Transcript MS PowerPoint 97/2000 format

Slide 1
© 2001 By Default!
Does interoperability actually
work?
A case study carried out with Boon Low
and Niall Barr
Niall Sclater
Manager, Educational Systems
University of Strathclyde
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Slide 2
© 2001 By Default!
The IMS Question and Test spec
For the exchange of questions and tests
 Processes include:

– Authoring
– Storage
– Administration
– Rendering
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Slide 3
© 2001 By Default!
The packages tested
A leading commercial CAA package
(Questionmark Perception)
 The two leading virtual learning
environments (WebCT and Blackboard)
 A lesser known but highly innovative
rendering tool (Canvas Arena)
 A university-built tool developed for testing
IMS QTI (CETIS Rendering Tool)

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Slide 4
© 2001 By Default!
Scope of the evaluation
Concentrates on the exchange of questions
between systems
 Question creation
 Exporting
 Importing

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Slide 5
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Question 1
Question 1:
Which electronic component allows alternating
current (AC) to flow but prevents direct current (DC)
flowing?




A transistor
A resistor
A capacitor [correct]
An inductor
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Slide 6
© 2001 By Default!
Feedback for question 1
Transistors are used to amplify or switch both
AC and DC currents, the correct answer is
capacitor.
 Resistors impede the flow of both AC and DC
currents, the correct answer is capacitor.
 Yes, capacitors prevent DC current flowing.
 Inductors have high impedance for AC
currents and low impedance for DC currents,
the correct answer is capacitor.

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Slide 7
© 2001 By Default!
Question 2
Which of these symbols represents a Field
Effect Transistor (FET)?
1

2

3

4
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Slide 8
© 2001 By Default!
Criteria
Question creation – the ease with which the
two model questions can be created and the
degree of accuracy of question rendering
 Exporting – the ease and accuracy with
which the following applications export
questions into the IMS QTI specification
 Importing – the degree with which the suite
of test questions can be imported and how
accurately the imported questions are
rendered.

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Slide 9
© 2001 By Default!
Results of the evaluation
Question authoring
 Perception
– q1 entered without difficulty
– q2 not so easy but workarounds found

WebCT

Blackboard
– q1 fine
– q2 – feedback reduced to a single section for
each answer
– Feedback restricted to one section for the correct
answer and one for the incorrect ones
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Slide 10
© 2001 By Default!
Results of the evaluation (2)
Exporting
 Perception
– Worked fine

WebCT

Blackboard
– Requires use of a command line tool
– Some minor errors in the exported QTI code
– Questions exported within an IMS content
manifest but in a proprietary format
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Slide 11
© 2001 By Default!
Results of the evaluation (3)
Importing
 Perception
– No problems

Blackboard

WebCT

Rendering
– Didn’t work
– Content migration tool only for systems admins
– Extremely difficult to use even for them
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Slide 12
© 2001 By Default!
Rendering: WebCT - Perception
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Slide 13
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Conclusions
VLEs very disappointing
 None of the other systems had problems with
q1
 Questionmark has been more rigorous than
the VLE vendors in implementing QTI

– But even it had some problems

Does this bode well for interoperability?
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Slide 14
© 2001 By Default!
Conclusions (2)
Still in early days
 Most problems easy to correct
 Need cross-vendor collaboration
 Stress-testing programmes
 VLE vendors may leave QTI compliance to
QuestionMark

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Slide 15
© 2001 By Default!
Further info
www.cetis.ac.uk
www.sclater.com
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