Use of ICT in assessment - an exemplar from Denny High School

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 10th October, 2013

Serendipitously, there are some new assessment exemplars focusing on learners with additional support needs on the National Assessment Resource and the exemplar from Denny High School is relevant to the current discussion regarding appropriate support for learners in assessment of literacy at National 3 and 4. (You will need a Glow login to access the NAR and read the report.) 

To quote from the introduction:

"In this quality-marked exemplar, the learning support base in Denny High School demonstrates an innovative approach to preparing learners for the changes to the new National Qualifications which prohibit the use of a human reader / scribe. By using Ivona minireader software learners are equipped with the skills to access information quickly and independently. This exemplar demonstrates a proactive approach to overcoming barriers to assessment of English and Literacy faced by learners with additional support needs."

(Ivona MiniReader is a free general-purpose text-to-speech program that can read from Word files, PDF, the internet, etc ect).

The report is an interesting read because it describes a systematic process for introducing text-to-speech (TTS) technology to staff, learners and parents. There were 45 S1/2 learners involved in the trial and they and the staff seemed to be enthusiastic about the technology and how it can help them access the curriculum more independently and successfully.    

Another interesting observation is that most of the learners said they were using text-to-speech to support both reading and writing - by reading back their own writing, pupils are more able to identify mistakes and correct their work.