2.3 Innovative Item Types / Technology-Enhanced Items (TEI)

New item formats for computer-based assessment are called Innovative Item Formats (e.g., Sireci and Zenisky 2015; Wools, Molenaar, and Hopster-den Otter 2019) or Technology-Enhanced Items (TEI, e.g, Bryant 2017), and early attempts defined innovative item formats as items using capabilities not available in paper-based assessment (e.g., Parshall 2002). Innovations through computer-based assessment were also described along the dimensions of Complexity (A=less complex to D=more complex) and Constraintness (1=fully selected to 7=fully constructed) (see Figure 2.4 and Figure 1 in Scalise and Gifford 2006).

FIGURE 2.4: Item illustrating different item formats described in (Scalise and Gifford 2006, html|ib).

Since the early attempts to define innovative item formats, research practice has produced many forms of simulation-based, authentic, and interactive assessments in recent years. Examples created with the CBA ItemBuilder include:

• Assessment of ICT literacy with simulations (see, for instance, Fig. 6.2 in Goldhammer and Kroehne 2020)
• Evaluation of online information Hahnel, Jung, and Goldhammer (2023)
• Complex problem solving (see, for instance, Fig 1 in Tóth et al. 2014)
• Technical problem solving (see, for instance, Fig 1 in Stemmann 2016)
• Highlighting as response format (e.g., for PIAAC, Schnitzler et al. 2013; and for the National Educational Panel Study, NEPS, Heyne et al. 2020)
• Multiple Document Literacy (e.g., Fig 1 in Hahnel et al. 2019)
• … (to be continued) …

References

Bryant, William. 2017. “Developing a Strategy for Using Technology-Enhanced Items in Large-Scale Standardized Tests.” https://doi.org/10.7275/70YB-DJ34.

Goldhammer, Frank, and U. Kroehne. 2020. “Computerbasiertes Assessment.” In Testtheorie und Fragebogenkonstruktion, edited by Helfried Moosbrugger and Augustin Kelava, 119–41. Berlin, Heidelberg: Springer Berlin Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-662-61532-4_6.

Hahnel, Carolin, Alexander J. Jung, and Frank Goldhammer. 2023. “Theory Matters: An Example of Deriving Process Indicators From Log Data to Assess Decision-Making Processes in Web Search Tasks.” European Journal of Psychological Assessment 39 (4): 271–79. https://doi.org/10.1027/1015-5759/a000776.

Hahnel, Carolin, Ulf Kroehne, Frank Goldhammer, Cornelia Schoor, Nina Mahlow, and Cordula Artelt. 2019. “Validating Process Variables of Sourcing in an Assessment of Multiple Document Comprehension.” British Journal of Educational Psychology, April, bjep.12278. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjep.12278.

Heyne, Nora, Cordula Artelt, Timo Gnambs, Karin Gehrer, and Cornelia Schoor. 2020. “Instructed Highlighting of Text Passages Indicator of Reading or Strategic Performance?” Lingua 236 (March): 102803. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.lingua.2020.102803.

Parshall, Cynthia G., ed. 2002. Practical Considerations in Computer-Based Testing. New York: Springer.

Scalise, Kathleen, and Bernard Gifford. 2006. “Computer-Based Assessment in E-learning: A Framework for Constructing" Intermediate Constraint" Questions and Tasks for Technology Platforms.” The Journal of Technology, Learning and Assessment 4 (6).

Schnitzler, Maya, R. Baumann, Barkow, I., and Heiko Rölke. 2013. “Chapter 5: Development of the Cognitive Items.” In.

Sireci, Stephen G, and April L Zenisky. 2015. “Innovative Item Formats in Computer-Based Testing: In Pursuit of Improved Construct Representation.” In Handbook of Test Development, 313–34. Routledge.

Stemmann, Jennifer. 2016. “Technische Problemlösekompetenz Im Alltag - Theoretische Entwicklung Und Empirische Prüfung Des Kompetenzkonstruktes Problemlösen Im Umgang Mit Technischen Geräten.” PhD thesis.

Tóth, Krisztina, Heiko Rölke, Samuel Greiff, and Sascha Wüstenberg. 2014. “Discovering Students’ Complex Problem Solving Strategies in Educational Assessment.” In Proceedings of the 7th International Conference on Educational Data Mining.(pp. 225-228). International Educational Data Mining Society.

Wools, Saskia, Mark Molenaar, and Dorien Hopster-den Otter. 2019. “The Validity of Technology Enhanced Assessments and Opportunities.” In Theoretical and Practical Advances in Computer-based Educational Measurement, edited by Bernard P. Veldkamp and Cor Sluijter, 3–19. Cham: Springer International Publishing. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-18480-3_1.