Fischler Graduate School of Education & Human Services
Programs in Instructional Technology & Distance Education (ITDE)
1750 NE 167th Street
North Miami Beach, Florida 33162-3017
Programs in Instructional Technology and Distance Education
Assignment Evaluation Form
Study Area (Courses):ITDE 8012
Due Date:March 15, 2004
Student Name:James L. Mowery
Faculty Name:Dr. Michael Albright
Today’s Date:March 2, 2004
Assignment Number/Title: Assignment 1/Company Report
Faculty Decision:Next Response Due:
Additions Required
Rewrite Required
Approved/Grade: ______
Below Standard
Midterm Examination
Final Examination
Comments
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Name of Company and URL
Company Name: Scantron Corporation. URL:
General Information about the Company
The company’s web site does an excellent job in their About Us section of their web page. It is provided below and gives an excellent overview of this company:
Scantron Corp. ( is headquartered in Irvine, Calif., and is a wholly owned subsidiary of Atlanta-based John H. Harland Company (NYSE:JH). Scantron is the acknowledged leader in data collection systems, testing and assessment and hardware service and repair. The company has approximately 600 employees worldwide and annual revenues exceeding $120 million.
For three decades, Scantron has led the industry in data capture and assessment systems designed primarily for education. Today, although the company is recognized globally for testing and assessment technology, it also provides business, healthcare and government agencies with specialized data capture tools, advanced imaging solutions and systems maintenance services. Most importantly, Scantron is renowned for second-to-none customer care. …
What products or services are provided by this company?
Scantron’s primary business is data collection, scoring, and assessment. The majority of their products are focused toward on site operations, e.g. testing and scoring within a facility; however, they also have products that could support distance education. Their products are divided into six major categories: 1) Testing & Assessment, 2) Data Collection, 3) Forms, 4) Scanners, 5) Free Tools, and 6) Other. All products can be found at the following URL: This web page has links to a more in-depth description for each product than is shown on the next page (See Table 1):
Table 1
What products or services are provided by this company?Major Category / Product / Description
Testing & Assessment / Classroom Wizard / Real-time assessment and analysis in the classroom.
Testing & Assessment / Performance Series / Computer-adaptive, Internet-based placement exam.
Testing & Assessment / Skills Connection / Assess student-learning levels on a per skills basis and generate easily graded tests with corresponding answer keys.
Testing & Assessment / ParSYSTEM / Integrated Comprehensive Testing, Assessment and Reporting.
Testing & Assessment / Curriculum Designer / Curriculum Designer contains the largest existing database of objectives and competencies taken from various state standards.
Testing & Assessment / QuickSCORE II / Automated test scoring, immediate reporting and flexible data exporting
Testing & Assessment / Assessment Connection / A powerful software addition to Microsoft Class Server for creating assessments and study guides
Data Collection / eListen / Replace today's traditional survey and data collection methods and tools with the most advanced electronic technology.
Data Collection / TELEform / TELEform replaces manual data entry with the automated processing of forms and documents.
Data Collection / LiquidOffice / A web-based solution that is used to automate internal standard business forms.
Data Collection / FLIPS / Produce a variety of customized surveys, tests and other data capture documents right from your laser printer.
Data Collection / Scanbook / Create form descriptions quickly and easily. For applications using single-page scannable forms, multiple-page forms, or header sheets.
Data Collection / Slugger / Over-slug (pre-bubble) an existing form with all of your data such as ID numbers, names, dates.
Forms / Test Scoring Machine Forms / Testing, item analysis and survey forms offered for use with Scantron's stand-alone Test Scoring Machines (TSMs).
Forms / Custom Forms / Scantron forms with Optical Mark Reader (OMR) can be customized for any application using a variety of colors, graphics and paper weights to suit your needs.
Forms / Software Compatible Forms / Scannable and non-scannable output forms for most educational software products (SCF).
Scanners / Optical Mark Readers / Scans information directly from forms into the computer at up to 2,000 sheets per hour.
Scanners / Imaging / Speed, interface, resolution and feeding must all work together to provide high-quality images quickly to your software.
