Test Administration

Tests are the basic unit of the Threshold Achievement web site. In order to create and manage tests, you must register on the Threshold Achievement web site. Make certain that you register as a member of your institution as listed in the drop-down menu. Doing this permits you to share test information with others at your institution. Once you have registered, you will be able to access your Manager Dashboard. From the Dashboard you can manage your Threshold Achievement tests.

Test Setup

The Threshold Achievement Test for Information Literacy is made up of four modules. Each module is administered separately as an individual test. It is not expected that any one student will take all four modules, although this is not prohibited. When you create a test, you will specify which of the four modules you will be administering. Each module has been designed to be completed within 50 minutes.

Each test has general information, such as its title, that you will specify as part of setting up the test. Some of the information is required, other pieces are optional. If you want to allow your students to provide informed consent, you can enter explanatory text that will be presented to your students at the beginning of the test. You can also enable the informed consent question: May we use your responses for our research project? Students must answer Yes or No to this question in order to take the test. Students who answer No will still be able to complete the test, however, their responses will not be included in your report and you will not be charged for their participation.

Standard demographic questions, e.g., class standing and major, are optional. If you wish to collect this information, you will need to add the labels used at your institution to have these presented to your students. You can specify up to ten different class standings and up to 50 different majors for your students to choose from. Your report will include scores for each of the class standings and majors you specify. Your report will include cross-institutional scores for broad categories of class standing and major as well.

You can also create up to ten custom demographic questions. These questions are single-selection questions in that students may select only one response. Each custom demographic question can have up to 50 different response options. Your report will include scores for each custom demographic question you specify. No cross-institutional scores are available for these questions given that they appear only on your test.

All demographic questions are required to be completed before a student can begin the test.

Administering the Test

Your students will take the test using a current web browser that is connected to the Internet. Desktop and laptop computers and tablets are currently supported. In order to be able to log in to the test, each of your students will need a Test Key and a unique Student Key. These keys are generated by the Threshold Achievement web site. Students can log in manually by going to: https://thresholdachievement.com/test It is also possible to give each student a link that will automatically log them in. This method is useful if you email invitations to your students. You can also allow your students to log in to the test using their local student ID number or email address in place of a generated Student Key.

Your Manager Dashboard will allow you to monitor the number of students who have completed the test. At any time after you start testing, you can download a list of the Student Keys for those students. When all of your students have completed the test, you will stop testing. Once stopped, a test cannot be re-started. All testing must be completed by June 1st each year. Any test that has not been stopped will be stopped automatically by the Threshold Achievement web site.

Next up: Read the Terms of Use.