National Tests in Mathematics I

Published January 15th, 2005 in: RIA

National tests in mathematics

We have just released the Flash based application for the voluntary national tests in mathematics (Nasjonale prøver i matematikk).

This web-application marks a huge step forward in the development of automated math assessment applications. It paves the way for more interactive test-objects, moving away from simple multiple-choice tests and quizes.

Application features include:

  • dynamic content delivery
  • asynchronous client interaction
  • client based logics
  • client based memory and state-keeping
  • server backup and restautration of client based memory

Dynamic content

The content is served via a DB, but from reaching the client it lives on the client. This means: No page refresh is necessary to update or fetch user data. If the user ends a session, and then re-enter, the application will first look for the cached state on the client, and if found - repopulate the application with that data. If no cache is found (changed PC etc.), it will look to the server and then restore the client cache using that data. If no serverdata, then we know it is a new user, and the application init from start as normal. This prosess is totally ubiquitous for the user, and is performed in a millisec. We see numbers that show serverloads redused by 10, which is awesome.

Usability testing

A prototype was ready in early december 2004, and has since been usability-tested on a variety of users. The reception has been phenomenal - the kids love it! We were curious to see how quick they would pick up on the navigational freedom, and we were happy to see that most users got in a matter of seconds. It was especially funny to see the different strategies regarding navigating forward and backward through different test-items. Some just clicked on the wanted item in the menu, but some went straight for the back button when they wanted a previous item. This really shows how important it is not to remove browser based navigation on this type of application.

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