Academic Assessment Services

The following tools and services are supported by Academic Technology Services:

Visit the Canvas, Instructure website for instructions on setting up Quizzes:

Gradescope speeds up the grading process in multiple ways and helps instructors to grade more consistently. It also allows instructors to quickly see which issues are most prevalent among students.

Visit the ATS Gradescope support site for more information.

Visit the ATS Respondus site for more information and resources for using these tools in your courses:

  • Respondus is an application that lets instructors create and manage exams that can be printed to paper or published directly to Canvas. Over 2,000 publisher test banks are available to Respondus users.
  • Respondus LockDown Browser and Monitor are tools that canlock down the testing environment within Canvas for securing online exams in classrooms or proctored environments.

Factors to Consider

Respondus Monitor requires student to look straight at the camera without looking away. As a result, this requires having a computer with a microphone and camera (and sometimes more than one camera), strong and reliable Wi-Fi, a quiet room to be alone for the duration of the exam, and no interruptions to best replicate the experience of a proctored exam in a classroom. These factors can impact students’ abilities to perform in remote exams. 

Students Concerns

All of these concerns may effect students during assessments but may be more profound if remote exams are required:

  • Privacy. Being recorded may feel like an invasion of privacy. Visit Student Privacy in Online Learning for guidance on this topic.
  • Disability. In these cases, check in with students with disabilities so they feel comfortable asking questions. and work with BMAC to identify suitable alternative activities and assessments for students who need accommodations.
  • Religious reasons
  • Lack of technology hardware/software
  • Housing insecurity / Crowded living conditions

Not all students will be able to create this environment from their remote testing location. Please review the list of Alternative Assessments on this page for other options if you determine that your students may have concerns in the areas mentioned. 

Qualtrics is a web-based survey tool for conducting survey research, evaluations and other data collection activities. It is open to all CSULB students, staff, and faculty. Download the data collected for analysis in SPSS, SAS, Minitab or other statistical software products.

Scantron scanners are located throughout the campus and in Academic Technology Services (AS 120). For a scanner near you, review the CSULB List of Scanner Locations. Students must use the appropriate Scantron forms, which they can purchase in the campus bookstore (Departments are not required to buy forms). Popular forms include the 815-E, 882-E, 882-E LOVAS, 886-E LOVAS and the item analysis form 9700.

The Scantron Model 888P+ is an optical mark reader (OMR) and is fast, scoring up to 2000 tests per hour. It is a stand-alone machine and is not connected to any computer or printer.

SPOT is an assessment instrument used at CSULB to provide student feedback on faculty teaching behaviors. Faculty Affairs implements SPOT policies; Academic Technology Services provides equipment and staff to support the distribution and collection of assessment forms.

 

On Remote Assessments

Remote exams require planning, setup, and the proper environments. Students may need advance notice to find the resources they need to manage their exam environments. Practice sessions are recommended to give students the opportunity to adapt to the exam conditions. It may be helpful to consider alternative formats for assessing learning:

  • Non-traditional paper or project: offer students to write a paper on “real-world” relevance
  • Student-proposed project: students choose a topic they are interested in
  • Series of quizzes: Multiple, low-stakes quizzes
  • Student developed quiz questions: A good learning activity as well
  • Open-book assessments: May motivate students to take good notes. May feel more realistic to students.
  • Professional presentation: These are harder to cheat on than a written paper.
  • Peer-and self-review activity: Provide students with a rubric. Self-review activities allow for personal reflection.
  • Group project: Individual accountability is key for group projects. Have students grade each other’s participation anonymously.