Nicole Klir

Nicole Klir

Nicole Klir

I joined Cambridge Assessment in 2015 and am based in the Data and Analytics team within the Research Division. A major part of our work is the development of data reporting systems to support operations, although we also carry out research, and are responsible for the Data Bytes that are published on our website.

I have a BSc in Chemistry from the University of Leeds and an MRes in Clean Chemical Technology from the University of York. Whilst working in industry, I developed a keen interest in statistics and undertook an MSc in Applied Statistics at Birkbeck College, University of London.

I’m currently working on the application of text mining techniques to assessment data and the analysis of data from social media.

Publications

2019

A diachronic perspective on formality in students' writing: empirical findings from the UK
Constantinou, F., Chambers, L., Zanini, N. and Klir, N. (2019). A diachronic perspective on formality in students' writing: empirical findings from the UK. Language, Culture and Curriculum (ahead of print).

2018

Gaining insight from social media data in educational assessment
Sutch, T., Klir, N. and Gueranger, A.-C. (2018). Gaining insight from social media data in educational assessment.  Presented at the 44th conference of the International Association for Educational Assessment, Oxford, UK, 9-14 September 2018.

2017

Alternative uses of examination data: the case of English Language writing
Chambers, L., Constantinou, F., Zanini, N. and Klir, N. (2017). Presented at the 18th annual AEA Europe conference, Prague, 9-11 November 2017.
Formality in students’ writing over time: empirical findings from the UK
Constantinou, F., Chambers, L., Zanini, N. and Klir, N. (2017). Presented at the annual European Conference of Educational Research, Copenhagen, Denmark, 22-25 August 2017
Social media discussion of British school exams
Sutch, T., Klir, N. and Keirstead, J. (2017). Presented at the 4th European Conference on Social Media, Vilnius, Lithuania, 3-4 July 2017
Tweeting about exams: Investigating the use of social media over the summer 2016 session

Sutch, T. and Klir, N. (2017). Tweeting about exams: Investigating the use of social media over the summer 2016 session. Research Matters: A Cambridge Assessment publication, 23, 2-9.

In recent years, social media discussion of particular GCSE and A level exams and questions has led to coverage in the national media. Using exam-related tweets collected from Twitter in real time, we investigated the extent of this phenomenon, the topics being discussed and the sentiments being expressed. We quantified sentiment by monitoring the occurrence of popularly used emoji within the tweets. We found that the overall volume of tweets followed weekly and daily patterns, with activity peaking in the periods just before and after exams. Discussion of particular subjects was concentrated on days when relevant exams took place. When we focused on the Mathematics GCSE papers sat on a particular day, we were able to identify several distinct phases based on the words and emoji used in tweets: discussion switched from revision to wishing others luck before the exam, then reflecting on performance and discussing individual questions afterwards.

Research Matters

Research Matters 28: Autumn 2019

Research Matters is our free biannual publication which allows us to share our assessment research, in a range of fields, with the wider assessment community.