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Paul Nisbet

New Maths in Action Large Print Books on the Books for All Database

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 3rd February, 2014

Thanks to Marie Lawson from the Vision Service in Shetland for contributing a new 18 point Large Print copy of New Maths in Action S22. It's available as two parts and you can find them on the Database by clicking the links below:  New Maths in Action S2-2 Part 1 New Maths in A...

National 5 Specimen papers with answer boxes are now available

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 6th January, 2014

The SQA Question Paper team have added 'answer boxes' to the National 5 specimen papers and these can be downloaded from the SQA Digital Question Paper pages. Feedback from students is that it is much easier to type in answers directly on the paper, than to use a separate digital answer book...

Reading PDFs and Digital Question Papers with Texthelp Read and Write Gold

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 19th December, 2013

Yesterday a teacher called to ask for advice about using Texthelp's Read and Write Gold with the SQA Digital Question Papers. She had two problems and the suggestions I made may be of interest to others who use Read and Write Gold: The first problem was that the PDF Aloud text-to-spee...

Word prediction is confirmed as a reasonable adjustment for assessing writing in National Literacy

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 9th December, 2013

SQA have confirmed that word prediction software is a reasonable adjustment for learners with disabilities for the writing assessment of Literacy at National 3 or 4.  Word predictors analyse text as it is typed on the computer, and try to ‘predict’ the words that the learner is m...

Using networked computers in examinations

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 2nd December, 2013

Staff often ask whether to use standalone or networked computers in exams, and so we have written a quick guide (below) and also available for download. Exam Profiles for Digital Question Papers In an exam you can either use standalone computers, or you can use machines attached to your school...

Use of ICT in Assessment of Writing for National 3/4 Literacy

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 2nd December, 2013

We have added some notes on using ICT to support learners with additional support needs in National 3 and 4 assessment of writing. As you probably know, human scribes are not regarded as a reasonable adjustment when assessing writing for National 3 and 4 Literacy qualifications, but l...

Get moving! Bobath Paediatric Powered Mobility Workshop 1/11/13

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 7th November, 2013

  Last week I was fortunate to attend a brilliant workshop on Paediatric Powered Mobility at Bobath Scotland in Glasgow. It was organised by Sandra Mackay and colleagues at Bobath, and featured Ros Livingstone and Debbie Field from Sunny Hill Health Centre in Vancouver. R...

ICT Accessibility Essentials and Checklist

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 14th October, 2013

Earlier this year we were asked by colleagues in ICTSLS (ICT for Support for Learning in Scotland - staff with specific responsibility for ICT and ASN across Scotland) to produce some simple recommendations about basic accessibility software that one would expect to find on computers in schools...

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 Nation...

Use of ICT to assess reading in National 3 and 4 Literacy Units

Posted by Paul Nisbet on the 10th October, 2013

Under Section 96 of the Equality Act, SQA has responsibility to decide what is and is not a ‘reasonable adjustment’ for assessment in the new National Qualifications. From August 2013, SQA have decided that human readers are not to be regarded as a reasonable adjustment when learners ...

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