Computer Literacy Placement Exam Design and Assessment Amber M. Epps The Art Institute of P ittsburgh

What is Computer Literacy?  Computer-related terminology  Hardware and software basics  Basic operating system functionality  File management  Using the internet and understanding related issues  Productivity applications

Happy students Happy faculty Why Do We Care? Accurate Placement Students can save $$$ Institutions can save $$$ Assess program requirements Accreditation Various student abilities

Facts  May or may not be a required course  Students complain!  Faculty complain!

Myths  Students already know “this stuff”  Should be removed from curriculum without a backup plan

Survey Says...  Students don’t always know as much as they think they do  Students need to meet minimum proficiency requirements  School-defined  Industry-defined  Every school is different  Need to continue research

So Now What??

Assessment! According to the Higher Learning Commission:  “Assessment of student learning is a participatory, iterative process that:  Provides data/information you need on your students’ learning  Engages you and others in analyzing and using this data/information to confirm and improve teaching and learning  Produces evidence that students are learning the outcomes you intended  Guides you in making educational and institutional improvements  Evaluates whether changes made improve/impact student learning, and documents the learning and your efforts.”

Assessment! (cont)  Accreditation often requires computer literacy standards  Not always fun...but important  Evolving work in progress  Don’t expect perfection right away

Where to Begin?  Know your school’s policies  Who else is involved?  Consider the scope  How many students will be affected?  Online students?  Staffing requirements  Get faculty involved!  Use tools that are available to you

Next...  Platform issues: PC vs Mac  Plan...  What’s important?  What do you want to know?  Start with your competencies  What should students know?  Find balance between theory and application  Ask faculty what matters most

Suggestions!  Use a question pool  Check text book instructor resources  Separate competencies by section  Automate as much as possible  Clear rubrics when manual grading required  What is a passing score?  Pilot test with a focus group  Be flexible and aware of changes  Remote testing?

So I’ve Created My Exam...Now What?  What to assess:  Pass/fail rate overall  Pass/fail rate per major  Pre/post test differences  Anything that’s important to YOU and YOUR school

What Does Assessment Tell Us?  Achievement of learning outcomes  Competency proficiencies  Competency deficiencies  Changes to degree requirements?

Let’s Look At Some Real Examples

Pre-Test: Theory *Based on 80% as Passing Score

Test-Out Results *Based on 80% as Passing Score

Questions!!  Why is the pre-test passing rate so low?  Why is the test-out passing rate so high?

Time to share! Feel free to contact me: Amber M. Epps The Art Institute of Pittsburgh