AU2009100601B4 - Method and System for Automated Collection of Evidence of Skills and Knowledge - Google Patents

Description

Regulation 3.2(2) AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION INNOVATION PATENT Application Number: Lodged: Invention Title: Method and system for automated collection of evidence of skills and knowledge The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: 1 METHOD AND SYSTEM FOR AUTOMATED COLLECTION OF EVIDENCE OF SKILLS AND KNOWLEDGE FIELD OF THE INVENTION The present invention relates to assessing the competency or 5 qualifications of individuals with respect to recognised standards. The invention is particularly applicable to improving the manner in which Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) is conducted within the Australian Vocational Education and Training (VET) sector. BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION 10 It is a common requirement within the education and training sector to evaluate the existing skills, knowledge and/or experience of an individual, for example. in order to assess their suitability for enrolment within a particular training course, or to determine whether they have satisfied the requirements to obtain a particular qualification and/or an exemption from a particular course of 15 study. For convenience, the term "competency" is used throughout this specification in order to encompass the broad range of skills, knowledge and/or experience that may be assessed or evaluated for these and other purposes. By way of a specific example, reference is made to the system for Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL) within the Australian Vocational Education 20 and Training (VET) sector. While the present invention is particularly well-suited to achieving improvements within this RPL system, it is not necessarily limited to this application. Currently in Australia, a prospective student can complete a training course at a Registered Training Organisation (RTO) or a College of Technical 25 and Further Education (TAFE), in order to gain a nationally accredited Unit of Competency certificate, diploma or advanced diploma qualification. It is also possible, although less common, for an individual to request that an RTO or TAFE assess their current competency relative to the requirements of such a training course, so as to determine whether or not they are entitled to obtain the 30 qualification without participating in the course. This process is called Recognition of Prior Learning (RPL). In order to complete the RPL assessment, a training organisation (eg RTO or TAFE) assesses evidence of the individual's competency to determine whether 2 they are able to meet the requirements, skills, knowledge and/or other expectations of a person who has completed the equivalent training course, or who has gained relevant practical experience in the workforce. If so, the individual may be awarded the equivalent qualification, or Statement of 5 Attainment, by the training organisation. There are, however, a number of barriers to access by individuals to the RPL processes within the existing VET system. For example, there is no single point of access to RPL in Australia. This is because a training organisation, such as an RTO or TAFE, is only legally entitled to issue a qualification or Statement of 10 Attainment if the organisation has been approved to deliver and assess the corresponding training course or unit, and this appears on its scope of registration. Since there are currently in excess of 3,500 qualifications, and 34,000 units, in the Australian VET sector, it is necessarily the case that any individual training organisation is only able to offer and assess a very small 15 subset of these. It is accordingly very difficult for an individual to identify a particular qualification to which they may be entitled under an RPL program, along with an institution or organisation that is able to perform the required RPL assessment. Furthermore, the primary business function of RTOs and TAFEs is the 20 provision of education and training, and not the evaluation of the existing competencies of prospective students. As such, RPL is viewed by such institutions largely as an occasional and inconvenient occurrence. The efficiencies and innovations in vocational education have been built around the development and provision of effective training programs, with very little focus 25 upon "assessment only" pathways. The onus is therefore upon a prospective student to seek out a relevant provider, and to negotiate their own way to recognition via the RPL processes. It is accordingly an objective of the present invention to provide an improvement to the existing situation through technological means. In particular, the invention 30 recognises the need for an automated tool that can facilitate the centralised collection of assessment information from individuals, and provide improved access to RPL processes independently of the particular organisation (eg RTO or 3 TAFE) that is chosen to issue a corresponding qualification or Statement of Attainment. SUMMARY OF INVENTION In a first aspect, the present invention provides a method of gathering 5 evidence relevant to an assessment of an individual's competency relative to a recognised qualification standard, including the steps of: a computer retrieving via the Internet from a remotely-located server a plurality of assessable criteria associated with the recognised qualification standard, said criteria including one or more elements of competency, each of 10 which is associated with one or more performance criteria; the computer processing the plurality of assessable criteria to generate automatically a corresponding plurality of questions relating to the competency of an individual to satisfy each of the elements of competency and performance criteria associated with the recognised qualification standard; 15 an assessment server presenting the automatically-generated questions via the Internet to a computer of an individual requiring assessment; and receiving from the individual via said individual's computer a series of responses to the automatically-generated questions, the responses including evidence of the individual's skills, knowledge and/or experience in relation to each 20 of the elements of competency and performance criteria, wherein at least one said response includes the individual specifying one or more files stored on the individual's computer, which are transferred to the assessment server. Embodiments of the invention are advantageously able to automate the 25 process of converting assessable criteria, possibly relating to many thousands or tens of thousands of training courses and units, into a more convenient "question and answer" format, that is able to guide an individual through the information gathering process. The responses of an individual to the automatically-generated questions may be collated and, for example, stored in a database, from where 30 they may be provided (with or without further processing) to a relevant training organisation for the purposes of assessing the individual's competency relative to the recognised qualification standard.

