Simulated Assessment Approach 

Simulated assessments provide students with a work-like environment for assessment. 
Providing a robust simulation framework centres on two key aspects:

• Providing a simulated business scenario which mimics the conditions of the workplace, and
• Designing assessment tasks to mimic workplace processes and tasks.

Our simulated assessments are provided in the context of the Find Your Freedom (FYF) business which models our own values of purpose drive and person centred work and allows us to provide the student with the opportunity to engage with a broad range of business types. ​

Simulated Assessment Products

Simulating the Workplace

When the workplace no longer (always) requires us to show up at a certain time or in a certain place, defining the conditions which need the be created to fully prepare students to work confidently and competently in employment can be difficult. 

Our simulation approach has been developed over several years and we're very lucky to have had access to a range of different perspectives over this time to help us consider every part of the process. Below are just a few of the key assumptions we've made about the workplace and how we simulate these conditions.

​At work my boss or my clients let me know what’s needed

​AT WORK MY BOSS OR MY CLIENTS LET ME KNOW WHAT’S NEEDED
​
In the real world of work, you absolutely must be able to work with others. So, we create 'bosses' (or mentors, to encourage self-management) who email or speak to the student to give them instructions. 

We create clients (characters) that the student works with. These clients might be a little in the background for business management units/subjects, where we provide the student with demographics, market segments or other information about the end user. 

In other areas like counselling or customer service the client is right at forefront of what the student will be doing. So for these units/subjects we provide role player scripts so friends/family/other students can say and do what a client would, while the student has to provide a professional service. 

AT WORK I SHARE WHAT I KNOW WITH OTHERS, BUT I NEVER SIT DOWN AND ANSWER 20 QUESTIONS

AT WORK I SHARE WHAT I KNOW WITH OTHERS, BUT I NEVER SIT DOWN AND ANSWER 20 QUESTIONS

We all share information in lots of different ways. We have a chat, we answer a question in an email, we write an article for the staff newsletter, add a blog to our Linked In profile, create client FAQ’s for the business website, develop policies and procedures, train other staff, develop factsheets and guides.

​So our theory assessments always ask the student to do one of these same things they would do at work. 

AT WORK I DON’T ALWAYS GET ALL OF THE INFORMATION UPFRONT 

AT WORK I DON’T GET ALL OF THE INFORMATION UPFRONT 
Our assessments deliver instructions to students in an email format with a little bit of information about what to do (exactly like the ones you get from your boss or clients). 

In addition, there will be some paperwork to refer to. Maybe a procedure to follow. A client record or brief to review. Some feedback data to analyse. Perhaps a handwritten complaint to be dealt with. Once the student has all of this they can get to work, where the templates they use will guide them through each step of the process. 

Our simulated business is very good at writing procedures, and they do have very detailed templates, because these are for students. All of the information isn’t handed to them on a silver platter, but it is always all there. 
​

AT WORK I HAVE PROCESSES I HAVE TO FOLLOW AND FORMS FOR WHAT I NEED TO DO

AT WORK I HAVE PROCESSES I HAVE TO FOLLOW AND FORMS FOR WHAT I NEED TO DO
​Getting information from the existing sources in a business is an important skill. Policies and procedures (the good kind) are an excellent source of information when you’re doing something for the first time. So, we provide policies, procedure (and all of the supporting forms, templates, decision maps, registers, etc.) that you would typically have to use at work. Our simulated business happens to be great at writing policy and procedure! 

The policies and procedures are tools we use as assessment designers to help guide the student through the process they are completing (while getting them to use the same tools they’d have available at work). The forms and templates that are available in the simulated business are used as ‘evidence collection mechanisms’ (where the student completes their work so we can collect it). All of the forms and templates include click-and-type instructions which means the student gets lots of instruction and support in the nitty gritty steps of the process, and our training organisations (and their assessors) get correct, consistently written and easy to mark submissions.

AT WORK I DEAL WITH REAL PEOPLE

AT WORK I DEAL WITH REAL PEOPLE
To do just about any job, you have to deal with real people. It’s complicated, and unpredictable, and people take things the wrong way. Getting it right is a skill, so why just ask the student to hypothesise about how they would do it? 

We incorporate lots of emailed instructions to mimic one of the most commonly used methods of communication in the workplace and whenever communication and interaction are integral to the unit/subject we use role plays to allow the student to really to the task of communication, with a real person.
​

AT WORK I FOLLOW A PROCESS

AT WORK I FOLLOW A PROCESS
​Our process based assessments take a task (the one the unit is about) and break it down into smaller chunks. Then we ask the student to actually do each chunk. 

​If step one at work is to write a meeting agenda, the student has to write a meeting agenda. If step two is to book the meeting, the student has to access and check the calendars of ‘staff’ in the simulated business then send an email to invite them to a meeting. If step three is to hold the meeting, the student has to meet with ‘staff’ from the simulated business (role played/acted by friends/family/other students, working from a script) and facilitate the meeting. Conflicts will ensue, chatterboxes will try to delay the meeting, staff will chat amongst themselves, and the student will manage it like a pro. If they can, because that’s what we’re actually trying to confirm in assessment! And so on it goes.

