In various assessment contexts including entrance examinations, educational assessments, and personnel appraisals, performance assessment has attracted much attention to measure examinees’ higher order abilities. Nevertheless, low assessment reliability and high costs of scoring are regarded as persistent difficulties hindering performance assessment. To resolve these shortcomings, item response theory models that incorporate rater and task characteristic parameters and automated essay scoring methods have been proposed recently. This paper introduces state-of-the-art topics for these technologies.

As a new specification for e-learning content, cmi5 has developed and is gathering attention. The purpose of this research is to design and implement the cmi5 specification on a learning management system (LMS). First, a method of cooperative operation between an LMS and a learning record store (LRS), a learner interface, and a method of transition between assignable units (AUs) were designed. An LRS is deployed behind the LMS to improve the independence of an LRS. An LMS provides a table of contents that shows the course structure, which enables transition between AUs by a learner. Then, a Moodle plugin “mod_elecoa”, which follows the framework of the Extensible Learning Environment with Courseware Object Architecture (ELECOA), was extended to support cmi5 based on the design. The plugin is expected to be useful for verifying interoperability and further recognition of cmi5.

This study reviewed the use of simulation-based learning (SBL) to teach nursing in 2016 in a nursing course for certification in emergency care. This study also examined learning support, which served as a scaffold for on-campus practice in 2017. Nursing notes following SBL in 2016 were assessed with a rubric used in practical training, and the average score was low (68％). Thus, case-based learning (CBL) was implemented in 2017 prior to SBL, and feedback was provided after CBL and SBL. The score was 10.20±2.20 points in 2016 and 14.10±1.52 points in 2017. The course design in 2017 resulted in more effective learning than that in 2016. In 2016, a heavy extraneous load (cognitive load theory) was imposed, but, the course design in 2017 decreased the extraneous load, allowing students to take on the germane load. Students presumably built a schema using pre-existing knowledge from classroom lectures in their long-term memory.