Introduction

The testing industry, as well as governmental initiatives within countries, are driving the improvement of the assessment with technology-enhanced items (TEIs).  TEIs are innovative item types that seek to leverage the new possibilities provided by computer-based assessment.  Examples include drag-and-drop of text statements, inline editing, hotspots, drag-and-drop on images, number lines, proofreading, and equation editing.  We need to ensure that these are developed with quality psychometrics in mind.

Objectives

TEIs receive a lot of attention due to their potential for increasing examinee engagement through interactivity as well as the coolness factor.  Because of this, most of the discussion around TEIs focuses on visual aspects like authoring and delivery.  But let’s not forget that the real reason for their existence is to improve measurement quality.  In addition to the user interface, TEI authoring needs to be built around solid psychometrics and robust scoring algorithms.  Our objectives are to describe and evaluate a number of TEIs, understand the role that measurement models play in developing TEIs, and discuss the factors that contribute to writing quality TEIs.

Design

This presentation will provide a very brief overview of item response theory, and then discuss how it can be applied to TEIs to ensure that tests can be effectively scored, analyzed, and equated.  This also requires a discussion on how standard thought on paper-based items needs to be reconfigured for this opportunity to improve assessment.

Results and Conclusions

We will present the results of item response theory calibrations of TEIs, and evaluate fit as well as item statistics, and contribution to the overall measurement.  We will also discuss experiences amongst attendees in working with TEIs.