CHAPTER  ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

1.1   Background to the Study

In Educational institutions the evaluation of performance of student is based on examinations. Examination is the most important component of the educational system. The efficiency of an educational institution is judged by the regularity in conducting examinations and announcing results. The examination system can be improved by the introduction of computerization in various activities related to the examinations. Ayo C. K., Akinyemi, I. O. Adebiyi A. A. and Ekong, U. O. (2007)has rightly indicated that: The evolution of web applications into the computing technology has brought about a significant revolution in our social life including the traditional system of education and examination. Many institutions are beginning to reevaluate their traditional methods and have considered providing teaching materials through the Internet. Several studies have been carried out on distance education which encompasses web classroom and web-based online examination (Yuan, et al, 2003; WebCT, yr; Jackson et al, 1997; and Stina et al, 2000) to mention a few. One important area of application of the web technology is in the development of web-based testing and assessment (Iyilade et al, 2005). Web-based testing and assessment systems offer greater flexibility than the traditional approach because test could be offered at different times by students and in different locations (Jay, et al 2001).

More importantly, questions could be shuffled having the same structure and level but different contents. Basically, the Computer Based Test System (CBT for short)  been considered in this project involves the conduct of examinations through the intranet and it reduces the large proportion of workload onexamination, grading and reviewing. The following are the advantages of Computer Based Test (CBT) System over the traditional Paper Based Test (PBT) System.

· Evaluation of answers can be fully automated for MCQ questions.

· Computer based test system can be used to conduct exam at any time and does not incur higher cost as traditional exam scenario as there is no paper work involved(e.g. Printing exam papers etc).

· Removal of human errors involved in the process of examination.

· It eradicates the compilation and physical movement of examination scripts.

· It eradicates examination malpractise among the students.

1.2   Problem Statements

This section deals with the identification of the problems associated with the current system.Although several Universities have adopted computer based test system.But this project is about identifying judiciously the problem associated with the current CBT system in the universities,these problems are highlighted below.

·  Impersonation: The existing system allows for impersonation through the process of allowing two login stages. By technical observance there is no need to login twice when using an application and this allows for impersonation as explained below: A user who wants to impersonate can login with its own matriculation number where the sole essence of this login is to query the database and bring out his/herown picture from the portal. Thereafter, the user can login with another matriculation number to login for the person he/she wants to write the examination for where the aim of the second login is to load the questions and answers and then schedule the exam. Hence we are performing a task that ought to be once, twice. The meaning of this technically is IMPERSONATION.

· State Persistency: The existing system does not have a persistence state which allows students to have their ways with these lapses. For example,A student writing an exam that encounters questions too hard can close the browser and then call on the administrators that he/she doesn’t know what happens to the system and pretend as a computer illiterate whereas he/she knows perfectly what he was doing since everybody knows that the questions answered by a student is a random number of questions selected from a pool of questions, and if the system was to be restarted,the exam is not going to continue from it was stopped.Apart from students shutting down the system,state persistency is also useful in the case of power failure.

· User Friendliness: The existing system is not user friendly. Software should be simple and not assumed that their users are professionals. Here are some reasons why the existing system is not user friendly.

A. There is no prompt to alert the user when the end button is pressed that a change in state is about to be made. This is necessary because the user might mistakenly press the end button. This leads to unintentional submission of the exam.

B. The questions are in most cases not clear and options not properly aligned which also makes it difficult for student to match the option to the radio button to be clicked thereby wasting students time.

·  Security: The questions setter for the current CBT system that is being use by the university does not encrypt its output, this made it possible for an external body that has access to the system to see and understand the questions.If the questions were encrypted even if an unauthorised person gained access into the system,he or she we still not understand the questions since they are encrypted.

· Question Categorization: This deals with the situation where by questions set by the lecturer will be categorized by the lecturer according to their strenght, So that questions for the students will be selected from different categories and their will be no situation where by some students will be faced with the most difficult  questions while some will be given cheap questions.Hence increasing credibility in the conduct of the exam.

1.3   Research Questions

In the course of study of this project, many questions were posted to students, who are the end user of the application in focus. The reasons for all or some of these questions were to find the problem associated with the currently used computer based test systems,how the existing system can be improved upon and the level of computer literacy of the students. These questions may in one way or the other allow for even for greater improvement on the applications that is in focus.

The Research Questions as contained in the questionnaire issued out are as follows

· We need to know whether students  prefer Computer Based Test to Paper Based Test.

· We want to know whether they still want CBT to continue in the university.

· The reason(s) that may prompt them to want the continuation of CBT.

· The deficiencies they can identify in the current system.

· Does the current system need replacement?

· What does the current system suppose to have that it doesn’t?

· What does the current system suppose not to have that it does?

· What can be done to improve on the current CBT system?

· Does The Proposed system cost more than the current system?

1.4    Objectives Of The Study

The following are the objectives of the study.

Ø This study is to make the computer based test system of Tansian University easy to use, more secured, more reliable,more robust,easy to maintain and cost less.

Ø To secure the system in such a way that it only allows accessfrom the authorized person.

Ø To develop a system that will be able to handle any interruption that may arise during examination with outlost of session, state and other important program entities used by the system and thus allow for continuation.

Ø Todevelop a system of examination model that is devoid of irregularities and generally fair to all students.

Ø To investigate the level of ICT literacy of applicants.

1.5   Significant Of The Study

In 2008, several Universities began the use of computer based system for her post JAMB examinations,the following academic session that follows this period which was 2008/2009 academic session the university adopted this same computer based test system for the conduction of virtually all exam that is to be taken by students in thier lower level of their career also there was a speculation that every course in the University that has more than 500 students must be taken to computer based test system for its exam. Since exam constitute an important part in the running of a particular learning institution and also as it has been established in the above paragraph that there are very large number of students that will be involved in the usage of this system, then a very good system that posseses all the charateristics as mentioned in the objectives of study is highly needed.The contribution of this proposed system will have a very good impact in the conduction of exams in the University.