Education and demonstration – Question or problem eliciting response – Response of plural examinees communicated to monitor or...
Reexamination Certificate
2000-06-22
2002-07-09
Cheng, Joe H. (Department: 3713)
Education and demonstration
Question or problem eliciting response
Response of plural examinees communicated to monitor or...
C434S322000, C434S323000, C434S118000
Reexamination Certificate
active
06418298
ABSTRACT:
FIELD OF THE INVENTION
The present invention relates to the field of electronic testing, and more particularly to a method and system for designing, administering and taking tests through a computer network or other information distribution media.
BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION
Tests of human knowledge, understanding and preferences are well known. In educational environments, they are typically used as indicators for measuring human performance and our knowledge. Test results-may be used, for example, to screen job applicants, assign grades to students and to gain insight about human abilities, strengths and weaknesses.
A number of computerized query systems are known, including certain educational testing systems, on-line surveys, client-server systems, search engines, Internet, intranet and World Wide Web-based systems, educational toys, and the like.
Typically, these systems allow a test administrator to define the queries, testing parameters and response parameters. Some of these systems may also allow randomization of queries and adaptive testing.
Often, the test or query may be considered a logical unit, with a plurality of requested information components. The structure is typically defined at the top level, i.e., the test definition logical structure is defined unitarily. This leads to difficulties in altering the structure of the test, as it is difficult to define different local parameters for some of the questions in such a structure. Further, this makes test component reuse difficult, as the testing parameters need be included with the sub-component, a function not typically supported in known systems. Therefore, while test content may be portable, test structure must usually be redefined for each version or iteration. This structure also makes optimization of overall test structure difficult, as global parameters are typically a compromise from desired parameters for individual portions of a test.
Prior electronic testing and instructional systems are disclosed in U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,657,256; 5,618,182; 5,597,312; 5,577,919; 5,565,316; 5,545,044; 5,513,994; 5,496,175; 5,441,415; 5,437,555; 5,437,553; 5,433,615; 5,372,507; 5,334,326; 5,261,823; 5,259,766; 5,211,564; 5,211,563; 5,204,813; 5,195,033; 5,180,309; 5,176,520; 5,170,362; 5,059,127; 5,011,413; 5,002,491; 4,978,305; 4,895,518; 4,798,543; 4,877,408; 4,793,813; 4,764,120; 4,671,772; 4,486,180; and 3,654,708, each of which is expressly incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
The system and method according to the present invention provides an automated testing system allowing design and administration of hierarchical testing scheme. This scheme eases the burden of creating and giving out tests, and allows a fine grain of control over testing parameters. This degree of control is optional, and therefore the construction of a test is not made unnecessarily complex. In fact, in a preferred embodiment, parameters from one portion of a test or from a separate test are readily copied or linked to another portion or test. Therefore, the test designer has the ability to focus on the quality and content of the tests and reliability of the test results, while avoiding redundant tasks.
The present invention overcomes the difficulties of the prior art by providing logical units (i.e., “building blocks”) within an overall presented information stimulus, volitional response system. These building blocks can be grouped together in various sequences to create a question and answer response system. Each building block is independent of the others and contains parameters that determine its functionality and implementation. Each building block also contains information about how it relates to the other building blocks. Some systems that can be constructed from these building blocks include educational tests, quizzes, surveys, questionnaires and trivia quizzes. However, any other system that can be formulated as a sequence of questions and answers can also be built from these building blocks (i.e., scientific experiments). Each logical unit or “section” (also known as ‘building block’) has a set of parameters which define, for example, an interrelation of that section with other sections; grading instructions; adaptive aspects; allowable timing, sequencing and repetition; security; and randomization. Thus, the overall test structure is not required to define these aspects for each section of the test. This allows a fine level of granularity in defining the overall testing function, while allowing optimization of individual sections, easing reuse of sections in other tests while maintaining the testing parameters, and assisting in the incremental formulation of a test structure.
A section consists of one or more elements, being subject to the common parameter set. The element, in turn, may include any number of questions, i.e., zero or more. One or more sections may be grouped into a logical display set, termed a “part”.
The test part, for example, is transmitted as a single logical unit from a server, which assembles each section, as necessary, based on the parameters, and then groups the sections, based on other parameters, as a part. The server then awaits receipt of responses, which are in a form defined by the section parameters, and interprets the responses in accordance with the section parameters, for output. The output may be subject to further analysis, such as individual and group statistics, feedback to the test taker, or the like. In this case, the server is not burdened with continual monitoring of each user, and thus may serve a large number of test takers simultaneously, without overload. The server is a transactional based device, servicing each test taker as needed to register, transmit a test part, and receive results.
Because each test section includes its own local parameters, a wide variety of data types may be included in a section, without requiring the test structure as a whole to be unnecessarily complex. For example, Hypertext markup Language (HTML) 3.0 is presently preferred to define the display of each section, which is collected for each section into a Web page as the part. As such, full data type integration, hyper-linking, and display formatting are supported. For example, this allows a section to include a pointer to a file containing a video clip, which is downloaded from a different Web server. This use of an open hyper-linking protocol, such as HTML 3.0, to define the presentation in a testing environment is new, and provides significant advantages, including the ability to reference data which may change continuously or at variable times.
By employing a standard language such as HTML, the system is operable over intranets or the Internet using standard Web browsers, such as Microsoft Internet Explorer (MSIE), e.g., MSIE 3.02, Netscape Navigator, e.g., Navigator 4.01, or the like, on standard client computing platforms. However, WebTV® or an Internet appliance, such as Internet capable personal communication service (PCS) devices may also administer tests. Thus, the benefits of the present invention are possible using standard server and client systems, with a custom Web server (or other “Test” server) to generate test parts and receive responses, and the system does not necessarily require customized hardware. Of course, the system need not be open, and proprietary hardware, protocols and software may be employed. The system is also extensible and not necessarily linked to HTML 3.0, and thus may employ other or future communication or presentation standards, as desired or as they become available.
Since a preferred embodiment of the present invention operates using standard Web browsers over the Internet, a section or part of a test may comprise:
A browser plug-in
TCP/IP socket applications running on the client
JAVA applets or ActiveX objects
Any other systems that enhance the client functionality beyond existing HTML functionality
The presented content may include audio, video, multimedia, or other information. Because the test taker typically employs a general
Cheng Joe H.
Harris Chanda
The Riverside Publishing Co.
Wolf Greenfield & Sacks P.C.
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