Ethical+Considerations

by Angela Rupert
 * Design Considerations: **
 * Using Technology Enhanced Accommodations to Rethink Metric Variables and Linear Testing **

Metric variables can affect the validity of the assessment phase in evaluation. Extrinsic variables such as the room temperature, noise level and time of day are more feasible to control. Intrinsic factors reflect the individual. The amount of sleep, health, emotional state and cultural diversity can generate varied results in testing.

Across the nation, school districts are being held accountable to the __No Child Left Behind__ laws and __Individuals with Disabilities Education Act__ (IDEA 2004). School districts can lose government funding or worse, administrative control due to poor test scores (Gregg Corr and Ruth Ryder 2007). Federal law mandates that schools provide opportunities for testing accommodations to students with disabilities.

Higher Institutions and Corporations strive to factor assessment variables as well. Students wanting to attend institutions of higher education may fail entrance exams due to cultural, language or disability variables. Corporate human resource departments have a vested interest to produce evidence in order to justify the return on investment in training.

As the information technology hyper-culture exponentiates, online assessments are becoming more standardized for their convenience and expedience. However, very little research has been conducted on the validity and reliability of online assessments as opposed to paper and pencil standards (Shaw, S. 2008). Could online assessments be enhanced to fairly accommodate all students AND filter metric variables for those with special needs? In the article __Information Presentation for Effective E-Learning__, Dr. Richard Kordel describes how effective web learning can occur by organizing content. He illustrates a learning model of four intertwining categories (Kordel, R. 2008). 1. Creation of a learning model of the subject 2. Communication of that model 3. Web readability 4. Usability The combinations of the four categories play a role in visual perception. The usability of web interface includes the concept of learnability (Kordel, R. 2008). Individuals learning styles, cultural variables and technology experience play a role in comprehension. Learner perception is influenced by an intuitive interface. Online assessment should be purposefully planned using proven learning models to reduce metric variables among learners. The most prominent factors of web usability may be related to complex navigation, text overview and image legibility (Shaw, S. 2008). Design considerations of assessments should include variations among learner reading strategies. Online assessments provide optional accommodation designs to the instructional designer seeking to improve reading strategies through learning styles. Software authoring tools offer a variety of accommodation options for learners with visual or auditory processing difficulties. Test takers can now listen for auditory responses to hot spots through a headset. A dyslexic learner can choose a cursive font to help prevent mistakes due to letter reversal during testing.

Emotional well-being, test anxiety and stress can greatly factor metric variables. A traditional linear exam can be altered to a central graphic format where the learner can click on visual graphs to subject questions. For the learner that prefers to tackle more familiar questions at start, this can help reduce stress. A person who experiences test anxiety can have relaxing music played on a headset. A mental relaxation tutorial can be accessed before the test at the option of the user. With authoring technology, a person who is losing concentration can choose to take breaks with stimulating computer brain games between test sections.

Inclusion of English language learners on large scale assessments is a critical issue nationwide (Butler, F. A. and Stevens, R 1997). Content and test tasks must be carefully clarified. An effective assessment designer must pay close attention examples, prompts, questions and directions suggested by subject matter experts. An accommodation that allows English language learners to select key test words in their native tongue can easily be constructed. Such assessments can further be authored to track the amount of times that the English language learner relied on reverting to their language of origin in order to measure English confidence proficiency.

Ethical considerations with assessment accommodations should be further researched with individual variations as a valid and reliable alternative to mainstream testing. Currently, K-12 assessments are only available for students with Individualized Education Plans. Students that are eligible for IEP's must demonstrate a significant discrepancy between mainstream students in order to qualify for accommodations. Linear testing strategies are emphasized even though studies show that human brains are not linear in structure (U.S. Department of Education 1997). With so much at stake, studies of mainstreamed assessments with testing accommodations for all populations should be conducted with the highest of priorities. Test accommodation strategies should be taught instead of funneling and re-wiring brains to be linear and standardized. Individuals should be directed towards personal learning style accommodations to tackle tests. The viewpoint that tests must be as identical as possible to be reliable and fair should be challenged.

In conclusion, keep in mind that assessments in general should always be treated as a tool to provide insight into how minds assimilate and retain information. The future of test reliability should be considered for future research at the evaluation phase as test analysts need more clearly defined metric interpretation methods.
 * References**

Shaw, S. (2008). Essay Marking On-Screen: Implications for Assessment Validity. //E-Learning//, //5//(3), 256-274. Retrieved July 10, 2010, from [] Butler, F. A. and Stevens, R (1997). Accommodation Strategies for English Language Learners on Large-Scale Assessments: Student Characteristics and Other Considerations. //CSE Technical Report 448.// Retrieved July 10, 2010, from [] Benson, P. J. (2001). The More Things Change. . .Paper Is Still With Us //The Journal of Electronic Publishing// vol. 7, no. 2, Dec., 2001. Retrieved July 10, 2010, from [|http://quod.lib.umich.edu/cgi/t/text/text- idx?c=jep;view=text;rgn=main;idno=3336451.0007.205] Kordel, R. (2008). Information Presentation for Effective E-Learning educause quarterly//, // vol. 31, no. 4 (October–December 2008) Retrieved July 10, 2010, from [|http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolu m/InformationPresentationforEffe/163438] Gregg Corr and Ruth Ryder (RIM 2007) Presentation: Monitoring, TA and Enforcement //U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs 3.29.07// Retrieved July 10, 2010, from [] Building the Legacy: IDEA (2004) //Idea Partnership//. Web. Retrieved July 10, 2010, from [|http://www.ideapartnership.org/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=1344 &oseppage=1] Making Connections: How Children Learn. Read With Me - A Guide for Student Volunteers Starting Early Childhood Literacy Programs (1997) //U.S. Department of Education//. Web. Retrieved July 10, 2010, from []