April 12, 2005

ADMINISTERING LANGUAGE PLACEMENT EXAMS USING BLACKBOARD: LESSONS LEARNED

Paul CarsonRaf CzapskiKat Broadwater

Kat Broadwater: Classrooms Coordinator

Paul Carson: Blackboard Facilitator

Raf Czapski: Technical Coordinator

Our Blackboard System:

Blackboard Learning System 6.1

ASP Hosted

Integrated with Banner 6.2

Nightly Snapshot

Why did we do it?

• Student feedback: “NSO sucks!”

• Enhance first year student experience

• Improve student retention

• Reduce administrative overhead

Problems with NSO

• 250 students per week for 10 weeks

• 125 students per day

• 9 Languages

Language exam bottleneck

=

Can we use technology to help improve NSO?

Simultaneous Objectives

Streamline NSO Process

and

Preserve Assessment Value

Preserve Assessment Value

High audio quality

High quality written text

Accurate use of Language

Limited audio control

Security

Building the Exam

Raf Czapski

What was needed for high audio quality?

• Audio engineer

• Audio program -Sound Forge

What was needed for high quality written text & accurate language?

• Blackboard test builder

• Faculty

What was needed to limit audio control?

• Multimedia expert

• Macromedia Director MX

What was needed to limit audio control?

What was needed to secure the test environment?

• IT personnel

• Group policies

• Batch scripts

• Securexam Browser

IP Address of host workstation

Workstation name

What was needed to secure the test environment?

What was needed to secure the test environment?

Administering the Exam

Kat Broadwater

Simultaneous Objectives

Streamline NSO Process

and

Preserve Assessment Value

What was needed to Streamline the NSO process?

Scheduling Exams

Integrated Creation

vs

Manual Creation

Administering the Exam:What is required?

• Resources and Equipment

Administering the Exam:What is required?

Setup Team :

Lab Technicians

Administering the Exam:What is required?

Ringleader

Administering the Exam:What is required?

Lab Technicians & Peer Counselors

Administering the Exam:What is required?

Blackboard Administrator

Administering the Exam:What is required?

Administering the Exam:What is required?

Smooth Login process

What was needed to streamline the NSO process?

• Blackboard

• fast, easy grading

Stumbling blocks

• Power outages

• Load problems using Blackboard 5

• Operator error

• DO NOT CLICK “SUBMIT” AGAIN!

Stumbling blocks

• Power outages

• Load problems using Blackboard 5

• Operator error

• DO NOT CLICK “SUBMIT” AGAIN!

Assessment and Outcomes

Paul Carson

What we accomplished

Consistency

Quality

Accuracy

Control

Security

Speed

What we accomplished

Introduced Incoming Students to:

Labs

Lab Assistants

Blackboard Learning System

Securexam

What we accomplished

Relieved Orientation Chaos.

Where are we going with this?

• Non-Roman character languages

• All language proficiency exams

• Math exams

Takeaways

Start Early

Get Faculty Buy-in

Test – Rehearse – Test – Rehearse

Organize student groups by language

Don’t ever let the students get bored

Did it work?

• Administrative benefit – Immediate

• Student feedback – Very positive

• Retention benefit?

Any questions?

Kathrina.M.Broadwater@hofstra.edu

Paul.A.Carson@hofstra.edu

Rafal.P.Czapski@hofstra.edu