4 From the perspective of an individual user, embodiments of the invention are able to provide a single entry point from which they are able to identify and/or select specific relevant qualifications and units, provide information and evidence relevant to existing competencies, and initiate a recognition process, in a manner 5 that is independent of the institution that is ultimately selected to perform the assessment and/or to issue a qualification. Within the context of the Australian VET sector, the recognised qualification standard may include one or more Units of Competency registered with the Australian National Training Information Service (NTIS), or its equivalent 10 at some future time, and associated with formal qualifications, such as a Certificate, Diploma or Advanced Diploma. In this context, the "assessable criteria" may include elements of competency and/or performance criteria that are associated with the Units of Competency. In a particularly preferred embodiment, the steps of presenting the 15 automatically-generated questions to the individual, and receiving a corresponding series of responses, are performed via an automated computer interface, such as a web-based interface, or a standalone computer interface. A web-based approach is considered particularly advantageous, since it provides for easy centralised access to assessment, independently of the geographical 20 location of either the individual requesting assessment, or the training organisation or institution ultimately selected to perform the assessment. Preferably, the computer interface enables the individual user to provide a text-based response and/or to upload supporting documentation in reply to each automatically-generated question. 25 In another aspect, the invention provides a system for gathering evidence relevant to an assessment of an individual's competency relative to a recognised qualification standard, the system including: at least one server computer having a microprocessor, an associated memory or storage device, and a network interface providing access to the 30 Internet; the memory or storage device including a data store which contains a plurality of questions relating to the competency of the individual to satisfy each of a plurality of assessable criteria associated with the recognised qualification 4a standard said criteria including one or more elements of competency, each of which is associated with one or more performance criteria, wherein the assessable criteria are retrieved via the Internet from a remotely-located server, and the questions have been automatically-generated by computerised 5 processing of said elements of competency and performance criteria; and the memory or storage device further including instructions executable by the microprocessor such that the server computer is operable to: present the questions via the Internet to a computer of an individual user; 10 receive from the individual user via said indivdual's computer a series of responses to the questions, the responses including evidence of the individual's skills, knowledge and experience in relation to each of the elements of competency and performance criteria, wherein at least one said response includes the individual specifying one or more files stored on 15 the individual's computer for transfer to the server computer; and store the responses of the individual user within the associated memory or storage device.

5 Further preferred features and advantages of the invention will be apparent to those skilled in the art from the following description of preferred embodiments of the invention, which should not be considered to be limiting of the scope of the invention as defined in the preceding statements, or in the claims appended 5 hereto. BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS Preferred embodiments of the invention are described with reference to the accompanying drawings, wherein: Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary system embodying the present invention; 10 Figure 2a is a flowchart illustrating a preferred method of generating questions from assessable criteria according to the invention; Figure 2b is a flowchart illustrating gathering information from an individual according to a preferred embodiment of the invention; Figure 3 is a flowchart illustrating an alternative method for generating 15 questions and gathering information according to an embodiment of the invention; Figure 4 illustrates an example of assessable criteria; Figure 5 shows schematically an exemplary user interface for gathering information from a user; and Figure 6 is a flowchart illustrating a method of performing an assessment 20 of competency utilising an embodiment of the invention. DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS Figure 1 illustrates an exemplary system 100 within which the present invention may be embodied. The system 100 includes a server computer ("assessment server") 102 which is configured as described in greater detail 25 below, in accordance with an embodiment of the present invention, to gather information relevant to an assessment of an individual's competency relative to a recognised qualification standard. In particular, in the preferred embodiment the assessment server is configured to gather information for use in an RPL process within the Australian VET sector. The exemplary assessment server 102 is 30 connected to the Internet 104, in a conventional manner, in order to enable remote access by users, as well as to provide the server 102 with access to related online resources.

