But logistical problems may keep the system, which is in place this semester, from being an advantage for students, according to members of the Committee on Faculty.,”
On the surface, it sounds easy enough: The new test answer scanning system implemented by Information Technology Services will have students' names and MUID numbers on them to avoid those mistakes on the exams.
But logistical problems may keep the system, which is in place this semester, from being an advantage for students, according to members of the Committee on Faculty. Their concerns have sent ITS back to the drawing board to modify the new scanning program.
At COF's Thursday meeting, member Michelle Mynlieff, an associate professor of biological sciences who teaches lecture hall classes in the fall, said she was concerned that handing out the tests in her class of 300 would mar an exam. She said in a follow-up interview with the Tribune Monday that calling out each student's name to distribute the tests would take time away from the exam.
"If you take time away from the test, students will blame the professor," she said. She had suggested at the meeting that ITS have blank, instead of preprinted, forms available.
"We are working with the vendor to allow printing of blank sheets; this however, may reintroduce additional scan errors," said Dan Smith, senior director of ITS, in an e-mail follow-up interview with the Tribune.
A way of avoiding the lengthy handouts, such as handing out the tests during the class prior, was dismissed by members of COF because, among other reasons, students could easily lose or damage the test sheets, rendering them unusable.
Smith said at the meeting that results of the exams could now be e-mailed in a large document to the teacher, eliminating the need to go to Cudahy Hall, where ITS is centered, to pick up the test score printouts.
The previous exam scanning system, according to Smith, was used on an old mainframe that has been used since the 1970s. Because there was no longer any support for the old system, ITS is phasing it out and replacing it with another application, Smith said in a Monday e-mail interview with the Tribune.
Faculty were consulted in summer 2005 to help develop the new system, Smith said. After the vendor developed the program, ITS again consulted faculty for feedback and suggestions, Smith said.
Among the advantages were that log-ins to the system were the same as for CheckMarq, D2L and eMarq, Smith said.
The preprinted forms are designed to eliminate student errors when filling in MUID numbers, Smith said. The new forms were designed at the faculty's request in the hope of reducing scanning errors.
Indeed, incorrectly filled-in exams are a constant problem, Mynlieff said, with 2 percent to 3 percent of students making the error in a typical exam. If a student would make an error, Mynlieff would have to find the student's name so the grade could be counted, she said.
In other COF news, a discussion of a proposal for shared governance involving the merger of COF and the Academic Senate is tentatively planned for the February meeting, according to Kristy Nielson, COF chair and assistant chair of psychology.
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