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Dr I R Gomersall B.Sc., Ph.D., C.Phys., M.Inst.P., FRSA. Bob Gomersall is Chairman and founder of BTL Group Ltd. (set up in 1985) and Virtual College Group plc (set up in 1995). The focus of BTL’s work is on Learning and Assessment Systems and Content. Virtual College specialises in work based and online training. Bob is also Chairman of the Advanced Digital Institute, which he started developing in 2002, Chairman of the Yorkshire Forward Digital Cluster Board, and a member of the Airedale Partnership Board. He was educated at Leeds Grammar School and the universities of Durham and Bristol. He has worked as a Theoretical Physicist (at the Max Planck Institut, Stuttgart) and as a teacher of physics (at Manchester and Bradford Grammar Schools). He was Head of Physics at Bradford Grammar School before going full-time into business. He and his wife (who is a Medical General Practitioner in Bradford) have four children, 3 boys and a girl, ranging in age from 15 to 27 years old. www.btl.com
Michael Osborne, Arup
Dave Waller, MyKnowledgeMap. Dave has over 15 years’ experience in interactive digital design, with a BA (Honours) degree in Multimedia Design, with almost 10 of those spent focussed on training, learning and education solutions. His time with MyKnowledgeMap has given him a broad range of experience in all areas of learning technology and he now focuses his time on product management and supporting customer implementation. His background in design, as well as a solid understanding of customer needs, positions him well to create products that put the users first so they can focus on the important tasks without technical jargon or IT gimmicks. The last 12 months has seen Dave lead the re-design of the award winning mobile assessment platform - ReallyManaging Assessment - creating a powerful and generic tool from the prestigious project implementations that preceded it.
Geoff Chapman, Calibrand. Geoff has over 15 years international management experience, of which 13 years have been in e-Assessment. He has worked in 15 countries and has delivered speeches on e-Assessment in the USA, Europe and the UK. Geoff was responsible for the e-Assessment research projects 'Driver and Barriers' and the follow-up 'Acceptance and Usage'. As Business Development Director for Calibrand, Geoff is responsible for leading a team to create and protect revenue from new and existing customers such as Learn Direct, Construction Skills and NEBOSH in the UK and internationally. In June 2011, Geoff was appointed as the e-Assessment Association's marketing lead, developing relationships with corporate sponsors, increasing the Association's reach with its membership and boosting its presence through social media and developing the Association's website. A graduate of both University of Salford and Staffordshire University, Geoff also led the successful entry to win the 2011 e-Assessment Scotland Award for Facilitating e-Assessment.
Jeremy Carter. Jeremy holds a BSc (Hons) in European Business & Technology and joined the BTL team in March 2006, bringing over 10 years’ Sales & Account Management experience in the learning and assessment field. Having been instrumental to BTL’s sales growth over the past few years, Jeremy now leads the Sales and Marketing team, taking responsibility for developing BTL’s market presence in the UK and implementing strategic expansion into the international arena. He also regularly attends and speaks at leading global assessment industry events .Jeremy is a member of BTL’s Innovations Committee and is a key contributor to the future development of BTL’s products and services.
Sue Orchard is the M.D. of Comms Multilingual, a translation solutions provider based in Epsom, Surrey. Comms specialises in the translation and adaptation of all the different types of tests, certifications, exams and assessments (both clinical and non-clinical) and can help at every stage of the linguistic validation process. Comms also offers a wide variety of other services vital for this sector, such as Expert review, Cognitive Debriefing and Normative Data collection. Sue has a BSc degree in German and Russian from the University of Aston in Birmingham. She also speaks French, is learning Spanish and can read and understand most European languages. She worked for many years as International Sales Director for a company in the academic publishing sector and thus brings great practical cultural awareness through her travels to different countries around the world and her experience in conducting business in those countries. Before founding Comms Multilingual, she also worked for a company that produced psychometric assessments, which provided her with invaluable knowledge about tests and testing.
John Bendel is the European Sales Manager of Comms Multilingual, responsible for assessing and catering for the needs of their clients across nine different European countries. A graduate from Cambridge University, he has a CIM Diploma in Marketing and also an RSA Diploma in Linguistics. Having worked abroad for over twenty years, he is an expert in the points where culture and language meet international marketing. He has a special interest in the localisation of professional qualifications.
