In 1996, the Department of Computer Science at Monash University (Australia) implemented a First Year Advanced Students' Project Scheme aimed at extending and stimulating its best first year students. The goal of the scheme was to give students the opportunity to work on a project that best suited their needs and captured their interests. One of…

Argues that synergy between computer-based instruction and automated assessment is possible because of the common needs in assessment and instruction; outlines a framework for characterizing performance; and examines procedures developed as part of an ongoing project to develop fully automated scoring of architectural design for a licensing exam.…

Asserts that three decades of technological advancements in communications and computer technology have transformed, if not revolutionized, organizational survey use and potential. Concludes that organizational clients, respondents, and survey professionals all benefit from new technological developments. (CFR)

Research and development activities of the last decade in the areas of assessment and effective instructional programs in mathematics for students with disabilities are reviewed. Encouraged by federal funding, a pervasive theme has been the use of an information processing framework. Automaticity, conceptual development, and cognitive modeling…

As awarding bodies modernise their procedures and incorporate elements of e-assessment into their qualifications, e-portfolios are emerging as a popular method of allowing candidates to display their abilities. All major United Kingdom awarding bodies now accept evidence from e-portfolio products for at least some of their qualifications. Although…

Concept maps are widely used in education, and have been acclaimed for their excellent results. For efficiently using concept maps in education, computer-based concept mapping systems have been developed. However these computer-based concept mapping systems are limited in their assessment algorithms. The assessment takes only concept nodes as the…

Webfolios may have the most significant effect on education since the introduction of formal schooling. When fully matured and implemented by capable professional educators throughout every discipline in an educational institution, webfolios promise a viable alternative to current, high-stakes testing, which focuses education on test-taking rather…

This article describes the development of a computer-based assessment system for children in early childhood programs, The Indiana Assessment System of Educational Proficiencies: Early Childhood (IASEP: EC). Skills in five developmental domains (i.e., cognitive, communication, social, sensory motor, and self-help) were selected and content…

While many institutions have utilized TOEFL scores for international admissions for many years, a speaking section has never before been a required part of TOEFL until the development of the iBT/Next Generation TOEFL. So institutions will need to determine how to set standards for the speaking section of TOEFL, also known as TOEFL Academic…

The aim of this study was to assess test takers' attitudes and beliefs about an admissions test used extensively in graduate schools of business in the United States, the Graduate Management Admission Test (GMAT), and the relationships of these attitudes and beliefs to test performance. A set of attitude and belief items was administered by…

How do students react to being told that they have failed a test required for high school graduation? In 2000, 7,989 students were wrongly informed that they had failed the Minnesota Basic Standards Test in mathematics. The authors conducted a survey of 911 of these students to assess the psychosocial impact of this event. More than 80% of…

This study was conducted to gather evidence regarding effects of the mode of writing (handwritten vs. word-processed) on compositional quality in a sample of sixth grade students. Questionnaire data and essay scores were gathered to examine the effect of composition mode on essay scores of students of differing computer skill levels. The study was…

This paper introduced the development and validation of the Test of Geography-Related Attitudes (ToGRA). The ToGRA measures student attitude on four discrete measures student attitude on four discrete scales: 1) leisure interest in geography; 2) enjoyment of geographic education; 3) career interest in geography; and 4) interest in place. The ToGRA…

Lowering the dropout rate of incoming mathematics and science students, and enhancing the provision of mathematics support for freshmen are two important aims of the University of Amsterdam. The approach recently adopted to support first year students is to set up a diagnostic pretest and posttest and use these tests to identify students being at…

The purpose of this research study was to compose a user profile of one specific electronic conference/electronic mail (e-conference/e-mail) discussion group through an in-depth case study, using a survey administered, collected, and tabulated electronically. The BALT-L is an online forum devoted to communication to and about the Baltic republics…