The Webtron FAQ |
| May 8, 2000 |
For general help in using Webtron, contact
BioSci Computing Services, (949)824-3555
It may be helpful while reading the information below to work with a typical Webtron input file. You can view and download one by clicking here.
You may want to download Keith Vogelsang's Scantron/Webtron User Guide. There's an MS Office 95 version, and an MS Office 97 version (the latter requires less space and contains more reliable Scantron graphics).
New! Webtron now allows you to upload your class roster file from the Registrar's erosters site so that Student ID's can be automatically linked with student names in the output. Webtron will also flag any registered students who missed the test, as well as any test takers who aren't registered. See below for more information. You should also view Dr. Richard Campbell's directions for merging these results into Excel for several tests over the course of the quarter.
A: Webtron is a web-based program written by Garr Updegraff for grading and analyzing the text file generated by a Scantron machine from multiple-choice test forms. It was inspired by a Mac/DOS/Unix C program called Scantrax that was written in 1994 by former UC Irvine grad student John Choi.
A: There are four main sections in the output web page produced by Webtron:
- Graded responses: This section displays each student's ID, numerically sorted, along with the student's correct answer score and graded test answers. The student's correct answers are displayed as upper case letters, while incorrect answers are lower case.
- Questions analysis: This sections displays each question number, followed by the number and percentage of students who answered it correctly, along with the percentages of students in the top and bottom quarters of the class who answered it correctly. The top quarter result, in particular, can help an instructor determine if a question might be a clunker because it threw off even the best students. This section also displays for each question the number of students who selected each possible answer.
- Histogram: This section displays a histogram of the number of students who achieved each score. It also displays the class ranking for a given score (1 for whomever achieved the best score, 2 for the next best score, etc.), and the class percentile for the score (100 for the best score, something close to 0 for the worst score).
- Student Listing: This section lists all student I.D. numbers, along with each student's score, class rank and class percentile, and corresponding line number in the input file. Webtron now has an output option that limits the program to generating just this final section with one test score category. And if you also upload an erosters class list from the Registrar, Webtron will list student names as well.
A: Something like the following:
# This is a comment
19999999 BEAEBBBABDCDCDDBBDACADAEB # answer key version 1
12312312 BDACBADADEBAADDCBABEABEBB # first student response
23423423 BDACBADADEBAADDCBABEABEBB
34534534 CEBCBBDEDDBDBCBBBDCDADBAB
. . .
The student ID is listed in the first 10 columns, and the rest of the columns list
the student multiple-choice answers. By convention, an answer key consists of
a single version digit followed by seven 9's. Webtron allows you to
add comments on any line by using the "#" character; any text on the rest of the
line is considered a comment. Click here
to view a sample file.
A: No problem! Just insert another line(s) with the same answer key
ID number, and enter the 2nd letter choice in the appropriate question column, as in:
# Both "A" and "B" are valid for question 5.
19999999 BEAEBBBABDCDCDDBBDACADAEB # answer key version 1
19999999 A # "A" is also valid for Q5
12312312 BDACBADADEBAADDCBABEABEBB # first student response
23423423 BDACBADADEBAADDCBABEABEBB
34534534 CEBCBBDEDDBDBCBBBDCDADBAB
. . .
Or, you can follow the old Scantrax program's convention of repeating the entire answer key line,
with changes in the 2nd line to reflect the alternate letter choice. In any case,
be sure to place the letter in the correct column! If you use an editor
with a proportional font, you may end up placing the letter in the wrong column
because "blanks" aren't as wide as most letters.
A: Yes! you can combine more than one Scantron file into a single larger file, as long as the number of questions is the same for all versions of the test. Each version must have a separate answer key I.D. number, such as "19999999", "29999999", or "39999999", for example. A student entry is tied to a particular answer key based on the letter entered in a particular column. You must designate that special column by placing a "v" (for version) in that column in the first (at the least) answer key. If a student entry contains an "A" in this column, then it is graded against answer key 1 with ID "19999999". A student entry with "B" in this column is graded against answer key 2 with ID "2999999", and so forth. Student entry lines from various versions can be scrambled together (although this may prove confusing for whomever handles them), and Webtron will sort them apart as necessary. Webtron will generate separate "Graded Response" and "Questions Analysis" sections for each version, but will combine all scores for the histogram and student rankings sections.
