Aweb-Based Question Bank Management Information System

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Journal of Computer Science 5 (2): 97-108, 2009

ISSN 1549-3636
© 2009 Science Publications

Web-based "Questions-Bank" System to Improve E-Learning


Education in Qatari School

Hosam F. El-Sofany, Noor Al-Jaidah, Shaima Ibrahim and Salha Al-kubaisi


Department of Computer Science and Engineering,
College of Engineering, Qatar University, Doha, Qatar

Abstract: Problem statement: This study described the analysis, design and implementation of the
Questions-Bank system that allows the students of primary, preparatory and secondary schools to take
web-based quizzes and exams, to download course reviews and previous exams. "Questions-Bank",
means that each question has a weight and area of knowledge deals with it. The system facilitated
generation of automatic, balanced and different exam sheets, that containing different types of
questions, covering the entire curriculum and displaying gradually from easiness to difficulty. The
exam sheet produced by the system, takes into account the different levels of the students from
excellent, good, to fair and avoids any mistakes of language and non-clear terminologies. Approach:
We had used the V-model to develop the system, this model started by specifying the system
requirements, analyzed and classified the requirements into functional and nonfunctional requirements,
constructed the use cases and domain model, the system design was started by determining the
database tables and appropriate interfaces and finally, the implementation phase was launched by
implementing the functionalities of the system. Results: Our system was used successfully in distance
learning as well as in self-training. We have tested the system with different type of courses taught in
the schools, ranged from primary to secondary levels. The feedbacks of both teachers and students
were highly promising. Conclusion: Implementing this system will allow the schools to create a
Questions-Bank database. The system allowed the school 'students to take quizzes, free exercises and
exams, to download course reviews and previous exams.

Key words: E-Learning, educational systems, web-based evaluation systems, interactive applications

INTRODUCTION methods can be used: conducting some experiments,


realizing different mini-projects, making quizzes and
Introducing Internet at schools has encouraged the exams. The evaluation mechanism help students to
development of new tools and systems within the scope discover whether they have gained the required
of education and training. As a result, a new era of knowledge as expected and provide appropriate and
learning and training approaches has emerged, where timely feedback to teachers to adjust their lectures,
new educational models have been developed, students exercises and exams[5-7].
could learn independently at any time or location, In this research project we have introduced the
simply by connecting to the Net along with the web-based "questions-bank" system, which can be used
appropriate systems and tools. Teachers, at the same with any school courses and may save hours in exams
time, could teach through “on-line” setting and could and quizzes preparation and correction, as well as may
schedule lessons and exams without the classical save resources like, photocopying and distributing the
physical constraints. This electronic learning approach, exams papers, locations of these exams, teachers and
also known as e-learning, has opened new horizons in assistants. The proposed system has the following
teaching for both teachers and students[1-4]. functionalities and features:
The assessment process in an educational system is
an important and primordial part of its success to assure Knowledge evaluation: Students can evaluate their
the correct way of knowledge transmission and to understanding levels and teachers can track the
ensure that students are working correctly and succeed activities of their students and can guide them to reach
to acquire the needed knowledge. Many assessment the pre-determined objectives of the courses.
Corresponding Author: Hosam Farouk El-Sofany, Department of Computer Science and Engineering, College of Engineering,
Qatar University, P.O. Box 2713, Doha, Qatar Tel: +974 5626625
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J. Computer Sci., 5 (2): 97-108, 2009

