range of backgrounds including primary and secondary school management team members, teachers, consultants and local authority assessment coordinators. Both focus groups were extremely well attended and a large amount of feedback was generated. Membership Manager, Richard Gott, commented: 'The focus groups were a great opportunity for members to have their say regarding the forthcoming formative assessment version of the IEA Framework. All of the feedback will now be carefully analysed and appropriate amendments made before the final version is launched.' If you are involved in summative assessment and are keen to establish your related strengths and developmental needs, you can access the summative version of the IEA Professional Framework by following the link below. An interactive demonstration can also be accessed in order to show you how to best use the tool.
Institute News - Calling all Examiners Share your knowledge and you could win a £20 M&S voucher! The next issue of IEAMail will feature a new pilot section focusing on specific assessment functions contained within the IEA Professional Framework. The idea behind this section is to communicate good assessment practice and promote professional development. Members will be given the opportunity to share top tips, advice, good practice and ideas for new member services. Members will be asked for relevant products and services so they can be promoted to the membership. It is also hoped that special member deals and offers can be negotiated. All submissions will be via a simple questionnaire linked to IEAMail. If a member wishes to remain anonymous there is no requirement to submit any personal details. Equally if a member wishes to be attributed for their contribution there will be the opportunity to submit name and institution. The member who submits the best ideas will win a £20 M&S voucher. To be eligible members must submit their names, however they can opt out of having their names published along with their submission(s).
Institute News - Product and Service Update Latest Member Offers 50% Discount on Professional Indemnity Insurance (PII) from Endsleigh The IEA in association with Endsleigh Insurance have negotiated an increased discount for IEA members. This means that members now have access to Professional Indemnity Insurance at a 50% reduced rate. This offer is set to run until the end of July. Please follow the link below to find out more. 15% discount on SQA Assessment-related Workshops The Scottish Qualifications Authority (SQA) is Scotland's national body for qualifications. They are responsible for developing, accrediting, assessing and certificating all Scottish qualifications (apart from University degrees), as well as providing quality assessment-related workshops designed and delivered by subject specialists. By attending an SQA Professional Development Workshop you will have the opportunity not only to increase your assessment-related skills and knowledge, but also to network with peers, identify best practice, gain new ideas and provide proof of your own continuing professional development. Please see training calendar for the list of planned SQA workshops.
IEA Insight is a new online tool to help you get to grips with some of the thorny problems associated with assessment. The first Insight looks at question setting and can be used as a power point for training purposes, downloaded as an MP3 file to listen to at your leisure, or used in a combination of both methods.
Institute News -The Examination Process Explained The IEA has outlined the exam process starting from the setting of exam policies and examinations to the remarking and appeals procedures. Following on from last month where we covered the second stage of the exam process, regulating the system, we continue with: Stage 3 - Setting examinations The examinations and tests sat in England range from A-Levels and GCSEs to National Curriculum tests taken at the ends of Key Stages 1, 2 and 3 (for pupils aged 7, 11 and 13 respectively). National Curriculum tests, however, are developed by the NAA itself, which currently contracts Edexcel to manage their delivery and marking. The process of setting an exam or test takes 18 months. The awarding bodies first appoint principal examiners to write the papers, set the marking criteria and provide the explanation. To ensure quality, consistency and fairness, these papers are then evaluated by a reviser, before being sent to an evaluation committee and finally to an assessor for marking and setting.
CPD - Events and Training Course Calendar Each month the IEA communicates educational assessment focused events and training courses that are taking place around the UK. SQA Assessment Related Workshops SQA Workshop - Making verification work for you: Glasgow, 17th May, Dalkeith, 30th October SQA Workshop - Assessment and portfolio building in an SVQ programme: Glasgow, 5th June Higher Education Academy's HE in FE 'Assessment - National Events 2007'. 27th June - Confetti Institute of Creative Technologies These one-day events are intended for HE in FE lecturers and managers to learn about the latest developments in assessment, a theme defined in the QAA Handbook for Integrated Quality and Enhancement Review (IQER) as "... the element of higher education most in need of development in reviews at the subject level". For further information about the events please contact EIAT by email at info@eiatconsultancy.com or phone 01484 487994. Training providers. Please contact info@ioea.org.uk if you would like to promote your courses within this section of IEAMail. Members should be aware that the IEA is only communicating these events to its members and not endorsing them.
Assessment News - And Finally... BBC News, 26 April 2007 Put "study skills" into one particular search engine and you get almost 27m responses offering help. Some may help you but how do you know which ones? So that despite the technology and vast oceans of information on tap, more time can be spent surfing than helping.
Let us know what you think of the e-newsletter and any features you'd like to see in future issues. If you're feeling creative and would like to contribute an article, please send an email to info@ioea.org.uk. Until next time...
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