Exam coursework marked online

By Katherine Sellgren
BBC News Online education staff

Many students complete their coursework on a computer

Schools in England and Wales could soon be sending pupils' coursework to exam boards electronically.

Currently exam centres have to hand in coursework on paper to be "moderated" by examiners.

Now examiners at Edexcel, OCR, AQA and WJEC have agreed to look at ways of assessing coursework online.

Technically-savvy schools have long complained they are wasting time printing off coursework they have marked electronically.

Nathan Jenkins, head of technology at John Cabot City Technology College in Bristol, said his pupils presented their GCSE and A-level coursework to him electronically.

Nathan Jenkins marks everything online

"Pupils e-mail me their work - I mark everything online, so there are no paper copies," said Mr Jenkins.

"But when we send in work for moderation to the exam board, I have to print it all off on A3 paper, then package it all up for postage."

Moderation involves checking a sample of work to see that schools are awarding the correct grades.

This term however, the school - which is taking part in a pre-trial for the AQA board - will send in pupils' work on a CD-ROM.

A spokeswoman for the AQA board said the three English exam boards and the Welsh board, WJEC, were all looking at ways of moderating design and technology assignments electronically this year.

Modern technology

They would meet in the autumn with the Qualifications and Curriculum Authority (QCA) to establish how the procedure could be taken forward for centres who wanted to operate online, she said.

Awarding bodies are encouraged to take coursework electronically, but it's not happening frequently enough from our point of view Martin Ripley, QCA

"This technology is available and some centres are really keen to pursue this," the AQA spokeswoman said.

"It's a question, as with any new format, of how it operates for the purposes of examination and moderation."

The principal at John Cabot CTC, David Carter, said it was important that education reflected the types of skills being used in the world of work.

Mr Carter said all too often, the education system was out of touch with modern practices, hindering young people in their future work.

Coursework like this could soon be submitted online

"This is the culture that's dragging schools down.

"This vision of education is not 20 years away, it's here now," he said.

The head of assessment policy at the QCA, Martin Ripley, echoed the need for the examinations procedure to be up to date with modern technology.

"Awarding bodies are encouraged to take coursework electronically, but it's not happening frequently enough from our point of view," he said.

Mr Ripley said the QCA wanted to see all applicable coursework to be submitted electronically within the next five years.

All school tests for children aged seven, 11 and 14 should also be available on computers within five years, the QCA says.