The director-general of the International Baccalaureate (IB) has said the organisation is looking at how it could bring digital assessment to its Diploma Programme, telling Tes “we have now come to the moment for the IB to move into that area”.

Speaking to Tes as part of a wide-ranging interview to be published later this week, Olli-Pekka Heinonen - who took charge of the IB in May 2021 - said he believes there are benefits to digital assessment that could be incorporated into future changes to the Diploma Programme.

“Digital assessment can open doors to a model that supports learning better than the traditional model…We are trying to create the conditions for us to move to that,” he said.

“I think we have now come to the moment for the IB to move into that area and that is something that we are looking at.”

The IB does already provide digital assessment in its Middle Years Programme (MYP) with optional two-hour exams provided through mixed-mark, on-screen examinations in subjects such as language and literature, geography, history, maths and sciences - something it has done since 2016 

However, Heinonen said he thinks it is “wise of the IB not to rush into this area” for the Diploma Programme to ensure that any decisions it makes are well-thought-out and have real benefits for schools.

International Baccalaureate: Will the IB move to online assessment?

“This is an area where it’s very, very important to make ethical, sustainable solutions because with digital assessment you can go badly wrong,” he said.

“Because the digital world makes it so easy to measure certain things that might not be at all worth assessing, which would not be supporting learning, which is the aim of assessment. For that reason, we really have to be very conscious of the solutions we are [proposing],” he said.

Heinonen declined to provide any specifics on what this would look like but said that he anticipated more information being revealed in the months ahead.

“We are in the middle of the strategy process for the organisation - this is definitely one of the areas we are looking at...During this year you will hear more about this,” he added.

Tes asked the IB for more information on the plans but only received a statement confirming that it is an area the organisation is “investigating”.

“The IB is building the capability to define a strategy/plan in this space. We are investigating the options for potential improvements that digital assessments can bring in validity and flexibility of assessments,” the IB said.

Responding to the comments, IB leaders at schools around the world were broadly positive about the potential for digital assessments on the Diploma Programme - although they had plenty of questions about how such a move would work.

For example, Ian Thurston, principal of the Dubai International Academy - Emirates Hills, an IB continuum school in the United Arab Emirates, said he thought such a move was a “good thing” as it would bring more consistency to how many students engage with the IB’s assessments.

“It is students’ general mode of work mainly these days anyway and would remove the need for us to train students to type up to Year 11, then write again from Year 12,” he says.

He noted, too, that during the pandemic electronic exams proved more resilient than traditional exams, with MYP exams going ahead as normal in the UAE, whereas DP exams were stopped.

Meanwhile, Tomas Duckling, head of learning at Aiglon College in Switzerland, also said Heinonen’s comments were positive because the pandemic had shown that “digital assessment is the future” and we need new models of assessments that are “truly representative of student learning”.

However, he urged the IB to “approach digital assessment with caution and through extensive consultation with teachers” in order to ensure that any changes are suitable for all.

“The pandemic has taught us that teachers can be trusted to make informed judgements about student learning, so in the future they must be heavily involved in the introduction of any form of digital assessment if we want it to be effective and impactful,” he said.

David James, deputy head of an independent school in London and an experienced IB teacher who has worked on implementing the IB’s MYP online assessments, made a similar point - noting that any change would have to be proven to be more worthwhile than what already exists.

“What can be assessed digitally that is unique to online assessment and cannot be measured using conventional methods?” he asked.

He noted, too, that a move to digital assessments could open up issues of access that would need carefully consideration. 

“The IB has, rightly, prided itself on its commitment to a fairer world through education. But if the IB moves its Diploma examinations online then they have to ensure that all schools, and all students, irrespective of their local contexts, are not disadvantaged by this switch,” he said.

Liz Free, director and CEO of International School Rheintal in Switzerland, said the idea of online assessment was an “interesting step” but, like her colleagues, she had many questions.

“What exactly would this really look like? In jurisdictions where connectivity is an issue, how would this work?  Who is responsible for the technology and the access?  If it goes wrong, where does the liability sit? Could students take it at another time?” she asked.

“It feels like the likely direction of travel but there is loads to map out before this is a reality.”

No doubt this is feedback that the IB will heed, with Heinonen outlining in the interview with Tes the importance he places on engaging with the IB community to ensure that any changes it makes are made collaboratively.

This discussion on digital assessment was just one of several interesting areas Heinonen discussed with Tes, with other key issues covered including broader plans to evolve the Diploma Programme, increasing access to the IB worldwide and his motivations for becoming just the IB’s eighth director-general in its history.

A full write-up of the interview will be published on Tuesday, 25 January, followed by a podcast of the interview on Thursday on the Tes International Podcast.