Starting with the original worries that users, developers and publishers expressed when on-line testing was introduced, Florance identified key factors in the present situation:

• We're past the early adopter phase. In the next 2-3 years, on-line testing will become the norm
• There are two strands in on-line development: making large scale exercises more efficient and changing how and what we measure
• Personality and soft skills are more common on-line but...
• The use of ability item banks is growing
• Time and cost savings over printed tests may be between 30-50%. More importantly, there's evidence that they help to decrease unwanted staff turnover
• Some easy access, low quality tests are appearing but the web is a mixed economy. Many tests can only be delivered in a traditional proctored environment
• A huge growth in job sifting
• Test user training is emphasising feedback skills
• Young people are finding it harder to perform on paper and pencil tests: the digital divide in reverse
• There's a slow growth of innovatve assessments
• Development of networks of testing centres to deliver on-line tests in standardised settings
• The commercial interest is to create " international" tests
• Growth of media interest in tests who are beginning to use them as infotainment

At the end of the session, Florance raised two key points for the future of testing:

• We need more trained psychometricians
• The divide between educational assessment and occupational testing is damaging. A dialogue between the two areas will create more efficient, human-centred lifelong testing regimes. Over- assessment has social effects and threatens the credibility of our efforts.