E-ATP Holds Successful Conference in Dublin

The European Regional Division of ATP (E-ATP) held its seventh annual Gaining Advantage Through Assessment Conference in Dublin, Ireland. More than 260 attendees participated in content sessions and enjoyed new features which included an Innovations Challenge, Roundtables with Ignite presenters and additional Security sessions.

E-ATP Chair Matthew Poyiadgi of Pearson VUE, welcomed delegates representing 26 different countries. He set the tone and the challenge in his opening address as he stated that by 2025 25% of the population will be next generation millennials. Added to that, he noted, Europe will be 100% mobile. "The University of Oxford says 36% of the current workforce have jobs that will become automated...the single education followed by a single career is over. What you learn expires very quickly," Poyiadgi noted. He challenged delegates that "learning and assessment must be relevant to the workplace. We must drive the next generation to lead the industries of tomorrow."

Keynoters Robert Hogan, Ph.D. of Hogan Assessment Systems, Michal Kosinski, Ph.D. of Stanford Graduate School of Business and Simon Nelson of FutureLearn created dialogue and challenging discourse. Dr. Hogan challenged conventional theories on personality assessment, discarding Trait Theory in favor of using assessments to create strategic self-awareness and that focus on reputation over identity.  Michal Kosinski seemed to back up much of what Hogan had outlined earlier pointing out that in today's technology rich environment where common applications such as Facebook are constantly recording our behavior. "The old way," he said, "was a personality test. The new way is leaving a footprint of our behavior."

Simon Nelson rounded out the keynote series by introducing the potential of online learning as the key to the future. He dispelled the idea that MOOCs (Massive online open courses) are facing a dim future - but rather are evolving with new business models that make sense, including through the use of credentials. He pointed to the outbreak of Ebola as a crisis in which MOOCs shined as a way to get education out into the field quickly - and in hard to reach areas of the world.  For less threatening educational needs, MOOCs can be sold on different levels: free of charge for those just seeking to learn; a fee-based credential for those seeking to prove that they took the time and effort to learn an individual course; and, finally, a fee-based diploma for those seeking to prove that they were assessed and held to a standard for an entire curriculum.  In sum, he predicted that the key to the future of learning will be "the unbundling of the degree" which will appeal to the new generation of millennials.

At the conclusion of the conference, incoming Chair Cicek Svensson of Comms Multilingual announced that next year's E-ATP event will be held on the 28th through 30th of September at the Penha Longa resort outside of Lisbon, Portugal.