Using technology in the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice

The benefits of IT skills in the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice

You’ve probably already heard me say this, but technology is pretty great. And I say this because I am competent to use it to my advantage for the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice. When technology fails, if you are like me, you’ll end up swearing how useful it is and that’s just technology for you. It offers so many benefits but sometimes it can be extremely frustrating so you need to weigh up the pros and cons. Teaching for example, when I’m teaching the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice online, its so much easier and fits in with my childcare but simple activities like putting learners into groups are way more difficult than in person.

The affect of COVID-19 on the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice

Quality assurance is no different. When the pandemic hit, it did massively influence the way we quality assure the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice, but we have adapted it so its beneficial. I have assessors in Brighton and London, these are on my doorstep and so much easier to visit but we also have assessors in Bristol, Manchester, Newcastle and Birmingham. Before we took training online, I would have to get up early hours to go and observe learners and then stay over. With moving training online, I can literally log in and see all tutors in one day which is virtually impossible face-to-face. Granted, its not as good but it’s very handy.

Likewise, we can all meet at the same time to standardise our practices in the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice. Before the pandemic, we would all meet in a central location where we all had to travel, and it was costly. Now its virtual and we can see each other more regularly The downside is this is that sometimes my children are home and think I can play during the meeting and we have other assessors with their dogs barking or construction works outside, let alone the number of times people have disappeared because they’ve had to open the door to collect their Amazon deliveries. That’s a lie. Amazon don’t knock. The benefits to technology for quality assuring the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice far outweigh the negatives.

Storing information in the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice

We also used technology a lot before the pandemic, and we store all documentation and assessments online. All of our learners on the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice have access to their own OneDrive file where they can view and add documents but at the same time, assessors, IQAs and EQAs can also access this. We also use Trello to log our learner’s progress. As our learners on the Level 4 Award in the Internal Quality Assurance of Assessment Processes and Practice work at different paces, it helps us to identify where each learner is at any given time.

Information and communication technology (ICT) can be used to support and enhance the IQA process. This is particularly useful when the IQA is located in a different area from their assessors. A virtual learning environment (VLE), electronic portfolio (e-portfolio) or cloud-based system could be used by learners and assessors to upload completed work and records to. This would enable the IQA to sample various aspects remotely at a time to suit. Reports could then be completed electronically, uploaded to the system or emailed as required.