The last day of the conference included post conference workshops on the topics “Avoiding common missteps in item writing (English language testing)”, “PISA 2021and beyond: design and development of innovative assessments at scale” and “The creativity question”.
In the workshop “Avoiding common missteps in item writing (English language testing)” Nathan T. Carr, Ph.D. (California State University) pointed out the importance of developing the certain level of competence in langugae assessment for language teachers. He considered construction of multiple-choice test questions one of the areas in which a lack of such competence can often be seen.
In the workshop “PISA 2021and beyond: design and development of innovative assessments at scale” Yigal Rosen senior director of Learning Solutions at ACTNext/ACT and Project Director of PISA 2021 along with ACTNext's Senior Learning Solutions Designer Kristin Stoeffler delivered their presentation. The workshop offered hands-on experiences on concepts and techniques essential for the design and development of technology-enhanced assessments for higher-order skills at scale. The workshop was structured in three phases. The first phase emphasized critical review of research in higher-order skills and technology-enhanced assessments. In the second phase assessment theories and techniques to design prototype assessments tasks based on pre-defined specifications were applied. In the third phase participants shared their assessment prototypes and discussed challenges and opportunities on applying assessment design principles to the context of their work.
The last post conference workshop “The creativity question” was led by Peter Hermans from ArtEZ Institute of the Arts. The workshop included theory, methodological issues as well as some interactive exercises. In the first part of the workshop participants explored different views on creativity and their implications for assessment. In the second part of the workshop examples of different designs of of assessments and assignments for a number of ‘non-standard’ settings with a special focus on validity and the queality of the assessment procedure were explored.
Note that, the 45th International Association for Educational Assessment (IAEA) Annual Conference “Assessment and Decision Making: Individual and Institutional Solutions” brings together more than 300 delegates from 55 countries. Being a permanent member of the organization, the State Examination Center (SEC) closely cooperates with IAEA on establishment of international cooperation in the field of educational assessment and attend its events regularly. The IAEA has been holding such conferences every year since 1975. Azerbaijan was the first CIS country to host IAEA conference in 2007.
Note: Azerbaijan State News Agency (AZERTAC) is the official media partner of the State Examination Center in covering the IAEA 2019.