A new tool to create on-line examinations. Integration into
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1. mes subclasses of JInternalFrame This makes it possible to place them inside the panel located at the right hand side of the main frame Second the edition of an assessment is not perfor med using a wizard Instead the equivalent functionality has been provided using a set of tabs in a single form Finally we have introduced a new tab in the cases of assessments and sec tions In the assessments the new tab includes information on the sections it contains and allows the user to modify their con tents Likewise the new tab in the section s dialog includes in formation on the questions it contains and allows the user to edit them In both cases the new tab is composed of a drop down list and five buttons namely edit remove add move and new The edit button opens an edition dialog for the selected question or section and it allows us to edit all its attributes The remove but ton eliminates the selected question or section from the list of the components that is being edited The add button opens up a dialog in which we will find the repository s tree and which will allow us to add a question or section to the component we are editing The move button moves or copies the selected component to a location in the re pository tree erasing it or not from its previous location Fi nally the new button opens the creation dialog for the selected question or section 3 3 Import and Export functions In this section we describe2. Besides a set of drop down lists is provided to select the start and end time only of the checkboxes associated with then have been selected By using a list the introduction of in valid values is avoided Once the start and end check boxes are selected the Accept button listener will verify that the end time and date is after the start time and date Finally the Other Options dialog allows the specification of an IP mask In this case the Accept button listener checks that the IP mask has a valid value 3 2 2 2 Section Creation Form To create a new UV section on a selected location a single dialog is required This dialog contains a set of tabs JTabbedPane which the user needs to browse to specify all different parameters The main one is the Visualization Mode tab In QAED visualization modes determine how sections are presented to students Each repository has a list of visualization modes and these can be ap plied to sections The Visualization Mode tab provides a drop down list which contains all visualization modes which are avai lable for the current repository and allow the user to select one of them for the section This drop down list also contains an option called New If this is selected a new dialog is displayed that allows the user to create a new visualization mode This dialog is compo sed of two tabs The first one contains mandatory fields whereas the second one contains those which are optional AAA E ERRE ER
3. and tot he need to prepare the examinations on line To solve these limi tations we have extended an existing open source product ca lled QAED to provide an easy to use open source desktop application which fulfils the objective of creating exporting and importing assessments that comply with those in the dotLRN assessment module Among others this newly created software offers the follo wing advantages a it allows teachers to prepare examinations offline b it simplifies the creation process c it reduces consi derably the time required to prepare an examination and d it can be used at no cost avoiding expensive licenses required by other alternatives With this development we hope that usage rates for this module are increased and teachers are encouraged to make use of the tool References Cerver n Vicente Moreno Paloma 2006 Aula vir tual an e learning management plat form of Univer sitat de Valencia development based on Open Code and Collaborative Software In M ICTE IV Conferen cia Internacional sobre Multimedia y Tecnolog as de la Informaci n y Comunicaci n en Educaci n Cu rrent Developments in Technology Assisted Educa tion Vol II Badajoz FORMATEX 2006 Cerver n Vicente Moreno Paloma Cubero Sergio Roig Dario Roca Salvador 2007 Universitat de Val n cia s Aula Virtual a Single Integrated LMS for a Uni versity In JADIS e Learning 2007 Conference Proceedings Lisbon IADI
4. o oration for Developing a Learning Management Sys tem Experience from the Universitat de Val ncia In Proc INEER ICEE2007 International Conference on Engineering Education Online Coimbra http icee2007 dei uc pt proceedings index html Ac cessed 10 02 2009 Moreno Paloma Cerver n Vicente Arevalillo Miguel 2008 Analisis del uso universitario de plataformas de gestion del aprendizaje y su relaci n con la innova ci n educativa y la calidad docente en el marco del EEES Resultados en la Universitat de Val ncia y pro cedimientos para la generalizaci n In Proceedings Conferencia sobre Software Libre en Educaci n Supe rior Valencia 2008 Roig Garc a Dar o 2003 Proyecto de Evaluaci n de Pla taformas de Teleformaci n para su Implantaci n en el mbito Universitario 1 http www uv es ticape docs dario mem dariov8 pdf Accessed 10 02 2000 Sayago Sergio 2005 User Manual v1 0 QAED Assess ments and Question editor 1 0 http www tecn upf es ssayag QAedio User Ma nual pdf Accessed 10 02 2000 Cita recomendada de este art culo Moreno Clar Paloma Arevalillo Herr ez Miguel Carrillo C ster Jos Ram n y Cerver n Lle Vicente 2009 A new tool to create on line examinations Integration into Aula Virtual Otic revista d innovaci educativa n 2 Docentic http ojs uv es index php attic article view 78 102 Fecha de consulta dd mm aa
