Question Tools hand back control to HR and Training professionals

Lincolnshire-based software specialist, Question Tools, has launched new versions of its online e-learning and assessment suite ñ putting control in the hands of the user.
Paul Booth, MD of Question Tools said: ìWhen we began developing our suite of assessment tools over three years ago, we were driven by the belief that so many of the existing products were straitjacketing their users. E-learning companies were offering bespoke solutions at vast expense for what are essentially generic tasks. So we set out to produce a range of software tools that would enable users, whether in HR, training or education, to simply and easily convert their paper-based tests into online assessments which could be marked, the results analysed and immediately displayed on web pages.î

ìWe have worked very hard over the years, testing interfaces and products on a large number of users in over 120 countries worldwide ñ all with the aim of producing a really usable software product. We find that new users can produce a simple but effective test within 30 minutes of opening up our SimpleSet application. The hard part is not putting a test online but thinking of the questions to begin with!î

ìThis means that our customers keep control and can be flexible in their use of e-learning and online assessments and surveys. This really cuts the cost and hassle factor of maintaining and updating online materials.î

Why are HR and training professionals interested in online assessment?
An online survey of 227 companies by Question Tools asked the respondents to choose the primary reason for their interest in online assessment technology:

29% need to track skills/knowledge for CPD in regulatory environments
24% want to pre-test the skills of potential new recruits to ensure they meet basic standards
22% want to identify individual employeeís skills/knowledge needs to plan appropriate development
11% want to identify common development needs to assist in strategic HR planning
7% want to give individual staff members the opportunity to rate their own skills/knowledge needs in an anonymous and objective way
6% find marking paper-based tests places a big burden on trainers and is not a good use of their time
1% felt computer-based testing gave more accurate results than other forms of assessment

However, 87% of the respondents also cited the cost and complexity of e-assessment projects as significant obstacles to putting their tests online. They recognised that online assessments were cheaper and quicker to administer but found it expensive and difficult to convert their existing tests into a satisfactory online solution.

How do Question Toolsí new products address these issues?
For straightforward text questions, Question Toolsí SimpleSet is ideal. Users can simply cut and paste questions from existing documents if they wish.
For other types of questions, including animations, hot spot and drag and drop, which are more graphical or interactive, then Question Toolsí Editor application is a quick and easy tool to use.

No plug-ins or players are required to use the highly interactive tests/surveys/courses that users can produce using Question Tools applications, and all the major browsers are supported.

Free versions of both SimpleSet and Editor are available for download from the Question Tools website.
Question Toolsí NetSeries of products are a range of webserver/databases that control test delivery and manage results collection and analysis. It is easy to output data from the NetSeries for use by other databases including specialist HR packages, so that test results can be easily added to personnel records where required. The NetSeries of products are supplied with one-button installers: just click and go!

In addition, Question Tools offers a conversion service to customers ñ converting existing paper-based materials into online versions (on a project-by project basis). We set up this service to meet the needs of customers who do not have the internal resources available for the conversion task. However, we provide our customers with the source files so that they can edit and update their tests for themselves should they need to.