SA becomes the first state to use videos and audio in Year 12 SACE exam
This year’s SACE history exam will make a little of its own, becoming the first time in Australia students watch a video.
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Modern history will be the stage when South Australia makes history on Thursday – becoming the first state to use a video clip in a Year 12 exam.
Students sitting the exam will view a short clip of a historic event and then answer questions about what they’ve seen.
The multimedia component is part of conducting the exam electronically rather than using the traditional pen and paper.
“We want the assessments to use the same sort of tools students use in their learning,” said Martin Westwell chief executive of the SACE Board which runs the exams.
“They use multimedia in their learning and they’ll use multimedia in their careers or the next step in their education.
“If you’re a historian, you’d use video as one of your sources.
“Pen and paper works really well for some assessments but we can improve on that by using technology.
“For students, watching video clips is part of their everyday lives.”
Among the first tranche of students will be Cooper Tubb of Golden Grove High School who says an electronic exam will be easier than using a pen, particularly as his handwriting is “atrocious”.
“It’ll be a lot more accessible because we’re used to doing things online and using videos,” he said.
“Most people don’t pull an encyclopaedia off the shelf anymore.”
Cooper, 18, said he’d always enjoyed history and “studying how the actions of the past have affected our modern world”.
Golden Grove has 33 students in modern history, the highest number at an SA school.
History teacher Joshua Davis said Golden Grove’s connection program with the Defence Force enhanced students awareness of global issues and interest in history.
“And we have a lot of passionate teachers who push the learning out of the classroom into the real world,” he said.
The SACE Board has been increasing the use of e-exams slowly, in consultation with schools, students and the broader community, Prof Westwell said.
“SA, our students, our teachers are leading the nation in this,” he said.
This year, nine subjects have electronic exams, up from three last year and one in 2018.
NSW has one e-exam and some states have tests done electronically but SA is furthest ahead.
This year’s psychology exam will have a video component and the Indonesian continuers exam will include audio questions.
Other subjects being written electronically are biology, English literary studies, geography, legal studies, nutrition and tourism.
Students use their own laptops or computers provided by the school, with special software downloaded that quarantines the device from the internet or other data sources.
Headphones will be used for the multimedia components – with each student playing the clip on their own device.
The program automatically saves the work every two minutes.
“Electronic assessment is here to stay,” Prof Westwell said.
Year 12 exams continue until November 16.