By Roger Muñoz
The recent change of location for the testing center at Fresno State aims to serve students more efficiently and build a better testing environment.
Linda Ensch, director for testing services and the academic testing center, said the change of location was due to lack of space in the Family and Food Science Building.
“We ran out of room,” Ensch said. “[The testing center] grew over about 25 to 35 percent per semester. More and more faculty members were using it. So we only had like 90 seats, and being in the hallway in Family and Food Science, it was hard for the classrooms. It was hard for the students, and it was noisy.”
The University Testing Center, now located above Taco Bell, provides students with more room and quicker check-ins.
“We needed more room, and we needed more computers,” Ensch said, “so that we can check-in two [students] at a time instead of just one because our goal is to get them in as soon as possible.”
Ensch acknowledged that with the move, more rules have been put in place and said it was to create the best testing environment possible.
“We try to make it fair for everybody,” Ensch said. “When they go in there, we try to make it the least distracting environment possible. For instance, now there are smartphones on watches. So now we can’t allow watches. Every rule that’s been put into place, it’s because it had to be put into place because something happened that made us put it into place.”
One of the new rules is that students must put their backpacks in a bigger bag before going inside the testing area.
“We ordered bigger bags for the backpacks,” Ensch said. “What was happening is students were having notes underneath their backpacks, or they were getting into their backpacks and getting things that they shouldn’t be getting.”
Joey Darby, supervisor for the University Testing Center, said noise was a major issue in the old testing center, and it usually had to do with students getting into backpacks.
“We had a lot of noise in the room, which was people getting in their bag and pulling stuff out, zipping and unzipping, and shuffling,” Darby said. “In [the old testing center], we would ask people to have everything out when we checked them in, but then they would always get in there and forget their pencils or their erasers.”
Darby said the new backpack rule has improved the testing environment, and it has made check-ins much more efficient.
“It’s super quiet in there,” Darby said. “There’s no shuffling. Not only that, but because [students] have everything in the bag, when they put everything in the bag, they remember everything they need out. So when they come in to check-in, they’re ready to go, and so the line goes even faster.”
Ensch said the testing service allows faculty the opportunity to have more time to lecture and for students to learn core concepts.
“I’m proud of the University Test Center and Academic Test Center,” Ensch said. “It’s a service for students and faculty. Faculty, it gives them a chance to actually teach. You get more of an education.”
