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About The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 28, 1984)
Tuesday, February 28, 1 S3 Page 2 Daily Ncbraskan D 1 V r. t.' IV, ft, w Jcrtoioi'ls D'lJ.c.ioin ;;n, "6) u, p !J .OK o o u Alt K M(3ME W) WW , VWOYOV 1 v 'Zi r .tii .. (1 - s t i : j 5-1" i v I f Computer Gradin. Continued from Page 1 The program can determine statistics, such as the mean score of the test, the percentage of stu dents receiving a certain score and the specific number of people receiving a certain score which helps professors grade curves. A graph can be printed showing the distribution of students' scores. Another printout can show students which ques tions they missed and list correct answers. Each test item receives a difficulty index based on how many students miss each question, Wright said. If everyone in the class missed aquestion, instruc tors may decide the question was too difficult and eliminate it from future tests, she said. They might, however, use it again if it was something they wanted the whole class to know. If most students miss a question, the instructor may examine the question to see if the wording was incorrect or if it was beyond the scope of the class. Items also are analyzed according to what cate gory of students missed it. If a number of high scor ers missed a question while low-scorers answered it correctly, the item may be analyzed to see if it is misleading. The analysis helps professors examine their tests to see how they can improve them, Wright said, "I don't know any professor who doesn't want to be fair to students," she said. Wright said professors probably use the system in large classes because of how long it takes to correct the tests. She also said some evidence indicates the sooner the test results gets back to the students the jnore students can learn from the results, "It's just fabulous," said Larry Lusk, professor in the School of Music. He said the system is a boon to , him because more than 200 students are in his class. Wright said the center has finished its first semes ter with the new equipment and the new printout, but its potential has not yet been reached. She said a UNL graduate student, Phillis Dolich, designed the prgram. Two staff members work with scoring procedures, Wright said, and three instruc tional consultants are available to help faculty examine the result. A full-time computer programmer is not available. Wright said some professors are receiving data printed verbally on a that basis explain the coded numbers that usually are used. She said that in the pilot program, the computer prints out messages such as "This item should be considered for revision." "I'm not a statistician," said William Gillies, asso ciate professor of econimics, who is one of the instructors who receives the verbalized data. "I essentially don't have time to analyze the results and this does it for me the first time." Wright said the test analysis system scores about 200,000 surveys and tests a year. - WE'RE FIGHTING FOR YOUR LIFE American Hoarf Asscciaiion Nebraska Affiliate 'TM f TlV i.o : Getting there is half the fun. So when the occasion is special, celebrate in style. With a classic chauffeur-driven Cadillac from Admiral Limousine. A limousine adds glamour to any cele bration from once a year parties to once in a lifetime weddings. At a price that makes luxury affordable. For reservations, call Admiral Limousine. Arrive in style. . ' .; lb , t LIMOUSINE Chauffeur-driven Cadillacs for any special occasion 475-5466 Of f Tine Wwq National and international news from the Reuter News Report Treaty to be scrapped if Syria witlidravs BEIRUT Lebanese President Amin Gemay el is ready to scrap last May's treaty with Israel but is waiting for guarantees that if he does so, Syria will withdraw its troops from Lebanon, offical sources said Monday. They said Saudi Arabian mediator Rafiq al-IIariri was ex pected in Beirut at anytime to bring final word on the guarantees, which would perhaps take the form of a Syrian promise endorsed, by Saudi Arabia. As the politicians wrangled, radio stations reported two people killed and more than 30 wounded in artillery attacks on residential areas of both Christian East Beirut and the Moslem-held West. There were artillery exchanges in mountians near Beirut, where soldiers loyal to Gemayel face Druse militias. New Jersey guns micced target SALIMA, Lebanon The battleship New Jersey missed its target by at least 300 yards when it fired its one-ton shells Sunday at a Syrian anti-aircraft battery, residents in the village of Salima said Monday. The only casual ties from the 16 shells fired were a dozen goats which died of shock and the only damage was to windows and pine trees, they said. The residents showed Reuters five of the craters left by the mammoth 16-inch shells, all of them in pine woods at a safe distance from a battery of Syrian 23mm anti-aircraft guns. The Syrian battery, on the ridge above Salima, was intact and the nearest hit was 300 yards to the west. . . Networks defend poll predictions WASHINGTON The three maior television networks Monday defended their practice of projecting election results, but said they would wait until most polls close before naming a winner in today's New Hampshire Democratic primary. CBS and NBC were sharply criticized at a hearing of the House Telecommunications sub committee for predicting former Vice Presi dent Walter Mondale as the winner of last week's Iowa Democratic caucus several min utes before the caucus meetings had started. ABC announced its projections a few minutes after the caucuses began, based on a small percentage of the vote. Officials of NBC and ABC said they would not project New Hamp shire results until all polls in the state close at 8 p.m. EST although voting in some cities will end one or two hours earlier. CBS said it would wait at least until a majority of votes had been counted. Senator: 'Nuclear winter' ignored WASHINGTON Sen. William Proxmire Monday accused Congress of ignoring the. threat of a disastrous "nuclear winter" which some scientists predict would follow a nuclear war. Except for the Defense Nuclear Agency, an arm of the Pentagon, "there has been virtu ally no formal action by any congressional committee or any administrative agency to study this matter in the detail it obviously deserves," the Wisconsin Democrat said. Some U.S. and Soviet scientists have pre dicted that a nuclear war would cause a wintry climate with weeks of darkness and months of sub-zero cold, widespread death of plant and animal life and human starvation. Proxmire called on Congress and the executive agencies to work with the Soviet Union and other coun tries to stop the arms race and the prolifera tion of nuclear weapons. : Experts: Sovifets didn't identify C37 MONTREAL The Soviet Union made no attempt to identify a straying South Korean airliner before shooting it down last Sep tember with the loss of 269 lives, a team of U.N. aviation experts said Monday. Soviet fighters sent up to intercept the plane also failed to position themselves alongside ' so that the South Korean pilot could see them clearly, the report from the International Civil Aviation Organization charged, ICAO's air navigation commission said, "There is no evidence of any attempt to identify the aircraft." The commission, basing its conclusions on air-to-ground communication records, said these "gave no clear indication that the inter cepting aircraft had taken up a position within view of the pilot of the intercepted aircraft." T. .. : '
