Jul 12
QTI is the word at 2012 CAA Conference
Adept’s own in-house STEM ambassador and e-assessment software product manager, Lilly Northrop, attended the 2-day 2012 International CAA Conference at the University of Southampton this week. It was a specialist, research-led event attracting a range of delegates involved in the pedagogic and technical aspects of e-assessment, or in its strategy, policy and implementation.
During the talk-filled event, presenters got to illustrate a wide range of bespoke, self-built e-assessment solutions, often created on campus by specific research teams who use them on a daily basis. The e-assessment tool we were showcasing, Maple T.A., is different because it’s an off-the-shelf solution with the inbuilt maths intelligence of Maple making it ideal for any STEM subject. Users can easily create all kinds of question types, including open-ended and algorithmically generated questions, plus Maple T.A. supports adaptive questions, partial grading and intelligent evaluation of responses.
The buzz-word at this year’s event was most definitely QTI – the IMS Question and Test Interoperability specification – a standard which defines the structure and results of questions and assessments, that uses an XML data binding to make it simpler to interchange/exchange content between different authoring tools, platforms and publishers. We’ll be feeding this key e-assessment requirement back to Maple T.A.’s developers, Maplesoft, to find out if the QTI standard is currently supported in Maple T.A. or whether support can be provided in future releases. Email mapleta@adeptscience.co.uk if that’s something you’d like to see in upcoming version and give us the UK-based groundswell to get it implemented.