Customer, Consultant and Supplier – A presentation from AO Forum 2015.

Gordon Associates, in partnership with the Federation of Awarding Bodies (FAB), played host to a large number of UK-based organisations this week at the annual AO-Forum in Holborn, London.

This one day event drew a large crowd who were keen to hear updates from Ofqual and The Skills Funding Agency, along with discussions on open source technologies, sales in the awarding sector, validity and e-Assessment. It was a jam-packed day with plenty of interesting presentations and opportunities to network and discuss the sector with peers.

BTL’s very own Tim Burnett stood up alongside Independent Technical Consultant Craig Strangwick and System Liaison Manager Clare Ruiz Palma from the awarding organisation CACHE to look at different perspectives of e-Assessment. The sessions proved to be of great interest to the audience when each presenter discussed their different experiences, hints, tips and guidance for selecting and migrating to an e-Assessment system.

Clare shared her experiences of migrating to Surpass in 2014, looking at the client-side approach, explaining how the project was managed and the pivotal importance of engaging the Management Information Service (MIS) suppliers Gordon’s Associates in the process.

Clare commented that it was: “An enjoyable day, helping AOs keep up-to-date on news and views for the sector as well as a good opportunity to talk to other AOs about their setups and challenges.  All useful for progression.”

~ Clare Ruiz Palma | Systems Liaison Manager (Web) | CACHE

Craig explored the successful implementation of e-Assessment for vocational awarding organisations, looking at:

• Why you might change
• Where you would start
• Whether you should buy or build
• The importance of piloting and selection
• And the process of integration

Of the event, Craig said: “AO-Forum is an excellent opportunity to tune into the operational activities of awarding organisations, learning from each other and people who support the awarding sector. It was a pleasure to stand up alongside Clare (Ruiz Palma of CACHE) and Tim (Burnett of BTL Learning & Assessment) to discuss the different perspectives of e-Assessment. Our presentations were well received and I was encouraged by the positive feedback.”

~ Craig Strangwick | Technical Consultant for Awarding Organisations

Tim Burnett rounded off the presentation with the supplier’s perspective, looking at the various factors that might influence questions that should be asked, including topics like:

• Scale of delivery, moving from small start-up to booming organisation
• How to handle integration
• Considerations for question migration
• Support needs (immediate and continuous)
• Handling process change
• And how to avoid making judgement errors in security.

Following the event, Tim said: “e-Assessment isn’t just Multiple Choice Questions on-screen, it’s about making your assessment management and delivery digital. Going digital means more efficiency, validity and confidence, and it has an all-round positive impact on your business growth. Choosing the right solution is key, even small steps with the support of e-Assessment experts like BTL can feel like big positive leaps.”

~ Tim Burnett | Head of Marketing | BTL

The presentations by Tim, Clare and Craig can be downloaded here:

Assessment System Migration: A Client Perspective – Clare Ruiz-Palma

Successful Implementation of e-Assessment – Craig Strangwick

The Suppliers Perspective on Migration and Integration – Tim Burnett