This article explores student perceptions of writing online examinations for the first time during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prior to the pandemic, examinations at an open and distance learning institution in South Africa were conducted as venue-based examinations. From March 2020, all examinations were moved online. Online examinations were…

This study compared traditional methods of college-level instruction, including lecture and class discussion followed by assessment via course content exams, with a variety of other instructional techniques. The intent was to evaluate whether more contemporary instructional techniques are significantly correlated with improved average exam scores…

This paper presents improvements made to a computerized adaptive testing (CAT)-based version of the FCI (FCI-CAT) in regards to test security and test efficiency. First, we will discuss measures to enhance test security by controlling for item overexposure, decreasing the risk that respondents may (i) memorize the content of a pretest for use on…

In two independent studies of questionnaire administration, respondents completed multidimensional self-concept inventories within four randomized research conditions that mirrored the most common administration formats used in practice: paper booklets with and without answer sheets and computer questionnaires with single versus multiple items per…

Traditional and online university courses share expectations for quality content and rigor. Student and faculty concerns about compromised academic integrity and actual instances of academic dishonesty in assessments, especially with online testing, are increasingly troublesome. Recent research suggests that in the absence of proctoring, the time…

As a method to shorten the test time of the Force Concept Inventory (FCI), we suggest the use of computerized adaptive testing (CAT). CAT is the process of administering a test on a computer, with items (i.e., questions) selected based upon the responses of the examinee to prior items. In so doing, the test length can be significantly shortened.…

Three studies are presented on attention paid to feedback provided by a computer-based assessment for learning on information literacy. Results show that the attention paid to feedback varies greatly. In general the attention focuses on feedback of incorrectly answered questions. In each study approximately fifty percent of the respondents paid…

In measurement research, data simulations are a commonly used analytical technique. While simulation designs have many benefits, it is unclear if these artificially generated datasets are able to accurately capture real examinee item response behaviors. This potential lack of comparability may have important implications for administration of…

Over the past four decades, there has been incremental growth in computer-based testing (CBT) as a viable alternative to paper-and-pencil testing. However, the transition to CBT is neither easy nor inexpensive. As Drasgow, Luecht, and Bennett (2006) noted, many design engineering, test development, operations/logistics, and psychometric changes…

This dissertation includes three essays: one essay focuses on the effect of teacher preparation programs on teacher knowledge while the other two focus on test-takers' response times on test items. Essay One addresses the problem of how opportunities to learn in teacher preparation programs influence future elementary mathematics teachers'…

Problem Statement: Computerized adaptive testing (CAT) is a sophisticated and efficient way of delivering examinations. In CAT, items for each examinee are selected from an item bank based on the examinee's responses to the items. In this way, the difficulty level of the test is adjusted based on the examinee's ability level. Instead of…