Larry Nelson is not Lertap's only architect, but he's been the main one by far, having shepherded the system through several versions, and numerous host institutions.

 

Larry completed a BSc in electrical engineering at Wisconsin (1964); an MSc in Educational Psychology at Wisconsin (1970); and a PhD in Educational Psychology (psychometrics) at Colorado (1973).

 

He's held a number of academic and non-academic posts in the United States, New Zealand, Venezuela, Indonesia, Thailand, and Australia.  All have had something or other to do with applied statistics, data analysis, test development, data banking, and computers.

 

The software development programs Larry has worked on include data analysis packages for use in Colorado (1972-1973) with NAEP; data banking routines for cross-country test results collected by IEA (1979-1982); item and test analysis software for the Venezuelan Ministry of Education (1971-1972); special-purpose computer-assisted learning programs for use by disadvantaged children and Spanish-language Learners (1973 and later, 1979-1984, New Zealand Education Department); demographic data processing and banking for use in Guayana (1974-1979), la Corporacion Venezolana de Guayana); applied cheating-detection procedures for use in Indonesia's Jawa Tengah province (2011 and 2016); and numerous versions of Lertap.

 

Lertap has been distributed, over the years, by Antipodes Software Systems (New Zealand and Australia, 1984-2000), Assessment Systems Corporation (2001-2014), Professional Testing Incorporated (2015-2016), and Lertap.com (2016-present). National Computer Systems purchased non-exclusive rights to use Lertap code in their products in 1984. Refer to this link for a more comprehensive history.

 

At February, 2021, Larry was said to be wearing these hats

 

Director

Lertap.com

Fremantle Village

South Fremantle, Western Australia

 

Research Fellow (adjunct)

School of Education

Curtin University

Perth, Western Australia

 

Professor (adjunct)

College of Research Methodology & Cognitive Science

Burapha University

Bangsaen, Chonburi

Thailand

 

Driver

Miss Angela's Touring, Camping, & Fishing Excursions

Used to be: justaboutanywhere, Australia

Now, with CV-19, just about no where

 

Click here for contact information (even has a picture).