ParSCORE TEST Form Transparency (PUG KNOWS - ParSYSTEM User's Group Tips & Ideas - April 1992, Revised June 1995) One of the important tasks for students to accomplish when taking a test to be scored by ParSCORE is encoding the paper form with their social security numbers at the beginning of a test period. An innovative approach to helping students perform this task was developed by Charles Kazilek at Arizona State University. As a member of the Arizona State work group assisting the implementation of ParSYSTEM software at ASU, Charles created a transparency to use with an overhead projector in the classroom at the beginning of the testing period. The students can look at the screen and see a sample of the answer sheet and prepare their own ParSCORE forms accordingly. Marilyn Lowe, another member of the ASU work group, assembled a packet of materials for training new ParSYSTEM users among the faculty and teaching assistants. In April 1992, Marilyn shared Charles Kazliek's transparency master with the ParSYSTEM User's Group to be distributed by PUG KNOWS. Neil Sapper of Amarillo College adapted the Arizona State transparency which uses a ParSCORE TEST Form for an NCS Scanner. Amarillo College uses SCANTRON Scanners, and the ParSCORE SCANTRON-compatible TEST Form looks somewhat different from the NCS-compatible TEST Form used at Arizona State University. In addition, Sapper took the liberty of adding the Amarillo College identifier to the SCANTRON transparency master. (Other users might do the same to "personalize" their set of instructions for their students. Similarly, the paper form can be of any variety, not just ParSCORE forms.) The innovation proved so successful as Sapper reported that a trial run with the transparency provided a set of TEST Forms _without_ a single ID coding error as well as no Test Form coding errors. This lack of coding errors was a first for any class offered by Sapper at Amarillo College where the ParSYSTEM software has been in use since 1988. Even better, Sapper reported that the transparency relieved him of reciting the litany about encoding the ID number on both sides of the form and the like. ParSYSTEM users who wish additional information about using the ParSCORE transparency master or to obtain copies of the master (for either NCS or SCANTRON format) should contact either Marilyn Lowe or Neil Sapper. (NCS Scanners) Marilyn Lowe - Microcomputing Support and Training - Computing/Network Services - Arizona State University - Tempe, AZ 85287-0101 - 602/965-4383 - E-mail (SCANTRON Scanners) Neil Sapper - _PUG NEWSLETTER_ - Amarillo College - P. O. Box 447 - Amarillo, TX 79178-0001 - 806/371-5416 - E-mail PUG members should feel free to make copies for other ParSYSTEM users at their location. ###