Technology used for examining and moderating
AQA is a forward-looking organisation that is striving continuously to improve.
Our commitment is: we will use new technologies only where they improve the quality of our assessments and the service we provide to centres and examiners. We will continue to reject
any use of technology which is educationally inappropriate.
The reliability and validity of our assessments remain at the
heart of all our work.
Electronic marking and electronic mark capture
The use of technology in national examinations is now well-established and AQA has several years' experience in the electronic marking of candidates' work.
In most subjects, examiners' marks can be submitted to AQA electronically, or examination scripts can be marked on-line. On-screen quality control measures enable the accuracy of marking to be checked on a daily basis and enhance quality assurance procedures.
Although some examiners may have had initial misgivings about the use of the new technology, these worries were dissipated through actual experience and examiners found the software easy to use.
Online standardisation
To enable teachers to remain with their students in centres, we have introduced an online standardisation programme which allows us to standardise examiners remotely. This has many advantages over the traditional face-to-face meetings.
Examiners can work through the standardisation material at their own pace and at times convenient to them. Senior examiners are able to detect deviations from the agreed standard in their trial marking more effectively and quickly.
Our research indicates that this approach to standardisation will allow us to broaden the available pool of potential examiners and at the same time increase the effectiveness of the standardisation process and quality of the support and guidance provided to examiners. We hope to standardise all examiners remotely in the coming years.
