Testing Center users offer positive reviews

After a successful pilot during the fall semester, Penn State’s Testing Center is open to all faculty this spring. From November 2007 through April 2008, students have taken more than 13,700 exams in twenty-four courses at the Center. Good reviews have come in from the students, faculty, and staff who have tested there, according to Will Kerr, manager, testing and scanning operations, Penn State Testing Center and Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence.

"The feedback has been positive. Of course, we have had a few problems as you will with any new system, but the faculty, staff, and student response has been positive," Kerr said.

The first of its kind in the Big Ten devoted to computer-based classroom testing, the new Center is designed to combine an e-testing lab and the University's Scanning Operations facility. The project is a collaboration of Information Technology Services (ITS) and Undergraduate Education, and will be jointly operated by ITS Teaching and Learning with Technology and the Schreyer Institute for Teaching Excellence.

Jeanette Arteca, research support associate III with the Department of Horticulture, has used the Center for HORT 101: Horticultural Science exams. Arteca said tests taken at the Testing Center are much easier to grade than paper tests. As a result, students get grades and feedback much faster. She said that the entire grading process for paper tests for a class of 120 students, both graded manually and using scantrons, would take an average of between ten to fifteen hours. "Using the Center and ANGEL combined, the same process has taken about three to four hours," she said. "After I am finished with the exams, students can access grades in ANGEL and get feedback in a timelier manner."

"It is also easier and more accurate for students to take a computer exam than take a paper exam. Students do not have to worry about errors in transferring their answers to the scantron or skipping a question," Arteca added.

Jonathan Mathews, assistant professor of energy and mineral engineering, uses the Testing Center for EGEE 101: Energy and the Environment exams, and has found that the Testing Center also makes things easier for the professor. Mathews has previously done e-testing before, using the computer labs in the Boucke Building. He said it was not very convenient, the space was cramped, and proctoring was difficult because tests were being administered in two different locations in Boucke at the same time.

"The Testing Center actually makes my life pretty easy," Mathews said. "The other choice (in the Boucke Building) is a lot of running around attempting to proctor, and also a hard time scheduling it for tests. The hours of the Testing Center allow some flexibility when students can take tests."

Computer-based testing also opens up options for exam planning that regular paper testing cannot offer, such as adding interactive graphics and video. Jane Charlton, professor of astronomy and astrophysics, found this to be a great advantage for her ASTRO 001: Intro to Astronomy course. "I can more effectively use pictures and figures for exams taken at the Testing Center," Charlton said.

Jenny Shook, instructor of statistics, agrees and said that faculty should be creative given the capabilities the Testing Center offers. "I think the sky is the limit here. Tests can be set to choose next questions based on the response to the previous one, provide instant feedback, and use any type of table, image, video, or audio file in the test," she said. "It has tested my skills to think of how the available features can be used in my classes."

Mathews said that the Testing Center could enable faculty to offer adaptive testing to their students. Adaptive testing means the test automatically tailors itself to a student based on their ability to grasp the material. "Adaptive testing is the holy grail," Mathews said. "You can give a test that suits everyone. For the students who understand the material, you can give a test that will challenge them, and for those who don’t, the test questions won’t overwhelm them. It’s based on their earlier performance in the test."

Some courses already use ANGEL to administer low-stakes computer-based quizzes, but do not use ANGEL for high-stakes exams because of cheating concerns. The Testing Center uses ANGEL as one of its testing platforms. This, along with the Center’s state-of-the-art security system, enables faculty to give high-stake exams in ANGEL.

The security setup has many levels. Students must swipe their Penn State ID cards to enter the e-testing lab. This automatically brings up a photo from the database, which Center staff can compare to the individual to verify their identity. Other security features include cameras that monitor and record activity in the e-testing lab, blocked access to any outside Web sites and instant messaging services on testing stations, and proctoring by instructors and teaching assistants.

This level of security appeals to Shook, who uses the Testing Center for Statistics 200 and Statistics 250. "Students cannot fake their ID. Keeping track of 200+ students is hard for me, especially while trying to proctor and answer student questions, let alone adding collecting exam forms and checking IDs," Shook said. "Especially when my TA’s have conflict times with the classroom in which I give exams. And if students cheat, it is caught on tape and it no longer becomes my word against theirs, so PSU's academic reputation is kept high." Debbie Lissenden, Junior Core administrator with the Smeal College of Business, said Smeal College gave BA 301: Finance exams to approximately 1,000 students in ANGEL via the Testing Center’s secure environment. "Using the Center is better than just using ANGEL for exams because of all the steps they have taken to prevent cheating," Lissenden said. "The Testing Center staff obviously put a lot of thought and effort into making both the exam environment and procedures for entering the exam area secure."

Creating various kinds of test questions is part of the preparation for e-testing. Charlton and Lissenden offered preparation advice for faculty and staff who are interested in using the Center for their courses’ exams. Charlton recommended developing a large bank of questions from which to choose. "This takes a good bit of time, but it is a good investment, making sure students who take the tests earlier in the testing period don’t share information with those who take it later," she said.

Charlton said the Center staff was extremely helpful getting her started and consider them an added benefit. "I have found it a pleasure to work with the staff there and have had no significant problems conducting tests there despite having a class of 700 students," she said.

Lissenden added "My advice is to first tour the Center and become familiar with the facility and their procedures."

The Testing Center has so impressed Lissenden that her group plans to increase use of the facility in the near future. "I highly recommend using the University Testing Center, as I feel it is a good alternative to paper exams and provides a secure testing environment for students," she said.

- Jamie Oberdick