The recent revelation of the cheating scandal at UCF has also uncovered another side of the issue, outsourcing test questions. It seems there is a growing trend for some schools to "buy" test questions from a publisher-provided test bank. If you know the story of UCF and other mega-universities like it, you might understand why it makes sense financially and in terms of the number of students faculty are asked to teach. You can read more about this fascinating topic in a great article by Jason Jones. Included in the article is a nice example of techniques that can be used to build tests that not only encourage student collaboration but are very instructive for faculty not only in terms of learning outcomes but what the students really thought the class was all about. Have you had students complain about test anxiety? Do you consider that a legitimate impairment that should be considered when making decisions about a student's progress? There was an interesting case at the University of Manitoba recently. In addition, the issue has been emerging more in the scholarship of teaching and learning literature. Have you ever been involved in a faculty-led, discipline-specific discussion about what a student should know and be able to do by graduation? The Lumina Foundation is funding a project that is targeted at encouraging states to zero in on these kinds of nitty-gritty details about classroom learning and agree on the specific ingredients that make up a high-quality college education. The annual conference on Distance Teaching and Learning, being held August 3 though 5, 2011 in Madison, Wisconsin has issued a call for proposals with a deadline of January 19. You can submit your proposal online. There are a variety of topics under the broad categories of teach, learn, and connect.