ExamView--A Dream Coming True?

I'd guess that the majority of you are either familiar with ExamView,  or have at least heard of it.  Just in case you haven't--ExamView is a widely used test generator.  When I was in the classroom I used it to create hard copies of tests.  The program is provided by textbook manufacturers and comes with banks of test questions.  "Back in the day" I didn't have to be concerned about any SOLS and used the program to author my own test questions.  ExamView would scramble both the order of the answers and the order of the questions if I so chose.  It generated answer keys for each form it created.  I thought it was wonderful.

When I moved to my current position as an ITRT I attended a "summer camp" for  ITRTs and learned that  ExamView could be administered on-line.  Using it that way the teacher can record the student's grade the instant they complete the test.  When the fellow who had been hired to replace me quit and I briefly returned to the classroom, I tried it out and was thrilled with the results.  I was able to give kids practice tests which they could take multiple times--noting which questions they missed and even reading teacher created comments on the answer choices (a feature I confess, I did not use).  When the time came for the real test,  I'd have the answer results before the kids walked back to the classroom from the computer lab.

Upon returning to my position as ITRT I enthusiastically pitched the idea of putting ExamView on the county server so that ACPS teachers of particular courses could pool teacher created test questions and tests.  Let's just say that not everyone bought into my vision, we might wind up sharing questions that didn't correspond with the SOLs after all.  For years my dream languished.  Now it is finally coming half true.

What IS happening is that ExamView is getting some on-line use.  However, the idea of teachers pooling test questions still isn't happening.  What I've found is that I was in a small  minority when I wrote my own questions--my colleges seem to be happy with the questions supplied by the publisher--there are not teacher created questions to pool.

Let's get back to the part of the dream that has come true.  In order for ExamView to get any use, a few things had to happen.  One, I needed to find teachers willing to try it.  Two, the program had to  be housed on our network servers somewhere, Three, ExamView icons needed to be pushed out to the desktops of student use computers.   During the past couple of years all of these things have been coming together.

In fact, ExamView is getting enough use at Arcadia High School that the Icon has been added to all student log-ins.  This means that students can take ExamView tests from the library computers, from computers in the labs,  from computers off the carts, and from classroom desktops (for makeup tests).  I believe we have business teachers, vocational teachers, a math teacher, and a  social studies teacher at AHS all using ExamView.  NHS and CHS also have teachers who use it.  At NHS most of the use is by teachers in computer labs, however, there is at least one laptop cart on which  the icon appears.

All this to say, if you have a  textbook which uses ExamView as it's test generator, and you'd like to start using the on-line version, let me know and I'll  arrange it.