5. tic revista d innovaci educativa VNIVERSITATG VALENCIA TEA STOO RARA AREA ERRE AA ERA AEREA RAEE REE EES ESEEEE SHOES SOSH SEE ESE AAA RAEE AAA RARA AAA EE ESESETESESE SELES EE SEEE ES ESESE SETHE ESOS ERA ERA TEESE OH ESTEE AEREA EE AA AAA AAA AAA AREA E AEREA AER POCO o error ecrrrnroorrsnocrrrnncnrrnnnnnrrencrrrenncrrnnnconnnenrrrrcnrrcrnnnnrennncrrcrnncnrrnnnnrrnncnrrrnncrrrnnncrnonncnnrnncorrnnncrrrnnccrrnnnnerrr nnrrnnccrornncrrnncrrnnrnrnencrrrnnncrnnnnnrnnnnncrrrnnnercrnnnrconnncncnnnnnnennncnrennrrroenercn o o A new tool to create on line examinations Integration into Aula Virtual Paloma Moreno Clari Profesora Ayudante del Departament d Inform tica de la Universitat de Valencia Paloma Moreno uv es Miguel Arevalillo Herraez Profesor Contratado Doctor del Departament d Informatica de la Universitat de Valencia Miguel Arevalillo uv es Jos Ramon Carrillo Cester Estudiante de Ingenieria T cnica de Telecomunicaci n Especialidad Telem tica en la Universitat de Valencia jocaces alumni uv es Vicente Cerver n Lle Profesor titular del Departament d Inform tica y director de la Escola Tenica Superior d Enginyeria de la Universitat de Valencia Vicente Cerveron uv es Fecha presentaci n 07 05 2009 Aceptaci n 09 06 2009 Publicaci n 06 07 2009 Resumen Actualmente la Universitat de Valencia utiliza un Sistema de Gesti n del Aprendizaje Learning Management System LMS como apoyo al p
6. AREA ERRE AEREA ERRE REA ERRE ERA AEREA RAEE RAEE RAEE ARRAY POPP SOE EEE HES EEEEESEEOO HOLE OEE EE rosso rro rro rro rro rro rro rss rro rro rro rro rro rro rro rro rro rro rro rss rosso rro rro rosso rro oro rr o OOOO po iia cise eS Figure 1 UML static class diagram that represents some of the major applications classes required to store an assessment structure which may also contain other folders apart from as sessments and sections Both Assessment and Section objects can be directly linked to a Repository or to a Folder A reposi tory can also be stored in a file on a PC 3 2 Graphical User Interface 3 2 1 Menu Bar The next step was to decide how the new functionalities should be incorporated into the existing application For this purpose we added a new menu group into the menu bar called UV This menu contains three second level menus UV Assessment UV Section and UV Question each providing a set of actions which are active only when a component of that type is selected except for the case of creating a component which is always active as long as a repository has already been created New items have also been incorporated into the toolbar which appears just below the menu These allow us to create new assessments sections and questions by pressing the button which contains the appropriate icon Besides the button which contains an x symbol can be used to eliminate the component that is se lected at t
7. RE AEREA AEREA ERRE REA ERRE RAEE ETE EOEH OEE RAEE RRE REE RRE OEH HET REA ERRE REE RAE ERRE ERE POPP SOHC rro rro rro rro oros rro rro rss rro rro rro rro rro rro rro rro rro rro rro rro rro rr oro rro rro rro rro rro rosso oros rosso oros oros rro o 3 2 2 3 Question Creation Dialog To create a new question within a section another simple form is used Again a set of tabs JTabbedPane allow the user to spe cify all the parameters required The form contains two manda tory fields the description and the type of question which is selected from a drop down list Once a question type has been selected from the drop down list a new panel appears inside the tab This panel shows the type of question selected and requests the values for the all parameters associated with this type As an example if a multiple choice question was selected it would be necessary to specify if the answer is multiple or unique the text for each proposed answer and which one ones is are correct In this case the Accept button listener verifies that all mandatory fields have correct values and stores the values in an appro priate structure for each question type 3 2 2 4 Edition Dialog We have also implemented a dialog to edit the components which have been created using the forms and wizard described above These dialogs are very similar to those used for creation but present a few exceptions First all dialogs used for editing purposes are internal fra