6 The server 102 includes at least one processor 106, which is associated with random access memory 108, used for containing program instructions and transient data related to the operation of the services provided by the assessment server 102. In particular, the memory 108 contains a body of program 5 instructions 112 implementing a method of gathering information relevant to the assessment of a user's competency relative to a recognised qualification standard. Additionally, the body of program instructions 112 includes instructions for providing a web-based interface to the assessment service, enabling users to remotely access the service from any client computer executing conventional web 10 browser software. The processor 106 is also operatively associated with a further storage device 110 such as a hard disk drive, which is used for long-term storage of program components, as well as for storage of data relating to recognised qualification standards, as well as information gathered from users, as described 15 in greater detail below. Also shown in the exemplary system 100 is a remote server computer 114, which is accessible via the Internet 104, and which contains information relating to recognised qualification standards. In particular, in the preferred embodiment the server 114 is a web server operated by or on behalf of the Australian National 20 Training Information Services (NTIS), which provides information pertaining to recognised qualification standards in the form of Units of Competency that are registered with the NTIS. As will be described in greater detail below, with reference to Figure 4, each Unit of Competency is associated with a number of assessable criteria, in the form of elements of competency and related 25 performance criteria. The assessment server 102 is therefore able to retrieve information regarding the elements of competency and performance criteria via the Internet 104 from the NTIS server 114. As noted above, users are able to access the assessment server 102 via the Internet 104 from any suitable user computer, eg 116, executing conventional 30 web browser software. Nationally accredited Units of Competency registered with the NTIS generally comprise a number of elements of competency, with each of which are associated a number of performance criteria. For example, an element of 7 competency for a particular unit relating to aged care may be to "demonstrate an understanding of the structure and profile of the aged care sector". A specific performance criterion associated with this element may be that "all work reflects an understanding of the key issues facing older people and their carers". As will 5 be appreciated, and as is appropriate for criteria associated with accredited training programs, the elements of competency and performance criteria are generally outcome-oriented. As such, they are not particularly "user friendly", from the perspective of a particular individual attempting to navigate their own way towards formal recognition of their existing competencies. 10 In accordance with embodiments of the present invention, therefore, it is desirable to convert the elements of competency and associated performance criteria into a more user-friendly form, which leads an individual user through a series of questions designed to gather information relevant to the assessment of their competency relative to a recognised qualification standard, ie the Unit of 15 Competency. Such a step-by-step, form-based implementation, when provided via a computer interface, is commonly known as a "wizard". It is further considered desirable, in accordance with embodiments of the present invention, to automate the process of wizard generation to the greatest extent possible, in view of the fact that there are over 3,500 qualifications and 34,000 units currently 20 registered in the Australian VET sector. The manual generation of corresponding wizards is therefore impractical. A function of the assessment server 102 is therefore to convert the elements of competency and performance criteria into a suitable "question and answer" form. Further details of the format and operation of the resulting wizard 25 are described below with reference to Figure 5. For present purposes, it will be sufficient to provide examples of the manner in which the outcome-oriented elements of competency and performance criteria may be converted into corresponding questions for inclusion in the wizard. Thus, in a preferred embodiment the statement corresponding with the element of competency noted 30 above may be converted into the question: "Generally speaking and based upon your prior experience and education, how do you feel you can demonstrate an understanding of the structure and profile of the aged care sector?" Similarly, the statement associated with the above-noted performance criterion may be 8 converted into the question: "How can you show evidence that all work reflects an understanding of the key issues facing older people and their carers?" User responses to these questions may include a text-based response and/or supporting documentation which may be, for example, uploaded to the 5 assessment server 102. Supporting documentation may consist of electronic text documents (including scanned paper documents), images, audio-visual and/or other multimedia documents. Turning now to Figure 2a, there is shown a flowchart 200 illustrating a preferred method of generating questions from assessable criteria (ie elements of 10 competency and performance criteria) according to the preferred embodiment. At step 202, the assessment server 102 retrieves assessable criteria from the NTIS server 114. At step 204, each of the assessable criteria is processed in order to generate a corresponding set of user-friendly questions that may be incorporated into a wizard format. At step 206, the resulting questions are stored, for example 15 on the storage device 110. In the particular embodiment represented by the flowchart 200, it is accordingly envisaged that the complete set of assessable criteria associated with a particular qualification standard (ie Unit of Competency) are retrieved and processed in order to generate the corresponding questions in advance of an individual user seeking corresponding assessment. It will be 20 appreciated, however, that alternative implementations are possible, and one such alternative will be described below with reference to Figure 3, in which questions are generated from the assessable criteria upon demand. Other variations, such as combinations of pre-processing and "on the fly' processing also fall within the scope of the present invention. 25 In Figure 2b, there is shown a flowchart 208 illustrating the subsequent gathering of information from an individual, using the questions stored at step 206. Specifically, at step 210 a user accesses the assessment server 102 via the Internet 104 from a user computer 116. Having identified a particular Unit of Competency in relation to which assessment is desired, at step 212 the user is 30 presented with a first question, to which a response is provided at step 214. In accordance with the decision step 216, while there are further questions associated with the Unit of Competency, steps 212 and 214 are repeated. At 9 step 218, the user may request further assessment, for example in relation to a different Unit of Competency, or may choose to terminate the process. Figure 3 is a flowchart 300 illustrating an alternative method for generating questions and gathering information from an individual, relevant to an 5 assessment of the individual's competency relative to a recognised qualification standard. The method represented by the flowchart 300 differs from that illustrated in the flowcharts 200, 208 in that questions are generated and presented to the user on demand, rather than being generated and stored in advance, for later presentation. As previously noted, these two methods are 10 exemplary only, and various alternatives, including combinations of the two approaches, also fall within the scope of the present invention. At step 302, a user desiring an assessment of competency accesses the assessment server 102 via the Intemet 104 from a user computer 116. The user having identified a relevant Unit of Competency, the server 102 proceeds to 15 generate and present questions to the user based upon the assessable criteria, consisting of the elements of competency and performance criteria associated with the Unit of Competency. In particular, at step 304 one or more assessable criteria are retrieved. At step 306, a question is generated based upon the first retrieved criterion. At step 308 the question is presented to the user, and a 20 response is received at step 310. If it is determined at step 312 that there are further criteria, then the steps 306, 308, 310 are repeated until no criteria remain. At the decision step 314, if the user wishes to provide information relevant to a further assessment in relation to one or more additional Units of Competency, then the method returns to step 304, otherwise the process terminates. User 25 responses, including text-based responses to questions, and/or uploaded supporting documentation, may be stored by the assessment server 102 within the storage device 110. Turning now to Figure 4, there is shown an example 400 of an excerpt from the assessable criteria, ie elements of competency and performance criteria, 30 associated with a particular Unit of Competency. In particular, the Unit of Competency includes a number of elements of competency, listed in the first column 402. With each element of competency there is associated a corresponding group of performance criteria, listed in the second column 406.

