NCTA 2011 – Making Waves in Testing Steve Brown - OSU Stillwater Using Technology to Successfully Ride the Swelling Tide of Assessment Specifications

Who Am I? Steve Brown Technology Manager University Assessment and Testing Oklahoma State University Stillwater, OK

Who Are We? A comprehensive land-grant university system with more than 35,000 students, 7,400 employees, and campuses located in Stillwater, Tulsa, Oklahoma City and Okmulgee.

Who Are We? University Assessment and Testing is comprised of two distinct units: The Testing Center serves our main Stillwater campus, NOC, and community with full array of testing and scanning services. Under the leadership of the Assessment and Academic Improvement Council, University Assessment directs the institutional, program, general education, as well as student/alumni satisfaction and the student experience assessment.

Needless to say… …there’s plenty to do! Effectively Manage Resources Room Resources (e.g. capacity) Manage Scheduling (e.g. eligibility) By Test By Type Manage Resources Client / Test Company Database Including special requirements Schedule Appointments Keep Logs Produce Reports

You Know How It Is… …we’ve all been there! Technology holds a promise…

It’s Not As Easy As You Would Think… … But Then, Few Things in Life Are Pre-built solutions are a bummer costly, risky, and/or not flexible enough Building our own “ground up” solution time and cost prohibitive, WIPEOUT!!! Custom HTML with PHP Security concerns Requires full-time developer Rapid Application Development (RAD) Radical Dude!

BUT You Know How It Is… …we’ve all been here too! One Thing Always Leads to…

… when our Directors found out “we can do that” … then they wanted to: Advanced eligibility tracking Advanced Center Resource Control Center Schedule, Block Rules, Remote Locations Automatically Report Official Test Results to Departmental Contacts Send Appointment Confirmations Gather and Report Customer Feedback Online Exam Submission Another, and Another, and Another…

DEMO

Surf’s Up!

BUT You Know How It Is… …it can’t be that easy! If it sounds too good…

No one glove is ever going to fit all Rapid Application Development (RAD) Requires a hosted environment Requires some technical skills The True Key to “Hang 10” Is Building on shared experience Networking with peers Shared problem solving How We Learned to “shoot the curl”

Steve Brown