Bolton College FirstPass platform awarded funding as part of £1 million Assessment Innovation Fund

9 May 2022 09:53 PM

Bolton College, a leading further education college in the North West, has been awarded funding through our Assessment Innovation Fund to test its FirstPass platform, in a move that could revolutionise assessment models in England.  

The 15-month pilot will test the efficacy and impact of using this online platform to support learners and teachers with the formative assessment of open-ended questions. FirstPass offers real-time feedback to learners as they compose their answers, allowing them to reflect and improve upon their work before submitting it to their teachers for final review and commentary. 

It also marks an important step in the development of automated marking, as well as supporting learners with special educational needs, including autism.   

The grant is part of our Assessment Innovation Fund, which will see £1 million worth of funding go towards supporting organisations in piloting new approaches to assessment and explore innovative uses of technology.  

Aftab Hussain, ILT and LRC Manager at Bolton College, recently said:

“Colleagues at Bolton College are delighted to have the support from NCFE to pilot FirstPass with other further education colleges in the UK.  

“The Assessment Innovation Fund gives us a wonderful opportunity to test the efficacy of using artificial intelligence to support the formative assessment of open-ended questions.”