Letter from the Editor

Publishing LASSI has been a wonderful professional experience for all of us involved with the assessment. Opportunities to serve students are coupled with contacts with those who deal directly with those students. Rarely does a day pass when we have no new LASSI story to share over our morning coffee.

Nevertheless, we know that the problems you encounter are difficult and, seemingly, becoming more challenging. We know that many of you are trying to be proactive rather than reactive to situations that are clearly going to be encountered. We are striving to make it easier to “get ahead” of these situations; we are convinced that every student assessed early in their college career has a better chance for college success. If you have ideas on how to approach this goal at your institution, we would be pleased to assist in that effort.

Recently we have made some excellent improvements in the information provided you at the administrative site for Web LASSI. If you haven’t noticed the following upgrades are now available:

• We recently moved the Web LASSI to a more powerful server that has improved speed, reliability and security.

• The overall look of the Web LASSI has been updated and improved.

• We added the ability for instructors to download an Excel file of raw data. The file includes each student’s name, ID, e-mail address, student key, test data/time, ten percentile scores, ten raw scores, and 80 item scores.

• Another feature allows instructors to print a report that lists how a student responded to all 80 items on either the pretest or posttest. • Students will appreciate the ability to have a link of their LASSI results sent to their e-mail address. Students have the option to enter an e-mail address on the same page as they enter their name before taking the LASSI.

• Another new feature of the Web LASSI is the LASSI API (Application Programming Interface). The LASSI API was created to help your IT department integrate LASSI data with your school’s data management system. For more information contact hhservice@hhpublishing.com.

• All of the features listed above are available at no additional charge.

There has been some understandable confusion over “Web LASSI” versus “LASSI for Learning Online.” These are separate assessments. Web LASSI is the web version of the assessment which is also available on paper. LASSI for Learning Online is an adaptation that deals directly with students involved in online learning. If you haven’t seen both assessments, call and ask Priscilla or Mike for access to review. Besides your review you’ll experience the best customer service in educational publishing. A real person will take care of your needs in a friendly, helpful, intelligent manner.

Also, we’ve seen a recent movement where students purchase the LASSI Instructional Modules through our web site or from their school bookstore. Web LASSI’s can also be purchased through the bookstore via a “ticket” containing access information. Enjoy the articles in this edition of LASSI in Action. Give us feedback we can share with others.

Bob Hackworth

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