10 For example, a first element of competency 404 is: "Demonstrate an understanding of the structure and profile of the aged care sector." The associated performance criteria 408 include: "All work reflects an understanding of the key issues facing older people and their carers"; "All work reflects an 5 understanding of the current philosophies of service delivery in the sector"; and so forth. Within the Australian context, the elements of competency and performance criteria are presently made available for download from the NTIS server 114, which is accessible via the URL http://www.ntis.gov.au. The NTIS server 114 provides a search facility for identifying and accessing Units of 10 Competency. Accordingly, the assessment server 102 is able to identify and download the assessable criteria, eg 400, associated with any desired Unit of Competency. Figure 5 illustrates the first three question and response forms 500 of a wizard that may be automatically-generated, in accordance with an embodiment 15 of the present invention, from the assessable criteria 400 illustrated in Figure 4. In particular, the form 502 presents a first automatically-generated question based upon the first element of competency 504, which consists of the text "Generally speaking and based upon your prior experience and education, how do you feel you can demonstrate an understanding of the structure and profile of 20 the aged care sector?" A text box 506 is provided, into which the user may enter a text-based response to the question 504. In addition, the wizard form 502 recommends that the user provide evidence supporting the response, such as a letter from an employer; evidence of prior qualifications, or evidence of previous experience relating to work in the aged care sector. An upload facility 508 is 25 provided, which enables the user to specify files stored on the local computer 116 which are to be transferred to the assessment server 102, as part of the response to the question 504. A second form 510 presents a question 512 based upon the first of the performance criteria 408, namely "How can you show evidence that all work 30 reflects an understanding of the key issues facing older people and their carers?" Again, a text field 514 is provided, in which the user may enter a text-based response to this question. The wizard form 510 additionally recommends providing evidence, for example in the form of a written statement from a team 11 leader or manager, a list of key issues and relevant experience, and so forth. An upload facility 516 is again provided to enable the user to specify documents stored on the local computer 116 to be transferred to the assessment server 102. The further exemplary wizard form 518 corresponds with the second of the 5 performance criteria 408 associated with the first element of competency 404, and has a similar format to the wizard form 510. As will be appreciated from the example illustrated in Figures 4 and 5, the process of automatically generating a question based upon assessable criteria may include applying a question template into which the text of the relevant 10 assessable criteria may be merged. In a simple example, a suitable question may be generated from the first element of competency 404 shown in Figure 4, by pre-pending the text "Generally speaking and based on your prior experience and education, how do you feel you can", which converts the outcome-oriented statement into a corresponding query. Similarly, simple questions may be formed 15 from the performance criteria 408 by pre-pending the text "How can you show evidence that". It should be understood, however, that more sophisticated templates and text processing may be employed, within the scope of the invention. For example, questions may be formed based upon the identification of particular 20 keywords or concepts appearing within the individual assessable criteria, such as elements of competency and associated performance criteria. Additional contextual information may be employed in the formulation of questions. For example, in the case of the presently-preferred embodiment based upon information available from NTIS, relavent information and content may be 25 obtained from Evidence Guides, Range Statements and Employability Skills that are associated with Qualifications and Units of Competency. The processing may be entirely computer-implemented, or may involve a degree of human expert input. For example, questions that have been automatically-generated utilising a fully computer-implemented process may subsequently be reviewed and/or 30 amended by a human operator. Preferably, the number of questions requiring human intervention is minimised through the use of more sophisticated textual analysis, for example by using known grammar checking techniques to identify those questions produced by the automated methods that may have an unduly 12 complex structure, or be grammatically incorrect, so that these may be further reviewed or amended by a human operator. As will be appreciated, by reference to the examples shown in Figure 5, with appropriate selections of question templates a majority of assessable criteria may be converted into corresponding 5 questions without the need for operator intervention. When questions are generated and stored in advance, as illustrated in the flowchart of Figure 2a, it is clearly a straightforward matter to replace the stored questions that have been automatically-generated with amended questions based upon operator input, for later use in a process such as that illustrated in 10 Figure 2b. However, it is also possible to account for such "special cases" even if questions are generated on-demand, as illustrated by the flowchart 300 in Figure 3. Information relating to any assessable criteria requiring special treatment in order to generate a suitable question may be stored, for example within the storage device 110. 