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Worldwide, fewer and fewer work tasks are done using paper and pen, yet most high-stakes assessment in schools continues to use this primitive technology. This paper reports on one component of a project investigating the use of digital technologies to facilitate assessment tasks for high-stakes summative purposes in senior secondary courses. It reports on how a computer-based production exam was implemented in 17 final-year secondary school classes for the Applied Information Technology course in Western Australia. Further, it compares the comparative pairs method of marking with a more traditional analytical method. The conclusion was that this digital form of assessment should replace the existing paper-based exam; however, it was less certain which method of marking should be applied.

The concerns-based adoption model (CBAM) was used to analyze results of a study examining the use of student-owned portable computers at a secondary school. CBAM was found to be very useful in explaining the actions of teachers and in providing a basis on which to develop a theoretical model for the implementation of portable computers in schools. (AEF)

Worldwide, fewer and fewer work tasks are done using paper and pen, yet most high-stakes assessment in schools continues to use this primitive technology. This paper reports on one component of a project investigating the use of digital technologies to facilitate assessment tasks for high-stakes summative purposes in senior secondary courses. It reports on how a computer-based production exam was implemented in 17 final-year secondary school classes for the Applied Information Technology course in Western Australia. Further, it compares the comparative pairs method of marking with a more traditional analytical method. The conclusion was that this digital form of assessment should 'replace the existing paper-based exam; however, it was less certain which method of marking should be applied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The concerns-based adoption model (CBAM) was developed in the 1970s and has been applied to research into many types of educational innovations. This article discusses the use of CBAM by a number of researchers concerned with the implementation of computers in schools. In particular, it focuses on a longitudinal study during the 1990s concerned with the use of student-owned portable computers at a secondary school. One component of this study employed the three key dimensions of CBAM to assist in an understanding of the implementation. CBAM was found to be very useful in explaining the actions of teachers and in providing a basis on which to develop a theoretical model for the implementation of portable computers in schools. (Keywords: concerns-based adoption model, portable computers, secondary education.) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]