The Opscan Evaluation unit provides a variety of test scoring and analysis services to the Illinois State University community with an emphasis on instructionally focused jobs. Generally, scanning is a two step process. The first is data collection where the scanners read the darkened bubbles on the form and write that information to a data file. The second is data processing that puts the collected data in a usable format. In addition to test scoring, our office scans forms and provides output for some research and institutional evaluations. For tests, we offer several choices in the output instructors may receive ranging from "scoring only" to more detailed analyses that can reveal problematic questions. Careful examination of a test's statistics can lead to better test construction that more accurately measures student performance, as well as instructional strengths and weaknesses. Opscan Evaluation staff members are trained in interpreting these statistics and are available to explain output to instructors and answer any questions they may have. In FY04 we scanned and processed 8,321 tests. For course evaluations in FY04, we processed 91 jobs, totaling 109,378 sheets. In addition, during FY04 we distributed 574,410 Opscan forms.
In FY00, Opscan Evaluation was moved from the University Assessment Office to the Center for the Advancement of Teaching (now the Center for Teaching, Learning & Technology), which involved a location change from Julian Hall to the Instructional Technology & Development Center. In late August, the installation of custom NCS software that allows test processing to be done locally on personal computers (PCs) rather than through the mainframe occurred. In addition to providing more readable and convenient output (laser printed 8.5 x 11 sheets, rather than 11 x 14 greenbar), processing tests locally allows us to provide results for instructors in under 10-15 minutes on average.
