HSRC Integrated Annual Report 2018/2019

Teacher Assessment Resources for Monitoring and Improving Instruction (TARMII) The year under review saw the conclusion of a long- running project that aimed to assist primary school teachers to evaluate learner’s progress by providing an assessment resource bank. The TARMII study, begun in 2003 and funded by USAID, evolved from a paper-based assessment resource bank to a potentially highly useable and useful online interactive platform. ESD researchers worked with educational experts to develop over 7 000 assessment items, all alignedwith Curriculum Assessment Policy Statements (CAPS), and reviewed and quality assured by the Department of Basic Education (DBE), a key partner in the project. Over the past three years, this online assessment tool was finalised and piloted in 16 primary schools in Gauteng and North-West. Researchers worked with teachers to engage with the platform and produce assessments, and also observed learners taking the assessments using tablets, desktop computers and mobile phones. Key findings of the study centred mainly on how the lack of appropriate ICT infrastructure and internet connectivity in schools negatively impacts on the uptake of e-assessment. Despite this challenge, teachers, provincial and district education officials found the TARMII system to be a valuable resource in that it has a CAPS aligned item bank and also uses automated marking of assessment tasks. Such a tool lends itself to easy integration into teaching and learning in schools. A key recommendation from the study team is that the DBE should partner with cellular service providers to have the TARMII platform ‘zero-rated’ i.e. to ensure that it does not incur data charges when used by teachers and learners. This will provide digital equality, so that all learners and their educators, irrespective of socio-economic circumstances, have access to interactive assessments which are likely to improve learning outcomes. The TARMII resource is a further justification for the use of mobile tablets in primary school classrooms. The Teacher Assessment Resources for Monitoring and Improving Instruction online platform was formally handed over to the Department of Basic Education in March 2019. Dr Michael Gastrow presenting at the SA-EU Strategic Partnership Dialogue Conference ‘Disruptive Technologies and Public Policy in the Age of the Fourth Industrial Revolution’ HSRC INTEGRATED ANNUAL REPORT 2018/19 / 25