Web-based learning and assessment system

Abstract

Mathematics is a common subject which most Secondary School students must take, be it Elementary Mathematics or Additional Mathematics. The best way to score well in Mathematics is to do a lot of practice. However, the teachers may not have time to give students enough practice and to mark the students’ work. Hence, the students fail to obtain good grades in this subject. Web-based learning and assessment system for Mathematics will provide a platform for students to do more practice and at the same time reduce the teachers’ burden to mark the students’ work.

This project involved development of a web-based learning system with automatic assessment which focused on the subject of Additional Mathematics to help students in preparation of their General Certificate of Examination ‘Ordinary’ Level (GCE ‘O’ Level) Examination [1]. A database of questions from past year examination papers was built as the learning resources for the students. These questions were classified based on papers and topics. Students will be able to choose specific questions based on these classifications.

Automatic solution checking was also implemented in the system to automatically check the students’ answer. Feedback on the answer and option to view full solution of the question were also provided. The system was built using Python language on Django framework. The solution checking algorithm was, however, implemented in Java and linked to the system using JPype. An interface using MathJax and TinyMCE was used to display the questions and provide space for the students to enter their answers.

Analysis of the effectiveness of the solution checking algorithm was discussed in this report. For future work, the database can be expanded to include Elementary Mathematics or other level’s Mathematics questions. Besides, text checking algorithm may also be integrated into the system to support the checking of textual answer.