Terms used in the Certiverse platform and their definitions.
Assessment
See Form
Beta Test [ Beta ]
An instance of an Exam composed of Pretest Items to be administered to Candidates for the purpose of gathering Result data which, in turn, will be analyzed to determine the performance of those items.
Beta Testing
The process of administering a Beta Test to Candidates.
Blueprint/Exam Blueprint [ BP ]
A collection of a content areas organized - often hierarchically - into Topics which describe the knowledge, skills, and abilities to be assessed by an Exam. Usually contains weighting by topic to indicates the distribution of Items needed to sample the blueprint. This informs requirements for Item Authoring.
The initial configuration of the blueprint along with its initial topics and their weights are generally derived from a Job Task Analysis.
Booking/Exam Booking
The flow that allows a Candidate to schedule, and where required, pay for an Exam. Booking is often subject to a check for Eligibility.
Candidate/Test Taker
An individual who may take, or has taken, an Exam.
Competency
A combination of knowledge, skills and/or abilities [ KSA ] that defines an industry, organizationally relevant capability, or similar. Competency is usually expressed in the language of an organization or profession.
Competency Testing
Testing used to make a determination of Minimum Competency, that is, is Candidate minimally Competent to practice in a specific field, perform a specific role, or operate specific equipment or technology, etc. These Exams often lead to a Credential.
This testing only makes a determination of minimum competency - pass or fail - and generally should make no claims or determinations beyond that.
Constraint
A parameter used in Test Assembly to limit and control the Items which are eligible for a given Form of an Exam.
Credential [ Certification/License/Badge ]
An indicator that a person is Competent in a given area of interest. Credentials are used to gate hiring or to enforce legal right to practice or operate. Qualification examples include ...
- Performing a job or role
- Operating equipment or technology
- Licensing for practice in a specific field
Dichotomous
In response processing for Item interactions, the notion that the Outcome will evaluate to either correct or incorrect. In most cases this also means the item outcome value for score evaluates to either 1 or 0 points.
See Polytomous for more information.
Domain
In the Certiverse system, domains are used to represent the dimensions, that together, make up the knowledge, skills, and/or abilities [ KSAs ] needed to accomplish a Task. Domains serve as a bridge to an Exam Blueprint, allowing us to automate the initial configuration of Topics and their relative weights on the blueprint.
Eligibility
The notion that some requirement or prerequisite must be met before a Candidate is allowed to Book an Exam.
Exam
A collection of 1 or more equivalent Forms. In the Certiverse system, an exam serves as the candidate facing name for Eligibility and Booking purposes as well as for centralizing elements shared across forms such as start/end screens and Score Reports.
Exam Delivery [ Delivery ]
The process of administering an instance of a Form to a Candidate. The output of exam delivery is a Result.
Form
Minimally, a specific set of Items making up a version of the Exam. When multiple forms of an exam exist, they should be functionally equivalent instruments, i.e. any form should be equally valid when administered to any candidate.
In the Certiverse system a form defines the set of items plus additional configuration data required to administer or Deliver the form. This includes delivery parameters indicating how items are to be selected and ordered as well as Scoring rules.
Formative Testing
Testing with the goal of providing feedback to reinforce/practice learning and/or to identify weaknesses for remediation. See Summative Testing for comparison.
Item
Generally, a discrete and self-contained test question. Items are typically composed of three elements:
- Stimulus - the question or prompt. Designed to elicit a Response from the Candidate.
- Interaction - the way the candidate indicates their answer. One example - and by far the most common - is a multiple-choice interaction. Interactions often provide various configurations. For example, a multiple-choice interaction may be True/False, single response, or multiple response.
- Response Processing - the rules that determine how a response to an item is to be evaluated and the values to output. Outcomes processing is necessarily coupled to the interaction type.
The three elements described above are mediated by item type templates in the Certiverse platform.
Item Authoring/Item Writing
In general, the process of producing Items for an Exam. In Certiverse, a highly automated process that allows SMEs to write, review, and edit content for exams.
Job Task Analysis [ JTA ]
A Job Task Analysis is a methodology used to establish the Tasks and Domains to be assessed by an Exam. Typically, a JTA includes the following steps ...
- Task Elicitation – establish the tasks performed by competent practitioners
- Survey – a broad review to provide data to support tasks and their validity
- Analysis - judicious filtering and calculations to identify critical tasks and related domains
JTAs are often customized to the job or role. In the case of a job, the domains may be referred to as KSAs but the more generic term Competencies is also widely used. JTA results are the evidence used to author the Exam Blueprint.
Key [ Correct Answer ]
The - or one of the - Response Configurations that, when selected by a Candidate, will evaluate to a positive Outcome. The term is most applicable to interactions where response processing is simple and Dichotomous. For example, a multiple-choice interaction where the key is a single choice (like option "a") or a single collection of choices (like option "b" AND option "d").
The notion of key can break down or become unclear where an interaction has Polytomous response processing. For example, take the following a multiple-response item:
Select all of the US States from the list of choices:
- Massachusetts
- Missoula
- Missouri
- Mississippi
- Montana
There are 4 correct options (indicated with italics). Assume each correct option is worth 1 point while the single incorrect option is worth -4 points with a lower bound set for the entire interaction at 0 points (to prevent negative scores). It is therefore possible to achieve any integer value between 0 and 4 points.
So, what is the "key"? Arguably each correct option is a key or maybe part of the key.
