Dave Stokes wrote: > Tasked based exams are much more expensive to develop. Also Pearson VUE and > Prometric are not going to be able to support tasked based exams like they do > multiple choice for quite a while. That's not totally true. I believe that one of those chains has worked with Novell to provide simulation-based hands-on exams.
It all depends on how much you're prepared to spend. VUE and Prometric will gladly take an exam publisher's money -- if they have enough money -- to do any kind of custom exam style required. IIRC Microsoft spent millions with a company called Certiport to create simulation-based hands-on testing for their MOUS program, and they still have problems. > I am currently developing 'hands-on' exams to replace current multiple choice > exams. There are three models, in my mind. The first being a limited number > of labs, ala Cisco. This requires candidates willing to pay for the rent of > the lab and transportation to the lab. > The second model is the RHCE class/exam type where you have someone setup > systems and then proctor the exam. And the last is still fairly new and lets > candidates login to virtual servers to perform the tasks. All three are > resource intensive compared to the current LPI model. > Actually, the use of virtualization on hosted systems need not be that resource intensive. > I am working on the later model and the problems that come with that model. > How do you authenticate the ID of the test taker? That problem plagues every model, INCLUDING the VUE/Prometric one. Even the Red Hat model can be gamed under the right circumstances, especially when exams are not delivered by staff directly employed by RH. Authentication security is one of the weak links of all delivery models. > What happens if the virtual server or internet connection dies? Do slow > connections give the candidate more time? How do you keep the material from > ending up on a gray-market site? Also Pearson VUE and Prometrics will not be > able to universally support outside connections from their test centers. I > think this is the way of the future but right now there are a lot of hurdles > to cross. > ... and there are many ways to jump them under active research. :-) - Evan PS: I note that the KDE program "Keduca" is looking for developers... _______________________________________________ lpi-discuss mailing list [email protected] http://list.lpi.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/lpi-discuss
