Australia's national educational goals place considerable importance on the place of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in education. The Melbourne Declaration on Educational Goals for Young Australians of December 2008 asserted that "in this digital age young people need to be highly skilled in the use of ICT" (MCEETYA,…

The purpose of this study was to investigate problems and potentials of new technologies in English writing education. The effectiveness of automated writing evaluation (AWE) ("MY Access") and of peer evaluation (PE) was compared. Twenty-two English as a foreign language (EFL) learners in Taiwan participated in this study. They submitted…

Reading comprehension is a multidimensional process and a key component of this process is the activation of prior knowledge in the comprehension of text. This study utilized video clips as a means to anchor instruction and assist struggling middle-level readers in comprehending text. Participants in this study were 17 seventh- and eighth-grade…

This paper reports a study aimed at revealing special-educational-needs pupils' learning potential by means of an ICT-based assessment including a dynamic visual tool that might help pupils when solving mathematics problems. The study focused on subtraction problems up to 100, which require "borrowing". These problems, in which the value…

With the rapid growth of computer and mobile technology, it is a challenge to integrate computer based test (CBT) with mobile learning (m-learning) especially for formative assessment and self-assessment. In terms of self-assessment, computer adaptive test (CAT) is a proper way to enable students to evaluate themselves. In CAT, students are…

A total of 520 high school students were randomly assigned to a paper-and-pencil test (PPT), a computerized standard test (CST), or a computerized adaptive test (CAT) version of the Dutch School Attitude Questionnaire (SAQ), consisting of ordinal polytomous items. The CST administered items in the same order as the PPT. The CAT administered all…

This edited volume covers the range of critical trends in the use of computers and other devices for classroom teaching, online learning, professional development, school improvement, and student assessment. "Spotlight on Technology in Education" draws on expert sources including teacher-leaders, librarians, researchers, and trainers who…

Interface design and ergonomics, while already studied in much of educational theory, have not until recently been considered in language testing (Fulcher, 2003). In this paper, we revise the design principles of PLEVALEX, a fully operational prototype Internet based language testing platform. Our focus here is to show PLEVALEX's interfaces and…

This paper reports undergraduate student feedback contrasting conventional "Long-answer" examinations with automated multiple-choice question (MCQ) assessment. Feedback was gathered after students had undertaken formative MCQ assessments as a revision aid. Feedback was generally supportive of MCQ summative tests, with 74% expressing a…

Over the past few years, more and more companies have been investing in electronic commerce (EC) by designing and implementing Web-based applications. In the world of practice, the importance of using Web technology to reach individual customers has been presented by many researchers. This paper presents an easy way of conducting marketing…

Because of the increased popularity of computerized adaptive testing (CAT), many admissions tests, as well as certification and licensure examinations, have been transformed from their paper-and-pencil versions to computerized adaptive versions. A major difference between paper-and-pencil tests and CAT from an examinee's point of view is that in…

This article describes the history, evidence warrants, and evolution of the Center for Research on Evaluation, Standards, and Student Testing's (CRESST) model-based assessments. It considers alternative interpretations of scientific or practical models and illustrates how model-based assessment addresses both definitions. The components of the…

This article presents an interview with Susan E. Embretson. Embretson attended the University of Minnesota where she received her bachelor's degree in 1967 and earned a PhD in 1973 in psychology. She became an assistant professor at the University of Kansas in 1974 and was promoted to associate professor and full professor. In 2004, she accepted a…

An online survey about the use of small groups by school counselors was completed by 802 members of the American School Counseling Association. The vast majority of respondents offered groups in their schools, but were most influenced in that decision by time constraints. Qualitative analysis of comment data provided more depth and insight about…

Technological advances have revolutionised methods of both teaching and testing in languages, and practitioners have eagerly embraced the opportunity to provide more innovative ways of doing this. The unique features offered by technology make it increasingly possible to test for a wide range of language skills required for a specific purpose.…