Exploring a solution for secured high stake tests on students' personal devices

Digital testing requires software and hardware. A hardware option is to establish dedicated test halls. As an alternative, this paper describes a setup and first experiences of a pilot run on a proof of concept, to answer the questions: which conditions are needed to create a secure solution for high stake assessments via students’ personal devices (e.g., notebook from students)?\u3cbr/\u3e\u3cbr/\u3eTo answer this question, a proof of concept was run based on an outline of a Secure Test Environment Protocol (STEP). This STEP was based on three shells of security: Prevention, Detection and Reaction. Prevention concerns the technical solutions to prevent the use of unauthorized sources during tests. Detection concerns the risks (i.e., chance and impact) and the possibilities to detect unauthorized behavior and security issues. Reaction gives insight in requirements needed for an organization when students’ personal notebook are being used in taking high stake tests.\u3cbr/\u3e\u3cbr/\u3eThe preliminary conclusion from the proof of concept is that it is possible to use students’ personal notebook in secured high stake tests if a STEP - comprising three shells of security - has been implemented. Suggestions for further development are given.\u3cbr/\u3

Students’ perception of frequent assessments and its relation to motivation and grades in a statistics course: a pilot study

\u3cp\u3eThis pilot study measures university students’ perceptions of graded frequent assessments in an obligatory statistics course using a novel questionnaire. Relations between perceptions of frequent assessments, intrinsic motivation and grades were also investigated. A factor analysis of the questionnaire revealed four factors, which were labelled value, formative function, positive effects and negative effects. The results showed that most students valued graded frequent assessments as a study motivator. A modest number of students experienced positive or negative effects from assessments and grades received. Less than half of the students used the results of frequent assessments in their learning process. The perception of negative effects (lower self-confidence and more stress) negatively mediated the relation between grades and intrinsic motivation. It is argued that communication with students regarding the purpose and benefits of frequent assessments could mitigate these negative effects.\u3c/p\u3