Technological issues for computer-based assessment

This chapter reviews the contribution of new information-communication technologies to the advancement of educational assessment. Improvements can be described in terms of precision in detecting the actual values of the observed variables, efficiency in collecting and processing information, and speed and frequency of feedback given to the participants and stakeholders. The chapter reviews previous research and development in two ways, describing the main tendencies in four continents (Asia, Australia, Europe and the US) as well as summarising research on how technology advances assessment in certain crucial dimensions (assessment of established constructs, extension of assessment domains, assessment of new constructs and in dynamic situations). As there is a great variety of applications of assessment in education, each one requiring different technological solutions, the chapter classifies assessment domains, purposes and contexts and identifies the technological needs and solutions for each. The chapter reviews the contribution of technology to the advancement of the entire educational evaluation process, from authoring and automatic generation and storage of items, through delivery methods (Internet-based, local server, removable media, mini-computer labs) to forms of task presentation made possible with technology for response capture, scoring and automated feedback and reporting. Finally, the chapter identifies areas for which further research and development is needed (migration strategies, security, availability, accessibility, comparability, framework and instrument compliance) and lists themes for research projects feasible for inclusion in the Assessment and Teaching of Twenty-first Century Skills project.