Feasibility of Remote Performance Assessment Using the Free Research Executive Evaluation Test Battery in Adolescents

Lockdowns and other preventive measures taken to curb the spread of diseases such as COVID-19 have restricted the use of face-to-face cognitive assessment. Remote testing may be an alternative, but it should first be shown to be comparable to in-person assessment before being used more widely, during and after the pandemic. Our aim was to evaluate the suitability of online, examiner-mediated administration of an open-access battery of executive function tests (the Free Research Executive Evaluation battery, or FREE) that can be adapted considering various characteristics of diverse populations and therefore used worldwide. A total of 96 9–15-year olds (42 girls) were tested, half of whom online through video calls mediated by an examiner. Their performance was compared to that of the other 48 individuals tested face-to-face, who were matched against the online-tested participants for age, pubertal status, sex, and parental schooling. The battery consists of two tests of the following executive domains: Updating (2-Back and Number Memory tests), Inhibition (Stroop Victoria and Stroop Happy-Sad), and Switching (Color Shape and Category Switch). Answers were vocal and self-paced, and the examiner recorded accuracy and time taken to complete in-person and online tasks. Only free software is needed for the assessment. Executive measures obtained from the tasks did not differ statistically between online and in-person tested participants and effects sizes of group effects were small, thus showing that the FREE test battery holds promise for online cognitive assessment, pending confirmation in different samples and further validation studies.

Parent-Infant Interaction Tasks Adapted for Remote Testing: Strengths, Challenges, and Recommendations

The closure of in-person laboratories and decreased safety of face-to-face interactions resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic jeopardized the ability of many developmental researchers to continue data collection during this time. Disruptions in data collection are particularly damaging to longitudinal studies, in which the testing of different age groups occurs on a continuous basis, and data loss at one time point can have cascading effects across subsequent time points and threaten the viability of the study. In an effort to continue collecting data for a longitudinal study on emotion development started in-person pre-pandemic, we adapted two parent-infant interaction tasks (free-play task and toy removal task) for a remote testing framework. Our procedure for pivoting these tasks to a supervised, remote online testing framework is outlined and the associated strengths and challenges of testing in this format (e.g., feasibility and implementation, testing environment and task setup validity, and accessibility, recruitment, and diversity) are critically evaluated. Considerations for applying this framework to other behavioral tasks are discussed and recommendations are provided.

There is Always a Way: Organizing VR User Tests with Remote and Hybrid Setups during a Pandemic—Learnings from Five Case Studies

(1) COVID-19 pandemic restrictions caused a dramatic shift in research activities, forcing the adoption of remote practices and methods. Despite the known benefits of remote testing, there is limited knowledge on how to prepare and conduct such studies in the industrial context where the target users are experts and company employees. (2) In this article, we detail how we organized VR user tests in five industrial cases during the pandemic, focusing on practicalities and procedures. We cover both on-site testing, including disinfecting and other safety protocols, as well as remote and hybrid setups where both remote and on-site participants were involved. Subject matter experts from eight countries were involved in a total of 22 tests. (3) We share insights for VR user test arrangements relevant to the pandemic, remote and hybrid setups, and an industrial context, among others. (4) Our work confirms that with careful planning it is possible to organize user tests remotely. There are also some limitations in remote user testing, such as reduced visibility and interaction with participants. Most importantly, we list practical recommendations for organizing hybrid user tests with safety and disinfecting procedures for on-site VR use.

USER EVALUATION OF INTERACTIVE THEMATIC 3D CITY MODELS – APPLICATION OF ASYNCHRONOUS REMOTE TESTING METHOD

Asynchronous remote usability testing is a method based on a software platform used to automatically record test participants' activities when they interact with a given product in their natural environment, for example, at home. This method has been frequently used in previous decades in web design and mobile application development but has rarely been utilised in geovisualization. The importance of remote usability testing has rapidly increased in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The 3DmoveR (3D Movement and Interaction Recorder) application was used for asynchronous remote testing presented in this paper. 3DmoveR is a research tool designed for user testing of interactive 3D visualizations in web browsers using open technologies such as PHP, JavaScript, and the Three.js library. This study focuses on an evaluation of interactive 3D city models presenting thematic information expressed by colour scale. An experiment was designed as a within-subject study consisting of two simple questionnaires, a training task and six experimental trials. Finding a building of a given category (depicted as building colour) within an interactive 3D city model was used as the experimental task. Speed and accuracy of user performances were recorded, as well as user strategy, subjective evaluations, and possible intervening variables. The results were recorded from 110 participants, where 76 of them were correct and analysed further. It can be concluded that the tested colour scale (based on the Energy Performance Certificate) was not entirely appropriate. We further analysed and discussed intervening variables that may affect remote usability testing of 3D visualizations.

Remote Assessment of Professional Competencies Using Simulation Technologies in the Context of COVID-19

Due to the spread of the COVID-19 pandemic, face-to-face educational events and classes were transferred to a distance format, so the traditional II All-Russian Olympiad with international participation in therapy was also held in absentia on April 26-28, 2021. This format provided the opportunity for 759 students and residents to participate in it from 82 educational and scientific organizations in Russia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Belarus. This article analyzes the Olympiad held in order to study the possibility of assessing professional competencies using distance technologies among students of 4-6 courses and residents of a therapeutic profile. As tools for assessing the formation of competencies, we used: testing knowledge using an electronic platform for remote testing and assessing practical skills using a computer screen simulator Body Interact. The analysis of the results showed that the bank of test tasks and clinical cases is valid, reliable, and can be used to assess the professional competencies of students in specialty and residency programs of a therapeutic profile.

Virtual Environment for Labs & Projects

The purpose of the Virtual Lab project is to provide students with online access to a variety of engineering control experiments, located in the laboratory control of several laboratories. Three German universities are currently developing the Virtual Lab as a network of remote access laboratories to establish a pilot testing facility. Assumed students are usually located in an area that is geographically distributed (e.g. at home) and are able to access far from our tests. Virtual Lab is based on the concept of grade learning because some students (e.g. professionals) may be interested in studying even in the most remote areas of the campus which eliminates the need for personal presence. In Virtual Lab they are able to acquire some practice of controlling theory in their own time saving time and travel costs. A Java-based client / server-based approach is proposed. This paper discusses the requirements for remote testing and presents the technical structure and initial results of the project.