8. S Digital Library 2007 Del Ramo Romero Jos L pez Soler Neus 2008 Res pondus un programa para la creaci n y publicaci n de cuestionarios tic Revista d innovaci Educativa Universitat de Valencia 1 pp 79 81 Essa Anthony Cerver n Vicente Blessius Conrad 2005 LRN An Enterprise Open Source Learning Management System In Proceedings Educause2005 Orlando QAED LINK http gti upf edu leteos newnavs qaed html Fecha de consulta 10 02 2009 Martinez Juanjo 2005 JQTI Lite Library Developer s Guide 1 http www tecn upf es ssayag leteos jQTILite docs jQTILite10_Devel_Guide pdf Accessed 10 02 2009 Moreno Paloma Cerver n Vicente 2006 Plataforma tecnol gica para potenciar los procesos de ense anza aprendizaje desarrollo en la Universitat de Valencia basado en software libre y colaborativo In Proc SITE 06 VIII Simposio Internacional de inform tica apli cada a la ense anza 8th International Symposium on Computers in Education Vol II Le n 2006 Moreno Paloma Cerver n Vicente L pez Agust n Roig Dario 2007 LRN Consortium International Collab POCA HEHEHE HEE AEREA ERRE POPP SOHC ESEH HES EEE EES EEOE HOE EOEE TEESE EEE EEEE EOE EOE EEE ETEE TE OEEH EEE EEO EEO EEEE EE EESE TET OEEO OOOOH ETS OES EET EEEH SES OEETEESEEH EES OEH EEE oro rr SEHT EE EEEE EE EEOE EOE EOEE SEO SEETESEEE EEE EOE HOE ESEE EEO TEHEEOEEO EES EEOEEOEESE EEE rosso EEE EEE ET ELESELELEEE SELES EE or
9. ching and learning process After examining the existing free and non free products Roig 2003 Universitat de Val ncia decided to join the dotLRN project Essa et al 2005 and adapted the product to its specific needs Cerveron et al 2006 The platform resulting was called Aula Virtual and is currently used to provide several functiona lities for every single course given in the University These servi ces may include for example a documentary repository an agenda a news section forums chats e mail services notifica tion services work submission a learning objects repository an application to create Web presentations weblogs a photo album a FAQs section etc Cerver n et al 2007 At the same time Universitat de Val ncia initiated a program devoted to the continuous improvement of Aula Virtual In this program we evaluated the Assessment module In particular we focused on a tool which allows teachers to setup online examina tions This module allows the teacher to select the type of answer multiple choice short answer long answer and uploaded from an external file fix some presentation related parameters order number of questions per page establish the duration of the test reuse components questions sections and answers and import and export questions and or complete tests As a result of our analysis we concluded that although this is an excellent tool for monitoring student progress its use is st
10. explained below First the Title and Description dialog is displayed This is the only dialog that contains three buttons Cancel Complete and Accept The reason for this is that there are two types of assessment namely simple and expert By clicking on the Ac cept button a simple assessment is created Likewise an expert assessment is created by clicking on the Complete button In both cases the button s listener is triggered and checks that the title field is not empty The Instructions dialog is opened This one contains a text area to introduce the information needed by the student to per form the assessment The Answer Options dialog takes control This dialog con tains three numeric fields and therefore the Accept button s lis tener will verify that they contain valid content an integer The Pages dialog opens up providing a set of tabs JTab bedPane objects which are browsed to fill in the different pages In the Start and End Pages there is a rich text editor that will in troduce the HTML code it generates into the expected attribute of the corresponding class To provide this rich text editor an external open source java library called Ekit has been used The Timing Options dialog is used to specify the assessment time Another external java library has been used for this pur pose JCalendar This is used to insert two calendars inside the dialog which will allow us to select the assessment s start and end date
11. he time Additionally the two buttons with arrows can be used to export and import assessments the export button will only be available when a UV assessment is selected Both the new menu and the buttons use event listeners to carry out the actions These methods can be found in the main class of the GUI QTILiteAppMainFrame along with all the code needed to create the main application window 3 2 2 Forms and Wizards Once the menu had been created the next step was to create the forms that would allow us to create and edit the Universitat de Val ncia s components To create these components we deci ded to use simple wizards a series of JDialogs that will succes sively appear one after the other until all the necessary information has been filled in In all cases the first panel con tains a tree representing the structure of the entire repository and the user is asked to select the new component s location Since components can only be placed at certain places depen ding on their type questions inside sections sections inside as sessments and assessments inside folders or repositories error messages are generated if an invalid location is selected 3 2 2 1 Assessment Creation Wizard The wizard to construct a new assessment is composed of the fo llowing dialogs which are displayed sequentially Title and Des cription Instructions Answer Options Pages Timing Options and Other Options The sequence of forms is
