Semi-network independent educational electronic exam engine

• US 9,105,194 B1
• Filed: 03/21/2014
• Issued: 08/11/2015
• Est. Priority Date: 03/21/2014
• Status: Active Grant

• Current Assignee: Pearson Education Incorporated (Pearson plc)
• Original Assignee: Pearson Education Incorporated (Pearson plc)
• Inventors: Kealey, Brendan Jared, Arens, Paul Joseph, Krapfl, Adam Walter, Grudnitski, Paul Christopher, Nielsen, Robbie Allen, Setaro, James Tavis
• Primary Examiner(s): Yao, Sam
• Assistant Examiner(s): Hong, Thomas
• Application Number:
  US14/222,317
• Time in Patent Office: 508 Days
• Field of Search: 434/362
• US Class Current: 1/1
• CPC Class Codes: G09B 7/00 Electrically-operated teaching apparatus or devices working with questions and answers mechanically operated G09B3/00; computing arrangements G06F

Abstract

Embodiments relate to electronic administration of an academic examination. Execution of an exam file on a student device causes exam questions to be presented. Input from students is translated into responses. Response data identifying one or more responses and a student identifier may be transmitted from the student user device to another device during an exam period or at the end of the exam period. However, the transmission may be explicitly or functionally conditioned by network connection strength, network availability and so forth. When the condition is not satisfied or when a transmission fails, response data is locally and securely cached at the student user device. The response(s) is immediately locked or locked at the end of an examination period, such that a student user can no longer modify the response(s). The student user device subsequently transmits the response data (e.g., when the transmission condition is satisfied).

Claims

1. A system for administering academic examinations and conditioning transmission of examination responses on results of a connection assessment, the system comprising:

an exam retriever that receives, at an electronic student device, one or more electronic examination files;

an exam access engine that executes, at the electronic student device, the one or more electronic examination files, wherein the execution causes;

an academic exam question to be presented via an interface of the electronic student device; and

input corresponding to a response to the academic exam question to be received via the interface;

a response engine that, at the electronic student device;

translates the input to the response; and

generates response data that includes an identifier of the academic exam question, an identifier of the response, and an identifier of the electronic student device or of a student;

a connection assessor that, at the electronic student device;

determines one or more connection variables by assessing one or more network connections available to the electronic student device, a connection variable of the one or more connection variables being indicative of a number of networks available; and

evaluates a transmission condition based on the one or more connection variables, the evaluation including comparing each of the at least one connection variable to a threshold, a result of the evaluation indicating that the transmission condition is satisfied when the connection variable exceeds the threshold; and

a response transmitter that conditionally transmits the response data from the electronic student device, such that;

the response data is transmitted to a receiving other device at a first time when the transmission condition is satisfied; and

transmission of the response data is delayed from the first time when the transmission condition is not satisfied, such that, subsequent to the delay, the response data is retrieved from storage and transmitted to the receiving device.

2. The system for electronically administering academic examinations and conditioning transmission of examination responses on results of a connection assessment as recited in claim 1, wherein the response engine further stores the response data at the electronic student device.

3. The system for electronically administering academic examinations and conditioning transmission of examination responses on results of a connection assessment as recited in claim 1, wherein the response engine further:

stores the response data at the electronic student device; and

secures the stored response data subsequent to an exam end time to prevent a student from modifying the response.

4. The system for electronically administering academic examinations and conditioning transmission of examination responses on results of a connection assessment as recited in claim 1, wherein another of the at least one connection variable is indicative of a strength of at least one of the one or more connections.

5. The system for electronically administering academic examinations and conditioning transmission of examination responses on results of a connection assessment as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the exam retriever further receives, at the electronic student device, a set of electronic examination files, the set of electronic examination files including the one or more electronic examination files, the one or more electronic examination files including a first examination file compatible with a first browser, the set of electronic examination files including a second examination file compatible with a second browser; and

the exam access engine further;

identifies that the first browser is open on the electronic student device; and

selects the first examination file for execution based on the identification of the first browser being open,

wherein the second examination file is not executed at the electronic student device.

6. The system for electronically administering academic examinations and conditioning transmission of examination responses on results of a connection assessment as recited in claim 1, wherein executing the one or more electronic examination files further causes access to at least one application on the electronic student device to be blocked during an examination period.

7. The system for electronically administering academic examinations and conditioning transmission of examination responses on results of a connection assessment as recited in claim 1, wherein the connection assessor further:

determines that the transmission condition is not satisfied; and

repeatedly determines each of the one or more connection variables and evaluates the transmission condition until the transmission condition is satisfied.

8. The system for electronically administering academic examinations and conditioning transmission of examination responses on results of a connection assessment as recited in claim 1, wherein:

the academic exam question is presented via an interface of the electronic student device by presenting the academic exam question on a screen of the electronic student device, and

the input corresponding to the response to the academic exam question is received via the interface by detecting a keystroke or cursor selection.

21. The system for electronically administering academic examinations and conditioning transmission of examination responses on results of a connection assessment as recited in claim 1, wherein determining that the transmission condition is not satisfied further causes the response data to be aggregated with other response data when the transmission condition is not satisfied, and wherein the response engine transmits the aggregated response data and other response data upon a subsequent determination that the transmission condition is satisfied.

