Specification update: IMS QTI

Steve Lay <swl10@cam.ac.uk>

CARET, University of Cambridge

Joint Assessment/Educational Content SIG

University Centre

Cambridge

Housekeeping

• Lunch is in the main dining hall in this building. You will need a lunch voucher.

• Wifi Access– Network name “Lapwing”– You need a Lapwing ticket, provided on printed sheet at

registration - check you have the one with your name on– Some insecure services are restricted for your own safety,

e.g. unsecured POP, IMAP and SMTP sessions for email. Use web-mail or a VPN if you can.

• Hotel feedback to me please

Release History

• 1.0 May 2000• 1.1 March 2001 (features)• 1.2 January 2002 (features)• 1.2.1 Erratta (limits), 2003• 2.0 January 2005• 2.1 Public Draft version 2, July 2006• 2.1 addendum (due soon)• 2.2 (!?!)

Why Version 2: a reminder...

• Version 1 is very successful– thriving development community– August 2003, De Digitale Universiteit found that “it is

possible to construct a basic set of QTI questions that can be imported by all the applications that support QTI in one way or the other...

• But...– “As soon as more that just the basic elements of QTI are

being used, one or more of the applications fail to correctly import and/or interpret the QTI files”

Format of Version 2 (Final)

• Overview• ASI Information Model• Results Reporting (Information Model)• XML Binding• Packaging and Meta-data• Best Practice and Implementation Guide• Examples• Migration Guide• Conformance Guide

Update since July last year...

• IMS Project Team meeting monthly– Profiling discussion– Interoperability demonstration for end of calendar

year - this hasn’t happened yet!– Final publication early 2008 - so this is unlikely

• JISC e-Learning Programme projects– AQuRate (Authoring/Editing)– Minibix (Item banking)– AsDel (Test delivery)

ApprovedStandards

R&D Concepts

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LabsTestbedsMarkets

StandardsBodies

SpecConsortia

SpecConsortia

SpecConsortia

SpecConsortia

LabsTestbedsMarketsTestbeds,Markets(ADL)

StandardsBodies

Specifications Implementations,Reference Models,Requirements

Standards

User Needs

Users IEEEISO

© Question Mark Corporation

Profiles

Profiles

• Profiles are created by communities with specific requirements

• typically reducing scope to make a good fit

• might extend scope in special cases

• might cause a slight shift in the focus

IMS Approach

• APMG (Application Profile Management Group)• “APMGs will be created after a final specification is

released and overseen by the TAB Co-Chairs. A minimum of five Contributing Members (CMs) are needed to start a group. Those CMs that are actively developing, selling, or implementing the specification of interest and subscribers actively using the specification can participate. Only CMs can vote.”

Profile issues for QTI

• Obtaining a core group to form the APMG (chicken and egg problem of adoption)

• Limitations of SchemaProf approach given QTI Conformance Guide

Common Cartridge

• Currently based on (a profile of) QTI v1• There is scepticism about whether the

working scope of the specification can meet their needs

• There is discussion of profiling QTI v2; especially as the CC community grows

• Why? Because there is ever increasing pressure on QTI scope...

Constant Pressure

Thank You

http://qtitools.caret.cam.ac.uk/

For latest updates, watch out for possible name change