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First 'e-assessed' GCSE exam launched
Last updated at 00:07am on 10.10.06
GCSE students will be able to take some exams electronically
The first GCSE to be entirely 'e-assessed' has been launched by an exam board.
Pupils will sit computer-based tests involving a mixture of multiple choice and short answers without any need for pens or pencils.
Coursework for the new Environmental and Land-Based Science GCSE will also be submitted electronically.
Marking for the multiple choice section of exams will be done by computer but other answers and coursework will be assessed by moderators.
The GCSE has been developed by the OCR exams board, which said it would "put an end to endless reams of paper for both students and teachers."
Storing work online eliminated the risk of mislaying papers and presenting work electronically allowed students to "take a much slicker and more professional approach to their work."
The board said it would "transform the future of school examinations."
Pupils are starting the GCSEs this term and will take their first exams in June next year before taking their final tests in 2008.
OCR spokesman Patrick Craven said: "This new qualification is a real landmark in the assessment of students at school."
"With IT now playing such a significant role in education and indeed, employment, its only right that the currency of communication between the student and exam board should also be digital."
The new qualification aims to help students develop the skills to work in areas such as horticulture, farming, floristry, waste management, conservation, or veterinary medicine.
Among the schools to have introduced the new GCSE is Thomas Alleynes School in Uttoxeter, Staffs.
Advanced skills teacher Martin Wedgwood said: "With so many of our students using IT regularly, we wanted to introduce a GCSE that reflected this in its learning and assessment."
"By incorporating e-assessment into learning, students will be using IT in a constructive and relevant way, using various IT programmes and software that they may come to need in the outside world."
An OCR spokeswoman did not have a figure for how many schools had taken up the new GCSE.
