Today was a good day beginning to see things really coming together. Moodle is up and running and powering what will be the consultation and shaping engine around SQA input to curriculum for excellence and Core Skills for the future. The rest of the site SQA Academy is being used to develop staff skills in assessment.

Assessment can be used as a dirty word until people actually realise how flexible and learner centred it can be. Interesting that school sector both seem to detest and cling on to exams and traditional forms of assessment while vocational sector are happy with portfolios and now e-portfolios. I wonder when the penny will drop and someone will realise that the SQA actually offers a very wide range of assessment strategies and can bring a depth of experience to all of this. It would be good to have more learner voices in all of this.

Please join the debate on Curriculum for Excellence and Core Skills for the Future

enrolment keys are "Excellence" and "Framework" respectively"

I had a meeting with Jane Richardson of Oracle who reported how well the Oracle Academy is rolling out in Scottish Schools and Colleges and how useful the link is between Higher Information Systems and the Oracle Programme - candidates getting dual certification and teachers being flown this year to Brussels for training. Last two cohorts went all the way to California for a week. Hey, the early adopters are the ones with the sun tans.

Marks high water mark on DIVA project we have successes to report like this with all the major vendors. School and College pupils have access to SQA Certification and Vendor Certification if they and the centres want this.

Also spotted a reassuring a reassuring school blog which I hope proves the new national certificate and National Progression awards are hitting the mark for school/college progression .

It feels like three years have passed in a blink of an eye on one level and then I look at my diary and see three years of very solid work quite scary really. The qualifications teams and all the staff from schools and colleges have done a power of work.

Is it a mirage - first time I have had chance to blog in three years too.