2019-01-16
by savita.gauchan

In South Africa a new movement seeks to “decolonise” the teaching of mathematics

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Unlike the arts and humanities, mathematics is generally understood to be universal and objective. Not so for the students and academics leading the process of “decolonization” across S. African universities, where “the spotlight has fallen onto mathematics”. Exactly what decolonizing math would entail isn’t entirely …

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2018-12-31
by savita.gauchan

A Sense of Direction

by Steve Dept – cApStAn partner cApStAn linguistic quality control is a brand name (and a registered trademark) for a holistic approach to translation and adaptation of assessments and surveys; cApStAn also stands for a certain lifestyle and spirit: “Excellence among friends”, as one of the founding partners likes to put it. When we take …

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2018-12-21
by savita.gauchan

Challenges in parallel translation verification of test items with script/audio, e.g. for pre-school children

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village/Roberta Lizzi – Senior project manager, external human resources director @cApStAn cApStAn has almost two decades of experience in the linguistic quality control of test items in international large scale assessements, such as PISA, PIAAC, PIRLS, TIMSS, etc. The translation verification process compares source and target …

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2018-12-19
by savita.gauchan

Multilingual tests: when do you translate, when do you adapt? And how?

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village What reasonable investments should you make to move beyond the “just translate it” attitude? When do you translate, when do you adapt? What workflows work best for the translation of assessments? These are just some of the issues addressed at a well-attended webinar organised jointly …

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2018-11-27
by savita.gauchan

cApStAn’s experience at the ICE Exchange 2018, Austin

by Devasmita Ghosh, Enterprise Growth @cApStAn We at cApStAn had the opportunity to attend the ICE Exchange ‘18, Institute of Credentialing Excellence’s annual conference in Austin this November. With 750 attendees, it was a new record for the ICE and the perfect platform for us to meet and learn from the best and the brightest in …

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2018-11-05
by savita.gauchan

Announcing the joint Questionmark/cApStAn webinar on assessment localization – 8 Nov

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Globalization and innovative web technologies have removed geographic boundaries and opened new opportunities for awarding bodies, technology certification programs and credentialing organizations.  However, with these opportunities come new challenges:  How do you localize items and assessments so they will reliably measure knowledge, skills and abilities …

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total survey error
2018-10-08
by savita.gauchan

Offline AI and boiler plate approach in multilingual testing

by Steve Dept – cApStAn partner Will AI allow test development, item banking, item localization, validation and multilingual test delivery to all happen in one integrated environment? The AI behind adaptive translation is not the same as the AI behind item generation, but they can work together to build a robust boiler plate in multiple …

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2018-09-28
by savita.gauchan

The Testing Industry, 21st Century Skills and the Medicane

by Steve Dept – cApStAn partner Dublin, Lisbon, Amsterdam, and now Athens. This was cApStAn’s fourth participation in a conference of the European arm of the Association of Test Publishers (E-ATP). Why would a linguistic quality control agency participate in a test publishers’ conference? A high-level conference at that, with 327 attendees (of which 24 were …

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2018-09-27
by savita.gauchan

When stakes in testing get too high a lot can go wrong

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village Interesting review of the recently published book “The Testing charade” by Daniel Koretz PhD, Professor of Education at the Harvard Graduate School of Education. Regular testing benefits the learning process, he says, in this sense it is “a means to give formative assessment”. But it …

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2018-09-18
by savita.gauchan

How the “digital divide” can affect students’ learning

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village In the age of “EdTech” are some students being left behind because of lack of access to digital devices? ACT has recently released the results of a 2017 survey of students who took the ACT test, which shows how family income, racial/ethnic background, geography and …

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2018-09-10
by savita.gauchan

New trends in testing: A levels go gender neutral

by Pisana Ferrari – cApStAn Ambassador to the Global Village As of this summer, students who do not identify as either male or female can request that these classifications be removed for exams. EdExcel, owned by Pearson, is the first major exam board to have made changes to accommodate non-binary pupils. According to the Telegraph, …

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2018-09-07
by savita.gauchan

Adapting Assessments at the E-ATP Conference in Athens

by Steve Dept – cApStAn partner The E-ATP Conference’s baseline is “Transforming Assessments”. This year’s call to action is “Change. Challenge. Transform.” It is the 10th consecutive year that the European arm of the Association of Test Publishers holds its upbeat annual event on the Old Continent. Athens will be this year’s venue: the cradle …

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