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ETC to Trial Pearson Assessment Marking Technology in Australia

Sydney – March 2, 2004 - Pearson Educational Measurement today announced that it has been awarded a three-year contract for the NoAn online schools assessment marking technology is to be trialled by the Educational Testing Centre (ETC) of the University of New South Wales in Australia as part of a new alliance with Pearson Assessments & Testing, Australia.

The technology, called ePEN, automatically scans a student’s handwritten answers to a test or assessment and presents this on-screen. The person marking the paper can then assess and score the student’s answers online. This process can be undertaken either at a central location where a group of test markers are gathered, or remotely from a marker’s own home or class room.

The ability to distribute images of test items to markers according to a preferred work-flow and to monitor marking quality during the marking process are two key advantages of ePEN.

"We are delighted the Educational Testing Centre has selected Pearson to provide services to its organisation," said Mr Kyle Uphoff, Vice-President – Asia Pacific, Pearson Assessments & Testing, "and we are looking forward to trialling ePEN for ETC’s Schools Competitions."

Pearson Assessments & Testing is the professional and educational testing business of Pearson Education, the world’s largest education company.

As part of the alliance, Pearson will also undertake other work for ETC including printing, scanning and editing work.

Dr Peter Knapp, Research and Assessment Director of ETC said, “ETC is keen to trial this distributed marking technology in one of our writing assessments in 2004. We will be interested to evaluate the technology and see how it might apply to other assessment activities.”

ETC is a prime provider of educational measurement and assessment services in Australia, New Zealand, Asia and the Pacific region. ETC conducts the Australasian Schools Competitions which attract more than 1.7 million entries worldwide.

Pearson Education is part of Pearson, the international media company. Pearson’s primary operations also include the Financial Times Group and the Penguin Group.

Media Contact

Robyn Piper
02-9467-6650