Exploring creativity, innovation and validity on-screen assessment: Teacher reflections
Nathan Evans, of our modernising assessment team, explores the findings from a recent series of digital assessment workshops in this four-part blog series.
In our final post in this series, we’re sharing some of the participant teachers’ reflections on the process of designing digital assessment items and the benefits they could offer.
Most teachers agreed that digital technologies are playing an increasingly important role in teaching, learning and assessment for a number of reasons, including the ways practices evolved during the pandemic period and due to the efforts of ‘trailblazers’ within their schools. Many pointed out that the shift to digital was accelerated by Covid-19, with the pandemic forcing a rapid transition to remote learning and online assessments during lockdowns.
Digital assessments befit digitally literate cohorts
Overall, our participants had a positive view of digital assessment. There was almost unanimous agreement that students would respond well to more digital assessments, with teachers citing examples like the National Reading and Numeracy Personalised Assessments and some existing qualifications, where learners have generally reacted positively to digital formats.
Teachers observed that today’s learners are more digitally native than previous generations, growing up in a world where engaging with digital technology is the norm. However, they also emphasised that not all learners are equally digitally literate in an educational or assessment context. As education continues to move online, digital literacy will become increasingly critical, and this needs to be considered in the design of digital assessments.
They also noted that even the small benefits digital assessments offer might, cumulatively, create much more engaging, valid, and reliable assessments. For example, a basic matching pairs question can be greatly enhanced when moved on screen. Digital assessments can integrate accessibility features like colour contrast adjustments and screen readers, making tests more inclusive for all learners. Additionally, typing responses instead of handwriting them can reduce misinterpretations and ensure clarity. Digital assessments can also include multimedia elements like images, charts, and audio clips, which can help learners better understand the material and engage more deeply with the content.
Digital assessment platforms offer efficiency and accessibility
From a platform perspective, participants particularly appreciated the convenience of using pre-designed templates for creating items, the efficiency of automated marking that could offer instant feedback, and the ease of record-keeping and progress tracking. They also felt that the ability to incorporate audiovisual material could further enhance engagement and accessibility, allowing for richer assessment experiences beyond traditional question formats.
However, teachers also highlighted some limitations. Digital platforms can feel less intuitive in notation-based subjects like mathematics, science, and engineering, where expressing working and process steps is an integral part of how learners think and demonstrate their understanding. Teachers felt it could be unfair to ask learners to develop new software-specific skills that would only be used within assessments. Additionally, they expressed concerns about the validity of assessing tasks like hand-drawing diagrams digitally, emphasising the importance of designing assessments that accurately measure intended skills. We are continuing to explore solutions in these areas to ensure digital assessment meets the needs of all subjects.
Transitioning to digital assessments
Teachers also acknowledged that transitioning to digital assessments for qualifications would require careful change management to support learners. While learners are generally quick to adapt to new digital tools, they still need time to become familiar with the specific platforms used in their assessments to ensure that the digital medium doesn’t become a barrier to demonstrating their knowledge and understanding. For learners in 14 to 16 qualifications, we are working closely with Welsh Government and WJEC to support this transition for the new National Qualifications. Centres can find more information in the centre guide.
In their reflections, teachers agreed that while moving existing assessments online is beneficial, it’s just the beginning. They’re excited about the future, where assessments designed specifically for digital environments could look very different from what we’re used to today. The identity of digital assessments is still evolving, and we’re only at the start of what’s possible.