WASHINGTON – With the advent of new digital technologies, not only is higher education innovation strengthening the connections between institutions and students, but it will also enable schools to better help their students connect with potential employers and transition into the workplace.
This is an outcome the Educational Testing Service expects will result from its recent moves to provide electronic documentation to test takers of their performance on the ETS Proficiency Profile and iSkills tests. Since earlier this year, those students taking the Proficiency Profile test, which measures reading, writing, math and critical thinking skills, have been able to acquire electronic certificates, which can be shared with potential employers and others. Since last December, students taking the iSkills assessment, which measures digital literacy, have been receiving electronic certificates that can be shared with recipients in and outside academic institutions.
“Direct measures of student learning outcomes are going to be [among] the things that drive what’s happening in digital higher education going forward,” proclaimed Dr. David Payne, vice president and chief operating officer of the ETS Higher Education division, Wednesday during a roundtable discussion on digital technology’s impact on higher education.
Along with representatives from ETS, which convened the discussion in downtown Washington, individuals from higher education companies, the Community College of Baltimore County and the American Public University System outlined both the opportunities and challenges institutions face with using new technologies to improve student learning and prepare students for the workforce.
Payne explained to an audience of journalists that the move to provide electronic certificates to Proficiency Profile and iSkills test takers resulted partly from research that said students would perform better if they were sufficiently motivated. Instead of the tests only being internally used by the colleges and universities as they initially were, ETS recognized that providing the shareable electronic certificates might motivate students to perform better while also providing employers stronger evidence of student ability.
“We took the motivation research and said one of the ways to improve the quality of the data we can provide back to the institution is by allowing the students to get a certificate at the end of the assessment that would indicate what their proficiency levels were,” Payne said.