A more precise way to think about this is that there is not a singular key. Rather, each Choice is a Response Opportunity. The final response submitted is the candidate's response configuration, which in turn is evaluated using response processing to generate an outcome.
For simplicity, in a case like the above, the key may be thought of as the most correct response configuration ... the response configuration that yields the most points. Even this breaks down where there is more than one response configuration that yields maximum points.
Learning Outcome/Learning Outcome Statement
Learning Objective
Live [ Form/Item ]
Live simply refers to the notion that the Outcomes from the Item or Form may be used in determination of Competency. This typically means that the content has followed a rigorous process, is fit for purpose, and has the supporting documentation necessary.
Minimally Qualified Candidate
A representation of the theoretical person who's just qualified - Competent - to enter the job or role.
Option [ Response Option/Choice ]
A discrete Response Opportunity associated with a multiple-choice (or similar) Item.
Option, Correct
A discrete Response Opportunity associated with a multiple-choice (or similar) Item, selection of which results in either a positive Outcome OR contributes to a positive outcome. May also be called a Key or a component thereof.
Option, Incorrect
Also known as a distracter as it "distracts" from the correct choice or choices, a discrete Response Opportunity associated with an Item, selection of which results in a negative Outcome.
Organization
In the Certiverse system, represents a real-world entity and acts as a logical container for content owned or administered by that entity. The organization sponsoring the Exam.
Outcome/Score
A value generated or assigned by evaluating a candidate's Response to an Item or set of item responses against a response or outcomes processing rule. Outcome values may be numeric or text depending on the outcome type.
Outcomes are typically classified as item-level or aggregate. Aggregate outcomes are based on sets of items that have been grouped into elements on the form.
Examples of outcomes provided by Certiverse Exam Delivery include ...
- Item-level
score- points achieved
- Aggregate
rawScore- sum of item-level points achieved for aggregated set of itemspercent- calculated percentage correct valuescaled- mapped value usingrawScoreas inputpassFail- mapped value using cut score value as input
Polytomous
In response processing for Item interactions, the notion that the Outcome may evaluate to more than correct or incorrect ... often partially correct. This also means the item outcome value for score may evaluate to values other than 1 or 0 points. See example interaction and outcome in Key).
See Dichotomous for more information.
Pretesting/Pretest Items [ Beta Items ]
Pretesting is the notion of administering Items for the purpose of gathering statistical data on those items. For new testing projects, this is typically done en masse via a Beta Test. However, it is often necessary to develop new items for introduction into an existing testing project. This is accomplished by administering pretest items on Live Forms.
As we do not yet know the performance characteristics of these items, their scores will not contribute to any aggregate Outcomes generated for the form. However, from the perspective of the Candidates, it is highly desirable that pretest items are indistinguishable from live items. We want them to apply the same effort in answering these as if they were live items. For this reason, it is best practice to obfuscate pretest items.
Response
The Response Configuration of the Item Interaction submitted by the Candidate.
Response Configuration
Any of the possible final states in which an Item might be configured to indicate a Response. For example, a 4-option multiple-choice allowing a single response has 4 response configurations possible: "A", "B", "C", & "D"
However, a 4-option multiple-choice which requires the selection of 2 choices has 6 possible response configurations: "AB" or "AC" or "AD" or "BC" or "BD" or "CD".
With complex items, the number of possible response configurations can grow rapidly!
Response Opportunity
Any opportunity presented to a Candidate to provide a discrete response to an Item Interaction. In the case of interactions such as multiple choice, these response opportunities take the form of predefined Options or choices.
In the case of an interaction such as fill-in-the blank or essay, the response opportunity takes the form of alpha numeric string input. More complicated interactions may provide for other response opportunities such as X Y coordinates on an image or intersectional data on a matching interaction or arbitrarily complex data for a simulation.
Result
A result is the accumulated data from a Candidate sitting a single Form. Data captured includes but is not limited to ...
- Candidate identifying data
- Timing data (overall, time per item)
- Item-level and aggregate Outcomes
Score
A numeric Outcome.
Score Report/Score Reporting/Outcomes Reporting
The set of Outcomes reported to an individual Candidate for the Form administered to that candidate. Often provides additional information to help the candidate interpret their performance.
Subject Matter Expert (SME)
An individual qualified to provide content and/or input on elements of a testing program. Usually someone that has either held the job and performed the Tasks in question, or who has supervised the position, but may include other bona fide experts.
Summative Testing
Testing that assesses the test takers current knowledge, skills, or abilities. These Exams are often used to make serious decisions about the Candidate.
Task/Task Statement
In the Certiverse system, an explicit description of a task required to be Competent in the area (job, role, curriculum) being assessed. Other terms for this include ...
- Outcome, Learning Outcome, Learning Outcome Statement
- Objective, Learning Objective
Test
Test Assembly/Form Assembly
A mechanism for arriving at a set of Items making up a Form. This always addresses the Live items to include but may also address Pretest item selection. Test assembly should honor the Exam Blueprint, assuring the proper distribution content to be assessed.
Test assembly may be accomplished in a number of ways, with item selection being fully manual, semi-automated, or even fully automated - often referred to as automated test assembly or ATA.
Topic/Subtopic
In the Certiverse system, an element on the Exam Blueprint representing a content area to assess and its relative weight. Topics may be nested hierarchically to indicate increasing specificity. Topics and their weights are used to drive both Item Authoring and Test Assembly.