Teacher use of digital technologies for school-based assessment: a scoping review

This paper presents a scoping review of, firstly, how teachers use digital technologies for school-based assessment, and secondly, how these assessment-purposed digital technologies are used in teacher- and student-centred pedagogies. It draws on research about the use of assessment-purposed digital technologies in school settings, published from 2009 to 2019 in peer-reviewed journals and conference proceedings. The findings indicate automated marking and computer- and web-based assessment technologies support established school-based assessment practices, and that game-based and virtual/augmented environments and ePortfolios diversify the modes of assessment and the evidence of learning collected. These technologies improve the efficiency of assessment practices in teacher-centred pedagogies and provide latitude to assess evidence of learning from more diverse modes of engagement in student-centred pedagogies. Current research commonly focuses on validating specific technologies and most commonly relates to automated assessment of closed outcomes within a narrow range of learning areas; these limits indicate opportunities for future research.