Online Examination Management System

CHAPTER- 1: Introduction

1.1 Topic of the system

Now a day, the use of information technology in educational institutes and private organization is very common. In educational institutes you will find presentation software, course websites, Intranet facility and online homework assignments and the automation of organization have been found very commonly with the rapid development in information technology. Now a day, in organization due to automation all the works is done by computers. It makes work easier, faster & reliable as compare to the previous way of working.

Get Help With Your Essay

If you need assistance with writing your essay, our professional essay writing service is here to help!

Essay Writing Service

Information technology is growing day by day still we fail to provide proper IT assistance to education industry. At the time of Exam, Still we follow the same old method of collecting questions from different teachers , then arranging them in proper order and then setting up a questionnaire and even at the places where we are following online or automated examination system we are not able to prevent the drawback of same or repeated question paper.

The system which developer is going to propose is an “Online Examination Management System”. This system is used to solve many problems faced by education organization or any other organization (who are conducting an exam for any purpose). This system is used to conduct objective based/multiple choice based online exam; it will also generate the question paper for an online exam and written exam (which is a common method of conducting an exam). It will generate random question in online exam for each candidate, it will also assess online exam & generate a result for the candidate at the same time after completing an exam. This system will generate all the required report to keep the record in files.

1.2 Purpose of the Situation

As the Information technology is growing day by day still we fail to provide proper IT assistance to education industry. Still we follow the same old method of collecting questions from different teachers, then arranging them in proper order and then setting up a questionnaire and even at the places where we are following online or automated examination system we are not able to prevent the drawback of same or repeated question paper. With the help of proposed system user can solve all the problems and make work easier, faster, and reliable.

1.3 Target Reader

The main target readers of the proposed system are stake holder of educational or other institute/organization, who conducts exams for admission purpose, exam preparations or jobs. Candidates those are willing to appear in exams for any purpose like admission, preparation etc.

1.4 Topic Background

Online Examination Management System is a system which is used by any educational institute or any organization who are conducting exam for job or any other purpose. This system will help them to conduct an online exam. This system is used to conduct an aptitude paper for admission or job purpose and it will also help to generate a question paper for educational institute.

The most important feature of proposed system is that this system is not only a web based application it is a combination of web-based and stand alone application. So that user can take the benefit of proposed system in any situation. User never depends on the net connectivity for his work user can do his work with the help of standalone module.

Proposed system will help to keep the record of students/candidates who are willing to give exams. It will also store the records of members of the institute/organization. It will store all the data related to examination like Question, Exams Detail, and Exam Schedule etc. Proposed system will also help to conduct an online exam so that user can take exam at any time and candidate can also participate in exam from any part of this world. Online exam consist mainly two type of question multiple choice and multiple response. At the time of online exam random question will generate for exam so that no one candidate will get the same question at the same time if questions are available in database. Proposed system will also help to assess paper at the same time after the completion of exam.

This will also help to generate a question for free format question which is very commonly used in any educational institute. This can only assess by the examination authorities.

Another important thing in proposed system is that it can save data at real time if any problem will take place it store all the data at the same time, so that there is no lose of data.

1.5 Problem Context and Rational

Tangible benefit

The use of “Online Examination Management System” will also help in institute & organization to achieve many objectives.

They are….

1. Frequently you can assess student learning: – With the help of online exam you can take exam any time to check the learning of the candidate.

2. Elimination of grading requirement and cost:- All the things will done with the help of computer like taking an exam of the candidate, generating a question paper for online exam & written paper, assessment of online exam paper & generating the result of candidate. So that there is a less requirement of manpower & time. So that it will reduce the cost & requirement to take an exam.

3. Immediate feedback of student performance: – With the help of this system you can give feedback to the student at the same time because paper of online exam will assess at the same time by the system. So that there is no need to wait the candidate for there result.

4. Elimination of paper & copying cost: – Online exam will help to eliminate the requirement of paper work. With the help of this system all the work will done with the help of computers so that, it will reduce usage of paper. Certain statistic quote that 18% of corporate printed material becomes outdated after 30 days. Imagine that what happened after a year what. Now, imagine if that material were always online or on your system. So that there is no requirement of buying the paper for paper work & it will also reduce storage problem for storing bundles of paper.

5. It will help to save time: – This system will help to save the time of the people who are involved in exam. Already question where stored in database of the system. No need to set the paper many days before the exam you can generate the paper at the same time of exam. There is no need to check the paper. All the paper will be checked with the help of system. There is no need to wait for result candidate can see result after completing the exam.

