The goal of this effort is to transition from hard copy quizzes and tests to electronic (pdf’s).
There are many benefits. The green factor is obvious since the paper used would be eliminated.
The teacher’s time is saved as a result of not requiring to wait in line at the copy machine.
In addition, this approach allows for quick changes in the quiz/test since the document can be changed right up to the time the quiz/test is administered.
Currently, the test has a predetermined set of times (already inputted into the code) that determines when the application is accessible.
If opened within this time frame, the application will open up in Java Swing and will require a password, read from a PDF on DrNeato.com,
before displaying the test using the Apache PDFBox API. The app displays the test and a cheat sheet, both in pdf form, that are also accessed from DrNeato.com.
The application displays buttons to change the page of the pdf displayed and to zoom in or out of the page. To end the test, the user must input a second code, which is, again, accessed from DrNeato.com.
Without this code, the application is forced to be an inescapable, fullscreen application in order to deny the opportunity for cheating.
This application as it is is a very basic version of what it will be in the future.
The plan is to use Java Swing, accessing multiple APIs including Google Sheets API,
Google Drive API, and Apache PDFBox API, to make the tests very easy to set up, as well
as much more customizable. One of the biggest challenges in doing this is using Google API
credentials to access a Google Sheets spreadsheet accessible only by Dr. Neat and Roy Ernster.
This spreadsheet holds 15 customizable settings for Dr. Neato to edit, in order to allow the
application to read directly from files uploaded to Google Drive to create the test.
This effort is the beginning of a larger effort for quiz/test administration in Greg Neat’s class.
The next step will integrate electronic quiz/test generation.
There will be a bank of evaluation questions and the quiz/test will be auto generated and then administered electronically as described above.
