Initiative aims to respond to the abrupt mass migration to distance learning due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) is currently carrying out a series of actions that will help validate the possibility of using Remote Assessment Systems (SAR) in higher education. This pilot project is being developed by FCCN, FCT's National Scientific Computing Unit, and was triggered by the urgent need to promote remote assessment solutions for higher education institutions (HEIs), due to the abrupt mass migration to distance learning as a result of the Covid-19 pandemic.
SARs provide reliable verification and identity monitoring options for a reliable teaching assessment, whether to remotely validate the learning of a teaching program or to remotely organize large-scale assessments. Thus, under the scope of the "Nau - Always Learning" project of the INCoDe.2030 initiative, the activation of a project focused on contracting mature platforms, with several years of development and operation in HEIs around the world and with needs similar to ours, is underway.
Four different platforms are being studied and compared, and the process is being carried out in conjunction with representatives from universities and polytechnics, under the coordination of the unit's team FCCN , which guarantees access to the SARs under analysis and promotes solutions so that they can be concluded as quickly as possible.
As there is no "tailor-made" solution that guarantees coverage of all the different needs presented by HEIs, such as online proctoring, live proctoring, auto proctoring, identity verification, recorded tests and integration with LMS (Moodle, EdX, etc.), the selected solutions will be tested for one month, financed and acquired centrally and with real tests of already identified HEIs (and others that may join), which will enable 1.000 to 3,000 tests for each solution, depending on the format chosen, for a total of 3,000 to 9,000 tests.
At the end of this process, HEI managers will submit a report with the results, which should include the lessons learnt, good and bad experiences, identified by teachers and students.
A further webinar is being planned as part of the Metared initiative, to be announced shortly, which will mark the start of the project and where details will be given to the various actors on how access to the platforms can be requested.
