CBA ItemBuilder Workshop: Session 14

Ulf Kroehne

Paris, 2022/11/07 - 2022/11/08

Session 14: Hands on ‘Finite-State Machine (2)’

Overview Session 14

Explore Real-Life Item

  • Number Series Task

Options

  • Time-restricted tasks?
  • Navigation using states linked to pages?
  • Navigation using embedded pages?
  • Specific components?
  • …

Explore Real-Life Item: Number Series Task

  • Number series are typical item format for cognitive functioning.
  • Example task for an assessment on touch screens (i.e., no keyboard necessary).
  • Adaptive Design:
    • A (all test-taker)
    • B1 (if score in A == 0)
    • B2 (if score in A == 1)
    • B3 (if score in A == 2)
  • No real items (but similar 8 items, see here for more information)

Number Series – Hands-on Instructions 1

CBA ItemBuilder Project File NumberSeriesExample.zip

  • Open NumberSeriesExample.zip and save it to NumberSeriesExampleImproved.zip.
  • Rename the project (file name should be identical to the project name without .zip).
  • Preview the project.
  • Explore the (i.e., pages and finite-state machine syntax, variables, …)

Improvement 1: Show the Current Item Position (1., 2., 3. or 4.)

  • Find a variable that identifies which item is shown at the moment.
  • Add a new map to the item with the name ItemDisplayName.
  • Define the map in a way that the item position within a test can be shown to the test-taker.
  • Add one MapBasedVariableDisplay that uses the existing variable and the map to show the item position.

Number Series – Hands-on Instructions 2

Improvement 2: Disable Delete-Button when Input is Empty

Step 1: Disable Delete-Button when Input is Empty in Regular Items

  • Define the User Defined Id for the Delete-button.
  • Add setFrozen(PA_Keys.btDelete) to the start rule.
  • Add unsetFrozen(PA_Keys.btDelete) to the rules, that change the variable set(V_CurrentPosition,2).
  • Add setFrozen(PA_Keys.btDelete) to the rules, that change the variable set(V_CurrentPosition,1)

Step 2: Disable Delete-Button when Input is Empty in the Demo Item

  • Name the page are for the demo item.
  • Add the necessary unsetFrozen/setFrozen operators.

Goal:

  • What else would you like to improve?

Your Choice

The CBA ItemBuilder provides the functionalities described in this workshop and thus allows a certain degree of freedom for creating innovative items.

Do you have item ideas that fit into this framework?

Sketch an item idea

  • Pages/views: What should be visible?
  • Links/interactions: How should test-takers interact with the content?
  • Input components: How would test-takers answer/show knowledge?
  • Process: What could serve as an indicator for diagnostic evidence?
  • …

Dynamic part

  • How should pages change according to user input or time?
  • How map-based variable displays could be used?
  • …?

End of Session 14: Hands-on ‘FSM 2’

  • Let’s talk about scoring of items in the next session 15.