Exciting news: our team has been busy enhancing Cirrus, and we are excited to announce several important updates to our software that will help you streamline your workflow, improve the reliability and validity of your exams, and provide a better user experience for you and your candidates.
Read on to explore the details of these updates, and thank you for being part of the Cirrus community!
Improved Library Management
Your library got better! This upgrade offers significant benefits to end-users by streamlining the management and organisation of your library resources. The new table component will make it much easier to manage your items, whether you have hundreds or thousands of them:
Save time
Enhanced filtering and sorting capabilities allow you to quickly locate and categorise materials, saving you time and improving your library experience. Moreover, the new labelling workflow will make it easier to find and select items for an exam, analyse results and save time in the long run. See the Knowledge Base for more information on how to add an use items.
Make data-driven decisions
See and analyse comprehensive statistics on your item performance, making data-driven decisions a breeze. You can check the performance of all the items in your collection at one glance, allowing you to take action immediately if items are performing below expectations.
See the Knowledge Base for more information on item statistics.
Easily expand your library
The new ‘Add collection’ screen simplifies the process of expanding your library. How you set up a Collection is entirely up to you. You can create Collections with Items that meet personal needs or you can agree a standardised workflow with your colleagues. See the Knowledge Base for more information on adding and using collections.
Reliability and Validity Enhancements
You can now use Angoff values to set cut scores on high-stakes exams, enhancing assessment precision and reliability. Our blog post here explains how the Angoff method works and what the benefits and challenges are.
This upgrade also introduces an automatic difficulty threshold display in collections, making it easier to monitor item difficulty. These improvements help boost your exam accuracy and fairness, and streamline the evaluation process. Read more about setting Angoff values in Cirrus in our Knowledge Base.
Fair and consistent testing experience
This upgrade allows you to set a maximum time for candidates to answer each question (excluding mathematical questions). This has various benefits, from ensuring a fair and consistent experience for all test-takers and helping them manage their time, to simulating the pressure they might feel in real-world situations.
For more details about all the latest improvements, please refer to the Release Notes.
Features to look forward to in the coming months:
Secure candidate feedback
Let candidates review their answers and understand where they went wrong without compromising on exam security. The new Timed Results feature lets you display the results straight after the exam – after each attempt or just the last attempt – and limit the amount of time the results are visible to the test-taker. This has two benefits: it displays the results while test-takers have the exam still fresh in their minds and saves you from having to schedule candidate review sessions.
Better candidate experience
Give test-takers the freedom to take their exam in the order that works best for them while staying in control of the overall exam delivery. With the new ‘Navigation in sections‘ feature, you can allow free navigation through the exam, but limit candidates to forward-only navigation within sections.
Save time with assessment templates
Introducing assessment templates! This handy feature allows you to build new assessments based on existing ones, rather than starting from scratch. With assessment templates at your fingertips, you’ll save valuable time when crafting multiple evaluations. It’s a game-changer for streamlining the assessment process!
More intuitive publishing
We are revamping the “Publish Assessment” dialogue to make it more intuitive, highlighting the distinctions between various workflows. Thanks to helpful tooltips, you’ll have a clearer understanding of the implications of your choices, making the process more user-friendly and efficient.
Manage your assessments more efficiently
The upgraded assessment overview table will feature enhanced filtering and searching capabilities. Plus, you can effortlessly identify assessments that require updates, such as when items within them have been modified. This streamlined experience makes managing your assessments more efficient than ever!
You will also be able to update and publish assessments in bulk.
We hope these updates will contribute to your success and provide an even better experience for your candidates. As always, we appreciate your continued support and feedback!
If you have any questions or need assistance, please feel free to contact our support team.
