Category: A Day in the life

Bob Gomersall Named Entrepreneur of the Month

Decorative image of article featuring Bob Gomersall

11 October 2019

We’re delighted that BTL Chairman Bob Gomersall features in the October issue of Yorkshire Business Insider as Entrepreneur of the Month. In the article Bob discusses the journey that led him from physics teacher to founder of BTL, and how the company that started life creating audiometers came to move into the educational space, initially providing resources on diskettes, then CD ROMs, making BTL a pioneer at the time. In 2003, the focus shifted to assessment, allowing BTL to develop into the global e-assessment software provider it is today, with Surpass being used in 110 countries worldwide. A sample of…

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Filed under: A Day in the life, Industry News, e-Assessment

The Value of Community in Building an Innovative Assessment Platform

18 September 2019

Community: People who are considered as a unit because of their common interests or shared experiences. Surpass Community: A growing group of international testing professionals who use the Surpass Platform or offer services to its users. Why is Community so important? You probably hear us talk about Community a lot at BTL, but that’s because we think it’s so important and invest a lot of time in bringing users of Surpass together. In this article we’ll discuss why community plays such a key role for BTL and Surpass, what the benefits of being part of an active community are, and…

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Filed under: A Day in the life, BTL News, International, Opinions

The importance of a good user experience, and why we need to involve our users in the design process: Q&A with Richard London, Head of Design at BTL

Head and Shoulders photo of Richard London

5 September 2019

We’ve all been there – we’ve gone onto a website or piece of software and found it frustratingly difficult to find the information we need or get it to do what we want, and that’s often down to poor UX (User Experience) design. A bad user experience can have a detrimental effect – increasing the time it takes to complete a task, or making us lose trust in the product completely, whereas good user experiences often simply goes unnoticed, because everything works smoothly and exactly as we expect it to. I spoke to Richard London, Head of Design at BTL…

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Filed under: A Day in the life, Other, Services

Q&A with Sophie Brumfitt and Becca Murdoch, members of BTL’s Product Management Team

3 July 2019

BTL’s Product Management team are dedicated to working with the Surpass Community to make Surpass one of the most sophisticated and innovative e-assessment platforms on the market. BTL may be the custodians of the code, but as an organisation we pride ourselves on listening to the people who know assessment best – our customers – to create a development roadmap that solves challenges, and allows the Surpass Community to achieve their goals. Working collaboratively with customers and internal teams, the Product Management team ensure new developments stay on track and that requirements are fully met before new functionality is released….

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Filed under: A Day in the life, BTL News, Industry News, Services, Surpass Platform

Collaboration: Why working together achieves better results

11 June 2019

The Surpass Community are no strangers to collaboration. Every year over a hundred representatives from the assessment sector gather for the Surpass Conference, eager to overcome shared challenges and present new ideas in assessment. In this article discover how you can benefit from being part of this collaborative community when it comes to Surpass feature development. Collaboration is one of BTL’s core values, and one we actively promote both internally with teams and colleagues, and externally with our ever-growing international customer base, which has now reached 180 organisations using Surpass. Approximately £7 million is invested into Surpass every year, with…

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Filed under: A Day in the life, BTL News, Case Studies, Industry News, International, Surpass Features, Surpass Platform, e-Assessment

Assessment Technology Company BTL Group recognised for International Growth in The Sunday Times WorldFirst SME Export Track 100

31 May 2019

BTL Group have been recognised as one of Britain’s fastest growing small to medium-sized companies for international sales over the last two years, coming in at number 47 on the list. During this period, exported software and services accounted for 42.7% of BTL Group’s total sales revenue, with a two-year average international sales growth of 73.58% per annum. BTL Group was established in 1985 and is headquartered in North of England. Shifting their focus to assessment software in 2007 they have grown a strong community of customers both in the UK and around the world, with over 180 organisations currently…

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Filed under: A Day in the life, BTL News, Case Studies, Industry News, International, Press Release, Surpass Platform, e-Assessment

Surpass HTML delivery achieves landmark accessibility status – Q&A with Leon Hampson

16 May 2019

Approximately 1 in every 5 people live with a condition which could affect the way they use and experience on-screen assessment. Having an accessible software application ensures that all users can perform tasks in roughly the same time, and with the same level of effort, regardless of age or ability. In an increasing number of countries, laws and policies are in place that require digital content to be accessible. These policies are primarily based on the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG), with the goal of providing a single standard for web content accessibility that meets the needs of everyone. Surpass…

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Filed under: A Day in the life, Accessibility, BTL News