Exams generation: Teachers can store many types of The administrator application: This application
questions like multiple choices, true/false and fill in the provides the school administrator with simple tools to
blanks. The system uses an intelligent algorithm to manage the information of the Questions-Bank system.
generate balanced exam sheet, that containing different The following are some features provided by the
types of questions, covering the entire curriculum and administrator application:
displaying gradually from easiness to difficulty.
• Activate/Inactivate the system
Exam grading: quizzes and exams can be marked • Import and Export the questions-bank database
automatically by the system. Thus, students can get • Send automatic email immediately containing the
instantly their marks in a given quiz immediately after new password whenever the user changes his/her
submitting their responses and see also the corrected password
answers.
• Administer the basic information of the system
Communication: The system has a communication such as: Levels data, subjects or courses data,
tool that allows students and teachers to interact classes' data, teacher's data and students' data
together and discuss their activities.
The teacher application: This application provides the
Course management: The system is highly flexible teachers with various tools to construct the system
and doesn’t necessitate any programming skills from its services. The following are some features provided by
potential users. Thus, teachers can add, delete and the teacher application:
update their course materials at any moment through
the web. • Change account password
• Manage (add, update, delete and display) all the
Questions-Bank database: The system allows the
system services (reviews, exam questions, quizzes,
schools to create a Questions-Bank database that stores
previous exams and model answers)
the previous exams, the model answers, the reviews and
useful exercises for each course.
The student application: This application provides the
MATERIALS AND METHODS students with interactive tools to use the services of the
system. The following are some features provided by
System overview: The system interface is entirely the student application:
web-based and doesn’t necessitate any technical skills
from the potential users. The system is divided into • Change account password
three applications, called administrator, teacher and • Download assignments, revision documents,
student application. As shown in Fig. 1, the system is previous exams and other files that are uploaded by
appropriate for on-campus teaching, with access to the the teachers
Internet, or off-campus teaching using the local • Take web-based quizzes, exams, assignments,
network. interactive tutorials and reviews

Adopted software development process: Software


development process represents the structure imposed
on the development of a software product, which
includes software life cycle and software process. There
are several models for such processes, each describing
an approach to a variety of tasks or activities that takes
place during the process. The process involves
translating user needs into software requirements,
transforming the software requirements into design,
implementing the design in code, testing the code and
sometimes installing and checking out the software for
operational activities. Note that, these activities may
overlap or be performed iteratively[8].

Life cycle model: Numerous models have been


Fig. 1: System overview proposed to handle the problems of defining activities
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J. Computer Sci., 5 (2): 97-108, 2009

and associating them together. Our adopted software Use-cases: A use-case describes the interaction
development process is the V-model, as shown in between the users of the system and the system itself
Fig. 2, which can be presumed to be the extension of through a sequence of simple steps that show how the
the Waterfall model[9]. Instead of moving down in a system responds to a request from a certain user. It is
linear way, the process steps are bent upwards after the mainly used to capture the functional requirements of
implementation phase, to form the typical V shape. In the system. Use cases must be written in a language that
the development of the Questions-Bank system, the V- is understandable by clients. They must describe the
model was followed by: events from the point of view of the users.

• Specifying the system requirements using different Initial UML interaction diagrams: An interaction
gathering approaches diagram demonstrates a certain aspect of a system by
• The requirements were analyzed and classified into modeling its behavior. It is used to visualize the
functional and nonfunctional requirements and use collaboration among several objects to complete a
cases and domain model were constructed certain task.
• The system design was started by determining the
database tables, appropriate interfaces, class Initial static class diagram: An initial class diagram
diagram: To show a static view of used classes and (also called the domain model) consists of class and
interaction diagrams: To show the collaborations object diagrams. It is a static model that furnishes a
among the objects of the system to complete an visual representation of the real-world concepts that are
action visible to the user not of software components.
• The implementation phase was launched by Elements of a domain model are classes and the
implementing the functionalities of the system relationships between them. It is widely used as a
source of inspiration for designing software objects.
Each of the previously mentioned phases is
associated to a certain phase of testing to verify and to System analysis: The analysis phase is the chief phase
validate that the work is accurately executed, if in which the system requirements are identified in more
problems are found during the verification or validation details. The goal of this phase in the system
phases, then a re-execution of left side of the V is development is to refine the system goals into defined
performed to make fixes and improvements. functions and operation of the intended application.
System requirements are documented in a
complementary set of artifacts: flow charts use case
Methods and techniques to analyze the problem:
diagrams, system sequence diagrams and so on. Each
Scenarios: A scenario is an informal description of
artifact provides a different perspective of the system
actions done by a specific user in order to make a use of
under design and contains distinct requirements. The
the system. It can be considered as an instance of a use
combination of these perspectives establishes the tasks
case. It is expressed as a story of how a user can access
that are to be accomplished by the system.
the system.
Available information gathering technique: It’s
difficult to build a solution if we don’t know the
requirements. The “elicitation” step is where the
requirements are first gathered from the client. Many
techniques are available for gathering requirements.
Each has a value in certain circumstances and in many
cases, we need multiple techniques to gain a complete
picture from a diverse set of clients and stakeholders.
Here is a look at some of the approaches that could be
taken.

