Contact:

Julie Kaminkow – jkaminko@cisco.com

What purpose does your assessment tool serve? 

The Cisco Networking Academy Program is demonstrating how best to leverage the power of the Internet for student learning by truly integrating assessment with curriculum and instruction. The Networking Academy program empowers people through a comprehensive e-learning environment that enables them to learn anytime, anywhere, at their own pace, and with more targeted assessments and accountability than traditional class settings.  Developed by educators and networking professionals, the Networking Academy program delivers Web-based curriculum, hands-on labs, instructor training and support, and preparation for industry-standard certifications. Using the Internet to provide instructionally supportive-assessment, the Academy program provides immediate and ongoing feedback to teachers and students about the knowledge and skills students are—or are not—acquiring. This feedback allows teachers to modify and adjust their instructional approach on an ongoing basis over the duration of the course. The Networking Academy assessment strategy—comprised of a variety of interactive online exams and hands-on performance assessments—is designed to inform or improve learning, as well as hold students and teachers accountable for results.  “We use assessment in the Networking Academy program for mastery, not just for measurement,” says John Morgridge, Chairman of the Board, Cisco Systems.  Because the program supports, on average,  more than 35,000 online in-class assessments per day (over 22 million tests have been administered to-date) in 9 languages and 151 countries, we have many unique lessons about web-based deployment and advances in computer-based assessment.

Background:

In 1993, Cisco started partnering with educators to turn technology challenges into opportunities for growth. Cisco initiated a program to design practical, cost-effective networks for schools. Schools needed resident know-how for maintaining and evolving their networks. Cisco responded with training for teachers and staff that inspired a seminar program across the United States. The success of these seminars prompted schools to request a curriculum from Cisco that could be integrated as an elective course. The result was the Cisco Networking Academy™ Program.  Since being launched in 1997, the program has grown to more than 10,000 Networking Academies in 50 U.S. states in 151 countries with a curriculum taught in 9 different languages. Over 400,000 students participate in Academies operating in high schools, colleges and universities, technical schools, community-based organizations, and other educational programs around the world. The Networking Academy program, a recognized blended e-learning model, integrates high-quality face-to-face teaching with the multimedia delivery of challenging curricula and embedded assessment over the Internet. It successfully prepares graduates for networking- and IT-related jobs in the public and private sectors as well as for higher education in engineering, computer science and related fields. These efforts have also helped to wire schools while teaching educators and students how to manage their networks.

Please indicate which category best describes your tool:

a.        __x__ Tools that allow users to ask questions of data (tools for collecting and disaggregating data, including surveys, self-reported data and standardized data)

b.       __x__ Tools for observation (including teacher observation and observation of student behavior or performance)

c.        __x__ Tools for reviewing student products (including electronic or digital portfolios)

Who is the audience for this assessment tool?

Anyone who is interested in learning what is possible in the area of Internet based assessment.

What technology is used?

The Networking Academy program uses an internally created authoring tool to create our assessments.  The program also uses the CLI Virtuoso for the Curriculum and Assessment Delivery Software.  The assessment engine runs in CLI Virtuoso; an authoring and content delivery system for e-learning that stores and delivers curriculum content and assessment questions and results for each student.  For more information on Virtuoso go to http://cisco.netacad.net/public/gln/applications/CLIVirtuoso.html

A webserver and database server is needed. 

Cisco Networking Academy Program participants access CLI Virtuoso Delivery through Academy Connection, a web based portal used to access management and delivery serves within the program. The management system (CNAMS) works with CLI Virtuoso Delivery to control and direct the distribution of media-rich curriculum. The system provides student and instructor authentication and is a decision maker both for course work-granting and denying access to curricular content in CLI Virtuoso Delivery, enabling sanctioned tests, establishing passing grades -and at the program level-enforcing the business rules set up for each Networking Academy. The close integration of CNAMS and CLI Virtuoso Delivery removes the burden of authentication from the delivery system so it can move information faster.  As a stand-alone administration module, CNAMS facilitates student enrollment in each Networking Academy, class registration, tracking of each student's course load, and tracking of each student's progress. The system also directs students to the next available Virtual Help Desk and to curriculum for each course.

Approximately how many people are currently using this system?

What professional development (for students or assessors) is required to use the tool?

Each instructor goes through 3 days of orientation training that covers the use of the assessment program as well as how to use the curriculum. 

To use the tool effectively, what else should the school have in place?

The Cisco Networking Academy Program uses the Academy Connection i-- a portal to an online community for administrators, instructors, and students. It serves as an interface into a suite of applications and tools used to manage Academies, curriculum, assessments, classes, users, online community space, equipment, and more. In addition, it incorporates a new Internet enabled Academy management system used by the Academy community.  The purpose of the Networking Academy program is to enable student success.

If you haven't already addressed it, how does your tool help students or teachers demonstrate that they are meeting standards?

The Academy Connection provides instructors with multiple options when activating an exam.

·         Ability to allow students to view the assessment questions from their grade

·         Look and see which Learning Indicators they have mastered and which ones they have not.

·         Ability to set both a logon period and duration for each exam activation.

·         Ability to activate assessments in multiple languages.

·         Ability to activate multiple forms of an assessment.

·         Ability to set the number of attempts for students.

Instructors also have a flexible grade book they can use to manage the classes they are teaching. These options include an option to add custom
scores for lab assignments, homework assignments, and projects. This grade book also includes the ability to calculate a weighted average.

In addition, the Academy program has a standards alignment database that correlates national and state math, science and language arts standards to the curriculum and down to the task item.

What questions would you like participants to address?

How does this form of assessment contribute to student learning?
How difficult is the assessment system to use for students and instructors?
How many exams are given a day/month/year with this assessment system?