Heather Hayes

Heather Hayes, PhD, is a psychometrician for the Colleges of Information Technology and Business at Western Governors University. She has been involved in the construction and validation of both cognitive ability and personality assessments for over 20 years. Her research interests center on the conjoint use of cognitive theory and Item Response Theory to aid in the construct validation of test scores as well as to improve the test experience itself through computer adaptive testing and automatic item generation. Her current focus is application of this line of research to developing and validating educational tests for online, competency-based education programs.

Publications

It's All About Context: Differential Item Functioning in IT Performance Assessments
It's All About Context: Differential Item Functioning in IT Performance Assessments
Heather Hayes, Goran Trajkovski, Marylee Demeter. © 2023. 26 pages.
Assessments, even summative, are part of the learning journey not just for the student, but for the instructors as well. In competency-based education, performance assessments...
Applying Data Science and Learning Analytics Throughout a Learner’s Lifespan
Applying Data Science and Learning Analytics Throughout a Learner’s Lifespan
Goran Trajkovski, Marylee Demeter, Heather Hayes. © 2022. 314 pages.
Research in the domains of learning analytics and educational data mining has prototyped an approach where methodologies from data science and machine learning are used to gain...
High-Stakes Assessments in Online Competency-Based Higher Education: The Assessment Development Cycle
High-Stakes Assessments in Online Competency-Based Higher Education: The Assessment Development Cycle
Heather Hayes, Sean P. Gyll, Shelley Ragland, Jason L. Meyers. © 2022. 23 pages.
Assessment is the cornerstone of competency-based higher education because the outcome of the assessment ultimately determines whether the student has demonstrated competence in...
Identifying Structure in Program-Level Competencies and Skills: Dimensionality Analysis of Performance Assessment Scores From Multiple Courses in an IT Program
Identifying Structure in Program-Level Competencies and Skills: Dimensionality Analysis of Performance Assessment Scores From Multiple Courses in an IT Program
Heather Hayes, Goran Trajkovski. © 2022. 26 pages.
Programs in an online competency-based higher education (OCBHE) institute will focus on a set of skills and competencies that form a theme throughout multiple courses, where one...