Interviews: The most common technique for gathering


requirements is to sit down with the clients and ask
them what they need. Our discussion would help us
plan out ahead of time, based on the type of
Fig. 2: The V-model - software development process requirements that we are looking for:
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J. Computer Sci., 5 (2): 97-108, 2009

• Gather facts, opinions and speculations • Questions-Bank system allows the school
• Ask about specific details administrator to:
• Ask for other sources of information • Login (as administrator)
• Ask about the stakeholders’ vision for the future • Change account password
• Ask if they have alternative ideas • Get new password instead of the lost one
• Ask them to draw diagrams • Activate/Inactivate the system
• Renew data (Import the data from the Excel
Prototyping: Prototyping is a relatively modern file to the SQL server database, delete data
technique for gathering requirements. In this approach, from specific table)
we gather preliminary requirements that we use to build • Send an email immediately containing the new
an initial version of the solution. We show this to the password whenever the user changes his/her
client, who then gives us additional requirements. We password
change the application and cycle around with the client • Manage (add, update, delete and display) the
again. This repetitive process continues until the basic information of the system
product meets the critical mass of business needs or for
an agreed number of iterations. • Questions-Bank system allows the teacher to:
• Login (as teacher)
Use case: Use cases are basically stories that describe • Change account password
how discrete processes work. The stories include people • Manage (add, update, delete and display) all
(users) and describe how the solution works from a user the system services (reviews, exam questions,
perspective. Use cases may be easier for the users to quizzes and previous exams with their model
articulate, although the use cases may need to be answers)
distilled later into the more specific detailed
requirements. At this stage, client requirements are • Questions-Bank system allows the student to:
gathered. This is done on the basis of information • Login (as student)
provided by the client in the form of documents. • Change account password
Requirements could be classified in two types: • Get new password instead of the lost one
Functional and Non-Functional requirements. • Download assignments, revision documents,
System specification: previous exams and other files that are
Functional requirements: Describe the interactions uploaded by the teachers
between the system and its environment independent of • Take web-based quizzes, exams, assignments
its implementation. The environment includes the end and interactive tutorials
user and any other external system with which the
system interacts. Non-functional requirements: Describe aspects of the
The Questions-Bank system should allow different system that are not directly related to the functional
types of users to interact with the system according to behavior of the system. Non-functional requirements
given privileges. There are three main users, as shown include a broad variety of the requirements such as
in Fig. 3, school administrator, teacher and student. It implementation requirements, interface requirements,
provides various services for each one: operation requirements and others.

