This paper describes how a new "Moodle" module, called "CTPracticals", is applied to the teaching of the practical content of a basic computer organization course. In the core of the module, an automatic verification engine enables it to process the VHDL designs automatically as they are submitted. Moreover, a straightforward…

An applied Information Technology (IT) course that is assessed using pen and paper may sound incongruous but it is symptomatic of the state of high-stakes assessment in jurisdictions such as Western Australia. Whereas technology has permeated most aspects of modern life, including schooling, and more has been demanded of education systems in terms…

Many colleges and universities today are faced with the problem of low student academic achievement in math. Some of them are trying to improve student academic achievement through the use of technology. Their proposed solution is to teach children how to use the technological tools available to them and integrate that technology into the…

This article describes a comparative study conducted at the item level for paper and online administrations of a statewide high stakes assessment. The goal was to identify characteristics of items that may have contributed to mode effects. Item-level analyses compared two modes of the Texas Assessment of Knowledge and Skills (TAKS) for up to four…

This study examined the accessibility barriers of a computerized adapted test called the Measure of Academic Performance. The results showed that as magnification increased, time on the test increased and students required visual efficiency skills. Students who used refreshable braille displays were faced with several obstacles. (Contains 4…

The widespread application of personal computers to educational and psychological testing has substantially increased the number of test administration methodologies available to testing programs. Many of these mediums are referred to by their acronyms, such as CAT, CBT, CCT, and LOFT. The similarities between the acronyms and the methods…

External stakeholders and public constituents often have predetermined notions of what administrators do. This quantitative study was designed to help provide concrete evidence of how their time is actually spent. This researcher-developed survey was electronically sent to 332 secondary school principals in the state of Iowa. Although some…

The automated assembly of alternate test forms for online delivery provides an alternative to computer-administered, fixed test forms, or computerized-adaptive tests when a testing program migrates from paper/pencil testing to computer-based testing. The weighted deviations model (WDM) heuristic particularly promising for automated test assembly…

Effective observation and diagnosis of student learning can be greatly assisted by 21st century technologies. This article lists five practical tools to help educators measure student progress: (1) Clickers; (2) Online quizzes; (3) Web-based surveys; (4) Digital logs; and (5) Spreadsheets.

This paper reviews the history of technology and testing. The role and functions of computers in education have become more varied, from drill and practice to simple tutorials toWebQuests. However, one important aspect of teaching for which the computer is ideally suited, achievement testing, is often overlooked. While it is not difficult to…

In the Information Communication Technology era teachers will have to wisely use the online environment in order to realize a new pedagogy. The penetration of the internet and collaborative online instruments to teaching and learning affect the quality of teaching. We have developed a digital indicator to evaluate the quality of the online tasks…

In 2006, a consortium of state departments of education, led by the North Carolina Department of Public Instruction and the Council of Chief State School Officers, was awarded a grant from the U.S. Department of Education to investigate methods of determining comparability of variations of states' assessments used to meet the requirements of the…

Students at the University of Edinburgh do almost all their work on computers, but at the end of the semester they are examined by handwritten essays. Intuitively it would be appealing to allow students the choice of handwriting or typing, but this raises a concern that perhaps this might not be "fair"--that the choice a student makes,…

This paper will explore some of the practical options that are available to teachers as we move towards Assessment 2.0. Assessment 2.0 describes an environment in which the teacher sets tasks that allow students to use more dynamic, immersive and interactive environments for exploring and creating responses to sophisticated assessment tasks.…

This article represents one outcome from the "Invitational Research Symposium on Technology-Enabled and Universally Designed Assessments," which examined technology-enabled assessments (TEA) and universal design (UD) as they relate to students with disabilities (SWD). It was developed to stimulate research into TEAs designed to better understand…