A Computer Program for Verbal Feedback on Multiple-Choice Examinations

(1965), for example, developed a program for individual testing which permits student-computer interaction in natural language by means of a typewriter linked to an IBM 1620. Students are presented with a series of natural language test questions, and variable comments are typed for either a correct or an incorrect response. Stodola (1965) presented a data processing procedure which facilitates test construction and provides the student with global diagnostic information. He keypunched a pool of pretested items and developed a numerical coding system which identifies items according to content and statistical characteristics. In addition, he prepared a textbook in which the content code numbers are presented in the page margins. This procedure allows the instructor to construct and rapidly reproduce sets of classroom tests which conform to given specifica-