USING COMPUTER-BASED SCENARIOS TO ASSESS COMPLEX KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS

Assessing student performance is not only one of the most challenging tasks a school has before it, it is also one of the most important. As we aspire to teach our students more and more complex skills in schools, the job of assessment becomes that much more challenging. We have moved beyond a time when simple multiple choice exams are enough to assess this complex knowledge. At the same time, we have moved beyond the scale at which individualized assessments, like oral, essay, or observed performance exams, are efficient enough to be utilized. We have come to the point where we must develop an efficient, objective assessment method which is complex and robust enough to assess knowledge and skills necessary to succeed in our modern world. This paper will detail a proposal for implementing an interactive scenario-based assessment system, which aims to address these concerns. It is designed to allow students to troubleshoot complex scenarios, ask diagnostic questions, and make diagnoses. Students receive feedback each step of the way, aiding them in navigating through a decision tree to solve the problem at hand. All the while, the choices that the student makes are tracked and scored based on predetermined, objective values. A final analysis of the student’s choices and decisions are used to assign a grade or proficiency level and provide feedback to the student and instructor. This proposed system is efficient, flexible, objective, and able to encompass the complexities of complex knowledge and skills. A functioning mock-up of the proposed system will be presented