1. 1 DEWIS: e-Assessment system Rhys Gwynllyw and Karen Henderson Department of Engineering Design & Mathematics University of the West of England, Bristol HESTEM project meeting February 2011 DEWIS @ UWE www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/caa

2. 2 DEWIS is a web based e-Assessment system designed and created at UWE. 1.Motivated by problems encountered with previous systems. 2.System first implemented in 2007 and supported by UWE. 3.Current usage in the fields of Business, Computer Science, Engineering and Mathematics. Formative and summative assessments in 11 modules involving 1,500 students; >11,000 assessment attempts in current academic year. HESTEM project meeting February 2011 DEWIS @ UWE www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/caa

3. 3 Design Criteria. 1.Independent of commercial software due to previous difficulties with licences, support and version updates. 2.Robust and efficient. Primarily server-side system (reduces computational overhead on student's computer). 3.Fully algorithmic in all the following: Question parameter generation Marking (e.g. allows follow-on marking; detects and records mal-rules) Feedback 4.Management system: comprehensive but straightforward to use. 5.Academics to write their own questions. 6.Question Type Inputs: Numerical, algebraic expressions, multiple choice, multiple selection, text. HESTEM project meeting February 2011 DEWIS @ UWE www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/caa

4. 4 To see DEWIS in action, go to the Showcase: www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/caa HESTEM project meeting February 2011 DEWIS @ UWE www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/caa

5. 5 Examples of Student and Staff driven features: 1.Continuation of assessment (e.g. following browser shutdown). 2.Delay feedback option until assessment is closed. 3.Data-sets writable to student's computer (e.g. excel compatible) 4.Pre-submission checks on inputs (e.g. check that numeric entry is numeric) 5.Guest/anonymous user access to formative assessments – “safe space” assessments. HESTEM project meeting February 2011 DEWIS @ UWE www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/caa

6. 6 Immediate Future Plans: 1.Open Source - will be available via open source. In discussion with UWE as to what kind of licence. 2.Maths Rendering - currently uses ASCIIMathML or MathML (as recommended by the W3C). Ideal for Mozilla Firefox but currently requires free plug-in for Internet Explorer. However, coming very soon is the implementation of MathJax which is a free javascript MathML renderer for IE. 3.With Martin Greenhow (Brunel) incorporate Mathletics questions (thousands of algorithmic e-Assessment questions) into Dewis. Will require an automated translator. HESTEM project meeting February 2011 DEWIS @ UWE www.cems.uwe.ac.uk/caa