BISU, Beijing, Thursday 13 September 2012
Providing high quality
support materials
for SQA’s qualifications Our roadmap for China –
Update September 2012
Martyn Ware
Head of Assessment Development
and Delivery
Overview
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What support materials are
Why they are valuable
SQA’s approach to providing support materials
Update since September 2011
Discuss our thinking and plans to make sure
we will meet your needs
What are support materials?
‘….all material which SQA produces to support
the delivery, assessment and quality
assurance of our qualifications’
Why support materials are
important
• Enhance centre, lecturer and learner
experience
• Help ensure consistency in delivery and
assessment
• Strengthen quality assurance
• Benefits to centres, SQA and learners
Purposes of support materials
Teaching and
learning
Formative
assessment
Summative
assessment
• Designed for
learner and/or
lecturer
• Limited
assessment
content
• Supports
teaching and
learning
• Includes feedback
• Sets the standard
• Not designed to
support teaching
and learning
Types of support materials
Traditional
• Mainly paper based
• Require most leading from lecturers
• Limited flexibility in use
Traditional
/ICT mix
• Combines strengths of both media
• Allows for blended approaches
• Greater flexibilty
Fully ICT
enabled
• Paper free
• Enables greater learner autonomy
• Fully flexible
Our support materials roadmap –
from September 2011
Stage 3
Stage 2
Stage 1
Within 6
months
6 - 12
months
Longer term
Our roadmap for China – Stage 1
• Map existing materials to existing HND Business
frameworks
• Identify other resources that can support delivery
e.g. ESoL formative assessments
• Identify wider resources to support delivery and QA
• Highlight other resources that can be freely used e.g.
Mahara e-portfolio
• Establish clear understanding of needs and priorities
Stage 1- Update
• Map existing materials to existing HND
Business frameworks
 Summarised in spreadsheet on website
• Identify other resources that can support
delivery
 Links from website to e.g. ESoL formative
assessments
Stage 1- Update
• Identify wider resources to support delivery
and QA
 e.g. SQA Academy courses, SQA guidance documents
• Highlight other resources that can be freely
used e.g. Mahara e-portfolio
 Summary information and links available through the
website
Stage 1- Update
• Establish clear understanding of needs and
priorities
 Greater focus for SQA over past year and captured in
this strategy
 Dialogue in May on future approaches e.g. blended
learning
Stage 2 - Update
• Develop new materials and resources based on
understanding of needs and priorities
 Learner guides being updated: CMEPH update to follow
• Build capacity in centre staff to develop materials
 SQA Academy package on developing assessments for prior
verification
• Establish SQA Academy as key source of support
• Trial provision of e-learning support for one
framework
Updating Learner Guides
• Not part of SQA’s original plan
• Now underway in response to feedback
• Learner guides are not a textbook: they need to be
used in combination with other resources
• The world keeps changing (so impossible to keep LGs
completely up to date…..)
• Further update on processes and timescales from
CMEPH
Blended learning trial
• Outline SQA’s original thinking and plans
• Summarise feedback from May workshops
• Propose revised plans in light of this feedback
Defining blended learning
‘....the pedagogic methodology that uses a range of
learning and teaching resources. These are:
• traditional didactic classroom teaching
• the use of texts from which students learn
• the use of the internet to access learning
• the use of online virtual learning environments
(VLEs) to host resources that can be used
independently by students or in a classroom
setting......’
Reasons for encouraging use of
blended learning
• Broaden the range of teaching and learning
approaches
• Ensure that graduates are as fully prepared as
possible for further study outside China
• Protect the SQA HND’s reputation as a high
quality and forward-thinking international
qualification
Rationale for the trial
• Staff are experienced in delivery of HND and
ready for new approaches
• Greater use of technology generally in life and
learning
• Preparation for further study outside China
• Greater flexibility in how courses are delivered
Purpose of the trial
‘...to build a clearer understanding of the specific
challenges associated with the use of blended
learning in our Chinese centres and, importantly,
help to inform plans for a larger scale roll out of
blended learning approaches.’
Feedback from May events
• General recognition of the need to adopt new
approaches
• Needs strong driver to encourage and
motivate learners
• Strong attachment to paper
• Practical issues for centres e.g. access to ICT
• Staff readiness
• Degree of change during 2012
Revised approach
• Plans reviewed in light of feedback from May
• Defer start of trial until Sept 2013
• Allows time to become more familiar with
new Business framework
• Develop blended learning and assessment
together to encourage learners
• Offer guidance and support in preparation for
the trial
Our support materials roadmap
Stage 3
Stage 2
Stage 1
Within 6
months
6 - 12
months
Longer term
Stage 3
• Build on what works from Stages 1 and 2
• Roll out e-learning for Business framework
and business units in other frameworks
• Develop new approaches based on emerging
needs, priorities and models
Summary
• We remain committed to providing high quality and
up to date support materials
• Our 2011 strategy remains our framework
• Elements of our plan have been delivered: others are
in progress
• We have sought feedback and revised our plans in
response
• Our focus remains on enhancing the experience of
SQA’s qualifications for centres and learners
谢谢你