22. The system for electronically administering academic examinations and conditioning transmission of examination responses on results of a connection assessment as recited in claim 7, wherein the delay is of a defined time period.

23. The system for electronically administering academic examinations and conditioning transmission of examination responses on results of a connection assessment as recited in claim 1, wherein the connection variable is indicative of a number of networks of a particular type that are available.

24. The system for electronically administering academic examinations and conditioning transmission of examination responses on results of a connection assessment as recited in claim 1, wherein the connection variable is indicative of a number of networks of a particular quality that are available.

9. A computer-implemented method for electronically administering academic examinations and conditioning transmission of examination responses on results of a connection assessment, the method comprising:

receiving, at an electronic student device, one or more electronic examination files;

executing, at the electronic student device, the one or more electronic examination files, wherein the execution causes;

an academic exam question to be presented via an interface of the electronic student device; and

input corresponding to a response to the academic exam question to be received via the interface;

translating, at the electronic student device, the input to the response;

generating, at the electronic student device, response data that includes an identifier of the academic exam question, an identifier of the response, and an identifier of the electronic student device or of a student;

determining, at the electronic student device, a connection variable by assessing one or more network connections available to the electronic student device;

evaluating, at the electronic student device, the evaluation including comparing the connection variable to a threshold, a result of the evaluation indicating that the transmission condition is satisfied when the connection variable exceeds the threshold; and

conditionally transmitting the response data from the electronic student device to the other device, such that;

the response data is transmitted from the electronic student device to the other device at a first time when the transmission condition is satisfied; and

transmission of the response data is delayed from the first time when the transmission condition is not satisfied, such that, subsequent to the delay the response data is retrieved from storage transmitted to the other device.

10. The computer-implemented method for electronically administering academic examinations and conditioning transmission of examination responses on results of a connection assessment as recited in claim 9, further comprising storing the response data at the electronic student device.

11. The computer-implemented method for electronically administering academic examinations and conditioning transmission of examination responses on results of a connection assessment as recited in claim 9, further comprising, upon determining that the transmission condition is not satisfied:

storing the response data at the electronic student device; and

securing the stored response data subsequent to an exam end time to prevent a student from modifying the response.

12. The computer-implemented method for electronically administering academic examinations and conditioning transmission of examination responses on results of a connection assessment as recited in claim 9, wherein the connection variable is indicative of a strength of at least one of the one or more connections.

13. The computer-implemented method for electronically administering academic examinations and conditioning transmission of examination responses on results of a connection assessment as recited in claim 9, further comprising:

receiving, at the electronic student device, a set of electronic examination files, the set of electronic examination files including the one or more electronic examination files, the one or more electronic examination files including a first examination file compatible with a first browser, the set of electronic examination files including a second examination file compatible with a second browser;

identifying that the first browser is open on the electronic student device; and

selecting the first examination file for execution based on the identification of the first browser being open,

wherein the second examination file is not executed at the electronic student device.

14. The computer-implemented method for electronically administering academic examinations and conditioning transmission of examination responses on results of a connection assessment as recited in claim 9, wherein executing the one or more electronic examination files further causes access to at least one application on the electronic student device to be blocked during an examination period.

15. The computer-implemented method for electronically administering academic examinations and conditioning transmission of examination responses on results of a connection assessment as recited in claim 9, further comprising:

determining that the transmission condition is not satisfied; and

repeatedly determining the connection variable and evaluating the transmission condition until the transmission condition is satisfied.

16. The computer-implemented method for electronically administering academic examinations and conditioning transmission of examination responses on results of a connection assessment as recited in claim 9, wherein:

the academic exam question is presented via an interface of the electronic student device by presenting the academic exam question on a screen of the electronic student device, and

the input corresponding to the response to the academic exam question is received via the interface by detecting a keystroke or cursor selection.

17. A computer-program product tangibly embodied in a non-transitory machine-readable storage medium, including instructions configured to cause one or more data processors to perform actions including:

executing, at an electronic student device, one or more electronic examination files, wherein the execution causes;

an academic exam question to be presented via an interface of the electronic student device; and

input corresponding to a response to the academic exam question to be received via the interface;

translating, at the electronic student device, the input to the response;

generating, at the electronic student device, response data that includes an identifier of the academic exam question, an identifier of the response, and an identifier of the electronic student device or of a student;

determining, at the electronic student device, a connection variable by assessing one or more network connections available to the electronic student device;

evaluating, at the electronic student device, a transmission condition based on the connection variable, the evaluation including comparing the connection variable to a threshold, a result of the evaluation indicating that the transmission condition is satisfied when the connection variable exceeds the threshold; and

conditionally transmitting the response data from the electronic student device to the other device, such that;

the response data is transmitted from the electronic student device to the other device at a first time when the transmission condition is satisfied; and

transmission of the response data is delayed from the first time when the transmission condition is not satisfied, such that, subsequent to the delay the response data is retrieved from storage transmitted to the other device.

18. The computer program product as recited in claim 17, wherein

the actions further include storing the response data at the electronic student device.

19. The computer program product as recited in claim 17, wherein the actions further include, upon determining that the transmission condition is not satisfied:

storing the response data at the electronic student device; and

securing the stored response data subsequent to an exam end time to prevent a student from modifying the response.

20. The computer program product as recited in claim 17, wherein the connection variable is indicative of a strength of at least one of the one or more connections.