Scanners / Test Scoring Machine / The 888P+ can accurately score 30 to 40 tests per minute and then immediately determine how students performed.
Free Tools / Home2School / An interactive web site for parents who wish to help boost the academic performance of their children.
Free Tools / StateStandards / Locate your state, find the appropriate grade level and content area, and select a state mandated learning objective.
Other / ApplicationXtender / Streamline business document exchange and review.
Costs of products of particular interest to ITDE?
Two of the above products were selected as most attractive to a distance education program: ParSYSTEM and eListen. The costs for ParSYSTEM, which includes an integrated online test deployment, scoring, analysis, and grading capability are found in Table 2.
Table 2
Costs of products of particular interest to ITDE?Product / Users / Costs
ParSYSTEM / Single User / $4145
ParSYSTEM / 5-User / $5645
ParSYSTEM / Unlimited Users / $8645
The cost for eListen, which is an online survey tool, with robust analysis tools is $3000 for a basic license. Although a powerful tool, eListen is more appropriate for an institution to buy as opposed to a student who might want to use it for a research tool.
Why is it important that ITDE managers know about this company and its products or services?
Scantron Corporation provides online services, which could be of great value for an ITDE manager. The ability to deploy tests, grade them, and then analyze the scores is particularly attractive to online course work and is provided by Scantron’s ParSYSTEM product. The ability to deploy surveys and to conduct an in-depth analysis of the data gathered is attractive to most research personnel. Although their costs for both products are probably prohibitive for an individual teacher, they are competitive for an institution.
References
Scantron - About Us (November 8, 2003). Retrieved 2 March 2004 from
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APPENDIX A
Assignment Directive
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APPENDIX A
Assignment Directive (Modified-Removed Sites That Were Not Selected)
ITDE 8012
Managing and Evaluating Instructional Technology and Distance Education
Nova Southeastern University
Assignment 1
Company Report
Who are the "players" in instructional technology, multimedia, online learning, and distance education? What are the companies that provide products and services in this area, what do they offer, and why should you care? ITDE managers need to know. So do you and your cluster comrades.
In 8012 Assignment 1, you are to select one company that does business in the ITDE field. Research it and write about a three-page report to share with the rest of the cluster. You are encouraged (but not required) to make contact with someone at the company to obtain information. Your paper should be organized according to the following format. I.e., these are your section headings.
• Name of company and URL
• General information about the company (does not need to be long)
• What products or services are provided by this company?
• What are the costs of these products or services (or one particular product or service of interest to ITDE)? NOTE: Some companies will not provide pricing information to non-customers. That is OK. Simply state in your report that the company would not provide pricing information.
• Why is it important that ITDE managers know about this company and its products or services?
You may select from the following list, or you may select another company upon the approval of your instructor.
• Blackboard ( (Lenora)
• Centra ( (Cynthia)
• eCollege.com ( (Bob)
• eProject ( (Jessica)
• HorizonLive ( (Les)
• Jenzabar ( (Audrey)
• LiveText ( (Deanna)
• PLATO Learning ( (Sharon)
• Scantron ( (Jim)
• Sonic Foundry ( (Hsin-Ju)
• Zoomerang ( (Louise)
Each student should report on a different company. Selections will be made on a first come, first served basis. Let your instructor know about your company choice before you start your research. Two points will be subtracted from your score if you do not clear your company with the instructor prior to submitting your assignment. The reason is to avoid having two students in the same clusterreport on the same company.
Submit your assignment directly to the instructor, either in Word or (preferably) in nice, clean HTML (e.g., don't save a Word file as HTML, because that is neither nice nor clean).
Your paper will be posted on the course WebCT site, so that your cluster mates can benefit from your work. This is roughly the equivalent of making a report in a conventional F2F class. If you have an intellectual property problem with that, contact your instructor, and your assignment will not be posted. It is anticipated that others will download your work for future reference, and that they will respect your intellectual property.
A word of warning: To encourage you to read each other's reports, several final exam questions may be taken from this assignment. The questions will be taken from your reports themselves, not from the companies' web sites.
Due: March 15, 2004
Point Value: 25 points
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