EOCEP FALL/WINTER INSIGHT TECHNICAL TRAINING South Carolina Regional Workshops October, 2012 This presentation is available on eDIRECT: Under Documents/Presentations EOCEP Fall/Winter

Introductions 2  DRC’s INSIGHT Technical Experts  Michelle Gronemeyer  Andy Gasser  Gene Rees

Session Agenda 3  Key Dates  Student Workstation  System Requirements  Installation Process  Local Caching Service (LCS)  System Requirements  Installation Process  Software Updates  Documentation & Support  Questions

4 Key Dates for Online Testing EOCEP Fall/Winter DateEvent November 5Installers & Installation Document available November 5Tutorial and Online Tools Training (OTT) available November 26Test Setup in eDIRECT available December 3 - January 29State Testing Window February 4 - March 29Alternative Testing Window for eligible groups

Student Workstation SC Online Assessments (Student Interface) System Readiness Check SC Online Tutorials Link = Used by Technology Coordinator = Used by Student Web Browser SC eDIRECT LCS Manager Page 5 System Overview

Supported Configurations 6  Student interface software is primary delivery engine for test content to the students  Desktop installed client-server application  Supports automatic updates  Configurations:  Standard single-user desktops  Remote desktops/Terminal Servers (Citrix, Microsoft Remote Desktop, Ncomputing Vspace)*  Virtual machines* *Oral administration functionality not supported on remote workstations or virtual machines

Bandwidth 7  Difficult to determine precisely, but can be estimated  Each test is delivered in its entirety at student login to ensure a smooth and consistent testing experience (most bandwidth is used at this time)  Bandwidth can be estimated by dividing the size of the test by the desired “wait” time  If we assume an average test size of 1MB and an average wait time of 60s, then each student would need.1333Mbit/second (oral administration increases test size by MB)  Boost capacity by increasing wait time or staggering logins  Use of an LCS decreases internet bandwidth requirements by approximately 50%

System Requirements for Student Workstations 8 Windows Installer  256 MB of RAM or greater  Updated graphics drivers with a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 or greater  Mouse and keyboard  100 MB of available hard disk space or greater (300 MB for Oral Administration)  700 MHz or faster processor  Must have connectivity to the Internet Supported Operating Systems  Microsoft® Windows® XP with SP 1 or greater  Microsoft® Windows Vista® *  Microsoft® Windows® 7  Microsoft® Server 2003  Microsoft® Server 2008 * NOT supported for Oral Administration

System Requirements for Student Workstations 9 Macintosh Installer  256 MB of RAM or greater  Updated graphics drivers with a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 or greater  Mouse and keyboard  10 MB of available hard disk space or greater (200 MB for Oral Administration)  400 MHz or faster processor (PowerPC not recommended)  Must have connectivity to the Internet Supported Operating Systems  Apple® Mac OS X® 10.5  Apple® Mac OS X® 10.6  Apple® Mac OS X® 10.7

10  A separate installer (HVA) is available that includes the Oral Administration feature  This installer should only be used on workstations where oral administration will be used  If a workstation installation needs to be changed from a standard installation to the oral administration installation, the previous version should be uninstalled before installing a different version  Schools are responsible for supplying headsets for this functionality  Requires the use of the LCS  Does NOT run on remote or virtual configurations  Does NOT run on Windows Vista  Requires additional disk space from standard configuration (refer to slides 8 and 9) System Requirements – Oral Administration for Student Workstations

Future Plans (post Spring 2013) 11  Currently in development  Web-based version that will utilize a secure browser to lockdown the student interface  iPad version that will utilize iOS 6 and Apple’s new “Guided Access” to lock down the student interface for security  Both of these versions will be available after Spring 2013

12  Network Connectivity  All workstations used for student testing should have access to the Internet and should be able to access the servers using HTTP/HTTPS protocols on ports 80 and 443  Firewalls at the local workstation and the network level should allow Java connectivity on ports 80 and 443  All the URL’s corresponding to the testing servers should be white listed on content filtering or other proxy software used locally Network Requirements for Student Workstations and LCS

13  Easy process; testing engine and LCS installed in minutes  DTCs will be notified via when installers are available on eDIRECT  Under Test Setup/General Information  eDIRECT account with “Online Testing – Secured Resources” permission is needed to access installation software Installation

14  eDIRECT Testing Software Downloads  Installation document will be available Installation

15  Silent/unattended installs for Windows  Windows MSI installer is capable of running in silent mode  Custom attributes can be sent to MSI, such as ENABLE_AUTO_UPDATE=false  The software can be installed using tools such as Microsoft System Center, IBM Tivoli, and Symantec Altars  Automatic updates available Installation

16  Software downloads require administrative rights  Similar process for Windows and Macintosh  Mac installation requires a reboot of each computer once download is complete  Windows XP Demonstration Installation

17  Same system requirements with one exception: requires 1 GB of available hard disk space or greater  Runs on a computer within the local network  Increases reliability by caching student responses when Internet connection fails; responses will be automatically transmitted by LCS every 15 minutes  Reduces Internet traffic by caching test content  Student workstation must be configured to use an LCS Local Caching Service (LCS)

18  Installed using an installation wizard; requires administrative rights  Populated with test content using the LCS Manager; test content updates are automatically downloaded  Student workstations must be connected to LCS or Internet otherwise test will terminate  LCS highly recommended whenever possible  LCS mandatory for the oral administration online testing accommodation Local Caching Service (LCS)

19 Local Caching Service (LCS)

20  Windows XP LCS Demonstration Installation LCS

21  After installation, the LCS can be loaded with test content using the LCS Manager  Updates are automatic  Can be used to manually update content LCS Manager

22  Student interface must be configured to use a LCS can be configured during the software installation, and can also be modified through the System Readiness Check application LCS Client Configuration

23  Student Responses sent to LCS if Internet connection dropped  Responses will automatically be transmitted by LCS every 15 minutes  Responses can be manually transmitted LCS Student Responses

24  Student Responses must be transmitted before a test can be continued LCS Student Responses

25  Monitoring Enhancements:  Drill down capabilities into stored responses  Historical response data activity reporting  Automated pinging DRC and reporting of latency  Automated capacity indicator with indicator if over capacity  Automated bandwidth availability collected and displayed Future Plans - LCS

26  Runs as part of the installation  Can be run afterwards or on-demand for debugging purposes System Readiness Check

27  The student interface is capable of automatically updating itself with the latest published version of the code  There is an Automatic Update property that is set initially on the software installation, and can also be modified through the System Readiness Check application Software Updates

28  If Automatic Updates are enabled, the student interface software will check the version each time the application is started  If an update is necessary, it will download and install automatically  The updates do not require administrative rights Software Updates

29  If Automatic Updates are disabled, the student interface software will not check the version when the application is started  When a student tries to log into a test, they will be notified they are not on the latest version and will not be able to continue  The software will need to be updated manually by getting the latest version from eDIRECT and reinstalling  You can run the System Readiness Check application at any time to see if you have the latest version Software Updates

30  The software previously installed can be updated by the Automatic Update process  To avoid delays at the start of testing, it is recommended that you update the software before testing begins by executing the installer Software Updates

31  Documentation available:  Workshop Presentation  INSIGHT Technology User Guide (November 5)  South Carolina Project Team  For any technical-related online testing questions, Technical Coordinators may contact DRC directly, given DTC approval  Direct Line:  Fax:   eDIRECT: Documentation & Support

32 Questions?