Negotiating Expansion of Your Test Center National College Testing Association Annual Conference Minneapolis, MN August 2, 2012

Dr. Jack Turner Margo H. Perry, MA University of South Carolina Casper College (WY)

 Necessity of Expansion  What Steps to Take  You’ve expanded! – Now What?  Questions

 Needs of your clients and patrons.  Needs of your institution.  New/Growing programs with testing needs  Underserved groups  Institutional mandate (because we should)  Need for greater capacity utilization.  Need/Desire for increased revenue.

 Where will expansion come from?  Who will help you?  What do you need?  When can it happen?

 Can you meet a need?  Perform a self-study  Look around your campus and community  Locate new vendors  NCTA as a resource  At the conference  On the listserv  Web searches

 What is the vendor’s reputation?  How much space will you need to devote to them?  What are their rules and restrictions?  How many candidates do you think you can reasonably test in a set time frame?

 Identify potential plankholders  Academic departments  Admission(s) office  Any others?  Engage your supervisors  Your immediate supervisor  Upper administration  If you can get meetings with them  In annual reports over the long term  What shall you say?  Let them know the institution is missing out  Describe how expansion benefits students

 SPACE  How much can you use of your current space?  Do you need to think about moving?  What would be ideal for space; what can you live with?  Is there anywhere available to move to?  Do you need to modify the space to make it work?

 EQUIPMENT  Do you need computers? More Computers?  What about furniture? For candidates and staff?  Do you have an estimate for how much it will cost?

 PERSONNEL  Do you need more staff?  Do you need an FTE? W  Will part-time/student workers do?  What about the labor situation in your area?  How many staff do you need? What can you live with?  Does your own position need an upgrade?

 What sort of timeline are you looking at?  Is this long-term (more than eighteen months)?  Is it short-term (first exam comes online in six months)?  Have a series of staged goals  Remember: s/he who hesitates is lost!

 Present your findings to management  Have two versions of your write-up: a short version with important fact, and a long one with extensive detail.  Give them a choice, not just one way!  Allows management to have a buy-in, committing themselves to the process.  Allows you to think about what is possible and what is desirable.  Get as much agreement about the details as possible up front.

You have more testing stations, now what and how? Casper College

To the Casper College Academic Testing Center

From 12 To 31

Staffing Communication Schedules Maintenance Noise and other factors Institutional changes

Change the entrance From here …….

To here …

“General Testing Room” - Large testing room reserved for Casper College students. “Online scheduling tool” - Added RegisterBlast that’s available to our students 24/7 “Certification Testing Room” - Check-in procedures and proctoring are separate for certification testing (ACT, Pearson Vue, Castle Worldwide, etc.) “Front Desk” - phones, walk-ins, and check-ins are more private and separate from the testing rooms.

Changing the College system to Google Loosing our current calendar and data Will try Outlook for scheduling calendars other than the General Testing Room. (RegisterBlast) Multiple proctor desks Store electronic documents so accessible to all – create, train, and use Moodle Same supplies stored in familiar way at each location Tweaking online scheduling system and announcing it to students and faculty on and off of campus. Welcome Back, Info Fair, Open House, and ……….

Please take a Casper College Academic Testing Center brochure and feel free to contact me. Margo H. Perry