An evaluation of an online rater training program for the speaking and writing sub-tests of the Aptis test

Many large scale proficiency assessments that use human raters as part of their scoring procedures struggle with the realities of being able to offer regular face-to-face rater training workshops for new raters in different locations in the world. A number of these testing agencies have therefore introduced online rater training systems in order to access raters in a larger number of locations as well as from different contexts. Potential raters have more flexibility to complete the training in their own time and at their own pace. This paper describes the collaborative evaluation of a new online rater training module developed for a large scale international language assessment. The longitudinal evaluation focussed on two key points in the development process of the new program. The first, involving scrutiny of the online program, took place when the site was close to completion and the second, an empirical evaluation, followed the training of the first trial cohort of raters. The main purpose of this paper is to detail some of the complexities of completing such an evaluation within the operational demands of rolling out a new system and to comment on the advantages of the collaborative nature of such a project.