• Usability: The system must provide a coherent user


interface that is consistent with the organization
interface. The system must be obvious, allowing
the user to navigate the system easily
• Reliability: The system must perform and maintain
its functions in routine circumstances
• Supportability: The system must be easily modified
or extended by more functions
• Performance: Performance requirements are
concerned with quantifiable attributes of the
system, such as response time, throughput
Fig. 3: The three main users of the system availability and accuracy
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J. Computer Sci., 5 (2): 97-108, 2009

• Security: The system must prevent unauthorized


users to access the system. Authorized users must
be provided with user ids and passwords. In order
to achieve high level of security, the password
must be encrypted

Hardware and software resources: We have used


some software during our system development such as:
Windows XP professional, Windows Server O/S,
Microsoft office Excel, Microsoft Word, SQL Server Fig. 4: Software development methodologies
database system, MS Visual Studio.Net and Photo
Shop.
The implementation of the database has been developed
System models: and modified many times to be applicable with the
Scenario: A scenario is a specific sequence of actions system requirement.
and interactions. It is one particular story of using a The DBMS stores the subjects in each school level,
system, or one path through the use case. In our system, the reviews, the previous examinations, the exams
we have developed a simple scenario that illustrated the questions, the quizzes, the student grades and the basic
basic actions in the system. information of the administrator, teacher and student.
We have chosen the entity-relationship model to
UML use case: UML use-cases, were used in the represent the database design[10]. Figure 5, shows the
analysis, in which the functional requirements are basic entity-relationship diagram, that contains the
extracted and described along with a scenario of the main tables used for creating the Questions-Bank
flow of events. Universal Modeling Language (UML) is database.
an industry standard language for specifying,
constructing, visualizing, documenting artifacts of a Application logic design: Application logic design
software system. will deal with three main parts of the application
design:
System design: The design goal of our system is to
resolve some of the issues, specifically; it is to be made • First part: The architectural design of the system
easily accessible and customizable. Students will not be which is concerned with the tiers of the system
afraid to use our system. The system will be designed • Second part: The upper level design is further
as a web application requiring only a web browser introduced as an identification of the distinct
administer and use. Hence, no additional software subsystems and their functionalities
needs to be downloaded. • Third part: The detailed design is discussed with
Design methodology and patterns: A methodology is the class diagram and sequence diagrams
a collection of methods for solving a class of problems.
It specifies which method should be used and the System architecture: The web-based "questions-bank"
manner in which it is utilized. Software development system consists of three components as shown in Fig. 1.
methodologies decompose the process into activities. The client, the server and the database management
They provide methods for several activities as shown in system (DBMS). The client side application is
Fig. 4. developed by web-based programming languages such
Design pattern is a general re-usable solution to a as XHTML, ASP.NET, Macromedia Flash and Java
commonly occurring problem in software design. A script. The server application is developed by Microsoft
design pattern is not a finished design that can be Visual Studio (ASP.NET, C#.NET and VB.NET) and
transformed directly into code. It is a description or a
acted as a gateway between the database and the clients.
template for solving a problem that is common among
The school information, user’s information, course
different situations. It typically shows relationships and
interactions between classes or objects. materials, questions, quizzes, exams, model answers,
reviews and tutorial are stored and managed using
Database design: Database is an important component Microsoft SQL Server database. The database and the
in our system. Microsoft SQL Server database is the server applications will run on Microsoft Windows
database management system used for the system. Server.

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Fig. 5: The basic Entity Relationship Diagram (ERD)

Quiz generation algorithm: The DBMS of the accordingly. As a result, some of the feedbacks of the
"Questions-Bank" system includes an innovative and students in a given course are used to adjust the level of
intelligent algorithm for managing the difficulty of the the questions. The following are the methods of our
quiz questions[2]. The algorithm uses the difficulty algorithm:
attribute set by the user as input parameter. . The
teachers set the difficulty levels of their questions at • Get_Difficulty(): This method determines the
creation phase using a numbering system. The value difficulty of a specific question
assigned to a specific question identifies how difficult • Calc_Margn(): This method calculates the lower
(or easy) it would be for a student to reply correctly to
and the upper bounds of error percentage in the
the question. Our algorithm can generate automatically
students’ responses
different quizzes with different levels of difficulties.
• Calc_Error(): This method calculates the
Obviously, teachers are not always as accurate as would
be desirable in estimating the difficulty of a question percentage of wrong responses to a question, as a
(as they don’t know the exact level of the students using ratio between errors and a constant value named
the system) our algorithm can update the difficulty and Max_Num_Access. The involved variables are
the easiness of the questions based on the responses reset after each difficulty evaluation
given by the students. The algorithm has the ability to • Mark_Ques(): This method activates a Boolean
detect the difficulty/easiness of a question based on field in the register of a question if the difficulty
students reply and adjust the difficulty value level reaches the thresholds
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Table 1: Questions levels


