Press Release - Questionmark Releases New Version with Blended and Multilingual Assessment Delivery

For Immediate Release

Norwalk, CT -- January 14, 2010 -- The ability to deliver a single assessment to different types of devices and in multiple languages and contexts—plus improved accessibility and scalability—are among improvements introduced today in version 5 of the Questionmark™ Perception™ assessment management system.

Businesses, awarding bodies, educational institutions, non-profit organizations and government agencies use Questionmark technologies to author, create, deliver and report on assessments before, during and after learning. These include surveys and course evaluations as well as diagnostic, formative and summative assessments ranging from informal quizzes to certification exams.

Questionmark Perception version 5 makes it easier to deploy surveys, quizzes, tests and exams to an increasingly mobile, global and diverse audience. A single assessment can be delivered to laptops, desktops, smart phones and a wide range of other devices. The system auto-senses each device and its browser, then the content auto-sizes to ensure the assessment appears in the right format. “Screen furniture” – the buttons and other graphics incorporated in assessments—is automatically resized to fit each different screen size. This makes it easier than ever to create learning and assessment mashups by embedding quizzes or surveys within wikis, blogs, web pages, portals such Microsoft SharePoint, and social networks to provide formative assessments or gather opinions during learning activities.

“Our customers deliver tests, quizzes and surveys to people who work and learn in many different environments and they shouldn’t have to worry about the technical details like resizing their assessment for each device or if its accessible to someone who is partially sighted,” commented Questionmark CEO Eric Shepherd. “The new auto-sensing, auto-sizing capabilities, multilingual user interfaces, and the latest accessibility features allow subject matter experts to author an assessment once and then confidently deliver it to hundreds or even millions of people securely via internet portals, social media sites, web pages, iFrames, wikis, blogs and even paper.” 

As organizations are increasingly delivering assessments on-screen, legal and ethical issues are compelling them to better accommodate the needs of participants with disabilities. Questionmark’s new delivery platform is optimised to work with assistive technologies such as screen readers and alternative pointing devices and includes standard features within test delivery templates such as text sizing and contrast controls. These and other improvements will help organizations comply with Web accessibility standards such as those described in Section 508 Web accessibility standards in the United States and the International web Accessibility Initiative Guidelines (WCAG) of the World  Wide Web Consortium (WC3)
 
Perception also streamlines processes for test publishers, businesses and other organizations that need to deliver assessments in multiple languages. Using Questionmark’s Translation Management System, organizations can now more easily deliver localized content to multinational workforces. Translations can be conducted on the fly within a new browser-based tool in Perception, or items and assessments can be exported for translation by a third-party application or vendor. Once translated, the assessments remain connected to their base-language counterparts for efficient management of subsequent edits and reporting.

Other improvements in Perception v5 include:

• Multilingual participant interfaces available in 20 languages
• A new logon and assessment list screen that make it easier for participants to find assessments, view schedules, reports and other information.
• Easier navigation through assessments and ready access to embedded tools such as calculators and charts  
• Enhanced failsafe functionality to protect data if an internet connection is lost
• Three-tiered architecture providing greater scalability and enhanced security
• Easier to install and deploy in load-balanced environments
• New Application Programming Interfaces to expand integration options of Questionmark’s Open Assessment Platform.

Complete details about the latest Questionmark Perception features can be found at www.questionmark.com/perception

About Questionmark
Questionmark provides technologies and services that enable organizations to measure knowledge, skills and attitudes securely for certification, regulatory compliance and improved learning outcomes. Questionmark solutions enable reliable, valid and defensible assessments by empowering subject matter experts through collaborative authoring, accommodating participant needs with blended and multilingual delivery and informing stakeholders through timely reporting and meaningful analytics.

The Questionmark Perception assessment management system, available for licensed, on-premise deployment or as an on-demand solution, enables organizations to create, administer and report on surveys, quizzes, tests and exams. The company’s Open Assessment Platform™ allows developers to easily integrate with and build upon Questionmark technologies using an array of Application Programming Interfaces (APIs). Questionmark Live, a multilingual, browser-based tool enables easy item authoring by subject matter experts.
 
Complete details are available at www.questionmark.com. The Questionmark blog at http://blog.questionmark.com  provides assessment-related news, interviews, insights and best practices.

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