52 stories, 4 goals, 1 mission
Contact us
19 Prospect Hill Rd Camberwell VIC 3124
T: +61 3 9277 5555
F: +61 3 9277 5500
52 stories
Week 01: The power of good assessment
ACER Assessment Services is helping learners to become engaged in challenging learning opportunities appropriate to their readiness and needs.
ACER’s Vocational Indicator can be used to identify gaps in the literacy, numeracy and reasoning skills of students, to tailor learning programs and interventions to address learners’ needs and to track student progress over time. Institutions also use the Vocational Indicator to review the levels of literacy, numeracy and reasoning required by their courses, to match students to courses and to upskill students to meet course demands.
‘The main purpose is to enable educational institutions to identify levels of skill and gaps in skills for those beginning vocational education and training,’ says Blanca Camacho(pictured below), Project Director responsible for ACER’s Vocational Indicator. ‘Some employers also use it for the purpose of recruitment, but typically to identify skill levels to match employees to suitable positions.’
Educational institutions like Holmesglen and RMIT in Melbourne, North Coast TAFE in New South Wales, Australian Trade College and Southbank Institute of Technology in Brisbane, Charles Darwin University in its vocational area and many smaller registered training organisations use the Vocational Indicator to tailor learning programs and to track students’ progress. Victoria University is also using it for staff development purposes.
According to feedback from Western Australia’s Industrial Training Institute, ‘The Vocational Indicator is extremely effective because it’s objective, it engages apprentices and trainees, and the results are very visual and easy for them to understand,’ says Blanca. ‘It gives them an immediate sense of where they are in relation to the norm and it’s non-threatening.’
Few people know that the AFL Players’ Association also uses the Vocational Indicator. ‘The AFL Players’ Association has always had literacy and numeracy teaching staff, as well as wellbeing managers who help players develop post-competition career paths,’ Blanca points out. ‘They use the Vocational Indicator to inform the work of both. Other professional sporting bodies also use it for similar purposes.’
So where next? ‘The Vocational Indicator currently assesses generic skills in everyday vocational contexts,’ Blanca says. ‘The next step is to assess those in industry specific ways, more adaptively and in more technologically enabled ways that allow for more flexibility in item writing, test delivery and reporting.’
Related links: www.acer.edu.au/tests/vi
Continue reading...
Week 52: State of the art psychometric and statistical analysis
Week 51: Assessing civics and citizenship
Week 50: International research into teaching and learning
GOAL 1
Learners and their needs
every learner engaged in challenging learning opportunities appropriate to their readiness and needs
GOAL 2
The Learning Profession
every learning professional highly skilled, knowledgeable and engaged in excellent practice
GOAL 3
Places of learning
every learning community well resourced and passionately committed to improving outcomes for all learners
GOAL 4
A Learning Society
a society in which every learner experiences success and has an opportunity to achieve their potential
Download
Pursuing Quality and Equity through Evidence
The work of Australian Council for Educational Research
© 2013 Australian Council for Educational Research
ABN: 19 004 398 145
