Electronic Exams
Electronic Exams: An Idea Whose Time has Come
James Harland
School of Computer Science & IT
RMIT University
19th November, 2010
Melbourne Conventicle
Electronic Exams
Writing in the Jurassic Era …
Where were you on
Monday, 3rd September, 1984?
19th November, 2010
Melbourne Conventicle
CS335 Formal Semantics lecture by Michael Maher
Electronic Exams
21st Century student life
19th November, 2010
Melbourne Conventicle
Lecture Tutorial
Exam
Electronic Exams
What would this look like?
19th November, 2010
Melbourne Conventicle
Students bring laptops to exam room NOT remote or online
Boot from a special CD or memory stick Shut off access to Internet, hard disk, … Provide all necessary software on the CD or stick Adapt Ubuntu (or a similar Linux distribution) Submit answer
On memory stick Open a special port and upload to a server
Electronic Exams
Existing Software
19th November, 2010
Melbourne Conventicle
PJ Radcliffe & Heiko Rudolph, School of Electrical and Computer Engineering, RMIT
Bootable CD software Used for lab exams Submit via opening a port Develop some answer processing software as well
Electronic Exams
Existing Software
19th November, 2010
Melbourne Conventicle
Andrew Fluck, IT Lecturer, School of Education, University of Tasmania
Boots from a memory stick Answers recorded on the memory stick Used for exams in a variety of subjects (chemistry, music, history, law, …) Can download from http://www.eexaminations.org
Electronic Exams
So … ?
19th November, 2010
Melbourne Conventicle
Potential solutions seem to exist Trials in secondary schools taking place in NSW, Norway, and probably other places
“Some IT academic should do something about this” Applied for internal funding at RMIT Run three trials in 2011 with various software Prizes ($1000? iPad?) for anyone `cracking’ the system Get experience with design of electronic exams Make user interface `idiot proof’ Develop into an ALTC application in 2011 SO WHO WOULD LIKE TO JOIN IN?
Electronic Exams
Questions?
19th November, 2010
Melbourne Conventicle