Crowdsourcing new exam questions: apply for funding

28 Aug 2018 03:59 PM

Organisations can apply for a share of up to £150,000 to show how crowdsourcing technology could increase the quality of questioning in schools.

The Council for the Curriculum, Examinations and Assessment (CCEA) has £150,000 for organisations that use crowdsourcing to expand existing sources of exam questions, reduce costs and improve quality.

The competition will be run through the Small Business Research Initiative (SBRI), which helps public sector bodies connect with innovative businesses to solve specific challenges.

Find out more about SBRI and how it works.

An expanded bank of quality questions

As Northern Ireland’s leading awarding body, the CCEA offers a range of qualifications including GCSEs, A and AS levels, entry-level qualifications and vocational qualifications.

Traditionally, exam questions have been set by teachers working in their own schools or as part of assessment teams. Now, the CCEA wants to develop a new set of reliable and verifiable questions through crowdsourcing.

The aim is to expand the question banks available to schools and colleges, and keep costs under control without compromising on quality.

Testing the feasibility and demonstrating a prototype

This competition is looking for projects that can demonstrate how crowdsourcing could attract a broader base of high-quality questions.

The competition will be run in 2 phases. The first phase will ask applicants to demonstrate the technical feasibility and commercial viability of their idea.

Projects that are successful in this first phase will be invited to apply into a second phase to develop and evaluate their prototypes.

Competition information

• applications are open, and the deadline to apply is 3pm on 17 September 2018
• the competition is open to any organisation. You’ll need to register as a supplier on eTendersNI in order to apply. Once registered, you’ll be able to view the tender documentation
• you can attend an information session about the competition in Belfast at 11am on 4 September 2018
• shortlisted organisations will be invited to interview in Belfast the week commencing 24 September 2018

Find out more about this competition and apply.