A smarter way to be assessed

As part of its continued commitment to the development of online assessment, the Business Development Unit @BordersCollege is excited to announce the implementation of a new @SmartAssessor e-portfolio.

Smart Assessor replaces the existing e-portfolio with a bright new interface, easy tracking of student progress and a host of other dynamic and fully compliant features. Even better, Smart Assessor offers the opportunity for a completely paperless system from Application, through Enrolment, and on through the learner journey to completion.

Students may present work using video, photos, voice files, and more traditional word processing documents, PowerPoint presentations and spreadsheets. The system can also be used offline, meaning that students without access to the internet can continue to work and sync their work once they have a signal. The system is also fully optimised for laptop, PC, tablet and phone.

At some stage, during the learning and teaching process, all students need to be assessed to check their level of knowledge and understanding. For those students who learn while they work in a vocational setting, the way in which evidence of their learning is being collated is benefitting from the introduction of the new e-portfolio.

Smart Assessor is an electronic collection of a learner’s skills and knowledge, which is assessed by their tutor against a training standard or qualification and replaces paper portfolios.

Perfect for apprentices, work-based learners, classroom students and anyone undertaking training, as you can replace paper evidence with videos, photos and voice recordings as evidence of competence, and the portfolio is always available, both offline and securely on the web.

Assessors and tutors can track learner progress dynamically to achieve timely completions.

In addition, Smart Assessor offers students the opportunity to build a CV, directly importing their achievements from the system, and fully integrates any learning that takes place using the integrated Smart Virtual Learning Environment.

Smart Assessor also provides assessors with the ability to meet students using Smart Rooms and to annotate work and provide immediate feedback using the Smart Annotator. This provides the BDU with the ability to engage with students at any time, any place and anywhere, reducing the barriers to continued study for students across the country.

The new system integrates with existing management information systems, to reduce paperwork and ensure data is fully up to date at any given time.

With fully customisable reporting features, course delivery and progress can be easily monitored and tracked.

Deirdre McKendry, Director of Business Development, commented on the investment, saying: “This is an exciting stage in the development of our e-portfolio system within the College, to assist our wide range of work-based learners to access cutting-edge technologies, to assist in providing evidence of their competence within their chosen discipline.”

The Business Development Team at Borders College is now using this system to ensure that students on their wide range of training courses have the opportunity to upload their work for monitoring by a member of staff.

Smart Assessor is designed to track the progress of the students and offer customisable delivery milestones, as well as a Smart Annotator feature allowing invaluable feedback for the students.

The cost of implementing the new system was met by the Borders Further Education Trust (BFET), an independent charity set up to enhance the education experience for further education students in the Scottish Borders.

The Business Development Unit is a single point of contact, providing practical help and advice for employers to enable them to develop the skills of their employees. Its focus is to assist organisations to maximise their business potential through the development of their workforce. The Business Development team does this through the delivery of work-based learning and certificated short course qualifications.