ERIC Number: EJ1001024
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2012-Jun
Pages: 17
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1492-3831
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: N/A
Identification of Conflicting Questions in the PARES System
Tsinakos, Avgoustos; Kazanidis, Ioannis
International Review of Research in Open and Distance Learning, v13 n3 p297-313 Jun 2012
Student testing and knowledge assessment is a significant aspect of the learning process. In a number of cases, it is expedient not to present the exact same test to all learners all the time (Pritchett, 1999). This may be desired so that cheating in the exam is made harder to carry out or so that the learners can take several practice tests on the same subject as part of the course. This study presents an e-testing platform, namely PARES, which aims to provide assessment services to academic staff by facilitating the creation and management of question banks and powering the delivery of nondeterministically generated test suites. PARES uses a conflict detection algorithm based on the vector space model to compute the similarity between questions and exclude questions which are deemed to have an unacceptably large similarity from appearing in the same test suite. The conflict detection algorithm and a statistical evaluation of its accuracy are presented. Evaluation results show that PARES succeeds in detecting question types at about 90% and its efficiency can be further increased through continuing education and enrichment of the system's correlation vocabulary. (Contains 1 table and 4 figures.)
Descriptors: Information Retrieval, Educational Testing, Continuing Education, Mathematics, Tests, Testing, Correlation, Adaptive Testing, Computer Assisted Testing, Electronic Learning, Equations (Mathematics)
Athabasca University. 1200, 10011 - 109 Street, Edmonton, AB T5J 3S8, Canada. Tel: 780-421-2536; Fax: 780-497-3416; e-mail: irrodl@athabascau.ca; Web site: http://www.irrodl.org
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: N/A
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A

Peer reviewed
