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From: "Richard A. Laden" <[log in to unmask]>

To: <[log in to unmask]>

Subject: on-line placement testing (ADVTSG)

Date: October 24, 2014 at 3:40:31 PM EDT

Whenever I read inquiries such as the recent one about on-line assessment, I wonder whether the faculty involved have considered the possibility of using software such as E-LangLab’s LangLab PASSPORT to create, administer, and evaluate their own placement and progress tests for the levels of proficiency corresponding to the specific organization of language courses at their institution. LangLab exemplifies software that can be used not only in a lab or classroom but also over the Internet, since any computer using Windows or OS X on which LangLab is installed can connect to a server of the institution from anywhere in the world an Internet connection is available. Salient points:

• Lessons can be tests kept hidden until the instructor chooses to reveal them, and then hidden again after use.
• It is easy to create “courses” that are for placement rather than regular instruction.
• With a site license valid for a stipulated number of students, an institution can let any number of prospective or current students install LangLab (with a file pointing it to the institution’s server), and an institution can quickly add these students as needed to the roster of such a course, thereby making the test accessible to them, and remove them afterward, replacing them with another batch of students.
• Faculty can create rigorous and realistic tests for placement or assessment of progress that involve all language skills, including cultural familiarity (using such resources as images, video clips, etc. that can be launched at the click of a button); items of the test can draw on combinations of skills.
• To prevent students for distorting accurate assessment by practicing for particular questions, an instructor can impose time limits for items and consult a report of time spent by each student to ascertain whether these limits have been respected.
• For students already enrolled in courses, it is easy for the instructor to verify progress by comparing oral and written work for past lessons (retrievable from pull-down menus) to work for the most recent lessons, including tests.
• Instructors can retrieve and evaluate students’ work and provide feedback, including oral comments if desired, using a computer at home or in an office (or, indeed, from anywhere in the world).
• LangLab is so much more affordable than other solutions of its type that an institution can defray the cost of a site license in a short period of time by charging students a modest fee for placement tests.

Those interested might look at the presentation of LangLab on our web site, www.elanglab.com. The How It Works section explains what each module does, and one can click on the name of each to see its screens and the detail of its functions. I’d be happy to respond to any questions about use of LangLab for placement or assessment of progress.

 

     --Richard Laden

________________________________
Dr, Richard A, Laden
Director, E-LangLab, LLC
Berkeley, California, U.S.A.
Web www.elanglab.com

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