In September 2015 The Psychometrics Centre at the University of Cambridge hosted the 5th Biennial Conference of the International Society for Computer Adaptive Testing. This was the first time a University has hosted the conference, and so it was a particular honour for us to have been chosen. The Psychometrics Centre’s primary CAT mission is the provision of open-source software and other online resources that enable ideas-rich but money-poor individuals around the world to move to the forefront of developments in the field – both pure and applied. In short, we are aiming for a revolution in CAT. But this would not have been possible without the trail-blazing successes (and mistakes) made by the major CAT providers, who have struggled for decades, and against massive scepticism, to bring innovation to the psychological and educational testing world. The IACAT conferences have become the global place to meet people interested in CAT and learn about advances in theory, research and applications; a place where professionals, scholars and students from all parts of the world share knowledge and experiences. It consistently has attendees from more than 20 countries.
Speakers included John Barnard (EPEC), the 2015 IACAT President, who discussed ways of improving precision in CAT measures, Wim van der Linden (Pacific Metrics Corporation), who introduced a self-replenishing adaptive test, Cees Glas (University of Twente) on multidimensional CAT, Hua-Hua Chang (University of Illinois) on some exciting new developments in CAT, Michal Kosinski (University of Stanford), on Concerto and the future of CAT, Chris Han (GMAC) on Happy CAT, Heinz Holling (University of Munster) on Rasch Poisson count models and Kevin Wilson (Knewton) on learning parameters.
The next IACAT conference will be held in August 2019 in Minneapolis, USA.