TitleThe Development of a Web-Based CAT in China
Publication TypeConference Paper
Year of Publication2017
AuthorsLiang, C, Wang, D, Zhou, D, Zhan, P
Conference NameIACAT 2017 Conference
Date Published08/2017
PublisherNiigata Seiryo University
Conference LocationNiigata, Japan
KeywordsChina, Web-Based CAT
Abstract

Cognitive ability assessment has been widely used as the recruitment tool in hiring potential employees. Traditional cognitive ability tests have been encountering threats from item-exposures and long time for answering. Especially in China, campus recruitment thinks highly of short answering time and anti-cheating. Beisen, as the biggest native online assessment software provider, developed a web-based CAT for cognitive ability which assessing verbal, quantitative, logical and spatial ability in order to decrease answering times, improve assessment accuracy and reduce threats from cheating and faking in online ability test. The web-based test provides convenient testing for examinees who can access easily to the test via internet just by login the test website at any time and any place through any Internet-enabled devices (e.g., laptops, IPADs, and smart phones).

We designed the CAT following strategies of establishing item bank, setting starting point, item selection, scoring and terminating. Additionally, we pay close attention to administrating the test via web. For the CAT procedures, we employed online calibration for establishing a stable and expanding item bank, and integrated maximum Fisher information, α-stratified strategy and randomization for item selection and coping with item exposures. Fixed-length and variable-length strategies were combined in terminating the test. For fulfilling the fluid web-based testing, we employed cloud computing techniques and designed each computing process subtly. Distributed computation was used to process scoring which executes EAP and item selecting at high speed. Caching all items to the servers in advance helps shortening the process of loading items to examinees’ terminal equipment. Horizontally scalable cloud servers function coping with great concurrency. The massive computation in item selecting was conversed to searching items from an information matrix table.

We examined the average accuracy, bank usage and computing performance in the condition of laboratory and real testing. According to a test for almost 28000 examinees, we found that bank usage is averagely 50%, and that 80% tests terminate at test information of 10 and averagely at 9.6. In context of great concurrency, the testing is unhindered and the process of scoring and item selection only takes averagely 0.23s for each examiner.

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