Assessment Case Study
A world-leading provider of instructional, assessment, and learning-performance management solutions for the education market approached Progressive Publishing Services (PPS) with a large project. Since the early 1980s, this education publication company has been tapping into how new technology shapes teaching and learning styles while improving outcomes and achievement in fields such as medicine, emergency services, and computer information systems.
This company was seeking a partner to help author and copyedit assessments for educational programs. Proofreading was a service that was added later. With innovations in technology, updating educational materials is needed in an accurate and swift manner. The company hired PPS after a search for the best qualified vendor, and PPS delivers quality work in the face of quick turnarounds and high volumes of material.
For its assessment sector, the company was looking for a vendor that could handle 600 to 800 assessments that needed to be authored and copyedited for each course. These assessments included knowledge check questions, e-book quizzes, chapter quizzes, midterm exams, final exams, and practice activities. In addition to authoring and copyediting, the questions also require classifications for the question type, the subject matter, and the difficulty of the assessment. The assessments were also proofread on two different online formats, ensuring the materials translated well to these software systems.
In addition to the volume of work needed to be completed, the company had a tight schedule that needed to be maintained, as many course updates were necessary with the ever-evolving subject matters. Quality also was a key component because these assessments were passed along to instructors and students to be used in supplementing their learning.
The company faced many challenges in these areas, with no standard procedures, an increased need for quality-written questions, inconsistency with the process for authors, and questions about what was required from these authors. With these challenges, this company wanted constant communication with the vendor, to ensure projects move at the right speed while the quality and procedures stay in line.
The education publication company chose PPS because of our focus on quality and communication. According to PPS Director Crystal Clifton, “Schedule is key, but without achieving quality and communication, making a schedule with less-than-stellar products is useless.”
The company spent significant time on training and biweekly calls to review procedures, and by doing so, PPS is a reliable source for understanding the guidelines and expectations. This enabled PPS to prepare assessment items that allowed copyediting and proofreading to go smoothly, which helped save time and increase productivity for this company.