A number of numeracy tasks have been added to the ATB.

Tasks include:

 - Decimal Place Value With MAB Blocks

 - Decimal Place Value

 - Simple Addition With Whole Numbers

 - Simple Addition With Whole Numbers 2

 - Length, Volume and Weight

 - Perform Simple Division

-  Perform Simple Multiplication

Most of these tasks were contributed by TELLS – thanks guys – and we have some tasks from other providers that should be validated soon.

The National Working Group have met twice this quarter to validate tasks. We have focussed exclusively on Numeracy and both meetings have been very productive in establishing a firm understanding of what is needed in assessing numeracy units.

There is still some concern about assessing the performance criteria referring to estimation. The main question is how to assess a cognitive process and how to prevent students from performing the calculation mentally. While we have a few ideas starting to develop now, if anyone has some thoughts, please let us know before the next Validation Panel on October 30. You can submit feedback here: http://www.neas.org.au/forums/

Thanks to AMES Australia and TELLS for hosting these panels and providing the TimTams.

The forums have launched and can be found here: http://www.neas.org.au/forums/

You need to make a login for yourself from the front page and see what you can do to make me look like less of a nigel. Use it as a space to connect with your colleagues across the country, and build a community.

One of the difficulties teachers have is the sheer volume of assessment tasks needed to collect two pieces of evidence for each learning outcome.

One solution to this problem is to coassess. What this means is that one assessment task can be used to assess multiple learning outcomes, either from the same unit, or from multiple units.For example, it is possible to develop a task that assesses both N2 and M1 from Certificate I.

This is a rare practice within the AMEP community but it is perfectly legitimate. It does mean you need to be clever with your assessment task design and the way you put together units, but it can cut down considerably on how many tasks you need to collect from students.

Currently the ATB does not have any tasks that coassess. I have asked for some tasks to be contributed from providers who do it successfully and I hope to have them validated and up in the next quarter so you can see how it works easier.