Assessment and Competencies

Human Interpretation and Machine Interoperability

Technical standards relating to assessment and competencies are developed to support both human interpretation and machine interoperability in the area of evaluation, questioning, testing, certification, and accreditation systems and their components.

This is achieved through consistent descriptions and definitions that can be referenced by applications such as learning management systems. The term ‘competencies’ is used in a broad sense to include skills, knowledge, tasks, and learning outcomes.

While assessment and competency standards are generally specified independently they do have a close relationship – assessment will proceed more efficiently if competency benchmarks are well-articulated, particularly in IT-enabled environments.

14 items in this category.

1. ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies: Course Frameworks
   Category: Assessment and Competencies
   
   ACT Board of Senior Secondary Studies Course Frameworks for senior secondary subjects in the ACT.
   
   

2. Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF)
   Category: Assessment and Competencies
   
   Detailed information about the Australian Qualifications Framework (commonly known as the AQF) is a unified system of twelve national qualifications in schools, vocational education and training (TAFEs and private providers) and the higher education sector (mainly universities). The Australian Qualifications Framework (AQF) is a new national system of qualifications inclusive of school qualifications, vocational / industry based qualifications and university qualifications. The AQF is an initiative of all Ministers of Education and Training across Australia. Familiarity with the AQF is important for learners in planning their future learning and career pathways and the AQF website is a useful resource for students, adults, parents, and professionals, including those responsible for VET in Schools, VET, careers, curriculum advisers and for professional development.
   
   

3. Curriculum Framework Western Australia
   Category: Assessment and Competencies
   
   The framework establishes learning outcomes expected of all students from kindergarten to year 10 in Western Australia.
   
   

4. Developing Educational Standards
   Category: Assessment and Competencies
   
   From the US, Developing Educational Standards serves as a repository for as much information about educational standards and curriculum frameworks from all sources (national, state, local, and other) as can be found on the Internet.
   
   

5. Education Queensland: P-12 Curriculum Framework
   Category: Assessment and Competencies
   
   The purpose of this Curriculum Framework is to provide the structure around which schools can build education programs. A comprehensive set of guidelines, for teachers and administrators, is available on the site.
   
   

6. Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA)
   Category: Assessment and Competencies
   
   Announced in February 2008, the Excellence in Research for Australia (ERA) initiative will be developed by the Australian Research Council, to assess research quality within Australia's higher education institutions using a combination of indicators and expert review by committees comprising experienced, internationally-recognised experts. ERA will use leading researchers to evaluate research in eight discipline clusters.
   
   

7. FREMA: e-learning framework reference model for assessment
   Category: Assessment and Competencies
   
   The FREMA Project is part of the UK e-Learning Programme JISC and has the aim of identifying how e-learning can facilitate learning and to advise how such e-learning systems might be implemented. The goal of FREMA is to develop a reference model for systems in the Assessment domain of e-learning that are built on top of Service-Oriented Architectures, such as Web Services and the Grid, and in particular the JISC e-Learning Framework (ELF). The Assessment Reference Model will describe how the assessment domain maps to the ELF and thus acts as a driver for implementation and evaluation. Once complete, the Assessment Reference Model will ease the development of further services and promote the re-use of existing ones.
   
   

8. IMS Question and Test Specification (QTI)
   Category: Assessment and Competencies
   
   The IMS Question and Test Interoperability Specification provides proposed standard XML language for describing questions and tests. The specification has been produced to allow the interoperability of content within assessment systems.
   
   

9. IMS Rubric Specification
   Category: Assessment and Competencies
   
   

   The IMS rubric specification deals with the representation of guidance as to how a portfolio has been, or is to be assessed. A rubric carries information about interpretation of merit or the criteria that have been used in the interpretation. That information is carried in statements and a structured model. In the context of the IMS ePortfolio specification, Rubrics constitute one type of PortfolioPart, which may be included within a Portfolio and may be related to other Portfolio Parts. The Rubric Specification is a separate document to acknowledge that the data structure described herein may be useful in other elearning contexts. However, the Rubric Specification explicitly treats Rubrics only in the context of ePortfolios and does not address these other possible uses.

   
   
   

10. Northern Territory Curriculum Framework
    Category: Assessment and Competencies
    
    The NT Curriculum Framework is a single, inclusive, outcomes-based Framework for years T-10, developed through extensive and intensive consultation with schools and key stakeholders.
    
    

11. NSW Higher School Certificate (Stage 6) Syllabus
    Category: Assessment and Competencies
    
    NSW syllabus documents, exam papers and informations are available on this site.
    
    

12. South Australian Curriculum Standard & Accountability (SACSA) Framework
    Category: Assessment and Competencies
    
    The South Australian Curriculum Standards and Accountability (SACSA) Framework describes the curriculum Key Ideas and Outcomes all learners from birth to Year 12 can expect their education to be built on. Key Ideas and Outcomes comprise the required elements of the new curriculum framework for all government schools and children's services. These core elements provide the basis for educators to design detailed learning and assessment programs which suit the needs of children and students in their settings and which emphasise local priorities. The website offers information and resources such as: news and bulletins, online documents, contacts of the various committees and groups, links to other relevant sites, as well as an online discussion forum.
    
    

13. System to Evaluate the Excellence of Research (SEER) - Australian Research Council (ARC)
    Category: Assessment and Competencies
    
    

    To facilitate institutions getting early information on the direction of ERA, the Australian Research Council (ARC) has developed the draft ERA Pilot Submission Guidelines. Accompanying the ERA Pilot Submission Guidelines is the SEER Technical Specifications. The Specifications include information about data content and structures required for packaging ERA Pilot submissions; system interfaces; mechanisms of data transfer; and pilot system environment availability and support procedures.

    
    
    

14. System to Evaluate the Excellence of Research (SEER) - Australian Research Council (ARC)
    Category: Assessment and Competencies
    
    To facilitate institutions getting early information on the direction of ERA, the Australian Research Council (ARC) has developed the draft ERA Pilot Submission Guidelines. Accompanying the ERA Pilot Submission Guidelines is the SEER Technical Specifications. The Specifications include information about data content and structures required for packaging ERA Pilot submissions; system interfaces; mechanisms of data transfer; and pilot system environment availability and support procedures.