Intangible benefit

1. Access is possible from any where: – You can give an exam from any centre in the world there is no restriction of borders to give an exam.

2. It gives more security as compare to present system: -If you come to know that exam paper is hacked so that you can change the paper at the same time. But we are generating random question so there is no use of hacking the paper.

3. It will make work consistence: – With the help of this software you can assure that your exam paper or result will not be modified by any person without your permission. There is no chance of paper leak. If you come know that exam paper is hacked then you can change the paper at the same time. Then there is no partiality in checking of paper the entire candidate will get marks according to their caliber. This will help to generate a randomly question in question paper. So that each candidate will get different paper in the same exam, so there is no chance of cheating.

1.6 Objective of the System

In the proposed system “ONLINE EXAMINATION MANAGEMENT SYSTEM”, people will find solutions for all their queries and loopholes in the existing exam assessment methodology. The system which developer is going to develop will help in institutes & organizations to take an exam, for admission in colleges & for placement in companies. This system will work on both side client side as well as server side. It means it’s a combination of web application & stand alone application. So that with the help of this system people can take online exam with the help of web technology & with the help of standalone application you can save questions any time there is no need of internet connection. This system will help to take an online exam so that candidate can access the exam from any one of the exam centre in the world. This system will help them to store the question in database of the system for exam. This system will help to generate the question paper from the database with the different level of difficulties & grades. Now if you want to take a written paper of the candidates then this system will generate the question paper for return paper also. The questions for written exam are randomly generated so that there is very less chance to repeat the question in the question paper. It will happen only if there is less amount of question in database. This system will help them to assess the exam paper of the online exam. This system will automatically generate the result of the exam. You can export a question paper in “.doc” format for written paper.

1.7 Functionality of the System

Modules of the system

Candidate/Student Information: This module will help to keep the record of the entire candidate of exam.
Teacher Information: This module is used to keep the record of the entire faculties in institute.
Generate Question Bank: This module will help to insert the question in the database.
Generate Question Paper: This module will help to generate the question paper which includes all types & wattage of question for the candidate. It will export the paper in “.doc” format for written exam.
Online Examination: This module is used to take an online exam.
Reports: This module will help to generate all the reports.

1.8 Deliverables of the system

v Creating data bank

1. Question can be categorized according to topic, types etc.

2. Exam can be created random basis per student.

3. System can automatically add the marks allocated in each question to determine the total mark for the exam.

v Control Mechanism in the Exam

1. Time limit can be set for the exam.

2. The sequence of question can be randomized.

3. Student can navigate within a exam (i.e. backward & forward) can be set navigation tool/button can be selected for a exam & these button can be switched.

4. Student can be allowed to exit the exam before completing the entire question.

5. A specific date for a exam to be active can be set.

v Question Types

Multiple Choices: This allows the user to select one correct answer.
Multiple Responses: This allows the users to select more than one answer.
Free Format: This type of question will used to take a written exam of the student which is very often used by educational institute to conduct an exam.

v Other Essential Requirements

Negative marking should be possible in all the question types.
Remaining time can be displayed.
Free format question can be saved in Data Bank.
A paper for written exam can be generated with the help system Data Bank.
Answer can be saved at real time.

v Security

Only registered student are able to access the exam.
Exam can be made available on special dates.

v Reporting

The following results on the exam performance can be obtained.

Student number, name & mark in word format.
Average time used by the student
Time taken for each individual student to complete the test.

CHAPTER- 2: PROBLEM DESCRIPTION

Introduction to problem area

Isn’t it an irony that the agent which is solely responsible for the development of these technologies, itself has not been served fully? Examination is one such component of educational system which has always held a very high importance. Since time immemorial examinations are held to separate the best out of rest. The formal examination system is a very long procedure to conduct an examination. From the respect of the recruiter, they should give extra effort on the examination to select employees for the organization. This is a huge responsibility and extra load to the recruiter to conduct an examination. This is very costly and extremely tedious to conduct an examination. Side by side online examination is a very sophisticated examination conducting system. Nowadays, almost all of the organizations or companies are using computerized system to manage their organizations’ data. At the same time most of the universities or campuses are using computerized system for storing and managing their education data excluded the examination data (exam question, exam answer and so on). Therefore, lecturers have to create new exam papers manually, it will bring a lot of troublesome while they want to retrieve back previous exam question or answer for references purpose. In this process, still a lot of messy work is involved such as manually clicking or searching the old set of questions. Even they have a common hardcopy or softcopy without systemisation. Furthermore, the admin is always busy in arranging the exam papers and headache of managing a flexible exam time schedule. Also without the computerized system, the examinee cheating issue and the security issue (sneaked out the exam paper before the exam) cannot be controlled well.Internet connectivity often gets lost which is another problem being faced by the examinees.

