I find that I'm able to ingest new information more quickly and deeply during the summer when my mind is not cluttered with all of the day-to-day responsibilities that mount in autumn. In turn, Mountain Measurement would like to encourage you to capitalize on the extra headspace that you may have during the summer months to explore the features of your assessment technology.
You may want to consider learning how to create test questions using some of the alternative item types that you have never used before. Mountain Measurement encourages you to start with the easier item types and progress to the more innovative ones. Have you ever created a matrix item type? Give it a try. If your assessment technology is capable of it, how about a bowtie? Give that one a try too. In order to stretch yourself, you might want to try converting some of your multiple-choice items into some of these alternative ones. I suggest that you convert at least 3 different items to each of the item types that you are learning. Edit them and polish them, so that they can legitimately replace the more traditional items that you have used in the past. When you are finished, compare the traditional and its corresponding alternative item. If you're happy with the new one, then pat yourself on the back. If not, ponder the item some more and see what you can do to improve it. Remember that just like good writing, item development takes a lot of revision and editing.
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