Developers often talk about APIs, or Application Programming Interfaces.  It sounds very technical but often an API can be very simple and easy to use without specialist programming skills.  In this video, I demonstrate how you can embed a simple quiz into the iGoogle environment using an off-the-shelf ‘gadget’ and customize the way it is called by modifying the web address (URL) used to launch the quiz.

For more information about the techniques shown in the video take a look at the iGoogle How To on developer.questionmark.com. And use the forums on the developer Web site to ask questions or report how this goes for you.

I’ll be talking about these and other new developments at the Questionmark Users Conference March 14 – 17, so I hope to see you there.

With the growing importance of informal learning, being able to embed a Questionmark Perception assessment in your Facebook profile or business/fan page could be useful – perhaps within course scenarios or as a component of learning interactions between group members. We are working within Questionmark’s Open Assessment Platform to make this possible for Perception users to do this.

To see how this would look, take the embedded quiz within Questionmark’s Facebook account.

If you would like to experiment with this on your own Facebook account, you will need to consider where you want the assessment to appear:
•    For  your profile page use the Profile HTML Facebook application
•    For a Business/Fan page, use the Static FBML Facebook application

Both methods are similar and work in the same way. This How-to on Questionmark’s developer Web site explains:
•    Using the Profile HTML application to add an IFrame to your profile page
•    Using the FBML application to add an IFrame to your business/fan page
•    Customizing the IFrame code

We look forward to hearing from you about any assessments you post in Facebook and how this idea worked for you.

Are you responsible for ensuring that the Questionmark Perception participant interface conforms to organizational style guidelines and meets the requirements of assessment users?

A special two-day course, set for March 18 and 19 in Miami, will help you understand the expanded capabilities of the completely new participant-facing interface in Questionmark Perception version 5.

The course is designed for experienced Perception users seeking an in-depth understanding of the standard interface features and layouts available in Perception version 5 and how they differ from those in version 4. Participants will look under the hood of the participant-facing software, which includes login and assessment list screens as well as assessment delivery and feedback screens. Learn about tools, techniques and best practices for customizing the interface templates. Then apply what you are learning through hands-on exercises that are based on the needs of real-world Perception users.

Course participants who also attend the Questionmark Users Conference March 14 – 17 are eligible to attend the course at a discounted rate.

Click here for complete course details and registration information, including details about the discount for conference participants.

One of my favorite new features in Questionmark Perception is Auto-Sensing and Auto-Sizing. This sounds important, but what does it mean?

When delivering an assessment, Perception version 5 auto-senses the participant’s device and browser, then delivers the assessment formatted appropriately for the device/browser’s requirements. Perception’s new “on the fly” auto-sizing dynamically adjusts and sizes the “screen furniture” and “skin” of an assessment – the buttons, controls and template graphics — so they fit (and look great) on just about any screen size or resolution imaginable.

Why is this important? In short, these new features take the guesswork out of blended delivery and enable you to author an assessment once, schedule it once and then deliver it in as many different ways as you like. I’ve put together a short video explaining how this works.

Want to experience some the new participant experience improvements?  Go here – either from your desktop, laptop or smartphone! http://www.questionmark.com/go/v5delivery

Learn more about Perception version 5 at the Questionmark Users Conference March 14 – 17.

We always look forward to seeing familiar faces at the Questionmark Users Conference, and it was good to realize recently that someone who will be attending this year’s conference has been with us for every single one of them. Lynn Cram will be attending her 8th users conference — and her 2nd in Miami — March 14  -  17. I wanted to find out what keeps bringing her back, and you can listen in on our conversation.

Here are a few great reasons for you to attend the conference, too!

• A discussion on the future of ADL SCORM led by ADL Technical Advisor Daniel Rehak, PhD, and Questionmark Integration Team Lead Steve Lay on Shaping the Future of ADL SCORM: What’s On Your Wish List?
• Tech Training: Planning Your Migration from Perception v4 to v5
• Best Practices: Item and Test Analysis Analytics
• Case  Study: Using Questionmark and SAP for Employment Testing
• Two-day post-conference training: Customizing the Participant Interface in Perception version 5

There’s so much more to say about the conference! Check out what’s happening and register soon!

I’d like to draw your attention to some recent writing by our CEO, Eric Shepherd, on the subject of “Assessment Security and How To Reduce Fraud.”

In this post on his blog, Eric describes  what motivates fraudulent behavior and explains some common methods and processes to help you minimize and eliminate it from your assessments. He references the “Fraud Triangle” created by famed criminologist Donald Cressey to explain why people commit fraud. Eric examines the three elements in the triangle: Motivation, Rationalization and Opportunity. He also offers some practical tips for deterring fraud.

If you are interested in this and many other issues surrounding assessment be sure to check out Eric’s blog.

Posted by Greg Pope

In my last post I discussed specific aspects of construct validity. I’m capping off this series with a discussion of modern views and thinking on validity.

