TALLEY-J@osu-20.ircc.ohio-state.edu (James T. Talley) (06/20/89)
This may not be the most appropriate newsgroup for this query, but I'll post it here and someone can point me to a better group if there is one. The group I work with acts as a consulting service for faculty at Ohio State who want to use computers to facilitate instruction. As more departments have been installing microcomputers for faculty and networked microcomputer labs for students, we have been receiving more requests for information on automating objective tests. Some faculty just want to organize their test questions which are now stored on index cards. They want to generate printed tests from their database of questions. Others want to have on-line testing either for large introductory classes or for their students to be able to practice for board certification exams. The university is gradually being connected -- one building at a time -- to a single high-speed TCP/IP network. The local area networks are mostly MS-DOS PC's connected to Banyan file servers or Macs running LocalTalk or EtherTalk. There are also a lot of Unix machines and a variety of other minicomputers and mainframes on campus. We currently use the Phoenix system for computer-assisted instruction on one of our mainframes. This system provides on-line testing for several courses. It is not the ideal solution, because there are monthly charges for guaranteed terminal access. The departments don't want to commit to paying these monthly fees, especially after they have just paid out thousands of dollars for microcomputers and network hardware. A single mainframe may not be able to manage all requests for this service. A better solution seems to be having testing software running on the local file server or having a testing server on the local network. This eliminates the monthly fees. The test question databases are stored locally at the department level rather than centrally on a single university mainframe. I'm about to begin designing such software. I plan to start with a prototype test server on our office LocalTalk network. Before I begin, I would appreciate hearing from other people who are addressing the same problem. I don't want to waste time duplicating effort if software already exists to solve this problem. Any opinions are welcome too. James T. Talley, Systems Analyst, Computer-Based Instruction Group The Ohio State University (614) 292-9821 talley-j@osu-20.ircc.ohio-state.edu
russ@prism.gatech.EDU (Russell Shackelford) (06/20/89)
In article <12503426463021@osu-20.ircc.ohio-state.edu>, TALLEY-J@osu-20.ircc.ohio-state.edu (James T. Talley) writes: > The group I work with acts as a consulting service for faculty at > Ohio State who want to use computers to facilitate instruction. > As more departments have been installing microcomputers for > faculty and networked microcomputer labs for students, we have > been receiving more requests for information on automating > objective tests. Some faculty just want to organize their test > questions which are now stored on index cards. They want to > generate printed tests from their database of questions. Others > want to have on-line testing either for large introductory > classes or for their students to be able to practice for board > certification exams. The package "OPTIMUS, The Teaching Information System" handles some of what you are talking about, plus alot more, and is scheduled to do the rest within a year. It is due for release this summer. I will post more about it as it nears release. I will also try to answer any questions you might have. For those who have written for info, I am told that materials are to be available in about a week for mailing, so be patient. If you want to get on the mailing list, write "Mindsight Corp, 2314 Pleasant Ridge Rd., Bremen, GA, 30110" -- Russell Shackelford School of Information and Computer Science Georgia Institute of Technology, Atlanta, GA, 30332 russ@prism.gatech.edu (404) 834-4759
david@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu (David Lassner) (06/21/89)
You might want to look into The Examiner, an item banking and exam delivery system for IBM PC type machines. It was done by Gary Brown and Stan Trollip who have years of experience in the field. Contact: Media Computer Enterprises, Ltd. 880 Sibley Highway, Suite 102 Mendota Heights, MN 55118 (612)451-7360 -- David Lassner, University of Hawaii Computing Center, 808/948-7351 INTERNET: david@uhccux.uhcc.hawaii.edu BITNET: david@uhccux