THE CHALLENGE To produce an online assessment solution for an English Language examination designed for speakers of other languages and those with learning difficulties. The challenge also meant that TADS Media Ltd had to find a way of testing all four key elements of language (reading, listening, writing and speaking) online.

THE SOLUTION The ISEB provided TADS Media Ltd with 9 past papers and a new examination paper. TADS Media Ltd converted the practice papers into online assessments using Questionmark Perception. The software was intelligently configured to grade students' tests fairly and accurately and some questions were altered to suite the new method of delivery. While easily capable of marking the reading and listening elements of the test, TADS Media Ltd and the ISEB felt that it was not suitable to have the computer mark students' written essays and spoken tests. Therefore, TADS Media Ltd have come up with a solution whereby students take the written element on the test online and submit their answers, a teacher then accesses their essays via a secure webpage and marks the essays manually. TADS Media Ltd have also devised a solution in which students use a clever combination of the telephone and the computer to take their oral tests. Teachers access students' spoken files via a secure webpage and mark them accordingly. Results are gathered and displayed online via a secure webpage.
TADS Media Ltd is about to embark on converting the ISEB Spanish, French and German examinations into online assessments.