15 This information may be identified as part of the processing occurring at step 306, in order to generate a suitable question in each special case. Such special cases, and indeed appropriate templates for the generation of any question, may be identified for example on the basis of the specific text of the relevant assessable criterion. As such, the appropriate processing to generate 20 each question may be made independent of the particular Unit of Competency, element of competency number, and/or performance criteria number, so that appropriate processing occurs even if updates are made to the assessable criteria (ie Units of Competency) which result in a renumbering and/or reordering of assessable criteria. While the foregoing represents one possible approach to 25 the automated generation of questions, it will be appreciated that other approaches may be used, falling within the scope of the present invention. While the present invention is primarily concerned with the gathering of information relevant to the assessment of an individual's competency relative to a recognised qualification standard, it is an objective of embodiments of the 30 invention to facilitate improvements in the overall RPL process. One possible manner in which this objective may be achieved through application of the inventive principles is illustrated in the flowchart 600 in Figure 6. In the process exemplified by the flowchart 600, assessment information is gathered from an 13 individual at step 602, utilising an embodiment of the invention. The assessment server 102 may retain stored information regarding particular training organisations (eg RTOs and TAFEs) providing training in particular units within their scope of registration. This information may additionally or alternatively be 5 retrieved from another source, such as the NTIS server 114. Accordingly, the assessment server 102 is able to identify one or more training organisations that are competent to provide RPL in relation to the units in respect of which the individual user has provided assessment information. The assessment server 102 may therefore advise the user of the identified training organisations, and/or 10 facilitate the submission of the assessment information to a relevant training organisation for RPL purposes. At step 604 an RPL assessment is performed by a relevant training organisation. At step 606, the outcome of the assessment is reported. Reporting of the outcome may be an "off-line" process, for example via direct interaction 15 between the individual and the relevant training organisation, or it may again be facilitated via the assessment server 102. It is, for example, entirely conceivable that the assessment server 102 may provide a single central point of contact between individuals and training organisations, thereby providing a valuable service to all parties. In this context, individuals are provided with a service which 20 simplifies the identification of relevant Units of Competency, and the gathering of associated assessment information to enable RPL to be performed. Training organisations are similarly relieved of much of the administrative cost associated with performing RPL. In particular, by the time the training organisation is contacted the relevant Unit of Competency has already been identified, and 25 required information associated with each of the assessable criteria has already been gathered and packaged in a form enabling an efficient assessment in relation to the RPL process. Additionally, at step 608 the assessment server may be configured to recommend or advise the individual user of one or more relevant training 30 organisations able to provide appropriate RPL and training services. For example, if following an RPL -assessment a training organisation finds that the individual is not qualified to receive a qualification or Statement of Attainment, the individual may be offered the option to attain the relevant qualification by 14 attending a training course offered by the training organisation. Thus the services provided by the assessment server 102 may also contribute to the core business of training organisations. In summary, embodiments of the present invention facilitate improvements 5 in existing RPL processes, by enabling the automated generation of a wizard, or similar user interface to perform the administrative work necessary to gather evidence from a prospective candidate which is relevant to any qualification or unit offered across a wide range of training organisations. In various embodiments, the invention facilitates the assessment of the competencies of 10 individuals, the issuing of qualifications, and the proactive recommendation of suitable pathways, including relevant courses of further training, based upon the identified competencies of individual users. While a primarily "online" implementation has been described herein, it should be appreciated that alternative mechanisms for presenting the 15 automatically-generated questions, and for receiving responses, may be employed. For example, questions may be presented in a form suitable for "offline" completion, such as a printable electronic document (eg a PDF file), or in hardcopy from (eg a book or pamphlet). Responses may be provided by email, mail, or in-person submission. Other variations will also be apparent to persons 20 skilled in the art. It will therefore be understood from the foregoing description that the present invention is not limited to the specific embodiments described herein, which are provided by way of example only. Rather, the scope of the invention is as defined by the claims appended hereto. 25

