DRAFT STANDARDS AND REGISTRATION PROCEDURE FOR ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENTS Developments In Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, Volume 23, 1996 DRAFT STANDARDS AND REGISTRATION PROCEDURE FOR ASSESSMENT INSTRUMENTS Hugh M. Cannon, Wayne State University J. Ronald Frazer, Arbogast Publishing Company Jim Groff, University of Texas at San Antonio Denise R. Markovich, University of North Dakota Renae Stevens, Doane College Precha Thavikulwat, Towson State University ABSTRACT The Committee on Standards for Assessment Instruments of the Association for Business Simulation and Experiential Learning (ABSEL) presents its proposal. Standards for design, packaging, and piloting, procedures for registration, and fees are discussed. PREAMBLE Assessing business education and enhancing it are different processes. Although many simulations and experiential exercises are instruments that can serve either process, each process places distinctly different requirements on the instrument used. Whereas enhancement requires instruments that further understanding of concepts, assessment requires instruments that give scores evidencing competencies. Because the utility of assessment instruments depends on their wide adoption, so that scores obtained from one population and setting may be compared with those obtained elsewhere, standards for such instruments and procedures for their registration can facilitate their development and use. STANDARDS An instrument viable for widespread use in assessment must be a finished product. It must be adequate in design and packaging, and must have been adequately piloted in its target population. Standard for Design The instrument must give rise to an objective score. The score should be rationally tied to performance such that the better the participants play the more likely they are to score well. The vagaries of circumstance should not substantially affect the score. Standard for Packaging The instrument must be available for adoption as a packaged set. An instructor’s manual must be included. Standard for Piloting The instrument must have been piloted in its target population. The results of piloted usage must have been published in a refereed publication. REGISTRATION So that potential users might know of instruments that have met the standards, ABSEL registers assessment instruments. The decision to accept an instrument for registration is at the discretion of the ABSEL’s Committee on Standards for Assessment Instruments. Registered assessment instruments will be listed as such in Developments in Business Simulation & Experiential Exercises, ABSEL’s annual conference proceedings. Registration is effective for one year from the date of decision. To be considered for registration, an author of the instrument must apply directly to the chair of the Committee. The application must include a cover letter requesting registration, payment of a USD $100 application fee that is not refundable (enclose money order or check payable to ABSEL), and four copies of the following: 1. the instrument package 2. reprint(s) of the published piece(s) in which piloted usage was discussed 3. a brief explanation of how the instrument meets the standards Registration may be renewed annually. Applications for renewal of registration are processed in the same manner as a first registration. They must be accompanied by a cover letter requesting renewal of registration, payment of a USD $50 application fee that is not refundable, and four copies of the following: 1. additions or revisions to the package, if any 2. reprint(s) of new published piece(s) in which usage was discussed 3. a brief explanation of how the instrument may have been changed 94 Table of Contents Volume 23, 1996 Modeling Advertising Effectiveness Simulation as an Aid to Learning: How Does Participation Influence the Process? Administering Business Simulations in Transitioning Economies: The Introduction of Simulation Gaming to Estonia Business Simulation Games: Current Usage Levels. A Ten Year Update The Relationship Between Interpersonal and Task Cohesiveness and Performance in a Business Simulation Game The Design of an ITS-Based Simulation: A New Epistemology for Learning Correlates of Learning in Simulations How Do We Know where we're going if we don't know where we have been: A Review of Business Simulation Research Making Cash Flow Come Alive and Sensible in the Classroom Enhancing Simulation Learning through Objectives and Decision Support Systems An Analysis of Deliberate and Emergent Strategies Relative to Porter's Generic Differentiator and Cost Leader: A Bias and Variance Modeling Approach Introducing Ethical Dilemmas into Computer-Based Simulation Exercises to Teach Business Ethics CEO Strategic Locus of Control Effects on Game Performance and Playing Behavior The Relational Database As a Link between Operations and Cost Accounting Goal Setting over Time in Simulations Computerized Business Simulations: A Workshop Exploring the Tutor's Role, Task & Needs Strategic Analysis of the Product Portfolio with the COMPLETE PPA Package: A Strategic Market Planning Tool Draft Standards and Registration Procedure for Assessment Instruments Perspectives on a New Generation of Business Games An Economic Multiple Regression Case In Experiential Learning Changing Institutional Norms and Behavior, Not Culture: Experiential Learning Comes to Myanmar Strategic Management and the Case Method: Survey and Evaluation Individual Differences in Internet Attitude and Use Long Live the Plan - or Should It? Examining the Impact of Detailed Strategic Plans on Organizational Performance Do Your Students Really Read the Manual? A Computerized Contextual Tool As A Surrogate for the Traditional Student Manual Pilot Analyses of Self-Peer Evaluations in an Experiential-Exercise Human Resources Management Course Leader Behavior Feedback: A Learning Exercise Dilemma-Dilemma: An Exercise for Teaching Significance Of Communication Computer Mediated Conferencing: Technology and Classroom Learning Multimedia in the Workplace: Who is really using it and where is it Headed? Using Experiential Exercises for Collecting Research Data: Integrating Teaching and Research Interactive Distance Learning as a Tool in a College's Theory and Practice The President's Decision: An Experiential Exercise in Decision Making Integrating Computer Literacy Skills in the Undergraduate Curriculum: The Advanced Accounting Experiment Imperatives for the Transfer of Experience-Based Training Deciding How to Decide The Internet as a Pedagogical Tool Internet Scavenger Hunt Two Management Exercises Based on Committee Work Multimedia in the Year 2000: How Will It Affect Our Lives? Bootstrap Benefit Segmentation: Finally A Way to Teach Benefit Segmentation without Primary Data or Those Fancy Statistical Methods Multimedia and Learning: Is There A Connection? A Changing Business Policy Collaborative Learning Through Real-Life Assignments in Accounting Classes The Necessity Of Incorporating Local Cultural Aspects Into International Business Experiential Exercises Utilizing Cultural and International Landmark Constructs to Assess Business Student's International Awareness Legal Issues related to the Use of Application Blanks: An Experiential Exercise The Family in the Classroom: An Experiential Exercise for Teaching Issues Related To Expatriate Assignments Using Internet Resources to Enhance Teaching of Information Systems Courses: A Demonstration Proposal Chalkboards to Chipboards for Teachers and Consultants How Do We Measure The Learning In Experiential Learning and How Do We Best Simulate It?