E-Assessments at MYP – Assessing in the Digital Age

Going Digital

The first step in creating a new model for assessment is in the delivery method. The eAssessment is delivered digitally rather than on paper. Security and academic integrity is ensured by the use of a lock down application that does not allow student to access anything but the exam on their device. This means that students can use the power of digital technology in the assessment, while still showing their skills and knowledge in an authentic way. While this is a big change to the traditional model, going digital is just a way of enabling deeper changes in the design of the eAssessment.

Multimodal Stimulus Material

By going digital, there are wider opportunities to incorporate audio, visual and interactive content into the eAssessment. As they navigate the exam, students have the ability to watch video, listen to audio, and interact with movable elements on the screen. Science experiments can be modelled visually, and students can create visual elements to accompany their writing. This makes it possible to test students on a much wider range of skills and knowledge.

Skills Based

Students live and learn in an interactive, digital world. One that is not bound by the confines of a piece of paper. Allowing them to display those skills on an examination is a much more authentic way of assessment for the modern student. The MYP eAssessment is designed first and foremost to test a student’s skills in a subject. The questions posed leave themselves open for students to apply any relevant knowledge that they have, rather than being forced to recall a narrow range of specified content.

For example, here is a sample question from a science eAssessment that asks for the combination of the exams stimulus material and the students own knowledge:

‘Using the information above and knowledge from your wider MYP studies, discuss the benefits and limitations for the human body of diets heavily based on plants.’

The Human Element

As computers, specifically AI, become more powerful and able to complete tasks for us, we have to question the role human thought and effort will play in the future. When facts and information can be generated at a rapid pace, it is more important than ever that humans are skilled at reviewing, verifying and evaluating this content. It is also the role of humans to provide a moral and ethical lens that cannot be provided by AI. Question in the eAssessment are specifically designed to include moral and ethical elements, allowing students to display the critical thinking skills in these areas that cannot be replicated by technology.

We are proud this year to offer eAssessements in four subjects to students at NISC. In May, we will have students sit these exams in English, Mathematics, Science and Integrated Humanities. The students are already busy preparing for these exams, and we are all excited to see how they are able to transfer their skills and knowledge from the classroom into these innovative and forward-looking assessments.

If you would like to know more about eAssessments, you can read about it in some detail on the IB website: https://www.ibo.org/programmes/middle-years-programme/assessment-and-exams/understanding-eassessment/