Students take part in online trial exam

TRAILBLAZING: Year 11 Rathkeale College students sit the unique emCAT pilot exam that includes an online assessment partnered with a paper-based test that will count toward NCEA. PHOTO/SUPPLIED

Rathkeale College students have joined about 13,000 of their counterparts across New Zealand to trial a unique online exam called electronic mathematics Common Assessment Test (emCAT).

It is the second year the New Zealand Qualifications Authority had completed trials of emCAT, during which the Year 11 Trinity Schools students undertook a two-fold classroom-based Algebra test that comprised four NCEA credits and was classified as an external exam, Rathkeale teacher Lee Mann said.

The students helped make New Zealand educational history taking the online test this month, she said.

"All Year 11 students involved in the trial across the country sat the exam on that day at that time, hence the 'common' part. Quite a unique scenario."

The best grade that students achieve between the online exam and a related paper-based test will count towards Level 1 NCEA, Mrs Mann said.

"If successful, it will pave the way for online exams in the future."

The NZQA website states the pilot was "part of NZQA's digital transformation journey" and an ongoing investigation of computer-based methods of assessment.

The 2015 pilot was a revamped version of the test built on results from a 2014 trial, and was achieved in conjunction with Dunedin-based digital resource Education Perfect.

Student and teacher feedback on the 2014 trials yielded digital tests tailored for the screen this year, including working space visible alongside the question, time for students to familiarise themselves with the online exam, and touch screens and styli that aped paper and pen "being the medium used on a daily basis for solving mathematical problems".

Teachers also last year found marking "cumbersome" due to the randomisation of questions, which were vital to the system and would remain.

"While this will be the second computer-based pilot, it will be the first on such a scale - approximately 13,000 students from 146 schools have registered to participate and we have a good range of school types and deciles involved," the NZQA website states.

The pilot also broke ground as the first time emCAT results would count for Level 1 NCEA.