Academic institutions are continually challenged to provide added value for their students and to serve community needs on limited budgets. The NCTA model of re-purposing computer labs during non-academic peak periods for secure commercial testing is a creative example of how schools address these challenges. New testing technology and alternative test delivery options, however, are eroding testing volumes for NCTA test sites.

Computer-based Event Testing (CBET) provides academic institutions with the opportunity to extend the NCTA testing model to underutilized auditoriums and classrooms, using tablets/other mobile devices, the Internet, and on-site proctoring. This approach expands secure test delivery options to support campus testing needs, and introduces the ability to attract larger volume commercial testing programs to generate new revenue streams.

This presentation will define three CBET delivery models: real-time Internet delivery, private LAN delivery, and pre-loaded tablets/mobile devices. Testing vendor and academic institution roles and the requirements to become a CBET testing site will be addressed, including Internet requirements, device options and proctoring.

New, patent pending technology to address the unique security challenges of CBET also will be discussed, including Computer Proximity Delivery™ that uses technology to locate testing devices within the room, determine their relative proximity, and control test delivery in a manner to assure that candidates seated within viewable screen distance/defined proximity are never presented the same exam question simultaneously.

Conference Track: Testing Technology

Have you heard from your NCTA colleagues about their online appointment system and need to know what questions to ask to make a choice for your institution? Are you struggling to keep up with the myriad of testing related responsibilities that your institution continues to heap on? Do you need help making the most of your limited staffing? Do you want your test candidates to have the ability to pay online before taking their tests? Or are you simply looking for an organized way to track your testing business?

If you answered yes to any of these, this session will show you how RegisterBlast is being used at various institutions including Miami Dade College to deal with these very issues. You will learn about real scenarios and solutions that can help you make the best decision for your institution. You will also learn about the latest enhancements to RegisterBlast as well as what is on the horizon. This session is designed for the novice and seasoned testing professionals alike who have an interest in online appointment systems for testing.

Conference Track: Testing Technology

Join the International Code Council (ICC) as we give traditional testing and credentialing a makeover to keep up with changes in the way people learn and develop. Assessment-based certificates layering with certifications, internet-based testing, nano-degrees, and more: learn from our journey into disrupting the way we've always done things. As a case study of an association that has made the leap into innovative technologies, take away some best practices we've attained through trial and error and learn from what we wish we had done differently. Attendees will come away with ideas to expand the available opportunities for testing in their own centers and how to keep up with today's educational models.

Conference Track: Testing Technology

How can artificial intelligence (AI) technologies prepare students for college, increase retention rates, and help students learn what's most important?

In today's educational landscape, colleges are confronted with ever-changing and complex issues, all the while managing shrinking budgets. In this session, learn how sophisticated AI technologies seamlessly ingest and interpret faculty created curricular content stored in LMSs and blend those resources with additional learning objects to provide students access to the most trusted resources to enhance and tailor their learning experience. Then, let's go one step further: these AI technologies now automatically trigger personalized, adaptive and self-paced learning pathways for each student, designed to increase proficiency in areas where intervention is needed most. Plus, big data cognitive computing capabilities now put controls at the fingertips of administrators to better understand competencies taught (when, courses, professors, academic year), competencies tested, and student proficiency levels.

While implementations vary from embedding AI technology directly into a college's LMS to a complete, stand-alone system, perhaps the implementation of most interest to Community Colleges is as an add-on to placement testing. This presentation will overview how AI technology can interpret data and student performance on placement tests, then automatically launch an adaptive learning pathway, unique and personalized for a student. The Learning Pathways will be activated for all competencies in which a student was unable to demonstrate proficiency. The Learning Pathways contain (a) instruction, (b) practice, and (c) performance sections, and cycle until performance meets the expected goal.

Session participants will learn (1) about advanced, artificial intelligence technologies and their impact on student learning, (2) how adaptive learning pathways automatically trigger based on placement performance and target competencies in most need of intervention, (3) how AI solutions can help make content stored in LMSs more accessible, and (4) will be introduced to cognitive computing technologies related to curricular content and student proficiency.

Conference Track: Testing Technology