Online Testing and Homework

Today my class was delayed because the previous one was taking a test on Angel. Seems there was some sort of technical glitch.

The promise of online testing and homework scoring isn't quite fulfilled yet. Not counting security and plagiarism issues (which are formidable), I've got a couple of reasons to doubt the whole enterprise:

• Glitches. Something goes wrong with Angel or with the local computer, and the whole project is down the drain. MyCompLab used to have the problem that it would lose any homework that was partially done but not submitted—the student had to do the whole thing in one pass. Early in September, I signed my students up for the Diana Hacker quizzes and automatic scoring. Today, almost three months later, the system finally spit out the first grade report.
• Another layer for students. In spite of everything, most students really aren't that good with computers. They can do Facebook and Solitaire. If pressed, they can also do e-mail (sort of). They are incredibly imprecise, especially at typing in addresses. Their computers are full of viruses from all the porn and peer-to-peer downloads. Asking them to do anything on a computer for major curriculum credit is counterproductive.
• Another layer for teachers. I'm quite good with a computer, but adding a quiz to something like Angel adds at least an hour to the prep time. I can't simply write it. I have to write the questions and answers, and upload them one by one. Then I have to debug the whole operation to find out if it really works.

I'll probably do the online thing in the Spring, but with modifications. After all, I have to figure out how to work around my population of traveling athletes (about a third of my students), so an approach similar to Distance Education makes sense. But I have to assume that at least four or five students from each class will have some sort of incredible problem that prevents an Internet homework assignment from really working.

Scantron looks appealing.