I am currently a fourth year doctoral student in the Educational Psychology program at the University of Kansas and graduate research assistant at the Center for Educational Testing and Evaluation (CETE). My particular focus and training in the program is in the area of psychometrics. I intend to apply to the Educational Technology Master’s program, also at the University of Kansas, for the start of the Fall 2019 semester.

As a graduate research assistant, I have experience predominantly in the development of tests. I worked for two years creating test questions for the English/Language Arts (ELA) side of the Kansas Assessment Program (which ran the state assessment for the state of Kansas), housed within CETE. I, then, moved to another center to work on creating formative assessment questions for a federally-funded grant project. I wrote test questions for both math and ELA during my time on the project. Recently, I returned to CETE, where I currently assist in the development of STEM simulations.

My primary research interests include the creation and use of test questions, as well as the use of games and simulation in education. Because of my intentions to be simultaneously enrolled, I have several research ideas running at once, which will be detailed later as their literature reviews are completed. These projects include a review of automated test assembly, the role of interior design in instructional design, and a program evaluation to help local churches better serve the community.

As an aside, the POGO part of pogowalude.com stands for “Perseverance Over Great Obstacles”,while Walude is a contraction of my full name, Walter Lucius Devane Williams IV