London (UK), May 2013 - "What's the first thing the author of a test should do? If you think that writing the first question is a good way to start, think again," explains Questionmark's Doug Peterson. A new white paper from assessment technologies and services provider Questionmark offers instructional designers, test authors, and other learning professionals valuable tips for creating high-quality tests efficiently - starting with careful planning rather than writing any test items.
Five Steps to Better Tests explains best practices for five key processes:
Questionmark Product Owner Doug Peterson, who wrote the white paper, has extensive experience in workforce development. His previous roles included researching and writing IT training materials, authoring self-paced eLearning courses, developing online assessments, and teaching in the classroom as well as online.
"Following good practices in creating assessment makes for trustable results," says Peterson. "This white paper should help readers start out right by carefully planning their tests to establish validity and reliability – and following through with careful attention to the quality of test items and overall content, secure delivery, and thorough analysis of the results. The paper reflects our desire not only to provide tools and technologies for delivering and analyzing assessments, but also to create learning resources that help people make effective use of them."