Nature of challenge

The main challenge in developing this system will be to understand the concepts and fundamentals behind managing examinations online. As I am not one of the administrative staff it will be quite an uphill task to get to the basic functionalities of this system. The main challenge that would be required for building this system is that it will generate the random question paper to each student so as to avoid cheating. It would evaluate the answers very instantly. It would have a time limitation for each and every section of the questions and would be ideal for the competitive exams like GRE, CAT etc. The notification of results would be sent to the candidate by email or text message. The generation of admit card is another challenge which would require a lot of effort as a huge crowd would be attempting the exam. We can also save the current exam and would rather provide facilities to both the examiner and students. Another serious challenge is to handle the power failure. It is required to for me to learn how to generate the questions papers and the admit cards randomly. I also need to learn how to handle the power failure and the advanced features of ASP.NET which includes the report generation, session management and all the security features that needs to be incorporated in the system so as the system may be hack proof. I need to learn how to generate different sets of questions from a set of questions. Maintaining the database is another challenge which needs a lot of efforts.

CHAPTER- 3: PROJECT PLANNING

Development Plan

The Development Plan is the essential part as it provides the action plan for developing the “Online Examination Management System”. The development plan will show what will be done and in what time. Since the methodology selected is RUP methodology, the development plan is developed by concerning the stages of RUP methodology.

Project Duration: 30 weeks

1. Inception phase (Estimated Time =41 Days)

1.1 Iteration 1: [Task: Pre-proposal and planning] (Duration: 25 Days)

1.1.1 Project Identification

1.1.2 PPF discussion with supervisor

1.1.3 Preparation of PPF

1.1.4 Online submission of PPF

1.1.5 Finalization of project title

1.2 Iteration 2: [Task: Development Plan] (Duration: 17 Days)

2.1.1 Specification research of the project

2.1.2 Identification of project module

2.1.3 Limitation of project scope

2.1.4 Identification of resources

2.1.5 Identification of required techniques to be learned

2.1.6 Methodology used

2.1.7 Preparation of development plan

2.1.8 Preparation of test plan

2.1.9 Submission of PSF

2.1.10 Gantt chart

2. Elaboration Phase (Estimated Time= 67 Days)

2.1 Iteration 1: [Tasks: System Investigation and Research] (Duration :14 Days)

2.1.1 Collect user requirements

2.1.1.1 Primary research

2.1.2.1.1 Questionnaire

2.1.2.1.2 Interviews

2.1.2.1.3 Observation

2.1.2 Research on the functional areas of the system

2.1.3 Identification of modules

2.2 Iteration 2: [Tasks: System Analysis] (Duration: 41 Days)

2.2.1 Analysis of user requirements

2.2.2 UML diagrams

2.2.3 Screen design

2.2.4 Database design

2.2.5 Evaluation of the screen and database design

2.3 Iteration 3: [Tasks: Technical language learning and research] (Duration: 12 Days)

2.3.1 Secondary research

2.3.2 Finalization of language

2.3.3 Finalization of development methodology

2.3.4 Learn technical skills

3. Construction Phase (Estimated Time= 58 Days)

3.1 Iteration 1: [Tasks: Interface Design and Database Design] (Duration: 26 Days)

3.1.1 Database Design

3.1.2 Prototype design

3.1.3 Documentation of the system

3.2 Iteration 2: [Tasks: System Modules] (Duration: 32 Days)

3.2.1 Analysis of the system

3.2.2 Identification of modules

3.2.3 Implementation of modules

3.2.4 Documentation of modules

4. Transition Phase (Estimated Time= 45 Days)

4.1 Iteration 1: [Tasks: Testing] (Duration: 27 Days)

4.1.1 Integration of all the modules

4.1.2 Preparation of test plan

4.1.3 Finding the target users

4.1.4 Testing and debugging the entire system

4.2 Iteration 2: [Tasks: Documentation] (Duration: 15 Days)

4.2.1 Completion of system documentation

4.3 Iteration 3: [Tasks: Luck Iteration] (Duration: 3 Days)

4.3.1 Finishing tips

CHAPTER- 3: LITERATURE REVIEW

3.1 Domain Research

3.1.1 Online Examination –

As a change in model world all the things are going to be automated know a day all work done with the help of computer. Which makes our work more easy, fast (time consuming) & reliable. Same in education field also examination is also will taken with the help of computer it means the process of online examination will help the education institute to take an exam online which can help them to take an exam from anywhere in this world.

