The ACT has announced that it wants to move to a computer-based exam by spring 2015, my colleague Tamar Lewin reported this week:
 
“We are moving to a computer-based version, but for the foreseeable future, we will also have the paper and pencil test as an option for schools that don’t have the technological capability,” said Jon Erickson, the president of ACT’s Education Division. “We will probably have the option for students to choose paper and pencil, as well. But all the anecdotal evidence is that students prefer the computer.”
 
The announcement arrived just as some states have reported problems with online testing, Ms. Lewin writes.
 
This year’s high school freshmen may be among the first students to sit for the digital version of the exam, if they take the test during the spring of their junior year.
 
The content of the ACT will remain unchanged, Ms. Lewin reports, though some questions may be enhanced:
 
The computer-administered ACT will, for the first time, move beyond fill-in-the-bubble multiple-choice questions, with some optional items in which students perform virtual tasks to reach their answer. For example, Mr. Erickson said, one science question shows four beakers of chemicals, and lets students manipulate the items, pouring one beaker into another to monitor changes in density. Students might then be asked to predict the order of the layers if all four chemicals were poured into the same beaker. “We think these constructed-response items will allow students to get much more engaged and enthusiastic about what they’re doing,” he said.