Difference between revisions of "SL Cert Guide to Certification Testing"
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(New page: =Certification Concepts for Dummies= No offence intended, but alot of people have been asking questions about how 3rd party certification companies operate; which are fair questions if yo...) |
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== Why can't we write the final tests ourselves? == | == Why can't we write the final tests ourselves? == | ||
If anyone who is affiliated with Second Life - and that includes educators, solution providers, residents, or even Linden Lab itself - | * If anyone who is affiliated with Second Life - and that includes educators, solution providers, residents, or even Linden Lab itself - writes the tests then questions WILL be asked by people applying to be certified about objectivity. The use of a 3rd party not affiliated with Second Life, these "impartiality" issues disappear. | ||
* Pro-metric testing is very involved process. In multiple choice questions, how many correct answers are "b"? How long are the correct answers compared to the "decoy" answers? Does the language used in the questions lead people to a certain answer? These are just a few of the issues that the testing agency will have experience in dealing with. | |||
* You will be writing the questions, and expect to write many and have them sent back for rephrasing. For an average 25 question test, expect them to need at least 100 questions to be randomly selected. | |||
== How does the scoring work? Why don't they just "guess" the answers? == | |||
==What types of tests can they produce? == | |||
Revision as of 06:18, 8 April 2009
Certification Concepts for Dummies
No offence intended, but alot of people have been asking questions about how 3rd party certification companies operate; which are fair questions if you've never dealt with these guys before, as they're not as straight forward as people may at first think. So, here is an overview of the general concepts. Bear in mind that different suppliers vary in their approach, but the general principles here are fairly consistent.
How much do they know about Second Life?
Nothing. And that's exactly how it should be. They are not subject matter experts in any of the technologies they provide testing for; for any organisation. Their expertise is:
- Writing tests that comply to prometric standrads
- Managing the candidates applications
- Security with regard to making sure that the person sitting the test is really the person sitting the test
- Global availability. Making sure that the test system is available as widely as possible, taking into consideration geographic locations and accessibility issues for those with disabilities.
- Reporting and managing on-going certification requirements over time.
Why can't we write the final tests ourselves?
- If anyone who is affiliated with Second Life - and that includes educators, solution providers, residents, or even Linden Lab itself - writes the tests then questions WILL be asked by people applying to be certified about objectivity. The use of a 3rd party not affiliated with Second Life, these "impartiality" issues disappear.
- Pro-metric testing is very involved process. In multiple choice questions, how many correct answers are "b"? How long are the correct answers compared to the "decoy" answers? Does the language used in the questions lead people to a certain answer? These are just a few of the issues that the testing agency will have experience in dealing with.
- You will be writing the questions, and expect to write many and have them sent back for rephrasing. For an average 25 question test, expect them to need at least 100 questions to be randomly selected.