The increasing use of technology within education impacts many aspects of learning including assessment. Good assessment practices are essential for learning and teaching and the use of technology has been demonstrated to improve assessment at various levels (JISC, 2007). E-assessment which refers to the use of technology to assist assessment has a number of benefits when compared to paper based system such as cost reductions (James, 2016), the ability to assess more learners (Jordan, 2009), time saving as a result of marker automation (Ras, Whitelock, & Kalz, 2015), increased frequency of assessment (Sclater, 2007), adaptive testing (Fluck, Pullen, & Harper, 2009), and greater personalisation (Gusev & Armenski, 2014). Some of the most important features of a robust e-assessment system include ease of use and accessibility, interoperability, security and effective feedback features that can provide vital information to students and teachers alike. A well designed e-assessment system will also provide functionalities to manage student assessment data such as background statistical information and analysis. The DALDIS project comprising 8 partners will address open access e-assessment for learning through the application and dissemination of innovative assessment for learning techniques which are established in different curriculum contexts and then tested in schools in 6 European countries. Innovative data analysis processes will be applied to support learners and teachers, and to evaluate the most effective questioning and learning models. The project, based on Study Quest technology (www.study-quest.com), will drive student learning progression using well designed question sets and student feedback to help the student build their knowledge and understanding and support the investigation of key curriculum concepts. The key objective is to evaluate ‘assessment for learning’ informed by feedback using digital technology in 6 countries - Ireland, Turkey, Greece, Poland, Denmark and the UK, with a focus on Science teaching and learning, and modern foreign languages (through the teaching of English and French) in years 5 through 9. A key feature of the Study Quest technology is the use of carefully designed ‘Feedback’ for all questions to help to nudge the student towards the right answer, reinforcing basic knowledge and conceptual understanding all the way, and effectively introducing and teaching the next concepts. Investigative questioning is supported through carefully designed questions to encourage students to research additional information working individually or collaborating to think through topics more deeply to find answers. The question sets used will closely match national curricula and classroom teaching practice in each country based mainly on popular textbooks in collaboration with schools and textbook publishers. The Study Quest technology includes data collection on usage patterns, progression and preferences to support a significant analysis of successful and unsuccessful questioning techniques, analyse student progress and detect personal learning approaches, needs and preferences. A significant analysis of this dataset to evaluate questioning methodologies, and improve the technology will be part of this project. A number of training and dissemination sessions (multiplier events) will take place in each region where the DALDIS project trials take place. All participating teachers will have an opportunity to participate in a dissemination training session prior to using the technology in the classroom. The project includes several innovative elements including the use of feedback and nudges to help the student learn; gamification and incentives to encourage students; data analytics providing insights on effective questioning, student progression and providing data groupings to support the personalisation of the learning process. DALDIS will evaluate and test these innovative features of assessment for learning in several European contexts, thereby facilitating cross-European perspectives and insights on Assessment for Learning. To support the feasibility and long-term economic sustainability of the solution, features such as collaboration with education publishers, the creation of a digital companion to successful textbooks, the ease and flexibility of the question scripting model and the investigation of premium business models to support sustainability beyond this project are also important innovations. Principal outputs will include: 1. Pilot results and evaluation reports 2. Curriculum aligned question sets in five languages 3. Technology upgrades to support needs of schools in participating countries 4. Software UI translated to five languages 5. A data analysis report outlining findings on effectiveness of methods 6. Training materials and online user help in five languages 7. A website with pilot and evaluation results, reports and the training and online user help
The principal objective of the project was to apply technology effectively to help disseminate knowledge, capacity and awareness of effective assessment for learning methods among the partners, and to demonstrate that effective use of technology supports the teacher in the application of the methodology, as well as the potential for personalisation and individualised learning for each student which the application of technology allows. The project also aimed to collect, analyze and understand significant data about the usage, practice and other aspects of effective use to help continue to improve the methodology. In order to achieve these over-arching objectives the technology had to be upgraded and improved (IO2) to support the pedagogical guidelines set in IO1. A significant content development initiative took place (IO3) starting from a significant pre-existing base of science and French language learning content in the Ireland JCQuest system. To support this the CMS (content management system) was upgraded to support the country teams in adapting, localizing and creating new content. IO4 supported localization and training, while IO5 completed a significant pilot and evaluation with data analysis.
The DALDIS Erasmus+ Project is built on the principle that formative assessment is a positive method to encourage student achievement (Hattie, 2009). William and Black (1998) found that large scale performance gains could be achieved by integrating formative assessment practices. Research has identified that challenges remained in supporting teachers in the implementation of this more individualized teaching and learning method in the classroom. There is therefore a need to explore how technology can impact on formative assessment by supporting the teacher in the application of more individualized formative assessment. Additionally the project sought to increase exposure to and experience with these techniques in schools in the partner countries, and to improve knowledge and experience in the development of good formative assessment materials supported by technologies in each of the project countries. During the project we successful developed materials for six project countries (Denmark, Greece, Ireland, Poland, Turkey, and the UK), and deployed the materials in schools in five project countries. Through quantitative and qualitative evaluation and extensive data analysis we have learned how to design more effective assessments.