CEA case study - Paul Duffy
Paul Duffy is an Assessment Design Manager for AQA
I wanted to undertake the CEA course to consolidate the assessment knowledge I had gained over several years working for an awarding body. I felt the work involved in undertaking and hopefully achieving a qualification recognising skills in educational assessment would enhance confidence in my own abilities.
The online training area was well set up and supported and ensured I felt prepared before attending the course. The pre-course materials covered the knowledge I expected, given I had attended a less advanced CIEA course a few years before. All the pre-course materials were clear. I found it pleasing that the wider reading materials were well selected as I had not come across some of them before.
The face-to-face aspect of the course was rewarding due to the experienced tutors leading the course and the wide range of participants taking part. There was a good balance of learning and tasks/activities that made both days feel very productive but not overwhelming.
The face-to-face aspect of the course was rewarding due to the experienced tutors leading the course and the wide range of participants taking part. There was a good balance of learning and tasks/activities that made both days feel very productive but not overwhelming.
The session itself was exciting as I was able to meet and work with a wide range of participants with very different backgrounds and experiences of educational assessment than I encounter in my day job. The focus on personal interactions and use of coaching techniques in preparation for undertaking the case study helped me to build my confidence in this area by role-playing and working through the techniques with the other participants.
The case study provided a useful framework for thinking about undertaking a CEA review in a variety of assessment contexts. Completing the work across the case study and portfolio is a significant undertaking and needs time investing to ensure completion. The process itself felt very rewarding, mainly because the suggestions and time invested in the initial audit and review resulted in actions that had a clear impact on the assessment performance.
My favourite part of the course was the face-to-face session which had some great discussion with the participants and tutors. It was a supportive and engaging environment. Meeting new people and focusing on some of the key principles of educational assessment and skills needed to support effective delivery away from the stresses of day to day work resulted in a very enjoyable experience.
The course is useful for consolidating and building on the assessment knowledge you may already have. The opportunity to meet a range of colleagues involved in different aspect of educational assessment provides valuable insight that it is not always easy to gain elsewhere. Undertaking the portfolio will require commitment to complete but provides a valuable learning experience for auditing educational assessment. The audit itself is set up to ensure all aspects of process and people required to ensure secure delivery of assessments are considered in completing the case study. The course provides good preparation and practice of the skills require to effectively complete the portfolio.
The course has certainly improved my confidence in auditing assessment quality, in particular around coaching and questioning assessment practitioners to resolve assessment issues. Completing the portfolio and case study has provided an alternative framework for evaluating assessments in my daily working life. Reflecting on the overall learnings from the course has given me significant thought for how I will approach review and change in assessment in the future.
The course has certainly improved my confidence in auditing assessment quality, in particular around coaching and questioning assessment practitioners to resolve assessment issues. Completing the portfolio and case study has provided an alternative framework for evaluating assessments in my daily working life.