Online examination is completely objective based exams which assume simple answers that can be formally checked and easily evaluated online. The typical type of questions are 1) one word answer, 2) multiple choice, 3) free format Question in this type of question system need to grade manually by the instructor.

System Architecture

Online Examination system has four major components.

1) Examination Preparation,

2) Examination System,

3) Examination Monitoring, &

4) The Auto Grading System.

Examination Preparation – This component is used to manage the data bank of the question & answer of the question, Assign the test Id, Schedule the test. Data base is opened to the teacher to add the question for the exam.

Examination System – This component is used to control all the functionality of the system. Like client side Control, Time Control, Security of the system. This component is very important because it used to keep the control on the security & time.

Examination Monitoring – This component is used for real time monitoring which can help to keep the track of exam processing, test ID statistic and collect all the answers.

The Auto Grading System – This Component is used to grade the exam automatically with the help of this system. All the answer of the exam is graded with the help of this system automatically.

Component of Online Examination

It is a multi-layer system composite of Web Server, Database Server and Middleware Server, Such as Internet browser. In this developer using Microsoft .Net Frame Work 2.0 and Internet Information Server (IIS) 6.0 as the Web Server, The Database Server is My SQL.

Multi Layer System

Middleware Server and the client Module which is designed according to the Microsoft DCOM (Distributed Component Object Model Standard) standard is the kernel of the Examination System. DCOM is the binary object’s extension jointing LAN, WAN and Internet, which can instance and bind objects over different network. It is an advanced network protocol used to co-operate with COM based components of two processes in different locations. Server-side component is middle ware of the system which provides communication interface between clients and the web server or database server. Client is a client-side component which is called by the browser to control the client computer and submit or receive information from the server. This technology guarantees the flexibility and the potential for extension of the test system. In addition, it allows access to local files, whereas in conventional systems, the IE security prevents such access.

Communication of Client and Server

(http://fie.engrng.pitt.edu/fie2003/papers/1300.pdf Retrieved on Aug, 16, 2007)

3.1.2 Exam Assessment –

Exam Assessment is also known as Auto-Grading System. This will help to assess an exam paper of the exam. It helps teacher to assess the paper which are collected from examination system. There are two type of grading: 1) Objective Question & 2) Operational Question. Objective question such as Choice question, True/False etc can be graded efficiently by accurate matching or fuzzy matching. But to grade an Operational question is not an easy task with the help of a simple matching algorithm.

To check operational question there are two possible solutions.

First way to grade an operational question is reading the answer file directly and comparing it to key file. But it is not practical because of Microsoft office file is very complicated to read the question file and another way to grade the operational question is with the help of office OLE object. This is method is convenient and efficient but it have big disadvantage & practically not possible. The source code of the system is closely related to concrete question so it will create problems at the time of question are changed which result large amount of work.

(http://fie.engrng.pitt.edu/fie2003/papers/1300.pdf Retrieved on Aug, 16, 2007) and (http://www.iacis.org/iis/2005_IIS/PDFs/Davidrajuh_Tharmalingam.pdf Retrieved on Aug, 7, 2007)

So developer decided that the grading of operational questions is not possible because to grade an operational question we have to create complete dictionary which contain thousands of words.

3.1.3 Distributed Computing-

As the technology changed many things become easier which make our work more efficient and easy. Distributed computing is also very helpful to do all this work. As we all know the power of computer. What he can do for us to make our work efficient. Know assume all the work is done with the help of single computer; it is also know as regular computing or Grid Computing. But it will work but only if we are doing simple things, if we want to do many complicated work with the help of single computer it makes our work very slow. This is not a good approach to do our work so the better way to do our work. So in this situation distributed computing is very helpful it will do work with help of many computers. It divides its workload very smartly with the help of many computers which are available on network. With the help of distributed computing we can do our work very efficiently and quickly.

Regular vs Distributed Computing

(http://library.thinkquest.org/C007645/english/0-definition.htm , Retrieved on Aug 19, 2007)

The main advantages of distributed computing over traditional supercomputer is it’s economy, Distributed computing can take full advantage of a computer’s capabilities by keeping it busy with numbers to calculate. If enough users sign up, these linked computers — often referred to as virtual parallel machines — can improve the fastest supercomputer by as much as four times for a fraction of the supercomputer’s cost.

