Welsh Government

Online Personalised Assessments

In 2012 the Welsh Government launched an initiative to transform learning and teaching in Wales, bringing practices up to date with the digital world that we now live in. As part of this transformation, online personalised assessments would replace paper-based reading and numeracy tests in all schools in Wales for learners in years 2 to 9.

THE SERVICES WE PROVIDED

Application Development

Web Design

User Experience

Method4, along with a consortium of companies, delivered the new online personalised assessments platform. The bilingual, online assessments are adaptive, with question difficulty changing based on a learner’s previous answer, therefore challenging all learners regardless of ability. After completing an assessment, formative feedback is provided to both learners and teachers, enabling focused support from schools.

Our team developed a bespoke system for teachers to schedule assessments, and learners to initiate them. It also allows the viewing of feedback for learners and summary reports for schools. The system integrates with Hwb, Wales’ digital learning and teaching platform, and Surpass, an online testing platform.

Online Personal Assessments won the "Best Use of Formative Assessment" category at the 2020 e-Assessment Awards and was a runner-up in the "Best Transformational Project" category. We’re really proud of the part we played in developing the platform and the digital transformation of Welsh education.

CHALLENGES

the system would need to be scalable to cope with tens of thousands of learners logging on to take tests at the same time
user data would need to be synchronised into the databases as quickly as possible to enable daily updates from schools’ systems
need to be AA compliant with Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) 2

TECHNOLOGY

THE SOLUTION

system checks to predict periods of high usage by checking the number of tests booked
load balancing to scale up the website when the checks predict high loads
using durable functions, we were able to scale the Azure functions to sync data quickly
screen reading technology ensured AA compliance

OUTCOMES AND BENEFITS

cost effective, the Azure platform can be scaled when required rather than paying for high usage constantly
seamless user friendly interface
quick delivery of results and reports for users

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