TCExam is a CBA (Computer-Based Assessment) system (e-exam, CBT - Computer Based Testing) for universities, schools and companies, that enables educators and trainers to author, schedule, deliver, and report on surveys, quizzes, tests and exams.
TCExam is a Computer Based Assessment (CBA) software system (also know as CBT - Computer Based Testing or e-exam) that enables educators and trainers to author, schedule, deliver, and report on surveys, quizzes, tests and exams. TCExam is Free Open Source Software, Web-Based, Platform Independent, Language Independent (includes translations in several languages and RTL support) and conforms to W3C Accessibility and Usability guidelines to provide equal opportunity to people with disabilities, including blind users.
TCExam is Web-based and it can be installed on almost any server. For users (test-takers), all TCExam requires is a computer or PDA with a Web browser (i.e. Mozilla Firefox or Internet Explorer) and an Internet or Intranet connection to the TCExam Web server. TCExam automates all assessment phases: authoring, scheduling, delivering, and reporting. It s easy to use and do not require expensive hardware to run, nor additional commercial software. TCExam Server ApplianceThe general advantages of TCExam over traditional Pen-and-Paper Testing (PPT) includes: increased delivery, administration and scoring efficiency; reduced costs for many elements of the testing lifecycle; improved test security resulting from electronic transmission and encryption; consistency and reliability; faster and more controlled test revision process with shorter response time; faster decision-making as the result of immediate scoring and reporting; unbiased test administration and scoring; fewer response entry and recognition errors; fewer comprehension errors caused by the testing process; improved translation and localization with universal availability of content; new advanced and flexible item types; increased candidate acceptance and satisfaction; evolutionary step toward future testing methodologies.
Features
Data Import and Export
To improve the software flexibility and compatibility with other CBA software, e-learning applications or existing databases, TCExam includes some tools to directly export or import users, questions or results data using various open formats: CSV (Comma Separated Values), XML (eXtensible Mark-up Language) and PDF (Portable Document Format). The detailed results in PDF format can be automatically sent by email to each user. In addition, the database is fully documented in order to make it easily accessible by external applications (i.e. phpMyAdmin) to perform custom data import/export or backup procedures.
Rich Content
TCExam uses a common mark-up language to add text formatting, images, multimedia objects (audio and video) and mathematical formulas (supports LaTeX). TCExam includes a simple graphic interface with buttons to easily format the text or add external objects (i.e. images, audio files, videos, flash animations, etc ...). Generally, any object that could be rendered with a Web browser using a specific plug-in can be added to the TCExam questions, alternative answers or general descriptions. The mark-up language used by TCExam is similar to the common BBCode (Bulletin Board Code), the lightweight mark-up language used to format posts in many message boards. The available tags are indicated by rectangular brackets surrounding a keyword, and they are parsed by the TCExam system before being translated into a XHTML or PDF. The TCExam mark-up code was devised to provide a safer, easier and more limited way of allowing users to format their content.
Unique Test
In TCExam, questions are grouped into modules and topics. TCExam can store an unlimited number of modules. Each module can contain an unlimited number of topics. Each topic can contain an unlimited number of questions and each question can have an unlimited number of alternative answers. A TCExam test can include several modules and topics. For each module, topic or groups of modules/topics, TCExam randomly extracts a specified number of questions with certain characteristics (i.e.: question type, question difficulty and number of alternative answers to be displayed). If the question bank is large enough, TCExam may generate unique test for each user by randomly selecting and ordering questions and alternative answers. This drastically reduces or eliminates the risk of copying between users.