UNIBE.11 |
MEASURED 3 extension |
Long Title: | Media-rich Electronic Assessment with Secure Delivery 3 (Phase 4) |
Leading Organization: |
Universität Bern |
Participating Organizations: |
ETH Zürich
Fachhochschule Ostschweiz Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz |
Other Partners: |
Université de Lausanne
|
Domain: | ELS |
Status: | finished |
Start Date: | 01.01.2013 |
End Date: | 30.04.2013 |
Project Leader: | S. Guttormsen |
Website: | http://www.iml.unibe.ch/measured/ |
(see also SIOUX (Phase 1), MEASURED (Phase 2) and MEASURED 2 (Phase 3))
Next to the technical deliverables, the project has also resulted in a large knowledge gain available in the form of various reports e.g. on legal implications of computer-based assessment (CBA) and a survey on the current situation and trends regarding CBA at academic institutions in Switzerland.
As boot medium the iPXE-Boot version (Tiny-Core-Linux; ipxe-chainload) has been tested with 170 computers in 7 rooms. It resulted in a considerable saving of time (about 7:1). For the App deployment processes defined in the e-OSCE project will be adopted.
Measured is in use at the Institute of Medical Education (IML), University of Bern.
The results and findings are available to the academic e-Assessment community.
All documentation, software and other deliverables are available on request.
The development will continue, with first priority on the tablet version (ev. replacement of Flex framework) and better integration into a full e-Assessment lifecycle. Also the work for an integration of the the boot medium will continue and community building activities be pursued in the Learning Infrastructure project.
The three main objectives of the extension are:
In March 2012, as part of phase 3, a survey amongst Swiss universities and universities of Applied Sciences
was carried out in order to establish the current situation and the general trends in the field of computer-based
examinations in Switzerland. The most central problem mentioned by the educational institutions turned out
to be the lack of suitable infrastructure for performing computer based assessments (CBA) with medium and
large-sized cohorts, as would be necessary for a more broad-based use of CBA.
On the one hand,
it would seem that the use of tablet computers (cheap, mobile, space-saving)
could provide a potential solution to the infrastructure bottleneck - especially in view of the fact
that a large number of institutions are closing down their computer pool rooms rather than
upgrading them . On the other hand, even in institutions which have sufficient
computer workplaces or where student laptops are used, there is a lack of efficient and simple
means of putting these workplaces in a state that will permit an examination to be held and
reliably graded.
The survey has shown that the institutions that have already experience with e-Assessment are interested
in being kept up-to-date on developments in this field and in discussing these matters. Therefore those contacts
must be established beyond the funding period.
Mobile Client Cube: Porting the examination client to tablet operating systems
Through the system architecture that is being implemented and the selection of Adobe AIR as the runtime
environment for the different platforms, MEASURED is well suited to porting to mobile operating systems
(Android, iOS, webOS). A large portion of the existing code basis can be taken over without any changes.
But a substantial amount of development work is required for the user interface (interaction
design) and also for certain functions that are particularly close to the system (file handling, cryptography).
Deployment & Delivery Cube: Compilation of tools and best-practice recommendations for efficient deployment and
securing the runtime environment on different platforms
a) Tablet computers
Generally tablet computers and their operating systems make it difficult to perform far-reaching interventions
in the system, of the type necessary for the desired exam environment. In addition, the hardware
interfaces are often subject to pronounced restrictions. Finally, with mobile devices, such as
tablet computers, physical security has to be accorded greater importance.
b) Student laptops, pool installations
The sole possibility for creating the necessary trustworthiness of an examination
station for CBA seems to be the development of a boot medium (network, USB stick, DVD-ROM; boot image probably based on Linux).
This will allow a secure examination environment to be created based directly on the hardware layer. The computers would then be
booted from quasi "untrusted" hardware into a "trusted" operating system core. Kiosk
applications are started one step higher than user processes. This makes it difficult to monitor
other user processes or even the behaviour of the operating system. A boot medium has various advantages over kiosk applications:
Community Cube: Sustainable exchange in the field of CBA for universities