Innovative
scantron gives instant results
By Jack Schneider
On-line Forty-Niner
A new device is being used to take exams
in which students use a penny instead of
a pencil to get automatic results on how
each of them did.
Marketing professor David Horne has been
using a new type of scantron called the
Immediate Feedback Assesment Technique.
The IFAT is constructed with an opaque coating,
in which a student marks off an answer using
a coin, according to the Web site of creator
Michael Epstein of Ridel University in New
Jeresy.
If the scratched-off answer is correct,
a star appears. If a student answers correctly,
four points are counted to the score. If
the answer is correct next time, three points
are counted to the score, then two points
for a third try and one point for a final
marking.
Horne said that students won’t have to be
in suspense on what score they received
on an exam.
“The beauty of it is that you find out whether
or not you have the right answer, and you
know what score you get right after taking
the test,” Horne said.
Horne
first discovered the IFAT after it was featured
in a 1997 November article in The New York
Times.
Horne recently used the IFAT for his exam
in his retail concepts and policies class.
The IFAT was created by psychology professor
Michael Epstein of Ridel University in New
Jeresy.
Some students in the class said they believed
that by using the IFAT, a person’s test
score could improve.
“It makes you get more involved with the
test,” said senior marketing major Joe Ongpin.
“[The IFAT] makes you really concentrate
and motivates you to get the right answer.”
Others said they believe that using the
IFAT might take a while for student’s to
adapt to a new form of test taking.
Senior marketing major Rosemary Czopek said
that there was no change in Horne’s test
questions, but mentioned that students in
general might have to adjust to a new way
of taking tests.
“The test questions were about the same,
but since it’s new to the students, they
have to get used to a new setup,” Czopek
said.
Ongpin also said the taking the IFAT is
a little more time consuming than a normal
scantron.
“The test takes a little more time to work
on it,” Ongpin said. “For instance if you
mark down a question by accident, that question
is pretty much done.”
Horne said he believes students will appreciate
that they will get instant results on a
test using the IFAT.
“I think students will enjoy using the IFAT,”
Horne said. “It gets rid of the suspense
on finding out a grade.”
|
