A proposal has been made to the International Standardisation Organisation (ISO/IEC JTC1 SC36) for a New Work Item on a “Quality Standard for Creation and Delivery of Fair, Valid and Reliable e-Tests.”

To quote from the proposal:

Specific areas that could be covered within the standard include:

• Roles and responsibilities – The key roles and skills required within the assessment process and life-cycle. e.g.,
  • senior management (responsibility for developing and supporting an e-testing strategy for the organisation);
  • psychometricians – those specialists responsible for creating the items and tests;
  • computer scientists – Computerization of the test delivery
  • coordination/operational management (implementation of the e-testing strategy and policies, and accountability for the e-testing process);
  • administration (responsibility for operational systems and processes);
  • technical support (responsibility for the technology), whether provided in-house or via a third party; and
  • working with the learner (maximising the potential for success through the etesting process).
• Organisational requirements – Requirements to overcome the challenges and to realize the benefits of e-testing.
• Coordinating the e-testing process – Administration, technical support, working with learners, invigilation/proctoring
• The e-testing environment – general environment, security, workstation design and layout, hardware, software, peripherals and communications links (Can be drawn mainly from other standards including ISO23988)
• Preparing for e-testing – registration, learner preparation, practice e-tests
• Managing exceptions – planned/unplanned breaks, special needs/allowances, emergencies and irregularities
• Data – transmitting learner data, data security, learner feedback and ‘certification’

This work-item has been co-proposed by the British Standards Institute committee “IST/43″, which is the means to representation of UK interest in ISO SC36 (broadly speaking, ICT in learning, education and training).

Anyone interested should contact either the chairperson or secretary of IST/43. Expressions of interest from potential new members are always welcome. Some information on past and present activity of IST/43 may be found on the BSI site.