Student Cohort

Our simulated assessments are designed for students who:

• Do not have access to an employment environment in which they have the authority, ability and/or resources to complete the tasks outlined in the unit of competency. In other words, student who:
  
  •  are not employed, or 
    
  • are employed but not in a role that would allow them to complete the tasks required, or 
    
  • are employed but do not have support from their employer to complete tasks within the workplace
• May or may not have previous educational history (Simulated assessments are designed to mimic work conditions. Students with previous employment experience but no post-secondary education are not expected to experience difficulties completing work-like assessment tasks)

The target student cohort has been outlined for each individual assessment in the Assessor and Quality Guide (Assessment Plan) and on our products pages. 

The Assessment Suite

Our Assessment Suites include everything you need to create the simulated work environment and conduct, mark and validate assessment. 
​Every Assessment Suite includes the following documents:

Student Assessment Tasks

Assessor and Quality Guide

Student Assessment Tasks are written for the student and include everything they need to prepare for and complete their assessments, and showcase their work after assessment:

• Instructions for preparing for assessment
  
• Task instructions
• Role Play instructions
  
• Assessment requirements 
• Showcase your work guidance 

The Assessor and Quality Guide includes key information from the Student Assessment Tasks and Marking Guide. It also includes additional information for the assessor and RTO, including:

• An overal unit Assessment Plan  
• Individual Assessment Plans
• Assessor Instructions and Tips 
• Mapping Guide 
• Validation Checklissts

Marking Guide

Role Player Scripts

The Marking Guide in the key tool used by assessors to mark students work. The Marking Guide contains:

• The criteria that student work should be evaluated against
  
• A record of
  
  • Assessment outcomes
    
  • Applied reasonable adjustments
    
  • Feedback to the student
    
  • Assessor comments. 

Role player scripts are included to help students complete role players where they don't have access to experience industry experts. Role player scripts are optimised for mobile and easy to navigate.

Business Context

Documentation from the simulated environment accompanies the assessment tasks and include policies, procedures and templates to provide context and instruction and support evidence collection.

Work Context

Additional work records are provided to students to simulate the records they would routinely have access to in the workplace (such as invoices,  feedback,  minutes, briefs/work requested, and many more)

Thinking about developing in-house?
If you'd rather develop your own assessments in house, you can speed up the process by using our simulated environment. We have a range of simulated assessment resources available which have been designed to address unit requirements. 

Contact us for more information

Assessment Quality

Our approach to assessment is impacted by our experience in compliance and regulation and our passion for preparing students to be confident (not just competent) in today's and tomorrows workforce.

To ensure the quality of our assessments we apply a proprietary design and development process, combining subject matter experts with educational experts (quality in quality out!).

This process includes mapping assessments to ensure they align to national requirements.
Our mapping process is extensive and includes:

• The unit requirements outlined in the unit guide (including Performance Criteria, Performance Evidence, Knowledge Evidence, Assessment Conditions and Foundation Skills) 
• Advice from the implementation guide regarding the assessment context
• Any formal advice from industry we can access via previous versions of range statements 

Within each Assessment Suite, the Assessor and Quality Guide a comprehensive (if not overwhelmingly detailed) mapping guide and a validation checklist to help you make sure you agree we've met an exceptionally high standard.
​

Business Integration

We know that your assessment systems impact other areas of your business, and as advocates for an integrated approach to compliance, we've thought about how to make a few things a little easier for you.

• ​Training and Assessment Strategies 
  • For each unit of competency, the Assessor and Quality Guide includes a comprehensive Assessment Plan which has all the information you need in one place to update the 'Assessment' half of your Training and Assessment Strategy.
• Assessment Validation
  • Again, for each unit of competency, the Assessor and Quality Guide includes a validation checklist (customised to the unit, AQF level and assessment context) that you can use for your validation processes. ​

Our Feedback

I have been lucky enough to view Rebekkah Parson's work on simulated assessment environments for students. I must say that this work has been astounding. 
It is very important that any simulated environment, reflects a real workplace and provides students with a high quality competency on completion. Rebekkah's approach not only ensures that the intent of the unit is upheld, but also that students are not disadvantaged by using a simulated work environment. 
I hope that Rebekkah continues to develop this space and believe that it will stand out as a benchmark for both simulated and work based environments. Steven Deer IBSA (formerly BSB Industry Manager)

Rebekkah is one of the few professionals I have met in the VET industry, who has the rare ability to design comprehensive assessment solutions in a compliant yet creative way. Her attention to detail and ability to synthesize disparate aspects is truly remarkable. Vinay Nigam 

Rebekkah from Reimagine Learning has provided us with assessment design and compliance consultancy services over the last 12 months and I have been impressed with the quality of Rebekkah's work and her insight into compliance and the regulatory environment. Rebekkah is honest, solutions-orientated and she thinks about and proposes strategies that will work, long-term. 
I have recommended Rebekkah to others and will continue to do so. Sean Steele

Good practice in assessment
The first iteration of our simulated assessment approach was featured by Innovation and Business Skills Australia (formerly the Industry Skills Council for Business Services qualifications) in their "Case studies that demonstrate good practice in assessment" series