A: This information, such as the professor's name and the class, is displayed as a documentation aid at the start of each section of the output page.
A: These two fields are designed to help you standardize your students' ID number entries, in case they add or leave off initial 0's in their ID. Most students at UCI have 8-digit ID numbers, so Webtron's default value of 8 in both of these fields is normally fine. However, if you have Extension students -- who often have 9-digit ID's -- in your class, then you should increase the Max Length field to allow up to nine digits.If a student enters an ID number with less than your Minimum Student ID Length value, then the program assumes he or she left off an initial zero from the ID and will add as many 0's as necessary to reach the minimum length you have specified. It will also print a warning at the start of the output page noting the conversion of this student's ID number.
If a student enters an ID number with more digits than your Max Length value, then the program assumes the student probably added some initial 0's and tries to remove them. If it succeeds, then it will print a warning message to this effect at the start of the output page. If there aren't any initial zeros that can be stripped off, then the program will issue an error message that you must correct this over-sized ID.
A: This optional input field is for publicly posting Webtron's results. The policy of UC Irvine's Registrar is that, for privacy reasons, full student ID numbers and test scores should not be posted in public view or on the web. However, using partial student ID numbers is acceptable. This input field makes it easy for you to comply.If you enter, say, "5", the program will truncate all student ID's to their final five digits in the output analysis so that student scores are more anonymous (of course, for your own records, you'll want to leave this field blank so that each student's full ID is listed). If the final digits for one student are the same as for another, the program will request that you increase the number of digits that can be displayed in the truncated ID's.
A: Yes. The Output pull down menu next to the Process data button has the following options:Specifying any of the latter three options will cause Webtron to generate only the final listing of Student ID's (and names, if a Registrar class list was uploaded) and each student's score, or percentage correct, or percentile in the class (where 100 is the best score).
- All analysis results
- Just final section and # correct
- Just final section and % correct
- Just final section and percentile
A: The Registrar makes class lists available to faculty and T.A.'s in two formats. The erosters format looks something like this:(lots of introductory text) . . . Instructor : CAMPBELL, R. Term : Winter 00 # Enrolled : 340.0 STUDENT# NAME EMAIL MAJOR LVL OPT UNTS GRD 13767576 ADAMS, SAMUAL SADAMS@uci.edu Art Stu SO GR 4.0 87617964 COORS, ADOLPH ACOORS@uci.edu Double SO GR 4.0 69195167 WEINBERGER, HENRY HWEINBER@uci.edu Unaffil JR GR 4.0 . . .This is fixed column format (since spaces are used to make the columns line up), but this information is also available from the Registrar with single tab characters between each of the fields. Either format will work (but not both at the same time).When you specify a file like this in Webtron's eroster file field, the program is smart enough to ignore all the early lines from the file until it encounters the line starting with STUDENT# NAME. This title line is important because Webtron uses it to determine how wide the name field is (this isn't an issue if your file has single tabs between the fields instead of being in fixed column format). Thus it's easy to create your own class list, if necessary, but be sure to include a title line with each column heading aligned with the start of its column.
Webtron will load your roster file along with your Scantron file and link the student ID's in the final listing with the student names from the class list. It will also flag registered students who missed the test, as well as students who took the test but didn't register. It's worth comparing these two lists to make sure that a registered student didn't accidentally enter an erroneous ID.
Dr. Richard Campbell has written directions for merging these roster results into Excel for several tests over the course of a quarter. If you do this, be sure to use the same roster file for all tests during the quarter; otherwise, names could disappear from new roster files when students drop the class, and thereby prevent the remaining student names from lining on the same rows in Excel.