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[qomet.git] / README.md
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3844df81 1# qomet - WARNING: prototype stage
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2
3### Questions Ouvertes ou à options Multiples pour l'Évaluation des éTudiants
4
3844df81 5Or "... pour Examens sur inTernet", in french. In english, just revert the acronym:
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7"sTudents Evaluation with Multiple choices or Open Questions (or ...inTernet Exams with).
8
9Source code of [qomet.auder.net](https://qomet.auder.net)
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10
11## Features
12
13Allow teachers to create courses, containing assessments. Each of them can be public, or
14restricted to a classroom (identification by student ID).
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15Individual answers to an exam are monitored in real time, and answers are sent
16to each participant in the end (allowing them to estimate their grade).
17Once a series of exam is over, the teacher can get all grades in CSV format
18(assuming all questions were either quiz-like or parameterized).
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19
20## Installation
21
22See setup/README
23
24## Usage
25
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26As a teacher, first create an account from the upper-left "login" menu.
27Then create a course using the appropriate button in the middle of the screen.
28Finally, create some exams ("new assessment" button). The syntax for a series of questions is described by the following example:
29
30 > Global (HTML) introduction [optional]
31
32 Question 1 text or introduction (optional if there are subquestions)
33
34 Text for question 1.1 (index detected from indentation)
35 * Answer to 1.1
36
37 Question 1.2 (a text is optional since there are subquestions)
38
39 Question 1.2.1 text (mandatory); e.g. quiz-like:
40 + choice 1
41 - choice 2
42 - choice 3
43
44 Question 1.2.2 text (mandatory); e.g. open question:
45 * answer to 1.2.2 (can be on several lines)
46
47 Question 2 text ...
48 * An answer to question 2
49 ...
50
51All question texts (and open answers) can be on several lines.
52HTML markup (slightly limited) can be used, as well as [MathJax](https://www.mathjax.org/) with $ and $$ delimiters,
53and syntax highlighting using [prism](http://prismjs.com/): `<code class="language-xyz">` for language code `xyz`.
54The syntax for parameterized exercises (not working yet) is still undecided.
55
56Use the "exam" mode if browsing the web is allowed, and "watch" mode otherwise to monitor
57students actions like losing focus or resizing window.
58Finally the "secure" mode forbids all attempts to do anything else than focusing on the exam,
59but can be "a bit too much"; keep in mind next section if using it.
60All these modes restrict the access to a classroom. To open a series of question to the world,
61the "open" mode is for you.
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62
63*Note about exams:*
64Once an assessment is started, it's impossible to quit and restart using another browser,
65because a password stored in cookies need to be sent with every request.
66So under normal circumstances it's also impossible for a student to continue the exam of another.
3844df81 67(The password is destroyed when exam ends or when the teacher decides to finish assessment).
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69## Limitations & workarounds
70
71Version "standard classroom": some potential internet cheating ways even in 'secure' mode (in addition to
72the usual ones like using phones, talking, doing signs, using short memos...)
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e99c53fb 74 - headless browsers with renamed http-user-agent; difficult to counter with 100% confidence
a39991b9 75 - block JS script using e.g. [uBlock Origin](https://github.com/gorhill/uBlock), then re-inject the script cleaned of listeners
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76 - intercept HTTP response to "start quiz" signal, re-compose the page without listeners and run
77
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78The easy way to prevent these cheating attempts would consist in installing qomet on a local server,
79and restricting exam rooms to the intranet while preventing users to access their account (where they could
80keep a copy of the courses). This also prevent internet-based students communication.
81
82Another option (which seems more complicated, but might be required if the intranet itself shouldn't be accessed)
83would be to force e.g. chromium in kiosk mode restricted to one domain (using SELinux on a special account maybe).
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84
85## Alternative softwares
86
87 * [moodle](https://moodle.org)<br/>
88 Full-featured (open source!) project to manage learning activities.
89 Too big for my purpose; however qomet might be re-thought as a moodle plugin
90 (although [at least one](https://moodle.org/plugins/mod_exam) already exists for this task).
91
92 * [evalbox](https://evalbox.com/)<br/>
93 The closest to my goals, but only for simple quizzes, and not actively developed anymore.
94
95 * [wims](http://wims.unice.fr/~wims/)<br/>
96 Full-featured (and open source) training center for students, with various types of exercises,
43828378 97 possibly in exam mode too. The spirit, however, is more "enhanced homework" than "internet exams".
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98
99 * [socrative](https://socrative.com/)<br/>
100 Nice looking realtime feedback (lacking in evalbox), but thought for interactive classes.
101 In this perspective, I also found [educaplay](https://www.educaplay.com) appealing.
102
103 * [testmoz](https://testmoz.com/)<br/>
104 Old-fashioned look, lacking some features. Still interesting to set-up a quick test.