Investigated: (1) immediate and continuing benefits associated with using microcomputer-assisted testing with 42 biology students; (2) types of students benefiting from microcomputer-administered diagnostic testing; and (3) the feasibility of microcomputer-administered diagnostic testing. One finding is that such testing positively influences…

This overview of Program READER, a self-administered reading assessment for college students, discusses the software, selection of readings, construction and validation of questions, and suggestions for future use. The program is designed to give students immediate feedback about reading skill and collect demographic data for the college. (MBR)

Microcomputer software for computer-assisted classroom testing is reviewed. The teacher and classroom are emphasized in applying computer technology. The major issues are identification of appropriate classroom testing microcomputer applications; identification of available microcomputer testing software; techniques for software evaluation; and…

Describes how microcomputers can assist in grading the work of beginning writers, especially repetitive errors, and how students respond to this practice. (FL)

Discusses the use of computers in schools and presents the factors to be considered before buying a school computer. Presents ways in which computers can be used in language instruction to teach reading, writing, listening, and speaking, to test, to translate, and to impart cultural information. (SED)

Program specifics, problems, modification, and use of a general quiz program that can be utilized by teachers with essentially no programing experience are described. A printout of the program is included. Written in BASIC for the TRS-80 I/II, it can be adapted to any computer. (MBR)

The use of electronic portfolios for authentic student assessment is growing rapidly (Batson, 2002). Creating portfolios electronically offers a number of benefits not available using traditional paper-based portfolios. Advantages include the portability from one application or institution to another, wider accessibility of the portfolio, and the…

This paper discusses how the authors' department curricula, classroom environments, and ultimately student learning might be improved by "high tech" assessment and evaluation techniques to find out "what people really care about." Collaborative technologies are used to gather and process the opinions of students, faculty, and…

Districts must hire "highly qualified teachers" to implement "research-based best practices" using "data-driven decisions" to positively impact student achievement. The No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB) of 2001 has provided educators a whole new set of catch phrases. As states, districts, and educators work to define…

Since the writing section of the Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) computer based test (CBT) is a single-prompt essay test, it is very important to ensure that each prompt is as fair as possible to any subgroups of examinees, such as those with different native language backgrounds. A particular topic of interest in this study is the…

The purpose of this research was to establish, within the constraints of the methods presented, whether the computer is capable of scoring essays in much the same way that human experts rate essays. The investigation attempted to establish what was actually going on within the computer and within the mind of the rater and to describe the degree to…

Most human gradings of essays are holistic, or "overall." Therefore, Project Essay Grade (PEG), an attempt to develop computerized grading of essays, has concentrated most of its research on overall grading. It has successfully simulated human judges. However, since computer grading is less expensive than human grading, PEG has also…

The primary concern or focus of a certification or licensure test is to obtain valid criterion-referenced information regarding a candidate's competence to practice. When the test is administered by computer, a valid pass/fail decision can be made with fewer items than an equivalent paper/pencil test by targeting items at the passing score and…

This paper proposes a new Information-Time index as the basis for item selection in computerized classification testing (CCT) and investigates how this new item selection algorithm can help improve test efficiency for item pools with mixed item types. It also investigates how practical constraints such as item exposure rate control, test…

Most computerized tests are simple applications that make limited use of the technology inherent in computer-delivered examinations. One potentially valuable feature of computer-administered examinations is the ability to play audio files, a function that makes it possible to incorporate sound into computer-based tests. Audio tests allow the…