Automatic Web-based Testing

NETA (Nebraska Educational Technology Association)

 

Abstract: Using standard browser software, students can access Web sites that afford tests. Students' responses are evaluated immediately and performance-related feedback is provided. Two different implementation strategies, one using JavaScript (Hohensee) and the other server-based CGI's (Brooks), will be described.

http://dwb.unl.edu/dwb/meetings/neta99.html

http://dwb.unl.edu

Click on Presentations, and then make a choice of NETA from the list.

Why use the WWW? The WWW is becoming the predominant means for communication in business. We expect interpersonal communication to follow shortly (i.e., phones), and it is arguable that college student's use of e-mail a decade ago led to very rapid Internet expansion. As a teacher, you should begin communicating with students and parents using the WWW.

Factoid: By April 1988, 25% of Nebraskans had e-mail at home, and 33% at work.

Factoid: In 1998, 84% of Nebraska's schools had Internet access.

Thought Question: How long before many phone call s go over the WWW?

Two learning principles can't be overstressed.

1. Multimedia in and of itself does not usually lead to increased learning. Most often, affect goes up substantially, and learning goes down slightly when text is replaced with video, for example.

2. Active strategies lead to more learning than do passive strategies.

While some might view 'surfing' the Web as an active strategy, it certainly is limited. Certainly unfocussed surfing is not helpful.

For most of the things taught in school, if the Web is going to be used in instruction, you will need to work to include active strategies.

How you handle student interactivity depends on whether all of the information is downloaded to the student in one chunk, or the student interacts during the session. We use a model where the student is at the client side and the teacher at the server side of a WWW system.

By his choice, Dan will go last, and will describe client-side stuff. Dan's stuff is teacher ready, teacher friendly, and widely useful to many teachers immediately. Dan's stuff is created using JavaScript, which we have been teaching at UNL for three years. I have one public thing at my site for preparing chemical solutions.

At the outset, let me make two things quite clear. First, the situation regarding both client- and server-side interactivity is murky. On the client side, there are Navigator/Explorer (JavaScript/JScript), and Mac/Wintel issues. On the server side, there is a wide range of available CGI strategies including FileMaker, PERL, and HyperCard (plus others).

It won't surprise those of you who know me to learn that I'm still using HyperCard.

Today I plan to show you four examples of interactive materials that I've developed. All of these use HyperCard.

ChemTest: http://dwb.unl.edu/dwb/Research/ChemTest1.html

This was the grand daddy of my efforts. I built this in 4 hours in a very generic. It generated practically no interest on the UNL campus, even though I showed it about three years ago. I'm not sure why; maybe it didn't come close enough to home; maybe it came too close to home.

Sample Question:

What I do is to build shells that do the coding/scripting work for me. Building these takes lots of HyperCard skills. Frankly, I don't think this is the wave of the future -- since HyperCard seems to have been abandoned. Indeed, HC will not run on a Mac under the current OS X server software!

Lately my server has been extremely busy serving Advanced Placement Descriptive Chemistry Items. The exam is on the afternoon of May 17. It will be really quiet by, say, May 20!

Answers entered:

Notice subscripts/superscripts problem.

Answers with scores are returned:

My current work is completely different. This site is not quite ready for prime time. I've show some examples of the site here.

Balancing Chemical Equations

 

 

 

Outcome:

The last thing I want to show today is something I've built for LPS. It involves an evaluation. This is not an anonymous evaluation -- it could be. It's based on the notion that, as a project evaluator, I won't divulge confidences.

The secret to the speed of this operation is in creating a HyperCard shell engine that generates to code automatically.

This completes what I have to say. Next comes Dan Hohensee.

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April 26, 1999.