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From the Item Bank

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Tag Archive: ATP 2018

Audio – Why, When, and How to Use This Item Type

December 16, 2016  | By  | 

Overview In a typical Audio (AU) item a sound file is included within the stem of a multiple choice item,... View Article




The Short Answer – Why, When, and How to Use this Item Type

July 19, 2016  | By  | 

Overview The Short Answer (SA) is a constructed response item type in which the examinee types a short response. Like... View Article




The Drag and Drop – Why, When, and How to Use this Item Type

June 22, 2016  | By  | 

Overview The Drag and Drop (DD) item typically includes a list of elements that the examinee is asked to associate... View Article




Evaluating New Item Types for Usability

June 1, 2016  | By  | 

Usability testing can significantly enhance the quality of alternative item types and is one method used in incorporating Universal Design... View Article




Designing a Test with Accessibility in Mind

March 30, 2016  | By  | 

Testing organizations have a legal obligation to provide a broad range of test accommodations, based on the 2008 amendment to... View Article




The Hotspot – Why, When, and How to Use this Item Type

January 27, 2016  | By  | 

Overview In a Hotspot (HS) item the examinee responds to the question by clicking directly on an image. This is often a... View Article




Video – Why, When, and How to Use this Item Type

September 30, 2015  | By  | 

The video item type is useful across a wide range of content areas and exam programs. Video can be used to better represent crucial aspects of the profession. In addition, video can facilitate coverage of test content not easily measured with traditional written stems.




The Multiple Response – Why, When, and How to Use this Item Type

June 17, 2015  | By  | 

Overview

The multiple response (MR) item type is, hands-down, one of the most useful alternative item types available today.  It isn’t a new item type; the MR been used in paper-based assessments for many years (under various names, including multiple select, multiple-answer, multiple-choice, etc.). Now that the MR item type is provided as a standard option within many CBT applications, it is becoming a more popular option.




Innovative Item Types: Strengths and Weakness

May 11, 2015  | By  | 

Do you have multiple choice items that are not accurately assessing the content of an exam?  If so you may want to implement innovative items.  In our workshop at the 2015 ATP Conference we presented four innovative item types, along with when each one should be used.

The key factor that should be considered before adding an innovative item type is whether it can improve the measurement quality of the exam.  The first step in implementing innovative items is choosing the right type.  To help guide your decision on which types to implement, it is helpful to have a general understanding of the structure, strengths, and weaknesses of each item type.




Alternative Item Types – The Big Picture

March 18, 2015  | By  | 

Alternative item types (AIT) is a catch-all term, and can refer to any item type that's new or a bit different from the standard multiple choice (MC) item. AITs are sometimes called innovative item types or technology-enhanced items.

This post is the first in a planned series on AITs. In this post we’ll consider why program staff might want to add AITs to an exam program and a useful approach to designing the item types so that they will be successful. Future posts will address some popular AITs individually, along with other factors to consider when implementing new item types.