A new standard has been released by ISO which outlines the code of practice for IT based computer testing. ISO/IEC 23988:2007, derived from British Standard BS 7988 was released in January 2007 provides a means to (quote from ISO):
- show that the delivery and scoring of the assessment are fair and do not disadvantage some groups of candidates, for example those who are not IT literate;
- show that a summative assessment has been conducted under secure conditions and is the authentic work of the candidate;
- show that the validity of the assessment is not compromised by IT delivery;
- provide evidence of the security of the assessment, which can be presented to regulatory and funding organizations (including regulatory bodies in education and training, in industry or in financial services);
- establish a consistent approach to the regulations for delivery, which should be of benefit to assessment centres who deal with more than one assessment distributer;
- give an assurance of quality to purchasers of "off-the-shelf" assessment software.
Mickie S Rops in her Association Knowledge and Credentialing Blog encourages
"All associations considering or offering computer- or internet-based testing (and all associated service providers/vendors) would benefit from a review of this informative standard which, by the way, applies to both low and high-stakes assessments."
Interestingly one of the key assessment methods - assessment through simulations is excluded in the standard. Go here for more information from ISO
So as the very first post on this blog I simply want to compile an up-to-date list of the organizations, papers and feeds that have been making a big impact in the world of personnel certification. This first post is starting off small but the information will grow over time.
As we all know significant debate is happening around the focus on skills and competency based certification. The purpose of this blog is simply to have a central point where information is gathered for convenience. I'll leave the cut and thrust debate (well maybe we can have some) to the discussion boards such as the excellent one IRCA provides (http://forum.irca.org/).
So here we go:
On-line personnel certification e-zines:
IRCA Inform
RABQSA e-momentum
Personnel Certification Organizations:
IRCA
RABQSA
Accreditation Organizations:
International Accreditation Forum
ANSI (Personnel Certification)
UKAS
Standards Council Canada (SCC)
JAZ-ANZ (www.jaz-anz.com.au, website seems to be down at the moment)
Generic sites:
Conformity Assessment
Canadian Council of Personnel Certification
The above is a tiny snapshot of the organizations and references out there. My mission over the next while will be to create an up-to-date reference of not just these organizations, but also papers and feeds as appropriate.
If anybody would like any specific kind of information reported on a (fairly) frequent basis then just post a comment on this blog or pop me off a quick mail.
Stephen Davies
A new standard has been released by ISO which outlines the code of practice for IT based computer testing. ISO/IEC 23988:2007, derived from British Standard BS 7988 was released in January 2007 provides a means to (quote from ISO):
