🚀 go-pugleaf

You asked about high-end online testing packages.

I don't have much direct experience, though I have played with both
QuestionMark and CyberExam (2 packages that probably belong in your
high-end catagory).  As part of an internal evaluation I put together some
links at http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~jqj/edtech/testing.html that you
might find useful.  See in particular a review of high-end (6-digit $$)
solutions done by U Iowa, http://www.uiowa.edu/~itsisdg/ts.html

My observation is that the needs of faculty are EXTREMELY heterogenous, so
it's very hard to justify a large institution-wide investment in any
particular package.  One trend to watch is the attempt to standardize
interfaces between test delivery packages and textbook-based test banks (cf
IMS).  This is critically important in many fields with large undergraduate
courses and established texts.  On the other hand, a testing package that
can't generate numeric-calculation questions with random parameters isn't
very useful in an intro physics course!  And one that can't generate a
tab-delimited report of SSN-indexed responses for easy input into the
faculty member's Excel gradebook won't be very useful either.

On our campus, at least, a good infrastructure for scanning bubblesheets,
limited undergrad access to computers, and security issues all make
authenticated online testing a niche product, not one that appears useful
in the typical course.  So we look more towards uses in our small number of
distance ed courses, or for self-evaluation rather than testing.

JQ Johnson                      office: 115F Knight Library
Academic Education Coordinator  mailto:jqj@darkwing.uoregon.edu
1299 University of Oregon       phone: 541-346-1746 (v) -3485 (fax)
Eugene, OR  97403-1299          http://darkwing.uoregon.edu/~jqj/