British Dressage is planning to “revolutionise how judges develop and learn” through a new collaboration with a scoring software provider.
BD has teamed up with German-based dressage scoring software company Black Horse One (BHO), the business behind paperless dressage solution eDressage, and the Spectator Judging and Degree of Difficulty platforms.
A BD spokesman said the collaboration is the “first of its kind” and will focus on judge development. BHO and BD worked together throughout 2021 to deliver digital seminars to British judges and enable judge examinations to take place online when Covid prevented face to face interaction.
The two organisations have developed an “innovative digital platform” that enables all BD listed and trainee judges to virtually score a test using digital test sheets, while watching a test video. The comments and scores can instantly be gauged against a range of senior master judges, from their own device “anytime, anywhere”.
“Each judge will have their own personalised dashboard on the platform that acts as their ‘portfolio’ where their tests can be reviewed, which will be an integral part of the new judge education system and continuing professional development activity,” said the BD spokesman.
“Initially, judges will access the platform by attending an online judge seminar where they can set up their own account, and over the course of the spring this year it will be rolled out to all BD judges.”
BD training and education manager Charlotte Osborne, who “spearheaded” the project, said having launched the framework for the new judge education system in 2019, this is the “next exciting step in its evolution”.
“We have further developed these concepts during the pandemic to deliver online assessments, which will revolutionise how we train and measure judges. It will help us effectively engage with judges at all levels and put them in control of their own training and development. It means judges can gain practical experience but delivered in a virtual way,” she said.
“Covid has taught us all to embrace the use of technology and the BHO platform will put hundreds of online judge training opportunities at their fingertips. The platform is free to access, user friendly and provides online support. The team at BHO have enthusiastically engaged with our vision for the sport – and this is only just the beginning, with much more to come.”
BHO systems have been used at European and World Championships, plus national shows in 26 countries around the world. Most recently the company launched Equestrian on Demand, with the option to judge online with the help of eDressage.
“We’re delighted and very excited to join forces with BD,” said Daniel Göhlen, BHO founder and chief executive.
“Our first common judges’ education project started very successfully with online seminars – and we held the first exams together in December 2021. For those seminars, the Equestrian on Demand platform was used, as well as our paperless judging solution eDressage, and by facilitating the SAP Business Technology platform it’s directly connected to a personal dashboard for each of the judges.”
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