Start date: 1 April 2005
End date: 31 October 2005
Funding programme: e-Learning Frameworks and Tools programme
JISC theme(s): e-Learning
The IMS QTI specification is the key specification in the Assessment area
of the E-Learning Framework. Version 2 of the specification was developed
during 2004. In parallel, a migration tool for converting items from
version 1 to version 2 was created. The tool was developed using the Python
programming language. Further work is needed to help bridge the divide
between the version 1 and version 2 communities. In particular
version 2 presents new opportunities for developers to provide assessment
services using standard technical interfaces. Early implementations
are required to help stimulate interest in using the new features and to
provide feedback to the ongoing development of the QTI specification
itself.
Aims and Objectives
The project aims to extend the source code of the existing migration tool
and to use it as the basis of an open source toolkit for implementing
QTI-version 2 based assessment services in Python within the context of the
e-Learning Framework. The work also aims to feed back into the QTI
specification process through direct participation in the work of the IMS
Assessment SIG. Specifically the project will:
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Develop and distribute the PyAssess open source toolkit
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Demonstrate the use of QTI with free-text marking engines
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Provide direct input to the IMS QTI project team
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Provide a focus for interest in QTI amongst Python developers
Project Methodology
The project will use an iterative development method with a tight
release-schedule, with updates of the code modules being released at the
end of each calendar month throughout the project. In order to control
regression and to help facilitate the coding of the requirements themselves
a test-driven development approach will be taken. The tests themselves will
be made available as part of the distribution and will form the detailed
documentation of the module requirements. We will be attempting to
build on the work of the other projects from this programme in the
assessment arena, in particular APIS/ASSIS and the the Remote Question
Protocol (RQP).
Final Report
This project completed in October 2005 and the final report
is available at the bottom of this page.