IMPLEMENTING THE TECHNOLOGY CHALLENGE

The Technology Challenge is an online, performance-based series of exercises that measure computer proficiencies in common software applications. At the end of every exercise, participants earn a credential that documents their skill proficiencies. The Challenge can be used as:

• a self-guided learning tutorial
• a training or professional development experience
• a pre- and post- training assessment
• a self-assessment exercise
• a test-out instrument
• a more formalized assessment that determines the computer skill proficiencies of proctored participants
• a timed exercise that measures efficiencies as well as proficiencies

The Challenge is appropriate for college students, middle or high school students (grades 7 and up), teachers (in-service or pre-service) or current and/or future employees.

The Technology Challenge consists of a series of skills assessments that measure proficiencies in common software applications (word processing, spreadsheet, presentation, and database software applications as well as Internet usage). Because Technology Challenge subscriptions provide unlimited access to all Challenges, participants can practice and hone their skills repeatedly until they are ready for a final assessment. There are also assessments designed to meet federal mandates.

When a participant completes a Challenge exercise, the website generates a printable credential that documents proficiencies achieved. Each credential is stamped with time of completion and a unique participant identifier number. Credentials earned during a proctored Challenge have space for an institutional seal and proctor signature.

The Challenge is a very versatile instrument. Instructors can use the Challenge in a classroom to measure pre/post training proficiencies or as a ‘test-out’ instrument. The Challenge can function as online interactive curriculum for a computer software class since it instructs as well as assesses.

Taking the Challenge

Questions on the Challenge evaluate applied skills, defining not just what the participant knows, but what he or she knows how to do. The skills component/database of questions allows the teacher or traininer to choose from several different levels of difficulty in a variety of computer applications.

Challenge questions are presented in random order, so users at adjacent machines rarely see the same question at the same time. The Challenge reviews responses and returns data about right/wrong answers to the user instantaneously. When the correct answer is selected, users are told ‘You are Correct’ and are provided with a rationale for the correct answer. Every question answered incorrectly is returned to the pool of questions offered to that specific user until the question is answered correctly. When a question is answered incorrectly, the participant’s score is reduced accordingly.

Challenge Sequence

Challenge exercises are not for individuals who have never used a computer. Certain basic computer skills are assumed. For example, participants should know how to launch programs, open/close/manipulate screen windows, use the mouse, click and double click and point-click-drag. Challenges are organized by estimated skill level and application.

Credentials and Reports

Credentials and reports generated by the Challenge reflect the product’s versatility. The Challenge produces individual e-certificates, group-level reports, and category weakness summaries. The individual certificate documents the level of the completed Challenge, the score received (calculated by a predetermined mathematic formula), and whether that score represents an Average, Above Average or Below Average skill level. The certificate also records the time of completion and is stamped with a unique identification number. A teacher, instructor, or proctor can register a group of learners and can monitor and evaluate the group’s performance during the Challenge experience through the use of a real-time virtual group report and final group summary of performance. Instructors can monitor their group’s performance even more closely by designating Challenges as ‘proctored.’ In a proctored environment, individual users cannot access their Challenges without the instructor’s concurrent login. In this more formally monitored situation, the Challenge produces a printable e-Certificate that accommodates the signature of the instructor and organization stamp/seal, thus verifying that the individual named on the credential completed the exercise. The Challenge generates the same group reports under either the proctored or non-proctored category.

District-level reports are available only to district-level administration for an additional fee. These reports provide an aggregate data picture of student performance on every Challenge from all schools within the district that are using the Technology Challenge.

Benchmarking Progress

The Challenge can be used to benchmark progress over time in one of three ways:

• Attempt the various and increasingly difficult Challenges, each of which documents an expanding capacity to manipulate computer applications.
• Take the Challenge and set a baseline of performance in a score that might be, at first, below average or average. Learn more, and take the Challenge again, until an above average proficiency level is achieved.
• Take the Challenge within a proctored, timed environment, and strive to achieve a proficiency level under a specified time constraint.

For Teachers, Trainers and Organizations

The Challenge can be used as curriculum to support learning opportunities, as a performance assessment to gauge basic computer literacy, as a pre- or post-training assessment, or as a ‘test-out’ option for training placement. The various reporting levels available through the Challenge can help teachers, trainers or organizations evaluate knowledge gaps, define training needs, and make more informed decisions about teaching and training resources.