Online Invigilation with The Association of Corporate Treasurers

27 March 2019

Over the last few months, The Association of Corporate Treasurers (ACT) has been spearheading use of BTL’s newly launched Online Invigilation Service, an innovative approach to remotely-based candidates, using dual camera monitoring technology. The introduction of Online Invigilation expands BTL’s existing Test Delivery Services, which already includes the largest computer-based test centre network in the UK for session-based testing. The ACT has already delivered several successful exam series to candidates in convenient locations around the world using Surpass with Online Invigilation. The ACT has used a combination of live invigilation and the record and review method as part of the…

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Filed under: A Day in the life, BTL News, Case Studies, Industry News, International, Services, Surpass Platform, Video, e-Assessment, online invigilation, remote proctoring

Q&A with Ceri Harper – find out more about BTL’s Test Delivery Services

4 March 2019

BTL offer a range of Test Delivery Services, allowing organisations to expand their reach, and have the confidence that tests are delivered securely and without issue, giving candidates the best possible experience. We spoke to Ceri Harper, to find out more about her role as Head of Test Delivery Services, and the services on offer. Ceri Harper – Head of Test Delivery Services Ceri heads up BTL’s Test Delivery Services team, a role which includes the management of our Test Centre Network and our Online Invigilation service. Ceri has a well established history in the assessment sector, having worked…

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Filed under: A Day in the life, Other, Services

Developing Digital Assessments with telc Language Tests

23 January 2019

We were delighted to be invited to telc’s offices in Frankfurt, Germany, to speak to Sean McDonald and Rebecca Rosenlund about their journey into on-screen testing, and the success of their recent pilot project. By re-thinking their existing content as opposed to simply transferring paper content to on-screen, telc have utilised the functionality in Surpass to create questions that test multiple skills at once, in a context relevant to how students learn and apply their skills today. Stakeholder research informed the development of new content, and just some of the examples telc demonstrate include questions which ask candidates to listen…

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Filed under: A Day in the life, Case Studies, Creative Item Authoring, International, Video, Webinars, e-Assessment

20 million tests delivered through Surpass!

27 September 2018

This year the Surpass Community has achieved a significant milestone: together we have delivered our 20 millionth on-screen test! We’d like to thank all of the Surpass Community members who have contributed to us reaching this major landmark. Almost 3 million of those tests have been delivered just in the last year! So how did we get there? 20 million tests alone is impressive, but did you know that Surpass assessments are delivered in 125 countries? We’re proud to be trusted by some of the world’s leading awarding and professional bodies, to develop and deliver tests around the world. Surpass…

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Filed under: A Day in the life, BTL News, Industry News, Other, Press Release, e-Assessment

Should your poor internet connection prevent you moving to e-assessment?

11 July 2017

Although more locations have access to stable internet and confidence in internet stability is increasing, it still doesn’t take much for the internet connection to fail or stall. It might surprise you to learn that many areas still don’t have fibre broadband connections, and bandwidth contention can be an issue. It only has to happen for a few minutes, but the impact can be significant if your exam software is data intensive or relies on a constant and stable connection. Surpass: The Assessment Platform includes an auto-updating secure delivery client, which can be easily installed on test centre computers. This…

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Filed under: A Day in the life, BTL News, Case Studies, International, Surpass Platform, Video, e-Assessment

Saxion University of Applied Sciences share their thoughts on digital testing using Surpass

14 July 2016

Established in 1998 and with roots dating back to 1875, Saxion University of Applied Sciences (known in their local tongue as a Hogescholen) are no strangers to technology. Like many Higher Education institutions across Europe, Saxion value the use of technology in education and have been advocates of on-screen testing for some time, because the advanced analysis functions allow exam technicians to make sure that the exams being delivered are the most fair and accurate way of assessing those students. In 2012, after reviewing several systems as part of a rigorous tender process, Saxion made the decision to move away…

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Filed under: A Day in the life, Case Studies, International, Opinions, Surpass Platform, e-Assessment

Small changes bring huge new benefits to Surpass

19 May 2016

New additions to the Surpass Assessment Platform are now available. This latest update brings with it a host of new features designed to allow more freedom and variation in the way you create, deliver, and report on the millions of tests taken through Surpass each year. Read on to discover how you can benefit from just a few of these exciting updates. New Ways of Awarding Marks Two of the most exciting and noticeable changes in the most recent Surpass update are the introduction of automated ‘weighted’ and ‘combination’ marking. Now, you can easily create multiple choice questions and award…

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Filed under: A Day in the life, BTL News, Case Studies, Services, Surpass Platform, Video, e-Assessment