Claims (5)

1. A method of gathering evidence relevant to an assessment of an individual's competency relative to a recognised qualification standard, including the steps of: a computer retrieving via the Intemet from a remotely-located server a plurality of assessable criteria associated with the recognised qualification standard, said criteria including one or more elements of competency, each of which is associated with one or more performance criteria; the computer processing the plurality of assessable criteria to generate automatically a corresponding plurality of questions relating to the competency of an individual to satisfy each of the elements of competency and performance criteria associated with the recognised qualification standard; an assessment server presenting the automatically-generated questions via the Internet to a computer of an individual requiring assessment; and receiving from the individual via said individual's computer a series of responses to the automatically-generated questions, the responses including evidence of the individual's skills, knowledge and/or experience in relation to each of the elements of competency and performance criteria, wherein at least one said response includes the individual specifying one or more files stored on the individual's computer, which are transferred to the assessment server.

2. The method of claim 1 wherein the recognised qualification standard includes one or more Units of Competency registered with an official training information service, such as the Australian National Training Information Service or equivalent, the assessable criteria include elements of competency and performance criteria associated with said Units of Competency, and the remotely-located server is operated by or on behalf of the official training information service. 16

3. The method of claim 1 or claim 2 wherein the steps of presenting the questions and receiving responses are performed via an automated computer interface, such as a web-based interface or a standalone computer interface.

4. The method of claim 3 wherein the computer interface provides an input field that enables the user to enter a text-based response in reply to each automatically-generated question.

5. A system for gathering evidence relevant to an assessment of an individual's competency relative to a recognised qualification standard, the system including: at least one server computer having a microprocessor, an associated memory or storage device, and a network interface providing access to the Internet; the memory or storage device including a data store which contains a plurality of questions relating to the competency of the individual to satisfy each of a plurality of assessable criteria associated with the recognised qualification standard said criteria including one or more elements of competency, each of which is associated with one or more performance criteria, wherein the assessable criteria are retrieved via the Intemet from a remotely-located server, and the questions have been automatically-generated by computerised processing of said elements of competency and performance criteria; and the memory or storage device further including instructions executable by the microprocessor such that the server computer is operable to: present the questions via the Internet to a computer of an individual user; receive from the individual user via said indivdual's computer a series of responses to the questions, the responses including evidence of the individual's skills, knowledge and experience in relation to each of the elements of competency and performance criteria, wherein at least one said response includes the individual specifying one or more files stored on the individual's computer for transfer to the server computer; and 17 store the responses of the individual user within the associated memory or storage device. RPL CENTRAL PTY LTD WATERMARK PATENT & TRADE MARK ATTORNEYS UIP1208AU00