Computer Based Assessment (CBA) or Computer Aided Assessment (CAA) has a contribution to make to the overall assessment process but how do we prevent assessment material becoming 'locked-in' to one system or another?
From the DLib Site … “For many people the CBA tools available to them are contained within their institutional VLE although many UK institutions have also purchased at significant cost a stand-alone CBA system. Most systems now claim to comply with the globally used IMS Question and Test Interoperability Specification (QTI). Alas, if one attempts to move assessment material from one system to another—even from their own compliant VLE to their compliant stand-alone system, there can be problems with the re-interpretation and display of questions and tests.”
The JISC funded TOIA project perhaps has a valuable contribution to make here. TOIA is developing a set of software tools that facilitate interoperable assessment through use of the IMS QTI specifications.
