Up-to-date spelling process was assessed using typical spelling-to-dictation tasks, where children's performance was evaluated mainly in terms of spelling error scores. In the present work a simple graphical computer interface is reported, aiming to investigate the effects of input modality (e.g. visual and verbal) in word spelling. The software…

Since the Spanish Educational system is changing and promoting the use of online tests, it was necessary to study the transformation of test items in the "Spanish University Entrance Examination" (IB P.A.U.) to diminish the effect of test delivery changes (through its computerization) in order to affect the least the current model. The…

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is the presentation of a new method for blog quality assessment. The method uses the temporal sequence of link creation events between blogs as an implicit source for the collective tacit knowledge of blog authors about blog quality. Design/methodology/approach: The blog data are processed by the novel method for…

Five years of longitudinal data for general chemistry student assessments at the University of Georgia have been analyzed using item response theory (IRT). Our analysis indicates that minor changes in question wording on exams can make significant differences in student performance on assessment questions. This analysis encompasses data from over…

The main aim of this study was to assess and compare undergraduate students' homework performance using a web-based testing system with paper-based, hand-graded one in introductory physics courses. Students' perceptions about each method were then investigated. Every semester during the two-year period, one of the two identical sections of…

Purpose: Reluctance to reveal sensitive or socially undesirable attitudes has posed a problem for measurement of personal attributes such as attitudes toward older people. These have long been documented to be negative and likely arise both from fears of one's own aging and the modern societal emphasis on youth. In order to increase our knowledge…

Assembling equivalent test forms with minimal test overlap across forms is important in ensuring test security. Chen and Lei (2009) suggested a exposure control technique to control test overlap-ordered item pooling on the fly based on the essence that test overlap rate--ordered item pooling for the first t examinees is a function of test overlap…

A simultaneous equating of four new test forms to each other and to one previous form was accomplished through a complex design incorporating seven separate equating links. Each new form was linked to the reference form by four different paths, and each path produced a different score conversion. The procedure used to resolve these inconsistencies…

Visual stress is a perceptual dysfunction that appears to affect how information is processed as it passes from the eyes to the brain. Photophobia, visual resolution, restricted focus, sustaining focus, and depth perception are all components of visual stress. Because visual stress affects what is perceived by the eye, students with this disorder…

The evidence is overwhelming; affective factors, in particular anxiety, do affect students who are learning a second or foreign language. Foreign language anxiety can affect students' achievement and desire to continue their studies. Instructors want their students to succeed and want them to continue. Therefore, finding ways to reduce this…

This study examined the relationship between scores on the TOEFL Internet-Based Test (TOEFL iBT[R]) and academic performance in higher education, defined here in terms of grade point average (GPA). The academic records for 2594 undergraduate and graduate students were collected from 10 universities in the United States. The data consisted of…

This paper illustrates a method of item analysis used to identify discriminating multiple-choice items in placement data. The data come from two rounds of pilots given to both SHL students and Spanish as a Second Language (SSL) students. In the first round, 104 items were administered to 507 students. After discarding poor items, the second round…

Scores assigned by trained raters and by an automated scoring system (SpeechRater[TM]) on the speaking section of the TOEFL iBT[TM] were validated against a communicative competence criterion. Specifically, a sample of 555 undergraduate students listened to speech samples from 184 examinees who took the Test of English as a Foreign Language…

Literature in the United States provides many examples of no difference in student achievement when measured against the mode of test administration i.e., paper-pencil and online versions of the test. However, most of these researches centre on "regular" students who do not require differential teaching methods or different evaluation…

This article describes the development and implementation of an open-access organic chemistry question bank for online tutorials and assessments at University College Cork and Dublin Institute of Technology. SOCOT (structure-based organic chemistry online tutorials) may be used to supplement traditional small-group tutorials, thereby allowing…