04-07-2012, 11:47 AM
Monitoring Online Tests through Data Visualization
Abstract:
We present an approach and a system to let tutors monitor several important aspects related to online tests, such as learner behavior and test quality. The approach includes the logging of important data related to learner interaction with the system during the execution of online tests and exploits data visualization to highlight information useful to let tutors review and improve the whole assessment process.
We have focused on the discovery of behavioral patterns of learners and conceptual relationships among test items. Furthermore, we have led several experiments in our faculty in order to assess the whole approach. In particular, by analyzing the data visualization charts, we have detected several previously unknown test strategies used by the learners. Last, we have detected several correlations among questions, which gave us useful feedbacks on the test quality.
Algorithm / Technique used:
Learner behavior and test quality
Existing System:
E-Testing systems are being widely adopted in academic environments, as well as in combination with other assessment means, providing tutors with powerful tools to submit different types of tests in order to assess learners’knowledge. Among these, multiple-choice tests are extremely popular, since they can be automatically corrected.
However, many learners do not welcome this type of test, because often, it does not let them properly express their capacity, due to the characteristics of multiple-choice questions of being “closed-ended.” Even many examiners doubt about the real effectiveness of structured tests in assessing learners’ knowledge, and they wonder whether learners are more conditioned by the question type than by its actual difficulty.
Proposed System:
We propose a data exploration approach exploiting information visualization in order to involve tutors in a visual data mining process aiming to detect structures, patterns, and relations between data, which can potentially reveal previously unknown knowledge inherent in tests, such as the test strategies used by the learners, correlations among different questions, and many other aspects, including their impact on the final score.
Finally, we also present a system implementing the proposed approach. The system logs all the interactions of learners with the e-testing system interface. In particular, it captures the occurrence of question browsing and answering events by the learners and uses these data to visualize charts containing a chronological review of tests
Hardware Requirements:
• SYSTEM : Pentium IV 2.4 GHz
• HARD DISK : 40 GB
• FLOPPY DRIVE : 1.44 MB
• MONITOR : 15 VGA colour
• MOUSE : Logitech.
• RAM : 256 MB
Software Requirements:
• Operating system :- Windows XP Professional
• Front End : - Asp .Net 2.0.
• Coding Language :- Visual C# .Net
• Back-End : - Sql Server 2000.