12. ill insufficient One of the main reasons identified was the fact that this tool is not user friendly at all Consequently and in order to encourage the use of this module it was decided to simplify the creation of online examinations And the easiest and most effective solution found was the use of an external tool which allowed teachers to create online examinations and ex port them into Aula Virtual Universitat de Valencia was using Respondus application for this purpose Del Ramo et al 2008 a non free software which also allow the user to edit import and export examinations created with other applications The main disadvantage of this product is the cost of the license That s why it was decided to replace this software by an open source tool which may provide the same functionality As a result of an investigation on existing tools it was found out that the University Pompeu Fabra had already produced a java open source application called QAED Mart nez 2005 This program allows the user to create multiple choice assess ments and to import and export them from to version 2 of the ims qti specification by using Java library named qti lite Sa vago 2005 Although this tool didn t implemented part of the functionalities required by the Universitat de Val ncia it was considered a good candidate for extension and this was a better alternative than starting a new application from scratch 2 Analysis Once the aim of the p
13. ions and an as sessment is composed of multiple sections A question cannot be found inside an assessment unless it belongs to a section Each section contains a series of parameters which indicate how they should be presented their score and the time needed for their completion In QAED assessments are composed of mul tiple choice questions only Then it s necessary to adapt our ex tension of QAED so that assessments will have the same structure as in dotLRN 2 2 QAED Once the requirements have been determined a first stage is to analyze QAED to fully understand its internal structure and evaluate the effort required to implement the extensions QAED was developed in Java The fact that QAED is a des ktop application implies that it uses javax Swing to implement its graphic interface The GUI Graphical User Interface appe ars divided into three sections The menu bar at the top can be used to edit the assessments Below this bar there are two pa nels The left panel contains a tree that visualizes the structure of the assessments that are currently open The right panel shows the possible actions and content of the components that are selected in the tree The original version of QAED QAED Link uses three libra ries namely JDOM Xerces Xalan and jQTI Lite These libra ries are used to manage XML documents and will be the ones used to provide import and export functionalities JDOM Xer ces and Xalan facilitate the genera
14. lly uses a Learning Management System LMS to support teaching and learning activities This LMS includes a functionality which allows teachers to create online evaluations Unfortunately the platform does not provide a user friendly interface In an attempt to improve the usability of the module we have developed a computer program which simplifies the process We have started from an existing open source program called QAED developed at Universitat Pompeu Fabra and developed it to allow teachers to create tests offline These tests can then be easily imported into the platform Aula Virtual Keywords e learning dotLRN assessment online evaluation 0000000000050 8000000000000 o o MEMS coerce ee eee SEES HOSE EEHOEEEOEEEEOEEOEEEEEEEEEE EEE EEEEEEEEEEE EE EEEEEEHOEEOE EEE EEEE HET OOEEE HEE EHES EEE OEEH ETE OESE EEE ESOE SEES OHO TOOTH EES TOOES ETO OOO EEE STOO SHO cnn nro nnconnnncnnncrnccnnn n o SCOOP SECEDE LE EE AAA AAA AAA OMe E ecccosecceer ese eee ee T EOE EES OOOH EHEHOHHE SHOE EH EOEEE AAA AAA AAA AEREA AEREA RAE AEREA REE RARE AEREA AED POPPE HEHEHE HEE EHO EHE HOE EOE EE OEHH ETO EE OE HOE EHE HEE OLEHHEEEEOH ETE OOEHO EE OEHHEHOEHHE 0 POPP SOHC E HEHE SEE EEEOE HOE EEEE TEESE EEE EEOE EOE TOE EEC ESEETEOEE OEE SEEH EEO EEE EE SEESETESOEE TEESE EE SOEH EES ESEH EE EEE ESEHEEEH EE EEEHE LESSEE EEE rro ros 1 Introduction In 2003 Universitat de Val ncia decided to develop Learning Management System LMS to support the tea
