1. ONLINE READINESS @
CSU STANISLAUS
Glenn T. Pillsbury, Ph.D.
gpillsbury@csustan.edu

2. Assessment location
http://teachonline.csustan.edu/selfassessment.php

3. Assessment Approach
Central concept:
Questions are weighted:
• Some things are bigger
obstacles than others.
• Users evaluate
competing statements
• 14 questions currently
• Modeled after
placement assessment
for first-year English
course

4. Interpreting the Score
• Script keeps running tally of
the scores
• Individual column totals are
what’s important, not column
comparison
• Currently “17” in right column
is our threshold for potential
problems
• “Magic number” is
subjective; changes with
number of questions
• Distribution of 3 and 4-
weight questions not
calculated, but remains
important

5. Assessment Deployment
 Positioned on semester class schedule, as well as inside
course sites
 Pre-registration access theoretically prevents enroll-drop-
lockout problem
 Link automatically placed in schedule based on course delivery
method (fully online & hybrid online)
 Faculty consulted on assessment content but not schedule
placement
 One faculty member raised concern about OIT inserting
“unauthorized” information into their course listing

6. Assessment Usage
Daily visits from April 2010 – November 2011
• 30-40 visits per day in peak times of the academic year
• Referrer data indicates 90%+ visits coming from within csustan.edu
Source: Google Analytics

7. Everybody Likes Statistics
 61 respondents from survey of Fall 2011 online
courses
 5% had previously dropped because of online
format
 20% aware of our assessment
 ~50% of those had taken it (11.5% of total)
 100% reported understanding their score
 No one shied away from an online course after
seeing their score
 66% said the assessment confirmed what they
already felt they knew about their readiness
 80% would recommend it to others

8. Under the Hood
The Question Interface
• Radio buttons trigger a javascript
• Payload includes question
number, the button’s answer, and
the question weight
• “question2storage” is dealt with in
the script

9. Under the Hood
Stepping Through the Script
1. Gather the current scores in the
“yes” and “no” columns
2. Turn them into integers so
additional math can be done to
them.

10. Under the Hood
Stepping Through the Script
• What is the current selection
for this question, if any?
• We need to know this in case
the user is changing their
answer.
• If so, we’ll need to add or
subtract differently.

11. Under the Hood
Stepping Through the Script
Evaluate.
1. Add the question weight to the current total for the column and
dynamically write out the new total onto the page.
1. If we’re changing the answer, change the other column in the
opposite direction and write the new total.
2. Store the latest answer in case the user changes their mind
again.

12. Under the Hood
Stepping Through the Script
Evaluate.
1. Add the question weight to the current total for the column and
dynamically write out the new total onto the page.
1. If we’re changing the answer, change the other column in the
opposite direction and write the new total.
2. Store the latest answer in case the user changes their mind
again.