Project Proposal by Martin Stacey
An Internet Quiz System
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Software |
(Probably) Java and XHTML |
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Covers |
Programming, systems design, web interface development |
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Skills Required |
Programming, object-oriented design, databases |
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Challenge |
Conceptual Technical Programming |
Brief Description
There are two ways to take this: a system for playing trivia games on the internet, or a system for testing knowledge of the content of school or university courses. But of course an ideal system would support both.
There are now a number of software systems that enable course tutors to set tests and quizzes, and enable students to take them over the internet. What is missing is a robust freeware application that can be used freely by universities, schools and private individuals to set and take tests.
The aim of the project is to develop a test administration system that allows the test setter to create tests comprising multiple choice and short answer questions, and allows students to take the tests over the internet. Useful features would include scoring question answers (you need to think about what is appropriate for different kinds of questions, and what to do with wrong answers; as well as about alternative correct answers and spelling mistakes); timing tests, logging and reporting results to the person taking the test; selecting questions either at random or according to the student's answers to previous questions; making tests available only at specific times; logging a student's performance over time; and reporting results to the test administrator.
A system that supports general knowledge quizzes and self-study progress-checking tests would be valuable. But you should also think about what would be involved in building a system secure enough to be used for tests that form part of course assessments.
Variants
You might like to think about the structure of the game, if you want to have a more interesting trivia game rather than a straightforward sequence of test questions. Perhaps allowing people to pick easy or difficult questions for varying numbers of points, or gambling as many points as they choose at different odds. You might like to think about how you can design a quiz administration system that has a clean interface between its user interface and its database and scoring functions, so that you can add more different types of quizzes or games as incremental developments of a relatively simple system, or as options.
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