Leading educationists, government officials and members of the Association for Educational Assessment in Africa (AEAA) have identified capacity building programmes and adopting various ICTs based solutions as requirements to boost innovative approaches in examination bodies operations and assessment practices.
They observed that to curb examination malpractices, ICTs tools are indispensable, adding that ICTs based solutions also promote meaningful teaching and learning, enhance integrity and efficiency.
Omaze Anthony Afemikhe, said innovation should follow a process that should be understood by the agency aspiring for its implementation and that all the people to drive the innovation must be trained.
Afemikhe in his keynote address ‘Innovations in Teaching and Learning Oriented Practice at the 37th Conference of the Association for Educational Assessment in Africa (AEAA) in Abuja proposed that effective assessment methods could be used to improve learning.
Sonny Echono, permanent secretary, Federal Ministry of Education, said that Africa could not afford to be left behind in educational innovations, adding that AEAA was playing a pivotal role in educational development in Africa.
Echono observes that there was a need for governments to re-appraise the relationship between education and national development in the light of the widespread poverty on the continent.
Is-haq Olarewaju Oloyede, registrar, JAMB in his keynote speech, ‘Innovation in Educational Assessment: A Case Study of Joint Admissions and Matriculation Board (JAMB) of Nigeria says the purpose of innovation is to enhance efficiency and that everyone must not be satisfied with the status quo.
According to him, “The transition of JAMB from paper and pencil test to Computer Based Test (CBT) was to achieve more efficiency and to counter the scourge of examination malpractices”.
He stated that biometrics, Close Circuit Television (CCTV) in centres and central admission processing systems were some of the devices being employed by JAMB to curb examination malpractices.
On his part, Redwood-Sawyerr, urged examination bodies, administrators and assessment professionals on the need to be aware of the devices and devise new ways to counter them.
He also recommended that educators must review the ways of teaching and assessment to counter the scourge of examination malpractices.
At the end of the week-long conference, stakeholders opined that innovations in assessment and education should be driven by research findings.
“Therefore, education and assessment institutions must consider establishing well-resourced research units that will use appropriate methodologies, suitable statistical and qualitative analyses and provide information to support innovations”, they said.