Difficulty Lower bound (%) Upper bound (%)
1 10 30
2 30 50
3 50 70
4 70 90

Four difficulty degrees have been considered rangy


from level one to level four. If a question has a value
higher than four, it could be too difficult or it could be
ambiguous. Similarly, if a question has a value of 0, the
question could be too easy, or too obvious and nearly
all the students can answer it correctly. The questions
that are out of bounds are marked, so they cannot be
used for any quiz and the teachers must update them.
Table 1 shows the upper and lower bounds for
determining the difficulty of the questions. Fig. 6: The Questions-Bank sub-systems

Algorithm: ManageQuestion (Difficulty): During the development of the system, data for the
testing of different functionalities was needed to be
1. Access random question from the "questions" imported into the database tables. The tables in the
database table. database are filled using two different ways .The first
2. Check the Max_Num_Access of the question way is to fill the tables by importing the data from an
Get_Difficulty(); Calc_Margn(); MS Excel sheet that contains the basic data from the
Calc_Error(); school's database. The second way is done during the
3. Recalculate_Difficulty(); run time of the system.
4. if (Error < LowerBound) then
System requirements implementation: To prove the
Difficulty--;
functionality of the "Questions-Bank" system, we have
else if (Error > UpperBound) then
implemented several web-based applications as
Difficulty++;
components of the system. The Questions-Bank system
5. if Difficulty is out-of-bounds then
is divided into three sub-systems, as shown in Fig. 6,
Mark_Ques();
the administrator, the teacher and the student sub-
system.
RESULTS
The administrator sub-system: This sub-system
System implementation: The web-based "Questions- provides the school administrator with web-based
Bank" system takes the advantage of the latest services to manage the information of the Questions-
development technologies in its implementation. It is an Bank system. The following are some services provided
ASP.NET web application to be used on the Internet by the administrator sub-system:
and was written using Microsoft’s Visual Studio .NET
development environment in the C# programming Login: Before users are granted access to the
language. Code that executes on the server to process "Questions-Bank" system, they must successfully login
event handlers for events such as button clicks is to the system. The user’s accounts are associated with
written in C#. Microsoft’s SQL Server 2008 is used for different levels of privileges. Username and password is
database operations, including the storage and retrieval the most common authentication method, used to access
of login information. Successfully logging into the the system, as shown in Fig. 7. Login information is
system, users are taken to an action page that verified by comparing the entered username and
dynamically presents options to them based on their password with the stored ones in the database. The
privileges. authentication program on the Web server opens a
database connection and retrieves the user record.
Database implementation: The database is designed to If the user input data matches a database record,
have the following main tables: Level, Subject, the user is granted to access the system services.
ReviewFile, Quiz, ExamFiles, Questions, StudentScore, Otherwise, an “invalid login” message is displayed and
Student, Teacher and Administrator. the login page is displayed again.
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Fig. 7: Administrator login

Fig. 9: Review administration (delete)

