May 17
We provide a lot of resources to support our SmarterMeasure clients. Often K12 schools need information to give to parents, students and teachers about the tool. We provide documents that are customizable for schools to suit this purpose. Ask your Account Manager about these resources. The teacher flyer serves as an advertisement that promotes the tool and offers training sessions to the teachers. While the parent flyer educates them about the tool and how to best use it with their child.
May 10
When students complete the SmarterMeasure Learning Readiness Indicator they receive a full color report with rich feedback and graphical metrics. The report also includes "Resources for Support". We include links to valuable sources that may help students in areas that are challenging. You also have the ability to customize those resources. This allows you to add resources your school provides such as online tutoring, computer lab hours, skills training, etc. To learn more about utilizing this custom feature, contact your Account Manager or watch the tutorial at the link below entitled "Modify Remedial Resources on Student Report".
http://smartermeasure.com/frequently-asked-questions/tutorials/
May 9
SmarterServices, the provider of the SmarterMeasure™ Learning Readiness Indicator, periodically surveys its client institutions to identify patterns and good practices in the usage of the assessment. Below is the executive summary. To view a full copy of this report click here. You may also check out an infographic with the highlights.
In the spring of 2013, ninety-two (92) client institutions responded to the survey. This was a 26% response rate and was considered a representative sample of the 348 client institutions.
This report provides the survey results and is being shared with the academic community to further good practices in the process of measuring learner readiness.
Over half of the survey respondents represented Associates Colleges. Eight out of ten institutions were non-profit. Nine out of ten had distance learning programs with less than 10,000 students. Almost half of the schools use Blackboard as their LMS. An equal number reported using Banner/Colleague as their SIS.
Sixty eight (68%) of schools make the assessment available to all students, not just their eLearning students. About half of the schools require some students to take the assessment and make it optional for others.
The most common way that schools use the assessment is in their orientation course. This is followed by placement on the school’s website and administration by an academic advisor.
Other trends included:
• 99% of schools rate our service as a company as good or excellent.
• 99% of schools reported that they are satisfied or very satisfied with the assessment.
• 98% of schools include the technical competency section.
• 94% consider the assessment price as equal to or less than similar software.
• 70% have added custom text to the login page.
• 62% of schools analyze scores in aggregate to identify trends.
• 58% review the scores one-to-one with each student.
• 37% have added custom text on the score report.
• 20% have modified their readiness ranges.
May 8
I read a recent article published by Campus Technology that discussed the differences between having a human proctor and using high tech devices to keep a person from cheating in an exam. It states, "It sounds like a tableau from a century ago, but the fact is that human proctors are alive and well, despite meteoric growth in institutions' online offerings. Even the most high-tech online testing solutions often rely on a person watching the exam-taking, whether that proctor is on-site at a testing center or monitoring the test via webcam". Montana State University uses real people to proctor exams and agrees it is a system that works well. They provide a pool of proctors from which the student may choose. However, if the student wishes to find their own proctor, certain guidelines must be followed. Penn State University's World Campus is also refe
renced in the article. They too use a preapproved list of human proctors, although recently they started offering the webcam and identity verification option. This service is provided through Kryterion and Penn State reports only 10% of their students are choosing that option. The article includes other institutions and a plethora of options for testing integrity.
What say you? Do we need to keep a "human" eye on potential cheaters? To some, having an actual person proctor an exam seems a bit "old-fashioned". In a high tech world of distance learning options, it may not seem possible to always have a live person monitoring every move of the test taker. This school of thought has actually created an entirely new niche in technology for devices that do everything from electronically spying on the test taker, to locking down their browser blocking sites that aren't allowed.
We've done the research and recognize the current debate about the best option and the growing need for test proctoring. Through our research, we've found that humans really do have the "real edge" on technology. Assuming proctors meet a strict set of criteria and follow specific guidelines, human proctoring is a great option. Remember in the 80s when there was much buzz (in some cases fear) about computers replacing people in the workplace?
Well, we all know what happened with that assumption, don't we? While yes, job tasks have been streamlined and efficiency increased through technology, there will always be a need for an operator, a critical thinker, or human evaluator. Human resources continue to be our most valuable asset.
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