NCTA 2011 Making Waves in Testing Steve Brown - OSU Stillwater
Using Technology to Successfully Ride the Swelling Tide of
Assessment Specifications
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Who Am I? Steve Brown Technology Manager University Assessment
and Testing Oklahoma State University Stillwater, OK
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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.
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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.
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Needless to say theres 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
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You Know How It Is weve all been there! Technology holds a
promise
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Its 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!
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BUT You Know How It Is weve all been here too! One Thing Always
Leads to
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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
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DEMO
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Surfs Up!
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BUT You Know How It Is it cant be that easy! If it sounds too
good
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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