Category Archives: Education

On 16th Jan 2025, our founder Steve Dept had a chat with Tim Burnett, founder of the Test Community Network, who is also a speaker, podcaster, teacher (non-exhaustive recognition list) with a mission to build thriving communities within the educational technology sector. Tim is an experienced and active member of the global educational technology community …

“The Art and Science of Assessment Translation | Interview | Steve Dept | Tim Burnett”

Artificial Intelligence (AI) has been used in translation workflows for quite a while as a way of enhancing productivity by reducing translation effort. In combination with the previous productivity enhancing solution: translation memories (TM), the results are very powerful as they can reduce delivery time and costs significantly. In the 1990s, the introduction of translation memories …

“Quality Estimation (AIQE), A New Paradigm”

There is no shortage of C-Suite executives and founders who prompt generative AI to provide an optimistic outlook of the coming year. This exercise is typically associated with humble bragging (a frequent oxymoron) about achievements. So, is it anachronic to use a plain rearview mirror for hindsight, an old-fashioned sonar to sound depth, and a …

“Putting into perspective the rearview mirrow, the sonar and the periscope | Steve Dept, Founding Partner”

At the International Test Commission’s (ITC) biennial conference, in Granada, ITC President-Elect Kadriye Ercikan (She/her/hers) will pick up the baton from President Stephen G. Sireci. cApStAn’s Founder Steve Dept (he/him/his) was just co-opted to serve a four-year term on the ITC Council. Steve looks forward to working with his peers, researchers and practitioners alike, to disseminate …

“Steve Dept, Founding Partner of cApStAn LQC, co-opted to serve a 4-year term on the ITC Council”

The field trial of the current cycle of the comparative survey of core skills at 5th grade level of Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics 2024 (SEA-PLM), was completed in 2023. Our elite project manager Grace DeLee coordinated the translation and linguistic quality control activities for the seven participating countries: Lao PDR, Viet Nam, Philippines, Myanmar, …

“14th Southeast Asia Primary Learning Metrics (SEA-PLM) Regional Steering Committee Meeting”

No comparative surveys without comparable data Twenty-four years ago, cApStAn started developing, testing, fine-tuning and implementing methods to ensure comparability between different language versions of tests and questionnaires. That was our core activity and it still is. Tests and questionnaires are measurement instruments. They measure knowledge, skills, attitudes, trends, or opinions. They link data points …

““cApStAn at a scale”, Jan Denys, CEO, and Steve Dept, Founding Partner”

December 5 2023 marked the official launch of the PISA 2022 results. PISA is world’s most significant international large-scale education assessment. These results inform education policies and stakeholders across the globe. They allow benchmarking of education systems and enable participants to look at effective teaching practices. They also help identify investments in education that yield …

“The PISA 2022 results are out! cApStAn is proud to have been a part of this important scientific endeavour”

One of cApStAn’s teams is just back from Colorado Springs, USA, where they attended the 2023 Institute for Credentialing Excellence (I.C.E.) Exchange. Devasmita Ghosh (Business Development and Marketing Lead), Nela Manojlovic (Project Manager) and Founding Partner Steve Dept spent a full week there. One needs to begin with the venue. The Broadmoor is a mythical …

““Navigating the Frontiers of DEI and AI: Insights from cApStAn’s 2023 I.C.E. Exchange Experience””

The 2023 edition of the e-Assessment Association Conference, which took place in London, June 6-7, offered valuable insights, connections, and fresh perspectives to industry professionals, encouraging collaboration and knowledge exchange. It covered a broad range of topics, including language bias in AI and inclusive assessment practices, exam security enhancements, innovative test design, guidelines for validity …

“Reflections from the e-Assessment Association (eAA) Conference: Insights, Connections, and New Perspectives”

cApStAn is the international contractor in charge of linguistic quality assurance in PISA 2025. This includes training participating countries/economies to follow a standardised translation and adaptation approach and using mature translation technology: cApStAn’s presence was prominent in Lisbon for the first PISA 2025 National Project Managers’ meeting from March 12 to 17, 2023. PISA 2025 …

“OECD PISA 2025 National Project Managers’ meeting in Lisbon, 12-17 March 2023“

ChatGPT is the new AI tool trained by OpenAI that everybody is talking about. ChatGPT works like a written dialogue between the AI system and the person asking it questions and has mind boggling encyclopaedic knowledge. It has allegedly passed the very complex the US medical licensing exam (USMLE), say researchers in the USA who have put …

“Disruptive potential of ChatGPT: should we ban it, reinstate oral exams, return to pen and paper, or embrace it?”

Antonella Sorace, Professor of Developmental Linguistics at the University of Edinburgh, says that while understanding and speaking a language come naturally, learning to read and write is not something that brains develop automatically. Prof. Sorace raises a question that matters a lot in the context of comparative education surveys and assessments: “Are some languages more difficult than others”? (i) …

“Are some languages more difficult to read and write than others? This matters a lot in comparative education assessments“