Fig. 8: Administrator sub-system

System management: The administrator sub-system


provides the school administrator with web-based
services to add (update, or delete) the basic data needed
for the other two sub-systems, such as: levels data,
subjects data in each level, school data, classes data, Fig. 10: Previous exams administration (upload)
teachers data and students data, as shown in Fig. 8.
The teacher sub-system: This sub-system provides the
Change password: The "questions-bank" system teacher with web-based tools to manage the information
provides the user to change his/her account password: of the Questions-Bank system. In addition to the login
and change password, the following services are
• The user login into the system from the user login available in the teacher sub-system:
page. The user clicks on the link "Change
Password" and then he/she will be directed to the Reviews administration: Teacher can use this service
suitable page to upload (add) the MS Word, PP presentation and
• The user enters his/her old password, new video files that contain the reviews for each subject.
password and re-enters the new password again, Also teacher can delete specific review(s) from the
then he presses the "Change" button database and can display the stored reviews, as shown
• A validation is applied on the input data to ensure in Fig. 9.
that they are filled with required information The teacher can store the following data for each
• The user's old password is deleted and the new one review: Level name, subject name, review title, review
is inserted using an update query date, review file and the review answer file (if exist).
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Fig. 12: Download review

Fig. 11: Quiz administration (add new quiz) The student sub-system: This sub-system allows the
student to download reviews, to download the previous
Previous exams administration: Teacher can use this exams and their model answers and to take selected
services to upload (add) the previous exams and their quizzes. In addition to the login and change password,
model answers for each subject, as shown in Fig. 10. the following services are available in the student sub-
Also teacher can delete specific exam(s) from the system:
database and can display the stored exams.
The teacher can store the following data for each Download reviews: Student can use this service to
previous exam: Level name, subject name, exam type download the reviews files for his/her subjects, as
(midterm, final), exam title, exam date, exam file and shown in Fig. 12. The student select the subject name
the exam answer file (if exist). and the teacher name (as input) from the available list
of values, the system search for the required query and
Exam administration: Teachers can use this on-line displays all the stored reviews from the database,
tool to add, update and delete questions and answers for Fig. 13, shows the implementation of the "Review-
their exams and quizzes. The questions are inserted into algorithm", that used for this service.
the database dynamically, so new questions can be
added during the configuration of a exam or quiz, as Download previous exams: Student can use this
shown in Fig. 11. service to download previous exams and their model
The teacher can store the following data for each answers for his/her subjects, as shown in Fig. 14. The
exam/quiz: level name, subject name, chapter number, student select the subject name and the teacher name
lesson number, quiz title, quiz type (multiple choices, (as input) from the available list of values, the system
true or false, fill in the blank), question text, question search for the required query and displays all the stored
image file, choice1, choice2, choice3, choice4, correct exams from the database.
answer, question weight, question score and question
explanation. On-line quiz: After a student login into the system
from the student login page, he/she can select the quiz,
Print students scores: Teacher can use this tool to where the questions will be selected randomly by our
print the grade reports for the students who took the algorithm from the database. Our system covers many
web-based quizzes (exams) proposed by the system, as types of questions as mentioned before, such as:
shown in Fig. 16. multiple choices, True/False and fill in the blank.
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J. Computer Sci., 5 (2): 97-108, 2009

Fig. 15: Student quiz

Fig. 13: The implementation of the "Review-algorithm"

Fig. 16: Student quiz' scores

When the student finishes the quiz, a record will be


created in the StudentScore table and stored in the
database. Teachers can consult this table to track the
activities of their students.