Dr. Bruno D. Zumbo

Recently my former graduate supervisor, Dr. Bruno D. Zumbo at the University of British Columbia, wrote a fascinating chapter in the new book, The Concept of Validity: Revisions, New Directions and Applications, edited by Dr. Robert W. Lissitz. Bruno’s chapter, “Validity as Contextualized and Pragmatic Explanation, and its Implications for Validation Practice,” provides a great modern perspective on validity.

The chapter has two aims: to provide an overview of what Bruno considers to be the concept of validity, and to discuss the implications for the process of validation.

Something I really liked about the chapter was its focus on why we conduct psychometric analyses digging into how our assessments perform. As Bruno discusses, the real purpose of all the psychometric analysis we do is to support or provide evidence for the claims that we make about the validity of the assessment measures we gather. For example, the reason we would do a Differential Functioning Analysis (DIF), in which we ensure that test questions are not biased against/towards a certain group, is not only to protect test developers against lawsuits but also to weed out invalidity in order to help us set where the inferential limits of assessment results are.

Bruno drives home the point that examining validity is an ongoing process of validation. One doesn’t just do a validity study or two and then be done: validation is an ongoing process in which multilevel construct validation occurs and procedures are tied in to program evaluation and assessment quality processes.

I would highly recommend that people interested in diving more into the theoretical and practical details of validity check out this book, which includes chapters from many highly respected psychometrics and testing industry experts.

I hope that this series on validity has been useful and interesting! Stay tuned for more psychometric tidbits in upcoming posts.

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Editor’s Note: Greg will be doing a presentation at the Questionmark Users Conference on Conducting Validity Studies within Your Organization. The conference will take place in Miami March 14 – 17. Learn more at www.questionmark.com/go/conference

I’ve been having a great time talking to presenters at the Questionmark 2010 Users Conference – customers, our keynote speaker and Questionmark staff. I wanted to find out from Howard Eisenberg about the Best Practices presentation he will deliver at the conference on Effectively Measuring Knowledge, Skill and Ability with Well-crafted Assessments

Q: Could you explain your role at Questionmark?

A: I manage Training and Consulting, so I work with our customers to get the most of their assessments and their use of Questionmark Perception. For some that might mean training on how to use the software effectively. For others it might mean providing solutions that allow them to use the software within the context of their current business processes, such as synchronizing the data between the organization’s central user directory and Perception. In some cases we might need to create reports to supplement those that come with the product or do some other custom development. Sometimes we go on site, install the Perception software and set it up within the customers’ LMS and do any troubleshooting right on the spot. Whatever we do, our goal is to ensure customers’ speed to success, getting them operational faster.

Q: What will you be talking about during your Best Practice session in Miami?

A:  Over the years I’ve given presentations on Creating Assessments That Get Results, where I cover the dos and don’ts of writing test items. A question that always comes up during those talks is how to write test content that goes beyond testing information recall…content that tests a person’s ability to perform a task. There are limitations to using software like Perception to do that: certain things simply require that a person perform a task and have someone observe them, so that all the scoring and evaluation is done by an observer or rater. But there are a lot of possibilities for creating computer-scored items that can measure skill and ability rather than just recall of information. This session is designed to give people tools to take their tests to that level. First we need a framework for categorizing knowledge, skills and abilities: what makes a skill a skill and an ability an ability. We’ll help people classify their learning objectives along those lines and look at specific types of questions that can be used to measure skill and ability. The questions that provide this kind of measurement expand upon the question types that are supported in Questionmark Perception—selected response types as well as constructed responses.   We’ll use several real-world examples to illustrate how questions of this nature go beyond recall of knowledge and go to skill and ability.

Q: What are you looking forward to at the conference?

A: I am really looking forward to meeting customers and in some cases reconnecting with customers I’ve gotten to know over the years. That’s really a highlight for me…reconnecting with our great customers. I am consistently amazed and impressed about how passionate our customers are about what they do with our software and how smart they are in using it. Every year, after talking with a customer or sitting in on a case study, I come away thinking, Wow! That was really clever! So I’m looking forward to hearing those kinds of stories again this year.

The conference program is nearly finalized and includes case studies, tech training and best practice sessions for every experience level.  Check it out and plan to join us March 14 – 17 in Miami!

If you use Blackboard, you may be interested to know that the Questionmark Blackboard Connector can now be used with Blackboard Learn™ 8 and 9. Our recent update of the connector harmonizes with Blackboard’s new user interface and offers improved  synchronization and administrative controls.

The connector enables you to maintain student and instructor profiles within the Blackboard platform while taking advantage of Questionmark Perception’s powerful assessment features and numerous question types. This new version of the connector makes it easier access to Perception tests from within Blackboard. And administrators can now limit the number of times participants may take an assessment.

You can learn more about the Questionmark-Blackboard integration by visiting our Blackboard Connector page, where you will find an animated overview explaining how the connector works.