The Genetics Lab: A case study on computer-based assessment within a multilingual sample of „digital natives“

Computer-based assessment forms a key aspect of educational curricula and international student assessment studies like PISA. Today’s students, however, place special demands on assessment instruments used within this context. Multilingual samples with often considerably varying experience in technology use tend to become more and more common in most European countries. Taking the Genetics Lab—a computer-based problem solving scenario—as example, the presented case study evaluates how these challenges can be met by the adaptation of the test construction process, the development of interactive and multimedia instructions, and the integration of game-like characteristics. Psychometric properties, especially measurement invariance of the Genetics Lab’s performance scales are discussed on base of a multilingual and heterogeneous sample of 563 Luxembourgish students. As the Genetics Lab is freely available on the internet, an outlook is given on possible future applications to gather further experience with computer-based assessment within multilingual samples.