Amanda Clark, FDQ and Gavin Busuttil-Reynaud, AlphaPlus Consultancy
Nicola Blackwell, turnitin. Turnitin is the global leader in addressing plagiarism and delivering rich feedback, and is used by thousands of students and academics worldwide. An extensive database of web pages, published and research work and student papers make Turnitin an indispensable tool for both detecting unoriginal work and also teaching students about proper attribution of electronic sources. Turnitin’s suite of tools, which incorporates PeerMark and GradeMark which facilitate peer-to-peer collaboration, e-submission and e-marking enhance the student experience beyond plagiarism detection. Nicola is sales account manager at turnitin and has been with the company for almost 2 years now. Her role primarily is to support the Further Education sector in their use of Turnitin, assisting and promoting the adoption and rollout of Turnitin, providing Colleges with guidance and knowledge of the product and other college’s experiences. Nicola has also hosted two Turnitin FE user events, which allowed users and non-users of Turnitin to discuss the issues surrounding plagiarism in the FE Sector
Joe Wilson, SQA
Martin Mackain-Bremner, AAT. Martin Mackain-Bremner Martin joined AAT as Head of Assessments in June 2010 from a background in the Army, in which he served for 25 years, and then consultancy and management roles in training and e-learning, in the UK and abroad. As Head of Assessments Martin is responsible for the development, delivery and maintenance of all assessments used to deliver the AAT’s qualifications. Martin has led his Team and the organisation through a very significant period of change, involving the move of all assessments from paper-based to online formats, and is now formulating a research and development strategy that will drive AAT’s continuing commitment to leading-edge assessment techniques and the exploitation of new and emerging technologies.
Janet Ravensdale, NOCN and Mark Robinson and Phil Rowland, Exams on Demand ‘Developing computerised functional skills tests – the hurdles and opportunities’ Janet is the Compliance Manager at NOCN and has previously worked within the Skills for Life arena for over 10 years, managing provision within the Adult and Community and FE sectors for over 10 years. Her last role before moving to NOCN was as Head of Skills for Life in a medium sized FE College. Since working at NOCN she has developed a wide range of qualifications, including Functional Skills and is currently working on the onscreen assessments for Functional Skills and the replacement qualifications for Adult Literacy and Numeracy.
Mark Robinson-Sivyer. Mark has worked in sales and marketing for many years in both the UK and abroad. Having run a number of his own businesses in hospitality, he was the Principal involved in the start-up of the C&B chain in Australia. Moving back to the UK he owned and operated a number of successful businesses in Commercial Surveying and Security Consultancy before founding Exam on Demand. He has been MD for over 10 years and has worked with NOCN for over 8 years.
Rod Knox, Virtual College ‘e-Assessment 4 e-apprenticeships’
Bruce Ogilvie, Simply Engaging Ltd ‘Where it’sgoing and where the technology will lead us’
Patrick Craven, Domain Lead - Assessment Functions, Cambridge Assessment. Initially qualified as a Designer, he has over 20 years experience in the field of educational technology. From the design of educational resources with the Microelectronics Support Unit (MESU), National Council for Educational Technology (NCET) and BECTa (British Education and Communications Technology Agency) to running of post-sales technology support departments for KRCS (Apple Computer reseller), his career has always addressed the fusion of education and new technologies. For the last 15 years this work has focussed on the specific field of assessment technology research and development for the RSA Examinations Board, OCR Examinations and now their parent organisation Cambridge Assessment. This role considers the growing impact of new technologies on the assessment industry and identifies projects to enable Cambridge Assessment to develop and extend the range and quality of assessment products and services they offer. In this time he has overseen early forays into automated assessment of skills/competence exams ( Word Processing and CLAiT), large scale roll out of computer based and assisted assessment (Key Skills) and research into the challenges and opportunities presented by adoption in the ‘high stakes’ National testing arena. Throughout this period he has remained committed to the notion of ‘fit for purpose’ assessment based on evidence-based research. Patrick is Chief Editor of the International Journal of e-Assessment, sits on the Board of the e-Assessment Association and the UK eAssessment Advisory Group and is a member of the planning committee for the Computer-Assisted Assessment Conference and European ATP Conference
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