(http://library.thinkquest.org/C007645/english/images/103-advantages.jpg, Retrieved on Aug, 19, 2007)

3.1.4 Client/Server Architecture

3.1.4.1 2-Tier Architecture

3.1.4.2 3-Tier Architecture

3 tier architecture

After the research of Client/Server Architecture developer decided that 3-tier Architecture is the best way to develop the proposed system because proposed system is used by many number of user and it is an examination system, so that it require lot’s of security from the hacking of question paper which is only possible with the help of 3-tier architecture because all the data will stored on the main server of the system, and user can only interact with the Presentation layer of the system with the help of business logic. As the study of Client/Server Architecture developer come to know that C# and .Net Framework is the best development tool to develop an application in 3-tier architecture. So that developer decided to develop a proposed system in C# and .Net Framework.

3.2 Study of Existing System

There are many other examination system are available in market for the users.

They are:-

3.2.1 Online Examination System (OnEx)

This examination system is developed by Knowgence Technologies Pvt. Ltd. This system also provided many feature’s like.

Administrator will assign exam to users.
Ease of creation and modifying exam at any time.
Online monitoring of exams showing percentage completed.
Student can move from any question to question.
Automatic checking against predefined answer (if there is no Subjective question).
Automatic disabling of exam when it is completed.
Last 10 min alert.

And many more.

(http://www.knowgence.com/Download/OnExBrochure.pdf, Retrieved on October 18, 2009)

3.2.2 CUE Assessment System

This Assessment System is developed by CALM, Department of Mathematics,
Heriot-Watt University, this existing system is also used to assessed online examination.

The features which are provided in this system are –

1. Easy to create and modify the questions.

2. Checking of question and delivering exam.

3. Assessment for online exam accepts free format questions.

Varity of questions like multiple choices, multiple responses etc.

And many more.

(http://www.calm.hw.ac.uk/cue.html, Retrieved on October 18, 2009)

Why developer system is better than Existing system?

After the study of existing system developer come to know that many features are not available. But proposed system will take care of all the features.

1) No one system is a combination of standalone and web. So that it system is only used when internet is available.

2) No one system has the entire feature like online exam, exam assessment and paper generator.

3) Generating a question in an exam with random order so that no one student/candidate will get same question in an exam if question are available in a database.

4) Data will be saved at real time if any problem will occur so that data will store at the same time. It will help to reduce the chance of data lose.

5) Generating a paper for written exam which is very helpful for education institute like school and colleges that are very often used.

As the above features are not available in one complete system so that developer decided to provide this entire feature in proposed system.

CHAPTER-4: SECONDARY RESEARCH

4.1 Academic Research

4.1.1 Process Models

Process model defines a distinct set of activities, actions, tasks, milestones, and work products that are required to engineer for developing the software. These process models are not perfect, but they do provide a useful road map for software engineering work.

Software engineer and there managers adapt a process model and then they follow it. In addition the people who have requested the software have a role to play as the process model is followed. Process model is important in the project as it provides the stability, control, and organization to an activity.

There are many Process Models like waterfall model, spiral model, etc. A project can be made under any model.

4.1.1.1 Waterfall Model

The waterfall model is also called as the “classic life cycle”. It suggests a systematic, sequential approach to software development that begins with customer specification of requirements and progresses through planning, modeling, construction, and deployment. It produces deliverables at each phase like software requirement specification, design documents, actual code and test cases, final product etc. The waterfall model is the oldest paradigm for software engineering.

(http://www.digitella.co.uk/brochures/Digitella%20SDLC.pdf , Retrieved on August 9, 2007)

Some of the advantages are-:

* The single requirements phase encourages specification of what the system is to do before deciding how the system will do. (i.e. specification before design).

* The single design phase encourages planning of the system structure before building the components (i.e. design before coding).

* The use of the reviews at the end of each phase permits acquirer and user involvement.

* Each preceding step serves as an approved, documented baseline for the succeeding step.

Some of the disadvantages of waterfall model are-:

* Baselines and milestones place heavily emphasis on documentation in the early phases of the project.

* Customers must be able to express their requirements completely, correctly, and with clarity.

* Delays can occur in designing, coding, and testing.

* It is difficult to access the true state of progress during the first two to three stages.

* The developer must understand the application from the beginning.

* No demonstration of system capabilities can occur until the end of the project.

4.1.1.2 Spiral Model

The spiral model is another iterative model that has been proposed. As the name suggests, the activities in this model can be organized like a spiral that has many cycles.

A spiral model is divided into a number of framework activities, also called task regions. Typically there are six task regions.

1. The customer communication task – to establish effective communication between developer and customer.

2. The planning task – to define resources, time lines and other project related information.