We recently released our 2011 SmarterMeasure Integration Report. Over 300 client schools were asked to participate in the survey to identify trends and good practices in the implementation of SmarterMeasure. Among the 72 schools who responded, interesting findings are listed below.

• 73% make SmarterMeasure available to all students.
• 65% go over the scores one-to-one with the students.
• 59% have compared SmarterMeasure scores with grades or withdrawal rates.
• 61% use SmarterMeasure in an orientation course

Clients had a lot to say about our service and product.

• "A really great assessment tool which we heavily promote to studnets in our online, hybrid, and web-enhanced".
• "For the first time we are able to get a clear picture of the students who are coming to this institution".
• "Helped dramatically lower drop rates in online courses".
• "The service is timely and top notch!"
• "SmarterMeasure is a non-threatening assessment of readiness for online learners....they are eager to see their results".
• "We have students write a reflection about what they learned abvout themselves after taking the assessment. They have had some profound discoveries."

To view the full report click here.

2011 SmarterMeasure Integration Survey

The second annual Education Nation is in full swing and kicked off today with a spotlight of our learning styles portion of the SmarterMeasure™ assessment.  Sponsored by one of our partners, University of Phoenix, the Education Experience includes interactive activities.  Our learning styles assessment is highlighted in the video below.  Although delivered in a unique interface, the questions of the assessment come directly from SmarterMeasure.

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Education Nation Kicks Off - How Do You Learn?

Noel-Levitz and SmarterServices are excited to announce their latest collaboration on a 2011 White Paper - Online Student Readiness as a Predictor of Online Student Satisfaction. 

In an effort to determine whether online student readiness, as measured by the
SmarterMeasure™ Learning Readiness Indicator, is predictive of satisfaction as measured by the Noel-Levitz Priorities Survey for Online Learners™, research was conducted comparing
the readiness measures with satisfaction measures of 1,560 students at five institutions. Suggestions for good practice are included, so that online learning leaders can assist students in becoming satisfied with their online learning experience. This study was a collaborative effort between SmarterServices and Noel-Levitz.

Significant findings show there is a strong relationship between online student readiness and satisfaction/retention.  Two components measured in SmarterMeasure - Individual Attributes and Life Factors proved to be predictors of whether a student was satisfied with his/her classes and whether they would enroll again.  The full report can be found here.

Online Student Readiness as a Predictor of Online Student Satisfaction

SmarterServices has released the 2011 Student Readiness Report.

Distance learning continues to grow at an incredible rate. As more students begin to learn online, it becomes obvious that distance learning is a better fit for some students than others. Individuals considering distance learning desire to know if studying online will be a good choice for them. Schools which invest heavily in attracting new online students want to retain the students across their degree program. Both schools and students benefit when a student’s level of readiness for learning online is measured.

The 2011 Student Readiness Report (SRR) uses data from 240,386 unique students from 258 colleges and universities during the time frame of July 1, 2010 to June 30, 2011. Data from each of these students was analyzed in aggregate, and the findings are now being reported in the SRR. Among these students, 71% were female, only 30% were of traditional age (18-22 years old), 22% had “social” as their dominant learning style, 37% exhibited between 70%-79% of mastery in technical knowledge, and 53% scored 100% on technical competency skills. Statistically significant differences were found among the demographic factors of gender, ethnicity, age, institution type, and the number of prior online courses taken. For example, females were found to have statistically significant higher means on the constructs of individual attributes, typing accuracy, and life factors. Males were found to have statistically significant higher means on the constructs of reading rate and technical knowledge.

According to Sloan-C, over 5.6 million students were taking at least one online course during the fall 2009 term – a 21% increase over the number reported the previous year. This 21% growth rate for online enrollments far exceeds the 2% growth of the overall higher education student population. When asked about how the SRR data could help with the growth of the online student population, Dr. Mac Adkins, President of SmarterServices said, “The Student Readiness Report is of substantial interest to distance learning leaders as they plan to continue to scale and improve their programs. For example, the aggregate data included in the report is useful to instructional designers as they craft their courses to be intuitive for learners of various learning styles and technical abilities, while the information about learners’ life factors and their abilities is useful to student services personnel”.

To download a free copy of the report, go to http://www.smartermeasure.com/documents/2011_Online_Student_Readiness_Report.pdf.

The student data came from the SmarterMeasure learning readiness indicator. SmarterMeasure is a web-based, diagnostic tool that measures students’ strengths and opportunities for improvement in six areas related to online learning and technology rich courses. Those include life factors, learning styles, individual attributes (such as procrastination, motivation, etc), technical competency & knowledge, typing speed & accuracy, and on-screen reading rate & recall.

2011 Student Readiness Report is Now Available!

On August 22nd, SmarterMeasure broke two records!  Our 1 millionth student took the assessment AND we had over 7000 students take it in one day!  It is so exciting to know that students all over the country are getting access to a tool that will help them succeed in their elearning classes.  The timing to break these two records couldn't have been better.  On August 25th we will be releasing the 2011 Student Readiness Report. This is the third year that we have procuded the report.  It provides descriptive and comparison data on over 240,000 students from over 250 colleges and universities who took the assessment over a twelve-month period.

SmarterMeasure Breaks Two Records!