DISCUSSION

To obtain some feedback about the "Questions-


Bank" system, we have prepared a questionnaire and
Fig. 14: Download previous exams distribute it to the potential students registered in the
system. Sixty students have been randomly selected to
The quiz will be over either whenever the student use as a testing pool. A group of 30 students have used
finishes it and select the "Finish" button, or whenever a the hard paper quiz (and review) and another similar
pre-allocated time will be over. The system will group has used our web-based system. Table 2 shows
calculate the number of correct answers and display the that both groups obtained approximately similar results.
result. Finally, the student score will be saved in the Students had to obtain a grade of 60% to pass the quiz.
corresponding database for possible tracking, as shown After taking the quiz, all the students had to fill in a
in Fig. 15 and 16. questionnaire with general and specific questions
The quiz is displayed based on question-by-question related to the method of testing. The most significant
methodology. A navigator is included so the student can questions reflecting student opinion are set out in Table
go backward and forward over the questions in single 3, with the relevant group responses The results of
steps. When the last question is reached, the student can question 2 indicate that, independently of the method
go back to the previous one and if the first question is used, a vast majority of students want to know their
reached, the student can go forward to the next questions. grade as soon as possible as well as the correct answers.
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Table 2: Quiz results of the two groups of students Today, Mobile learning (M-learning) can use a
Student Groups Passed Percentage collection of tools that tutors and developers can
A-paper quiz and review 22 73.33 combine to deliver their teaching resources.
B-computer quiz and review 25 83.33
We intend to improve our research work, that
introduced in[11], by implementing the prototype
Table 3: Results of the Questionnaires of both Groups
Group A (%) Group B (%)
"Mobile Questions-Bank" system (MQB), that provides
Do you trust the on-line evaluation system? the students to take wireless quizzes, wireless reviews
Yes 65 90 and wireless exams.
No 35 10 In order to develop the MQB system, three mobile
When do you prefer to be told your quiz score? technologies will be evaluated to use:
At the end 80 95
Later 20 5
How would you describe the process of entering answers in the Short Messaging Service (SMS): The questions could
computer? be sent to students via SMS messages, after which the
Easy - 75
Acceptable - 22 students could reply with the answers via SMS
Difficult - 3 messages. This approach is susceptible to delays
Very difficult - - because delivery times of SMS messages may vary
How do you feel your result would have been, if the quiz had been on greatly. When responding to a stream of questions,
paper as the traditional way?
Worse - 25 there is possibility of the SMS messages being
Same - 40 duplicated or delivered out of sequence, causing errors
Better - 5 in scoring.
Do not know - 30
How do you feel your result would have been, if the quiz had been by
the on-line system (i.e., computer-based)? Wireless Application Protocol (WAP): The questions
Worse 40 - could be displayed in the student’s mobile phone as a
Same 30 - very simple Internet web page based on the WAP
Better 20 -
Do not know 10 - format. The student could then select the response using
the mobile phones navigation keys. The questions and
The results of question 5 indicate that, a large percentage answers would be transmitted using GPRS (General
of students who did not use the computer-based system Packet Radio Service) or 3G (3rd. Generation) mobile
felt that their marks would have been worse if a data networks. However WAP generally offers an
computer had been used. Similarly, question 4 shows that unfriendly user interface that may be confusing to
a percentage of student using computers felt that they students. When the mobile data transmission breaks due
might have done better using traditional methods. to network issues, it is not possible to recover from the
Finally, the majority of the students trust more a error and show the student a helpful message.
computer-based evaluation system than classical
methods. Some students did comment on the absence of Java 2 Micro Edition (J2ME) and eXtensible
printed copies of their answers and the fact that they Markup Language (XML): The student could
could not compare their answers with the correct results download and install a small J2ME application that
after the quiz. would interact with the server over the GPRS and 3G
mobile data networks, accessing XML questions file
CONCLUSION and transmitting responses as XML answer file to the
server. Unlike WAP, J2ME applications have full
This study described the analysis, design and
control over the mobile phone screen to ensure that the
implementation of the Questions-Bank system that
application looks and operates the same on any mobile
allows the students to take web-based quizzes and
phone. J2ME applications also have full control over
exams, to download course reviews and previous
the data transmission and can retransmit the data in case
exams. The system facilitated generation of automatic,
of error.
balanced and different exam sheets, that containing
different types of questions, covering the entire
curriculum and displaying gradually from easiness to ACKNOWLEDGMENT
difficulty. The system allows the schools to create a
Questions-Bank database that stores the exams The researchers acknowledge the financial support
questions, the previous exams, the model answers, the (Qatar National Research Fund- UREP 4-2-3) received
reviews and useful exercises for each course. from Qatar Foundation, via Qatar University, Qatar.
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J. Computer Sci., 5 (2): 97-108, 2009

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