The document describes the IMPACCT (Interactive Package for the Assessment of Communication & Critical Thinking), an online assessment tool for measuring students' communication and critical thinking skills. It provides sample assessment items that measure constructs like interpersonal communication competence, computer-mediated communication competence, group/leadership competence, and public speaking competence. The tool also provides personalized profile reports that compare students' self-assessments to peer assessments and population averages, and that track changes over time.

1. IMPACCT Created & Adapted by Spitzberg (2005) Interactive Package for the Assessment of Communication & Critical Thinknig

7. 3. The 9-dot problem: With the mouse and line-drawing tool, connect all 9 dots with each other with 4 and only 4 completely straight lines. To solve this problem, you literally have to think “outside of the box.” We tend to think in terms of familiar objects, such as “boxes” or rooms, project the properties of a container onto these 9 dots, and then act as if there are “sides” or walls to the box that constrain our lines. 3 1 2 4

8. 4. How many squares are in the figure below? 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21 22 23 24 25 26 27 28 29 30 31 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 40 People often miss the correct answer on this problem due to lack of motivation to find all the boxes. Once a large number has been found, it often “seems good enough.” Answer: 40

10. 6. Which of the following diagrams best represents the following proposition: As critical thinking ability increases, G.P.A. increases? In pursuing a more scientific understanding of the world, it is important to recognize both the types of relations things have to one another, but how our language about these relationships represents the “territory” of those relationships. The form here is: As X increases, Y increases, or X is positively related to Y. This is better reflected on the next slide. A B C D Hi Critical Thinking Ability Lo 1.0 4.0 G.P.A. Hi Critical Thinking Ability Lo 1.0 4.0 G.P.A. Hi Critical Thinking Ability Lo 1.0 4.0 G.P.A. Hi Critical Thinking Ability Lo 1.0 4.0 G.P.A.

11. Hi Critical Thinking Ability Lo 1.0 4.0 G.P.A. Someone who was low in critical thinking ability (CTA) would also tend to be lower in G.P.A. Someone who was moderate in CTA would also tend to be moderate in G.P.A. Someone who was higher in CTA would also tend to be higher in G.P.A. The line therefore represents graphically what the proposition stated verbally—As critical thinking ability increases, G.P.A. increases. In General Semantics terms, both the verbal and visual maps better represent the territory. 6. continued…

12. 7. What is the maximum number of times, without covering any square more than once, that the figure below can fill in the spaces of the puzzle? Spatial rotation helps to figure out the solution in the same way that jigsaw puzzles often operate by shape of the “map” piece rather than knowledge of the “territory” being reproduced. Answer: 5 1 2 3 4 5

15. SCALING: People differ quite a bit in terms of how skilled they are at communicating. For the following statements, we would like you to estimate, compared to typical conversationalists you encounter, how skilled you are … COMPARED TO TYPICAL CONVERSATIONALISTS YOU ENCOUNTER, I AM… 1 = EXTREMELY BELOW AVERAGE SKILL in my … 2 = MODERATELY BELOW AVERAGE SKILL in my… 3 = SLIGHTLY BELOW AVERAGE SKILL in my… 4 = AVERAGE SKILL in my… 5 = SLIGHTLY ABOVE AVERAGE SKILL in my… 6 = MODERATELY ABOVE AVERAGE SKILL in my… 7 = EXTREMELY ABOVE AVERAGE SKILL in my…

17. COMPUTER-MEDIATED COMMUNICATION COMPETENCE: SKILLS: COORDINATION __19. I know when and how to close down a topic of conversation in CMC dialogues. ATTENTIVENESS __23. I ask questions of the other person in my CMC. EXPRESSIVENESS __27. I am very articulate and vivid in my CMC messages. COMPOSURE __31. I display a lot of certainty in the way I write my CMC messages.

23. NETWORK-BASED EXAMPLE PROFILE: Reason- ing 100% 0% = Your self-rating = Averaged network rating % = Percentile of S population Interpersonal Skills CMC Skills Group Skills Public Speaking Skills -4% -9% -6% -12% +3% % Diff.

24. POPULATION-BASED EXAMPLE PROFILE: 100% 0% Interpersonal Skills CMC Skills Group Skills +1% -3% -9% -6% +7% % Diff. = Your self-rating = Averaged course self-rating % = Percentile of S population Reason- ing Public Speaking Skills

25. CHANGE EXAMPLE PROFILE: 100% 0% Interpersonal Skills CMC Skills Group Skills +4% +3% +1 +3% +10% % Diff. = Your Time 1 self-rating = Your Time 2 self-rating % = Percentile of S population Reason- ing Public Speaking Skills

26. For information, contact: Brian H. Spitzberg, Ph.D. Spitz @ mail.sdsu.edu @