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Project: A Java System to Administer Web-based Quizzes
Student Researchers: Lerie R.Herrera, Pamela J.Kunes, Laura Leigh Norton
Advisor: Thomas L. Naps
Institution: Lawrence University
GOALS AND PURPOSES OF THE PROJECT
The primary focus of our project was the development of a Java-based client-server system to administer quizzes over the Web. In addition to providing the participants with an opportunity to enhance their Java Internet programming skills, this system will be used next year by faculty at Lawrence in a variety of disciplines. The components of this system include:
- 1. A database of: - Quiz questions and correct answers - Quiz scores and student responses to individual quiz questions
- 2. A Java applet that: - Allows authorized quiz takers to connect to the database of quiz questions, administers the quiz to the user, and records the results of the quiz in the student database - Allows authorized instructors to enter and edit individual student information in the database - Allows authorized instructors to connect to the database and check the results of students on quizzes. These results include scores as well as student responses to individual questions.
- 3. A Java server application through which the aforementioned applet connects to the database.
PROCESSES USED IN CONDUCTING THE RESEARCH Lerie, Pamela, and Laura engaged in three separate research phases during the project. In the first research phase, they carried out an extensive analysis of what users would want in such a system. Eleven faculty members at Lawrence indicated an interest in using the quiz system we had proposed. All eleven were interviewed, and, as a result, we identified four levels at which the project could be implemented. Level I includes true/false, multiple-choice, fill-in-the-blank, and short essay questions. Additional Level I requirements are establishing a time during which each quiz is available to students, options for practice or graded quizzes, and allowing the instructor to specify a time limit for taking the quiz. Level II adds a facility to incorporate graphics into quiz questions. Level III specifications include sound files, mathematical formulas, and the capability for students taking a quiz to specify answers in the form of a drawing or graph. Level IV allows faculty to provide students with a variety of instructional feedback after each quiz question. This feedback takes the form of appropriate hypertext materials. For example, an incorrect answer provided by the student to a question about binary search trees could automatically trigger an animation of the algorithm that adds items to such a tree. In the second phase of their research, Lerie, Pamela, and Laura designed the system from an object-oriented perspective. The system was broken down into classes, each class was assigned responsibilities, and necessary collaborations between classes were identified. The specific methodology used during this design phase was CRC modeling. In the third and final phase of their research, Lerie, Pamela, and Laura have implemented a prototype for the Level I version of the quiz system.
CONCLUSIONS AND RESULTS ACHIEVED Our spring academic term is still in progress at Lawrence. Consequently, we have some finishing touches to put on the prototype mentioned above. It will be completely finished by June 15th. At that time, a demonstration quiz will be available by connecting to http://gaigs.cmsc.lawrence.edu/crew_project. The eleven faculty members who participated in our initial analysis are intrigued by the prototype that Lerie, Pamela, and Laura have developed. They are anxious to use the final system, based on this prototype, in their courses next year. Consequently, Lawrence, through a Culpeper Foundation grant, will be funding Pamela this summer so that she can evolve the prototype into a full-fledged system dependable enough to be used in actual coursework next year. Lawrence's support of this project is a direct consequence of the thorough analysis that was carried out in the first phase of the project. Pamela's work will be completed by the end of August, and, at that time, she, Lerie, and Laura will be submitting a paper describing their work to the student research track of the Seventh Annual Consortium for Computing in Small Colleges -- Midwest Conference.
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