QuestionMark Perception for Windows: Advantages from faculty and student perspectives

QuestionMark Perception for Windows: Advantages from faculty and student perspectives.

QuestionMark software makes it easy for educators and trainers to write, administer and report assessments, tests, quizzes, exams and surveys using PCs, local area networks, the Internet and intranets.

Delta College owns a site license for QuestionMark Perception for Windows. Several faculty members in the Nursing Division currently use the software exclusively for test design, delivery and assessment. Their tests are administered at various unmonitored PC labs supported by the college. This year, the same faculty requested that the college equip PCs inside the Academic Testing Center with the software. Their objective is to insure greater test security. As the administrator and manager of the center, we evaluated the software for possible use by our staff. Our review describes the software features and reports on the advantages and disadvantages as perceived by both faculty and students.

The product

QuestionMark Perception for Windows is a suite of three programs that allow users to create and administer tests, quizzes and surveys. Assessment may also be conducted through a variety of customizable reports. The three parts of the QuestionMark package consist of a program that is used to create a test bank of questions, software to assemble a unified set of questions from the test bank, and a server application that delivers the questions and grades, records the responses and provides feedback to the student.

Access to the tests can be restricted with usernames and passwords. Date and time restrictions may also be imposed. Two, or preferably more, computers are required. One system should be restricted to test design, and the others designated for test delivery. The site license that Delta purchased allows faculty members to have their own copies of the test creation software. Students take the exams in designated computer labs at specified times.

Nineteen different question types may be created through the Windows based software. These types range from simple True/False and Multiple Choice, to Essay Questions wherein the student may enter up to 30,000 characters of text. During the creation of the essay question, the user must define acceptable keywords or phrases. Computerized scoring is then processed based on the presence or absence of these keywords or phrases in the response. A userfriendly Question Wizard is an available option for creating basic questions.

The Assessment Manager is used to design and collate a test, quiz or survey. The program offers a variety of options such as importing assessment items in ASCII file format, presenting test directions, selecting wallpaper backgrounds, inserting graphics for illustrative purposes, shuffling test choices and randomizing test questions. Feedback may be set to give students instantly an item, topic or test completion level.

The Server program is run exclusively on the computer that acts as the Web server. It contains a security manager that defines who may take the tests. Users must therefore supply a list of student names or identification numbers. The program also defines the time window when the test will be available and how many times a student may take the test.

Through the Report program, test answers are processed and stored. Answers may be stored in the Perception answer database. This report may then be accessed directly from the database using a Windows PC. With Perception for Windows, five different pre-formatted reports are available:

. Score List - A list of results that may be copied and pasted into any Microsoft Office application

. Survey Report - A graphical analysis of test answers

. Assessment Overview - A statistical analysis of test scores

. Question Statistic - A statistical analysis of responses to specific test questions

. Coaching Report - A list of test questions and answers for a specific student.

Using QuestionMark

Faculty feedback

The faculty members at Delta who have used Questionmark report that the advantages of the software far outweigh any disadvantages. Ease of use was the major advantage they cited. They report that the Question Wizard and flexibility of the Assessment Manager make the software very user-friendly. Of special note was the ability to edit test questions quickly and easily, as opposed to retyping a paper test and making copies.

Improved test questions were also cited as an advantage of computerized testing with Questionmark. With the software, feedback to the student provides the rationale for why a particular answer is correct and others are not. That feature, they report, forces the test creator to write carefully thought-out questions.

For instructors, the ability to provide feedback to students in a variety of ways is an advantage of the software. They find it beneficial to deliver instant feedback on test questions, test sections and overall test assessment as a means to reinforce learning objectives.

What happens if the software "crashes" during a test administration? This was the one possible disadvantage cited by faculty. They had experienced this phenomenon on an occasional and intermittent basis. Knowing that the possibility does exist, however, we recommend that an acceptable contingency plan be established should a student's answers to test questions be lost. For Delta faculty, lost answers have meant that the student simply be allowed to start the test over.

Student feedback

Six students enrolled in a Nursing Transitions course were interviewed. All tests for the course are adminis, tered on the computer using Questionmark software. All six reported that they preferred taking computerized tests to the traditional paper/pencil type. They cited the immediate satisfaction of knowing their scores as their primary reason.

The students also cited ease of use as a benefit. All of the them reported that they found the Questionmark software to be exceptionally user-friendly. Further, they stated that only very fundamental Windows computer skills were necessary to successfully use the software. They suggested that students who are unfamiliar with computer applications would need only a quick orientation to the software.

Several students commented on computerized testing in general. Decreased test anxiety was identified as an advantage of taking a computerized test. The response is attributed to the fact that only one test question may be viewed at a time. They find it easier to focus their attention on the one question in front of them, as opposed to looking ahead to other test questions. Some students reported that with paper/pencil tests they would frequently panic if they looked ahead and saw a question that they didn't know the answer to. Their overall performance would therefore suffer as a result. Other students stated that they would become anxious over the mere volume of paper test material. The longer the test, the more anxious they would become. With computerized testing, students do not "see" the test in its entirety, thereby reducing anxiety.

Only two of the students identified what they consider to be minor disadvantages of computerized testing. One student had experienced an untimely freeze of the Questionmark software. She had to start the test over. The other student found the 41 clicking of keys on the keyboard distracting." The purchase of "silent" keyboards and disposable earplugs would resolve this problem for students who are easily distracted.

Conclusion and further information

Through the evaluation, we concluded that QuestionMark Perception for Windows is indeed user-friendly enough for use by the staff of the Academic Testing Center to administer tests and assist students. If you would like further information on the product, or Questionmark Perception for the Web, go to www.Questionmark.com.

Patricia KilbournHaller

William Drummond

Ms. Kilbourn-Haller is the coordinator of the Academic Testing Center at Delta College, University Center, Michigan.

Mr. Drummond is the Associate Dean of Distance Learning and Learning Support at Delta College, University Center, Michigan.

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