In the spring of 2009, the French, German, and Spanish placement tests previously proctored during the Carolina Testing and Orientation Programs (CTOPs) were moved online. Incoming students were instructed to take the placement test before they arrived on campus for their CTOPs session.

I met with Academic Advising, the CTOPs office, and language departments to discern their needs and any concerns they had about moving the test to an online, un-proctored environment. I then met with my programmer and graphic designer to develop a system that would meet the needs of three groups: language departments, in delivering an accurate placement test; Academic Advising, in being able to access and see the results since it could not be integrated directly with ConnectCarolina; and CTOPs, in order to make sure students were taking the test before arriving on campus.

Based on my meetings, the decision was made that the BYU Webcape Adaptive placement test was the best fit for our needs in that it was an accurate and effective test.  We further decided to use the BYU Webcape External Exam Interface and have built a system that authenticates UNC affiliated persons using their ONYEN login and allows them to take the placement tests. The scores are stored and a PDF document is generated for students to bring to their meeting with advisors. This test is also handling the ad hoc placement tests that had to be given during the academic year – students can log in and take the test when needed, and Academic Advising can log in to see their scores.

In moving the test online, we implemented:

• Encryption to protect student test data
• A distinctly UNC look/feel to create a nice interface for the students

Additionally, students now have greater flexibility in selecting their language courses because they are able to take the test well in advance of arriving on campus and have an opportunity to research or e-mail language directors for further clarification. This has also taken a lot of the stress and pressure off the students when they are on campus for the two-day orientation and allows the schedule to allow for more interactive sessions related to being a Carolina student.

In the spring of 2010, we developed the Latin placement test so that students can use the language placement site and take the test. The Latin test was developed in house – BYU does not currently offer a Latin test. The questions are set to rotate so that each student taking the test will see a different pool of questions and the questions all have a category which will allow for the Classics Department to add more questions to the overall pool. For instance, they can decide they need more Latin to English translation questions and easily add more questions and increase the percentage of questions from that category that should appear on the test.

A video playlist that serves as a FAQ can be found here.