This piece will be featured in Counselor, the Drake University Law School Alumni Magazine, and on their website, www.law.drake.edu/newsEvents/lawSchoolNews.html
(copyright 2003 by Drake University)
Technology Takes Toil Out of
Test Taking
The computer age may make
test taking easier for law students, but there’s simply no getting around
learning to spell correctly. Gone are the days of No. 2 pencils, blue books and
cramped hands thanks to a computer software program called ExamSoft. The
software is changing the way college students take exams, and Drake Law School
students and faculty are benefiting from it.
It all began when California
lawyer Adam Wasserman took the Bar Exam and was frustrated with the lack of
technology in the exam’s administration. In an effort to improve all areas of
the exam process, he released ExamSoft in 1997.
Within ExamSoft, there are
four programs addressing all areas of examinations, both for students and
faculty. SofTeach allows professors to create questions and build and administer
exams. SofTest enables students to download, take and then upload completed
exams. SoftScore then allows professors to download and score exams, analyze the
results, and prepare reports based on these results. And FlexSite allows
professors to administer exams securely from anywhere in the world.
Drake
has been using ExamSoft for two years. Approximately 50 percent of students use
SofTest for exams. “Taking the exam with the program is pretty much the same
as a regular blue-book exam,” says first-year student Kurt Van Thomme of
Ankeny, Iowa. “Except, instead of everyone using blue books, about half the
class has their laptop out. The professors hand out the exam on paper and people
either use their blue books or computers to answer the questions.”
Van
Thomme feels there are many advantages to using SofTest––the most
obvious being the efficiency of typing answers rather than writing them out.
“It’s nice to be able to go back and edit your answers without your exam
looking like a scribbled mess,” he says. “And, there’s no danger of your
professor not being able to read your handwriting.”
So, how does it work?
ExamSoft sets up a different Web site for each university’s students from
which they download the software program via username and password. After the
program is installed on a computer, it performs a check of the hardware and
software to make sure the program is compatible. The student then takes a
qualification exam that shows the user how exams will be presented, and also
verifies that the program is working correctly. Upon completion, the user
registers with ExamSoft. SofTest doesn't allow the user to take exams until they
have completed the qualification exam and registered with the program.
Hennan cites two particular
parts of the program as being extremely valuable. He says the ExamSoft
student-module has an automatic back-up feature that makes an encrypted copy of
a student’s exam answers on their computer’s hard drive. It also logs
information about any problems a student might have during the exam so that exam
administrators can determine what actually went on during an exam if there is a
problem.
“I am happy to report we
have not lost any exam answers while using ExamSoft,” says Hennan. “And,
although we’re not using this aspect of the program yet, ExamSoft even has the
ability to grade the multiple choice portion of an exam, which would show the
student the correct answer immediately after he or she answered it.”
Drake Law School Systems
Administrator Shawn Madsen, the one-person tech support staff for ExamSoft, also
likes many of the elements of the program. “One of the key features of SofTest
is the way it locks people from accessing other applications on their laptop
during an exam,” he says. “Without this feature, students could open notes
or even surf the Web to find answers to exam questions.”
Madsen says SofTest reboots
the user’s computer bringing them into a restricted shell at the start of each
exam session. At the end of the session, SofTest reboots again taking the
user to their normal Windows interface. He also says that there are some
components to the program that the law school has yet to implement, but is
planning to expand the use of the program in the near future.
“My objective for the Fall
2003 semester is to start delivering exams over our wireless network,” says
Madsen. “Not only will this save time in exam distribution, but also in
collection. Wireless exam delivery will allow us to print exams and bring
them to the instructors almost immediately after the exam has concluded.”
And the law faculty have
responded as favorably to ExamSoft as the students says Hennan. “Professors
really like to be able to read typed exam answers,” he says.
But not everything has
changed from the days of writing in blue books.
“We have found that
ExamSoft is not a secret weapon,” says Hennan. “If a student does not know
the answer, then a typed or handwritten response makes no difference in the
final exam grade. We don't even allow use of the built-in spell-check in
ExamSoft. So students using ExamSoft are on equal ground regarding spelling.”
This piece will be featured in Counselor, the Drake University Law School Alumni Magazine, and on their website, www.law.drake.edu/newsEvents/lawSchoolNews.html
By
Tony Bohnenkamp
Lady
Justice may be blind, but she certainly isn’t deaf as evidenced by the talents
of the Drake Law School faculty. Professors Cathy Lesser Mansfield and Jerry
Anderson are just two of the faculty members who modestly admit to having and
expressing different musical abilities.
