Minutes of the Jan 29. 2010 Optical Test Scoring Action Team

Navigate Academic Computing Policy Advisory Committee

Attending: Jozefowicz, Marshall, McElroy, Petersen, Smith

Scantron demo of Jan 26, 2010 - Brian Petersen and Amanda Marshall outlined the Scantron demonstration given by RichVesga. Rich demonstrated the Class Climate software used for faculty evaluations and the ParSystem software for test making and scoring (ParTest and ParScore, respectively).
Class Climate has the benefit of creating unique barcodes for each evaluation form, linking them to an individual faculty/course/section and the optical character recognition allows forms to be printed on regular paper. In addition, both pencil and black/blue ink can be used to score the sheets.
Class Climate has a web-based interface for creating custom forms that can be printed at IUP or at Scantron. There is also a nice reporting interface, allowing for some interesting statistical analysis of faculty evaluations. In addition, faculty could be sent their evaluations in digital format (including images of the student open comments).
There is also an on-line function, which would allow for secure distance learning evaluations.
The ParScore system will allow IUP to continue its bubble sheet scoring of exams/quizzes, with various weighting schemes that are not currently available.
ParTest is another add-on option at a higher price point, but gives faculty the option of linking question banks with score sheets and allowing them to create up to 26 versions of the same exam - all linked through the score sheets to allow for advanced stats reporting of class performance.

see previous agenda/minutes for a list of questions so far
From Amanda Marshall:
- Question iii of Amanda Marshall's set was altered:
  original "If the exams are physically picked up after they are scored - who actually picks them up? [a. you, b. departmental secretary; c. student worker; d. other] (pick only one)"
- altered: "If the exams are physically picked up after they are scored - who actually picks them up? [a. you, b. departmental secretary; c. student worker; d. other] (choose all that apply")
  with follow up: "Who picks them up most of the time? [a. you, b. departmental secretary; c. student worker; d. other] (pick one)"
The following questions were also added:
- Do you produce multiple versions of the same exam, or are you interested in the ability to make multiple versions of the same exam? [yes,no]
- ParTest, from Scantron, is a software option we are exploring that would allow faculty to write questions and link them to an answer sheet. Up to 26 versions of the same exam could be generated. The software then provides the ability to analyze all versions at once to provide whole-class statistics on each question. This add-on option comes at an increased price, and requires faculty to manually create their own test bank of questions. Are you interested in exploring this option? [very much, a little, not at all]

McElroy will compile all survey questions and send them to Dave Smith, who will build a survey for us to test before releasing to the faculty.
McElroy will also contact Debbie Wardo in Human Resources regarding their take on faculty survey issues.

Meeting adjourned at 2:00pm.