~By Tom Penniston & Mariann Hawken

* Image by storyset on Freepik

A new series of FAQs on the Akindi Importer is now available. Supported question types include multiple choice, multiple answer, open ended question, fill in the blank, and matching. 

The Akindi Importer is particularly useful for faculty who wish to create large Blackboard question pools efficiently and quickly. Instead of manually creating one question at a time, faculty can create assessment questions in Microsoft Word and use the Akindi Importer (via web browser) to upload the resulting QTI file to the course. Once imported, the Akindi QTI file may be used with other assessment features such as randomization of questions or answers, and random blocks that limit the number of questions displayed from a pool. Unlike Respondus 4.0, Akindi Importer is available to all faculty regardless of their desktop's operating system.

Last year, DoIT announced the pilot of a tool called Akindi, which serves as a Scantron alternative and allows instructors to print and score bubble sheets from any local printer/scanner. There has been nearly full campus-wide adoption since this time (while faculty also continue to use Blackboard for online exams). In Fall 2019, the TSC graded 354 Scantron tests. In just two years, that number was down to 16 tests scored in Fall 2021, and we've only graded 4 tests during the current term. At the same time, we've seen 52 faculty members deploy Akindi in their courses across 242 assessments, and scanning nearly 21,000 bubble sheets. On April 1, Jordan Wilson scanned Akindi's 9 millionth bubble sheet from Exam 1 in their CHEM 102L Introductory Chemistry Lab course.

~By Tom Penniston & Collin Sullivan

The quantitative data, as illustrated below in Figure 1, indicate that faculty teaching larger courses and those teaching courses with high percentages of the overall grade contingent on a small number of tests (i.e., high-stakes testing) are considerably more concerned about academic integrity. Also, the survey's open responses suggest instructors believe assessments are important, but were not of a single voice in regards to balancing formative and summative approaches in face-to-face and virtual environments.

The majority of respondents (59%) taught classes of 50 or fewer students, and about one in five (19%) taught classes with more than 100 students. Additionally, of those instructors teaching courses with at least half of their students' final grades determined by high-stakes tests, 72% agreed or strongly agreed that "Academic integrity on high-stake assessments is a major concern in my course(s)." That same level of sentiment is shared with less than half (49%) of instructors with grading schemas that are not as dependent on high-stakes testing.

In short, faculty vary in their approach to testing, but there are similarities based on course enrollment size and discipline/college. Also, adoption of a testing center could potentially benefit faculty conducting testing, particularly in high-stakes/enrollment environments to support academic integrity and accessibility needs.

[1] As one respondent points out, "Many institutions also offer disability accommodations within a broader testing center, which helps to reduce stigma for students with disabilities."

[2] About one in five respondents are now offering fewer high stakes tests since the pandemic shift to online learning.

~By Tom Penniston