Project factsheet
DIGEKS MRF ― Digital Exams in the Møre og Romsdal County
- Period
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January 2008 - December 2008
- Web site
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- NR contact
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Wolfgang Leister
- Funding
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Møre og Romsdal Fylkeskommune with support from FAD
- Norwegian partners
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- Project description
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The project develops an exam system for Norwegian schools. The main purpose of the exam system is to provide a user interface for the exam candidates where it is possible to restrict the use of applications, hard drives and communication interfaces like Bluetooth or wireless zones other than the school's own network. The exam system is developed as a free and open source system on the basis of the Linux distribution Ubuntu. A USB-pendrive (USB memory stick) is used to boot up the candidate's PC with the operating system and necessary application software, like document processor, calculator, browser, and document presentation applications. Additionally a surveillance system for the invigilators is developed to keep them updated on possible irregularities on the candidates' machines.
- NR's contribution
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Development of the solution for digital exam, including system for candidates, for invigilators, and for production. The project is based on an idea of NR researchers when working on a project for the Utdanningsdirektoratet, Norway's government office for education.
- Benefit for customers
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NR delivers the exam system which is developed independently from commercial actors. The use of free and open source software as a basis for the development provides a solution that can be extended or maintained by the user, i.e., a school, a municipality, or a directorate.
- Benefit for society
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Norwegian schools are required to perform digital exams for their students. Using our exam system, there is little need for extra infrastructure at the schools, since the exams can be done on the candidates' laptops. The possibility of candidates using irregular documents or means of communication is drastically reduced. Additionally the invigilators do not need special knowledge of technologies that the candidates might use. The exam system will provide a simple and secure way to perform digital exams without extra license costs. Deploying the exam system will save the school sector for large investments into specific exam infrastructure.
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Project results
(preliminary)
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A prototype of the exam system, including the surveillance module for the invigilators has been developed. The exam system will be tested in selected schools in Møre og Romsdal county during autumn 2008. The system is based on Ubuntu, and is customized using the UCK (Ubuntu customization kit). The entire system is designed so that all functions from production, surveillance and performing the exam are contained on pendrive-based distributions, thus making it unnecessary to have dedicated PCs in the schools' infrastructure.