15. roceso de ense anza aprendizaje El LMS incluye una herramienta que permite a los profesores crear ex menes online Sin embargo la interfaz de usuario que provee la plataforma no presenta un entorno amigable Para mejorar la usabi lidad del m dulo hemos desarrollado un programa inform tico que simplifica el proceso Partiendo de un programa open source denominado QAED desarrollado en la Universitat Pompeu Fabra lo hemos desarrollado para permitir a los profesores crear ex menes offline Despu s estas pruebas podr n importarse f cilmente a la plataforma Aula Virtual Palabras clave e learning dotLRN evaluaci n examen online Resum Actualment la Universitat de Valencia utilitza un Sistema de Gesti de Aprenentatge Learning Management System LMS de suport al proc s d ensenyament i aprenentatge El LMS inclou una eina que permet als professors dissenyar ex mens online Tanmateix la interf cie d usuari que proveeix la plataforma no resulta gens amigable Amb l objectiu de millorar la usabilitat del modul hem desenvolupat un programa informatic que simplifica el proc s Partint d un programa open source denominat QAED desenvolupat a la Universitat Pompeu Fabra l hem desenvolupat per a permetre als professors crear ex mens offline Despr s aquestes proves podran facilment importar se a la plataforma Aula Virtual Paraules clau e learning dotLRN avaluaci examen online Abstract Universitat de Val ncia actua
16. roject had been established an ex tensive study was carried out in which the two tools in volved were analyzed dotLRN s assessment module and QAED 2 1 Requirements The analysis of dotLRN s assessment module has produced a list of requirements that the extended version of QAED should offer in order to fulfil the particular needs of the Universitat de Valencia A first difference in functionality is that the assess ment module offers various types of questions unlike QAED which only offers multiple choices Besides assessments created in dotLRN contain many options which can be activated or mo CORSO HEHEHE EOE HEE HEHEHE OEEOE HO EEOE HOE EOEHHE SEE EH OEEEH HOE OEHH ETOH EEE OHHEH EE EHEH HE HEEEHELEEHEEH OE LEEHOOLE PCCP SEE EE EEE EEE SEE EEE EEE EE EEE EOEESET TEESE TOES EE OEEE EEO EESE ET EOEETETEEES EE EEEH ET ESESELEL EEE EELS EE EELS dified by teachers in order to adjust the assessments to the type of evaluation process that best suits their needs Another important difference is in the export function dotLRN generates an XML file which complies with version 1 of the ims qti specification compressed in ZIP format Therefore our extension of QAED must also allow the user to export the assessments in this format QAED supported version 2 instead The last issue to consider is that dotLRN s assessments con tain three major components The basic unit of an assessment is the question Questions are grouped into sect
17. the implementation of the classes required to support the import and export functions These clas ses use an external java library called JDOM This library pro vides a series of java classes which are useful to read write and manipulate XML files In particular it allows the programmer to convert an XML file into java objects and vice versa create valid XML files from a set of java objects To export an assessment the corresponding option is selec ted from the menu or from the toolbar located just below Then a typical file browser dialog requesting the location and file name is displayed Once these are specified the XML file is generated and then this file is compressed into a ZIP file The XML file ge neration process involves creating each element one by one using JDOM and storing them in the correct place in the XML file according to the version 1 of the ims qti specification In the case of the import operation the XML document is first extracted from the ZIP file selected This is then used to ge nerate the tree structure of a QAED assessment using JDOM Once the import operation is completed the Assessment java object created is stored at the root of the repository 4 Conclusions The Assessment module provided by Aula Virtual allows lectu rers to setup online examinations Moreno et al 2006 Despite the potential of this tool it presents a low usage rate Moreno et al 2008 This is due to an uncomfortable GUI
18. tion of XML documents to export files and the extraction of information from existing ones to import files JQTI Lite is a library which is used to im port and export documents in a format compatible with version 2 of the ims qti specification 3 Design 3 1 Data Structure A first design decision concerns the data structure requi red to support the new components that dotLRN offers The most logical and intuitive structure is to consider a Java class per type of component Assessment Section and Question Because questions can be of different types the class Question is declared abstract and a subclass is created for each type of question supported MultipleChoiceQuestion ShortAnswer Question LongAnswerQuestion UploadedAnswerQuestion for questions which require the upload of an external file This class structure illustrated in Figure 1 is used to store information concerning the different components This infor mation is obtained as user input using data forms or from XML files by importing data and used to execute the assess ments or to export them in other format Collections represented by a black diamond in the dia gram above have been implemented using the class java util List The root component for the structure is the class Repository This class was already implemented in the pre vious version of QAED but has been modified to support the extensions A repository may contain folders a recursive AAA EE RRA
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