“The
law requires us to use the left side of our brain almost exclusively,” says
Anderson. “In many areas, such as drafting contracts or even writing
briefs, excessive creativity is frowned upon. There is a certain form of doing
things that must be followed. Therefore, I think many of us long to exercise the
right side of our brains and use our pent-up, creative energy.”
A
native of Kansas, Anderson began performing as a junior high school student.
“I sang ‘Gentle On My Mind’ in the seventh grade talent show, so I guess
you could say I had no qualms about embarrassing myself in front of large groups
of people, even then.”
He
dabbles with playing the piano, but concentrates mostly on singing in various
choirs, and even just for fun with other faculty and students. “Two years ago,
some of the faculty performed a few musical numbers at a fundraiser. This year,
we plan to do it again,” says Anderson. “ Cathy (Mansfield) and I will do a
spoof of the song ‘Picture’ by Kid Rock and Sheryl Crow, singing about
professors frustrated with their unprepared students and students afraid of
being called on in class.”
Anderson
has also tried his hand at composing, applying wit and creativity to address
legal issues. “I made up a song to the tune of ‘King of the Road,’ called
‘King of the Torts.’ It makes fun of lawyers who care more about making
money than doing good legal work,” he says.
Anderson’s
lyrics go: My briefs are always small/'Cause I don't use no cites at all/Saves
strain on judges' eyes/I never have to Shepardize/I don't bother with all
facts/or relevant circumstance/I'm a lawyer of means by no means/I'm King of the
Torts.
Like
Anderson, Mansfield began singing at a tender age growing up in Cleveland. “I
sang in a children's chorus from age 5 until I was 14. We performed all
over the world, and with Bob Hope and Wayne Newton,” she says.
She
was also active in the musical activities at her school and synagogue as a
singer, accompanist and conductor. By the ninth grade, Mansfield added thespian
to her list of talents and has been participating in numerous productions
throughout her educational travels, both as a student and a professor. She
recently starred as the lead in “That’s Estertainment,” which tells the
story of the holiday of Purim in an irreverent and funny way.
“The
cantor at the Temple (B’nai Jeshurun) re-wrote the words to Broadway hits to
use in the musical, and the result is hilarious,” says Mansfield. “It’s
the first time I've sung in a show since 1987, and it’s also the first time
I’ve performed with my twin daughters who have now, it seems, been bitten by
the showbiz bug as well.”
And,
as if teaching, parenting and performing aren’t enough, she’s also
continuing to write an opera she’s been working on since high school. It tells
the story of a fictitious Jewish family living in Berlin just prior to and
during World War II. After the family goes into hiding, they pass the time by
telling the biblical story of Job, which happens to almost mirror their own
lives.
Not
only has writing the opera been a source of joy, but Mansfield has also received
enormous personal satisfaction from the process. “My work on this project,
which is so important to me, has become a combination of all the skills I've
developed over the course of my life,” she says. “I have interviewed and
become friends with a few holocaust survivors in the course of doing research
for my story. My hope is that everything that happens to my fictitious family in
the opera will come from something that is documented to have happened to actual
Holocaust victims, and I envision the audience getting a program with footnotes
so that the sources of the story are clear.”
So,
where will Mansfield’s production debut? With tongue planted firmly in-cheek,
she boldly states, “Broadway–just kidding. I'm hoping a concert version of
it might someday be performed at Drake, after which I can work some of the
musical kinks out.”
One
unintended benefit of performing at Drake has also helped Mansfield and Anderson
work out classroom kinks.
Both
sing in the Drake Community Choir, and most recently performed in Mozart’s Requiem
conducted by Aimee Beckman-Collier, Associate Director of Conducting and
Director of Choral Activities. And, both Anderson and Mansfield say they have
used the methods of their conductor to try and improve their skills in the
classroom.
“I
have been in many choirs, and Aimee Beckman-Collier is one of the finest
conductors I've ever known. Her conducting has informed my teaching,” says
Mansfield.
Anderson
whole-heartedly agrees adding, “I have learned a lot from Aimee just by
watching her, about how to bring out the best in students and how your energy
and enthusiasm can infect your students.”
Does
that mean the performing professors plan on pairing up for classroom duets
anytime soon? The jury’s still out on that one.