--- Forwarded Message from Judy Shoaf <[log in to unmask]> ---

>Date: Thu, 16 Aug 2001 08:09:40 -0400
>To: Language Learning and Technology International Information Forum               <[log in to unmask]>
>From: Judy Shoaf <[log in to unmask]>
>Subject: Re: #6244 ETS and digital audio

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I spent a good deal of time on the phone in Spring 2000 with a woman (I
forget her name) who was clearly very competent and understood the evolution
of ETS policies. We were contemplating the switch to digital, too, and as a
result of my conversation we designed our committment to administer the TSE
so that it would end this June, when the digital lab would replace the
heroic old Sony cassette lab.

My impression is that ETS is working to figure out how to administer the
test digitally but they are aiming for a single protocol tht would allow
tests to be administered and shipped to them from every country where
TSE/TOEFL is administered (I think she mentioned the Himalayas). They are
not interested in working out one protocol for digital labs and another for
cassette labs; I think what they want is their own secure interface so that
students can  log on and record their voices in a timed context, then have
them automatically collected and sent to Princeton (or wherever). I gather
this is what they have done for the TOEFL and some other tests that involve
other types of data, but of course audio files are a bigger package for the
networks to handle.

On the other hand, after nightmare administrations of TSE and Speak on the
failing Sony console (where one booth after another would lose contact over
the course of the test), we were able to give our first Speak on the new
digital lab and it went beautifully!  

Judy Shoaf
University of Florida