Stanmore College puts diagnostic tests on intranet

For Immediate Release

Stanmore College puts diagnostic tests on intranet

Stanmore College is to take its diagnostic testing programme onto its intranet with its purchase of Questionmark Perception, the online testing and assessment application.

Stanmore College is a further education college primarily engaged in offering ‘A’ level course and vocational studies. Two years ago, the college began using computer aided assessment for diagnostic testing for maths tests for the entry, enrolments and induction process. This was conducted using Questionmark for Windows, which enabled the tests to be run on a local network. This software had already been in use at the college for some time as a teaching aid and a preparation mechanism for final exams.

Explains David Singer, programme manager - business and computing, “During the last two years’ every student coming intro the college has had a short maths test and a short English test. We use these tests to position the students at their different grades and to explore whether they wanted extra support. In our paper system, it was taking us the first six weeks of the term to get the results and put the respective student into some sort of course. But last year we put the tests onto Questionmark and got instant results. We were able to do an analysis within 24 hours and timetable the students immediately they start their programme.”

Stanmore currently runs the diagnostic tests over a network computer. When the students enroll they are programmed and placed into tutor groups. The tutor groups are then called up, two or three at a time, to sit the tests in Stanmore’s learning resource centre. This is done over two to three days.

William A. McDonald, Chairman of the AICC Independent Test Lab Committee, said "Questionmark Computing is one of the first organisations to pass Web Based AICC/CMI certification test. It is certainly the first UK based organisation to win the accolade. As such, it has clearly demonstrated its commitment to interoperability on the web and its claim to be an industry leader"

With the purchase of Perception, the diagnostic tests will move onto Stanmore’s intranet. Other applications for Perception include self-assessment formative testing. It will also be used to conduct a number of ‘quality surveys’ currently done on paper, where students report back on the quality of the education process. One of the advantages of moving to Perception is that existing questions that have been created for use in Questionmark for Windows can easily be exported into Perception.

About Questionmark
Questionmark was founded in the UK in 1988 and was one of the first software companies to provide an authoring framework to create tests and assessments to run on PCs. Today the company offers a full range of software for the testing and assessment marketplace spanning Windows and web environments. Businesses, governments, and universities in over 40 countries now use Questionmark software.

More information on Questionmark Perception can be found on the Internet at http://www.questionmark.com/uk/. If you would like any other information about Perception, contact Vivienne Shaughnessy at Questionmark Computing, telephone: +44 (0)800 731 5895. Email: vivienne.shaughnessy@questionmark.co.uk .

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