Why outsource authoring?
Authoring high quality assessments can be very demanding of management time. Typically development timescales are short and quality and review requirements are high. For projects requiring banks of items or tests the team sizes for authors and reviewers can grow rapidly. Each member of the team must be managed and supported through the life of the project.
A simple high level assessment lifecycle is given below, along with the related services that we provide.
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• Consultancy services for example to identify the assessment drivers, develop an appropriate assessment design and consult with stakeholders |
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• Recruit authors (and reviewers where appropriate) from within our associate list, customer contacts or third parties • Provide training in: the assessment objectives and design; the authoring process; and authoring productivity tools |
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• Manage the team to ensure on-time delivery of assessment scripts, mark schemes, guidance notes and other related material |
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• Expert review and/or trialling |
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• Assessment performance management |
Depending upon the delivery mechanism for the assessment, there may be specialist workflow management or authoring tools, for example a particular authoring platform for e-assessment material. The whole team must be trained in the role and appropriate use of such platforms.
Many of our client organisations are highly customer focussed, with strong quality assurance systems aligned with the delivery and performance management of assessments. Outsourcing the authoring of assessments enables our clients to maintain this focus on their customers’ needs rather than managing large, diverse teams with workloads distributed unevenly through the year.
As part of our support for authoring, we maintain on-line collaborative work environments, including online conferencing tools and shared online workspaces and file-stores. These environments are secured using robust encryption, full user authentication and are supported with automated daily back-up. To support each project, we establish a secure collaborative workspace for nominated client staff and AlphaPlus staff and associates employed on the project.
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