assessment

The Safer Internet Programme aims to empower and protecting children and young people online by awareness raising initiatives and by fighting illegal and harmful content and conduct over the internet.

The tasks of the experts include assisting the European Commission in evaluating proposals submitted in response to calls and the review of individual Safer Internet projects, as well as legacy projects funded under the Safer Internet plus programme. Experts included in the database will be assigned specific tasks on a case-by-case basis, according to the relevance of their education, expertise and interests in the tasks at hand.

The Call is open until 30 September 2013, and the list of experts will remain valid until December 31^st.

Experts are entitled to a payment in the form of a lump sum per day of work and reimbursement of travel and subsistence expenses in accordance with the scales valid at the time of signature of the agreement with the Commission.

A document with the specifications and conditions of the Call for Independent Experts for the Safer Internet Programme 2009-2013 is available here (only in English).

Applicants who are already on the list of experts drawn up for the implementation of the Safer Internet plus programmes (call for experts 2005-2009) must submit a new application.

Only online applications are accepted for this call. Click here to register as a new expert or update an existing profile.

Technology-aided assessments are useful not only in the evaluation of ICTs, but also as part of the design process, leading to iterative improvement. This brief focuses on assessment in ICTs, discussing how technology-enabled assessments can be leveraged to improve ICT design and student learning.

This will be achieved by utilising existing resources and models for teacher education in IBSE, both pre-service and in-service. In addition to SAILS partners adopting IBSE curricula and implementing teacher education in their countries, the SAILS project will develop appropriate strategies and frameworks for the assessment of IBSE skills and competences and prepare teachers not only to be able to teach through IBSE, but also to be confident and competent in the assessment of their students‟ learning. Through this unified approach of implementing all the necessary components for transforming classroom practice, i.e. teacher education, curriculum and assessment around an IBSE pedagogy, a sustainable model for IBSE will be achieved. SAILS will provide teacher education workshops in IBSE across the twelve participating countries and promote a self-sustaining model encouraging teachers to share experiences and practice of inquiry approaches to teaching, learning and assessment by building a community of practice.

 “SAILS aims to prepare teachers, not only to be able to teach through Inquiry Based Science methods but also to be confident and competent in the assessment of their students’ learning.”

A European approach

The SAILS consortium consists of thirteen partner organisations, including universities, SMEs and a multi-national organisation, from across twelve European countries. The strength of this consortium lies in its vast experience and expertise in the areas of science education, teacher training and resource development for teaching, learning and assessment.

By using a pan-European approach, SAILS will ensure that the diverse practices built up in each country can be analysed and shared, resulting in the development of models of best practice. These can be used not only in all the consortium countries but will also be available for other countries to adopt. This European approach raises the standard for everyone by encouraging national implementation, and by extending and promoting innovation in science teaching and learning in the classroom.

“The long-term aim is to generate a greater interest in science subjects at school, improve the take-up of science at third level and thereby increase the number of skilled graduates for employment in science and technology in Europe”.

The paper by Benő Csapó, John Ainley, Randy Bennett, Thibaud Latour, and Nancy Law reviews previous research and development  in  two ways, describing  the main  tendencies  in four continents (Asia, Australia, Europe and the US) and summarizing research on how technology advances  assessment  in  some  crucial  dimensions  (assessment  of  established  constructs, extension  of assessment domains, assessment of new  constructs and  in dynamic  situations). As there  is  a  great  variety  of  applications  of  assessment  in  education,  each  one  requiring  different technological  solutions,  the  paper  classifies  assessment  domains,  purposes  and  contexts  and identifies  the  technological  needs  and  solutions  for  each. 

The  paper  reviews  the  contribution  of technology  to  the  advancement  of  the  entire  educational  evaluation  process  from  authoring  and automatic  generation  and  storing  items  through  delivery  methods  (Internet-based,  local  server, removable  media,  mini-computer  labs)  and  forms  of  task  presentation  made  possible  with technology  to  response  capture,  scoring  and  automated  feedback  and  reporting. 

The  paper  also reviews  some  special  cases  for which  new  technologies  have  enabled  significant  advances  (e.g. assessments  of  students  with  special  educational  needs,  assessment  of  collaborative  skills  and group  achievement)  and  discusses  the  validity  issues  raised  by  the  application  of  the  new technolgies  (e.g.  factors  influencing  achievements  when  working  with  technological  tools,  the question of  transferability of skills measured  in a virtual environment). Finally,  the paper  identifies areas where further research and development is needed (migration strategies, security, availability, accessibility,  comparability,  framework  and  instrument  compliance)  and  lists  themes  for  research projects feasible in the Assessment and Teaching of 21st Century Skills project.