--- 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 ------------------ 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