OIDI's ELLT and ELLT Global platforms have been nominated for multiple awards and truly facilitate ‘Learning without Limits’, making higher education opportunities more accessible for all.
The challenge
Oxford International Digital Institute (OIDI) provides online education and English language testing via its English Language Level Test (ELLT). This is a critical component in the admissions process for universities and education institutions; exams must be rigorous, scalable and secure, while remaining accessible to students all over the world.
OIDI was using a white label platform that did not support end-to-end testing and couldn’t be used in an examination centre. Its automation capabilities were also limited, meaning things like scheduling testing times (often between students and examiners on different sides of the world) had to be done manually.
Oxford International’s reputation as a world-class education provider is dependent on its ability to deliver rigorous and fair testing. As such, the seamless user experience provided by a new platform could not come at the expense of security and plagiarism checking.
The solution
We built a bespoke solution from scratch, incorporating automation and AI to improve the testing process for both student and examiner. Features include:
- Taking real time audio and video footage of students’ activity, and making this accessible to examiners on-demand.
- Automated scoring for listening and writing tests.
- Facial recognition and eye movement technology to identify students and analyse movements to enhance security.
- A scheduling system that factors in different time zones and availability, and automatically matches students and examiners for speaking tests.
- Automated communications tool to send students and examiners notifications for tests.
- Proctoring features to ensure a safe testing environment. This involves recording the activity on a user’s screen for the entire duration of the test, a vast improvement on the legacy platform which was only able to take screenshots every 10 seconds.
- Plagiarism checking, including blocking tools like Grammarly and right click-enabled spellcheck.
The outcome
The OIDI can now deliver end-to-end testing, meaning an entire ELLT can be taken within a 3.5-hour window. Manual tasks have been replaced by automation, freeing up time for OIDI staff and improving communication between staff and students.
Our partnership with OIDI did not end when the new platform was launched. We’re currently working on a new feature that will detect plagiarism related to ChatGP, using ‘good’ AI to fight ‘bad’!
Thanks to the new platform, OIDI is now able to combine advanced technology with the skills and experience of its tutors and examiners, creating a rigorous and fair testing experience and expanding access to higher education for students globally.