If you've read the article on p.42 you will already know about the exciting new online platform transforming the music exam experience for both teachers and students worldwide. But you're probably wondering how this new technology can benefit you and your students.?
With Online Music Exams (OME), developed by a team led by UK music teachers, your students now have the option to take their grades entirely online. Aural tests, sight-reading and improvisation components are all included. The exams are facilitated by virtual assistant SARA but assessed and moderated by instrument-specific human examiners who maintain the quality and integrity of the exam process.?
All the exams offered are accredited by UK awarding organisation The Learning Machine (TLM), which is regulated by Ofqual. All qualifications are officially recognised on the Regulated Qualifications Framework (RQF) and European Qualifications Framework (EQF), and UCAS points are awarded as normal in Grades 6, 7 and 8.
No booking required
If you're frustrated by the current booking system for music exams, you'll be pleased to know that you won't need to book if you're entering your students for exams offered by OME. Instead, your students will simply purchase their exam online, like they would with anything else they buy online. They can then take their exam from anywhere with an internet connection and at a time that suits them.
What are the other benefits for you and your students?
- Convenience and user-friendly system The OME platform calmly talks your students through their exam, step-by-step. The system is very easy to use, and exams can be taken anytime and from anywhere with an internet connection.? The only external equipment your students will need is their computer, a stable internet connection, their instrument, and their music. Students taking performance exams have the option to upload their performances as pre-recorded videos.
- Quick results and immediate retakes OME has a network of instrument-specific examiners working across the globe and in different time zones. This means that results are returned very quickly – as early as 24 hours after the exam in some cases. Your students can also retake at any time.
- Reduced performance anxiety Taking exams online and from the comfort of home can significantly lessen performance anxiety and improve exam results. Your students can choose to take their exam whenever they are ready and they won't have to travel to a test centre or wait in a waiting room, an unfamiliar place where anxiety may start to build. Students can even take their exam in your lesson.
- The eco-friendly option OME was set up with sustainability and environmental issues in mind – these critical issues have a major influence on the development of OME's systems. Online exams, by their very nature, are more eco-friendly as they reduce paper and plastic wastage from course materials and administrative paperwork. OME has gone one step further by bringing aural, sight-reading and improvisation tests online – a world-first for music education. This means that students no longer have to travel to a test centre to complete their music exams. If you imagine this on a global scale, that's a significant reduction in the music education sector's carbon emissions.
- All exams are available worldwide OME offers exams from providers all over the world, but this is no barrier to access – it's the opposite. Wherever you are in the world, you can take exams with the providers below, and they are all UK-accredited and available in English.
The boards currently offering exams through the OME platform are: The International Performing and Visual Arts Examination Board (IPVAEB) (piano and violin); Peembeck (guitar, bass, vocals, drums, keyboard); Furtados School of Music (Guitar and keyboard); Orange Learn (rock guitar and vocals); The Music Works (ukulele); and Island of Music (classical guitar).
You can find out more and download free syllabuses from the exams section of the OME website: onlinemusicexams.org.
New exam providers are being added all the time – follow OME on Twitter (@OME_HQ), Facebook and LinkedIn for all the latest announcements.
If you're interested in offering exams through the OME platform or you have any questions about any of the exams on offer, email info@onlinemusicexams.org.
