NotesFAQContact Us
Collection
Advanced
Search Tips
Back to results
Peer reviewed Peer reviewed
Direct linkDirect link
ERIC Number: EJ724518
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2006-Feb
Pages: 18
Abstractor: Author
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-0360-1315
EISSN: N/A
An Effective Approach for Test-Sheet Composition with Large-Scale Item Banks
Hwang, Gwo-Jen; Lin, Bertrand M. T.; Lin, Tsung-Liang
Computers and Education, v46 n2 p122-139 Feb 2006
A well-constructed test sheet not only helps the instructor evaluate the learning status of the students, but also facilitates the diagnosis of the problems embedded in the students' learning process. This paper addresses the problem of selecting proper test items to compose a test sheet that conforms to such assessment requirements as average difficulty degree, average discrimination degree, length of test time, number of test items, and specified distribution of concept weights. A mixed integer programming model is proposed to formulate the problem of selecting a set of test items that best fit the multiple assessment requirements. As the problem is a generalization of the knapsack problem, which is known to be NP-hard in the literature, computational challenge hinders the development of efficient solution methods. Seeking approximate solutions in an acceptable time is a viable alternative. In this paper, we propose two heuristic algorithms, based upon iterative adjustment, for finding quality approximate solutions. Extensive experiments are also conducted to assess the performances of different solution methods. Statistics from a series of computational experiments indicate that our proposed algorithms can produce near-optimum combinations of the test items subject to the specified requirements in a reasonable time.
Elsevier Customer Service Department, 6277 Sea Harbor Drive, Orlando, FL 32887-4800. Tel: 877-839-7126 (Toll Free); Fax: 407-363-1354; e-mail: usjcs@elsevier.com.
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Descriptive
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A