To help Instructors prepare for upcoming paper-based multiple-choice assessments, Akindi is offering a live webinar Tuesday, Oct 11th at 1:00 PM (ET). Their Customer Success Lead will walk participants through use of the tool, answer questions, and ensure attendees are ready to deploy their assessment with Akindi.

You can register here to attend, or if you're unavailable at the time of the training, you can sign up to receive the recording.

Follow our Instructional Technology myUMBC group to stay up-to-date when training dates will be announced. Until then, instructors can:

A new series of FAQs on the Akindi Importer is now available. Supported question types include multiple choice, multiple answer, open ended question, fill in the blank, and matching. 

The Akindi Importer is particularly useful for faculty who wish to create large Blackboard question pools efficiently and quickly. Instead of manually creating one question at a time, faculty can create assessment questions in Microsoft Word and use the Akindi Importer (via web browser) to upload the resulting QTI file to the course. Once imported, the Akindi QTI file may be used with other assessment features such as randomization of questions or answers, and random blocks that limit the number of questions displayed from a pool. Unlike Respondus 4.0, Akindi Importer is available to all faculty regardless of their desktop's operating system.

Last year, DoIT announced the pilot of a tool called Akindi, which serves as a Scantron alternative and allows instructors to print and score bubble sheets from any local printer/scanner. There has been nearly full campus-wide adoption since this time (while faculty also continue to use Blackboard for online exams). In Fall 2019, the TSC graded 354 Scantron tests. In just two years, that number was down to 16 tests scored in Fall 2021, and we've only graded 4 tests during the current term. At the same time, we've seen 52 faculty members deploy Akindi in their courses across 242 assessments, and scanning nearly 21,000 bubble sheets. On April 1, Jordan Wilson scanned Akindi's 9 millionth bubble sheet from Exam 1 in their CHEM 102L Introductory Chemistry Lab course.

~By Tom Penniston & Collin Sullivan

At the end of Spring 2021, DoIT announced a pilot of Akindi, a tool that serves as a Scantron alternative that allows instructors to print and score bubble sheets from any local printer/scanner. Akindi has been deployed with institutions across the country including Rutgers, Duke, USC Marshall, and the University of Tennessee. 

Since UMBC's roll out, over 18,000 Akindi bubble sheets have been scanned by UMBC faculty and teaching assistants over 200 unique assessments. 

On April 1, Jordan Wilson scanned in bubble sheets for Exam 1 in their CHEM 102L Introductory Chemistry Lab. That scan hit a milestone for our partners at Akindi: it included their 9 millionth scanned bubble sheet. Wilson has been awarded a complementary pair of socks from Akindi to celebrate. 

As the end of the semester approaches, DoIT reminds faculty of the advantages of Akindi bubble sheets over Scantrons. Resources are made available through our FAQs, or faculty can request an Akindi consult by placing a ticket via RT.

Follow our Instructional Technology myUMBC group to stay up-to-date when training dates will be announced. Until then, instructors can:

Instructors that wish to continue using Scantrons for their bubble sheet assessments will still be able to do so during this transition throughout Fall 2021. 

Follow our Instructional Technology myUMBC group to stay up-to-date when training dates will be announced. Until then, instructors can:

Beginning Fall 2021, UMBC will employ Akindi for paper-based, bubble sheet assessments. Akinidi is a Scantron alternative that allows instructors to print and score bubble sheets from any local printer/scanner. 

Before UMBC's physical campus closed due to COVID-19, CHEM 101 and CHEM 102 participated in a limited Spring 2020 pilot using Akindi, with approximately 700 students enrolled in each course. Dr. Sarah Bass, Lecturer from the Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, reflected on her experience with Akindi on a recent GO Chat:

The Technology Support Center (TSC) is responsible for scanning and returning completed Scantron assessments. While the TSC's goal is to return assessments within 2 business days, meeting this goal during peak assessment periods for midterm and final exams is challenging. These peak times are precisely when the TSC is most needed for faculty and student support. With Akindi, instructors can more easily and quickly score and return results to students. 

Immediate feedback improves just-in-time pedagogical strategies where faculty can leverage assessment data to specifically review content at a time in the course schedule that has heightened relevance for students. Some UMBC faculty have used "Exam wrapper" reflections where they ask students, after receiving their results, to reflect on their strategies to prepare for the exam.

Immediate feedback gives students performance indicators on assessments that can inform their study habits or outreach efforts for tutoring and support. Additionally, students only have access to the original, physical bubble sheet, which may delay or prevent students from reviewing transcription or other grading errors. With Akindi, instructors can choose to email students a copy of the scanned image as soon as grades are posted to Blackboard. 

Results from scored Scantrons are compiled in a CSV file, where instructors can manipulate the data in order to generate reports within any spreadsheet application; instructors also receive a static PDF report of the data. If there were errors on the answer key, or a question needs to be thrown out, all of the assessments would need to be rescored. Additionally, instructors are unable to run what-if analyses to determine the effects of throwing out a question or answer choice. Akindi provides a dynamic interface for instructors to manipulate and review bubble sheet assessment data.  

Scantrons are required to be stored at the TSC until picked up by faculty members; some assessments administered from Summer 2017 still remain unclaimed. Scantron alternatives can offer digital copies of bubble sheets, which only requires computer or cloud disk space instead of physical storage. Further, Akindi can email a copy of the scored exam directly to students for their review. 

Results from scored Scantrons are compiled in a CSV file, uploaded by the TSC into a Blackboard course's Content Collection. The process to take the results from the Content Collection to the Gradebook is not as seamless as it could be, especially when pushing results from Akindi to the Gradebook is only a click away. If instructors wish to regrade a particular question, the CSV must first be downloaded, amended, then re-uploaded into the Blackboard gradebook. With Akindi, instructors can edit the answer key within Blackboard and immediately update results. 

Instructors that wish to continue using Scantrons for their bubble sheet assessments will still be able to do so during this transition throughout Fall 2021. 

Over the next several weeks, we will be announcing training dates with Akindi to prepare faculty for this transition. Follow our Instructional Technology myUMBC group to stay up-to-date when training dates will be announced. Until then, instructors can: