Ofqual will look at ‘adaptive testing’ – computer-based tests which vary the difficulty of questions based on how well the candidate is performing – as well as the ‘potential risks and benefits of remote invigilation’ of exams.
Students taking GCSEs and other tests could be told to use computers to give their answers instead of pen and paper, under plans being assessed by England’s exams watchdog.
Ofqual said the Covid-19 pandemic had “catalysed questions about not if, but when” students should use screens in exams.
It also hopes to assess the potential of using technology to introduce tests which change in real-time depending on how students are performing. Such tests would see follow-up questions get harder or easier, depending on how well the student was answering.
It said technology has “the potential to improve quality and fairness” for students and to “strengthen the resilience of how qualifications and assessments are delivered”.
As part of a three-year strategy, Ofqual will work with exam boards to “support the use of innovative practice and technology” and to “remove regulatory barriers where innovation promotes valid and efficient assessment”.
It says Ofqual will “explore the potential role of adaptive testing” – computer-based tests which vary the difficulty of the questions which are posed depending on how well the candidate is performing.
Ofqual will look at adaptive testing “specifically as a potential replacement” for “tiering” – the current system for certain GCSE subjects such as maths, sciences and languages, where pupils must choose between sitting an easier “foundation” paper or a more demanding “higher” paper.
The regulator will also “evaluate the potential risks and benefits of remote invigilation”, where a student taking an exam is supervised by an invigilator in another location – for example via a webcam – rather than by an adult in the same room.
Ian Bauckham, the chair of Ofqual, said: “The pandemic has, rightly, catalysed questions about not if, but when, and how, greater use of technology and onscreen assessment should be adopted.”
He added: “All proposed changes need to be carefully assessed for their impact on students, including those with special educational needs and disabilities.”
While GCSE and A-level exams are returning in this summer after being cancelled for two years, the chaos which the pandemic caused to results has prompted unprecedented scrutiny of the assessment system.
And with people already spending much of their working and social lives on devices, an increasing number of commentators believe that public exams should have some sort of digital element.
The AQA exam board is currently conducting trials of on-screen tests for GCSE English, maths and science involving 100 schools.