Guidelines for developing and using e-assessments with vocational learners: project overview

This project brought together a team of vocational educators from three Institutes of Technology or Polytechnics (ITPs) and an iwi-led tertiary partnership, to create a set of guidelines for the development and implementation of e-assessments for learning. As New Zealand qualification outcomes have shifted from competency-based to graduate profile outcomes-based qualifications, there is a need to support students' learning towards meeting graduate profiles. The affordances provided by digital devices, tools and apps, increase opportunities for the implementation of useful assessments for...  [+] Show more

This project brought together a team of vocational educators from three Institutes of Technology or Polytechnics (ITPs) and an iwi-led tertiary partnership, to create a set of guidelines for the development and implementation of e-assessments for learning. As New Zealand qualification outcomes have shifted from competency-based to graduate profile outcomes-based qualifications, there is a need to support students' learning towards meeting graduate profiles. The affordances provided by digital devices, tools and apps, increase opportunities for the implementation of useful assessments for learning which meet learners' needs. Digital technologies also allow access to some of the difficult to describe, or measure, skills and dispositions, which underpin vocational education. These 'invisible' attributes contribute towards learners 'becoming' (i.e. attainment of an occupational identity) as they progress towards meeting the graduate profile outcomes defined by NZ qualifications.

For this project, seven sub-projects were developed, which implemented e-assessments for learning activities using a range of pedagogical approaches and digital tools. The guidelines are a distillation of the learnings achieved through iterations of Participative Action Research (PAR) cycles by each sub-project team. These guidelines can be used to support the development, implementation and evaluation of e-assessments for learning within vocational education.

Edited excerpts from publication.