October 9, 2020
Meeting the Challenges of 2020
The events of 2020 continue to push the testing industry forward. In credentialing and education, programs continue to adopt or expand their use of remote solutions to develop, maintain, and deliver tests in order to continue serving and providing value to stakeholder groups. This has put an increased focus on how we maintain (or better – improve upon) the security of test development and test delivery in a distributed environment. In this edition of the Buzz, we highlight how Adobe and PMI are meeting these challenges.

For the same reasons that we see programs engaging in remote development and delivery solutions, we have also seen industry conferences move to virtual solutions so that we can continue to meet, share, and learn from one another. While these changes can be challenging, our industry’s willingness to engage in them continues to fuel our optimism that we can also engage in other ways to continue to provide good validity evidence to support our assertions and:

  • better position and apply assessment as a valuable ally in one’s journey as a life-long learner;
  • better fit the ever-accelerating pace of change and value propositions desired by stakeholder groups, including the engagement expectations of Millennials and Gen-Z; and,
  • better mitigate security risks and other threats to validity.

Best regards,

Brian Adams
President & CEO of Alpine Testing Solutions, Inc.

SPOTLIGHT: ASSESSMENT SERVICES
PMI Embraces Virtual Exam Development Activities During Covid-19 Pandemic

Despite travel restrictions due to the pandemic, Project Management Institute found a way to accommodate what was to be an in-person, global standard setting study and shift it to a virtual study, while continuing to maintain their high standards.

We were worried about how the virtual format would work because of our preference to have workshop participants sequestered in the room together for a shared understanding..."
"...we didn’t find any negative differences in the process or the results and I’m very pleased that we were able to do this. 

 - Sierra Hampton-Simmons, Director of Certifications at PMI


SPOTLIGHT: CertMetrics
How Adobe Protects the Investments of Candidates
Via Technology 
The Adobe Credential Program recognizes their candidates make a significant investment in their program and they have implemented solutions to help protect that investment.

“Our approach to protecting the integrity of our certification program and the investment of our candidates helps ensure the Adobe Certified Program achievement is awarded fairly to professionals with demonstrated knowledge, experience, and proficiency in Adobe Solutions.”  

- Tyler Tu, Adobe Manager, Curriculum and Credential Programs

UPCOMING EVENTS

We look forward to "seeing" you in November at this year’s virtual ICE Exchange Conference. Please join us in the following sessions or say hello at our virtual booth!

 Presenters:
  • Brett P. Foley, Director Professional Credentialing & Sr. Psychometrician, Alpine Testing Solutions, Inc.
  • Corina Owens, Psychometrician, Alpine Testing Solutions, Inc.

Lightening Learning Session: Job Analysis Survey Instruction Length and
Response Rate -- A Case Study - November 10th
Presenters:
  • Patrick Irwin, Director of Certification and Psychometrics, AHIMA
  • Jeff Kelley, Psychometrician, Alpine Testing Solutions, Inc.

Concurrent Session: Converting 4-Option Multiple Choice Questions to 3-
Option and Integrating Both into Your Exam - November 10th
Presenters:
  • Jared Zurn, Vice President, Examination, NCARB
  • Jim Mendes, Certification Development Manager, Adobe
  • Brett P. Foley, Director Professional Credentialing & Sr. Psychometrician, Alpine Testing Solutions, Inc.
  • Amanda Wolkowitz, Sr. Psychometrician, Alpine Testing Solutions, Inc.
  • Corina Owens, Psychometrician, Alpine Testing Solutions, Inc.
JOIN US AT OUR VIRTUAL "BOOTH" - IF YOU WOULD LIKE TO...
  • See a sneak peek demo of CertMetrics 2.0
  • Have a chat with one of our experts on:
  • Remote Proctoring
  • Test Security
  • Working Remotely: Lessons learned in facilitating virtual workshops
  • Candidate Management
  • Other industry topics of interest
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
ATP 2020 Global Conference - Gone Virtual
Be sure to check out these sessions!

Michelle Cohn (NCARB); Heidi Schreifels (F5 Networks); Laura Brooks, Susan Cooley (Alpine)

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Aaron Zureick (Esri); KJ (Ken) Salchow, Jr. (F5 Networks); Jill van den Heuvel, Susan Cooley (Alpine)