SWIFT Tests

SWIFT tests can be delivered as stand-alone tests or within a SWIFT course. They are fixed-length and designed to assess learner competency based on a desired mastery level. Questions are selected randomly using a wide range of question types. SWIFT Tests can be set to the number of times a learner can attempt a test and the length of time they are allowed to complete a test.

Adaptive Testing

Intelligent Tutoring Systems gather information about a learner's progress by observing them as they interact with the learning environment. Many systems use exercises, quizzes, and exams as the setting for these observations since the range of possible inference about the learner can be more easily constrained. Organizations also require that a training system provide concrete records of progress, we chose formative and summative testing as our means for observing the learner in SWIFT.

One of the problems with traditional exams is that they are of fixed length; a learner must complete a long series of questions in order for the system to determine how well they know a subject. This characteristic can cause frustration for both novices and experts, who may know after a few questions that the subject matter is either bewildering or trivial. Adaptive testing allows exams to be significantly shorter than traditional tests, without losing any predictive power about a learner's mastery of the material. The SWIFT Adaptive Testing algorithm was based on the work of [Frick & Welch, 1993]. The algorithm uses Bayes' theorem to estimate the probability that the learner is a master or non-master of the material after each test question is answered. In SWIFT, novices (non-masters) and experts (masters) can be determined in as few as five questions.