SAKAI OFFLINE TOOL

Desktop application, compatible with all operating systems, that would allow examinations from the online tool to be exported, then handle the examination and finally import it again to the virtual campus for delivery.

Case study : OFFLINE TOOL

Customer profile :

A certification authority operating at an international level that uses the virtual campus for handling online examinations

Business situation:

The customer needed to implement examinations from the online platform but in an environment without an internet connection

The challenge :

Develop a desktop application, compatible with all operating systems, that would allow examinations from the online tool to be exported, then handle the examination and finally import it again to the virtual campus for delivery.

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Solution :

The application was developed as a “bundle” for Apache Sling (https://sling.apache.org) together with a small “launcher” created in Java AWT (https://docs.oracle.com/javase/7/docs/api/java/awt/package-summary.html).

Sling is a web server that runs automatically (through a simple .jar file) and manages its resources in the form of nodes in a tree hierarchy (like a tree of directories). It is also designed to manage these resources in real time via REST requests.

Case study : OFFLINE TOOL

Solution :

The first step of this development was to modify Sakai’s examination tool to allow it to export examinations (SAMigo) published in an encrypted format. Since exported files could contain information about the examination answers, it was very important that no one except our application could open them. This encrypted format is an extension of the standard QTI, adding encryption so that client and server can exchange confidential information without a third party having access to it.

Then we went on to develop the offline application, using Bootstrap 3 (http://getbootstrap.com) to facilitate rendering.

The application is responsible for:

- Displaying the initial form where you load the file exported from the virtual campus, introducing the "login" of the user who will be associated with this examination (and who will subsequently handle delivery), and optionally

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entering the user name and password that are specific to this examination (in case extra security has been configured).

- Displaying a message prior to the start of the examination (with text configurable from the virtual campus) that shows the URL to save in order to re-take the examination in the event of unexpected closure of the application.

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Case study : OFFLINE TOOL

- Displaying the examination just as it would be displayed if using the virtual campus.

Some of the features of the application are:

* Support for multiple types of exam question. Specifically: Simple selection (radio buttons), multiple selection (tick boxes, sometimes known as “checkboxes”), a simple answer (with rich text), fill-in-the-blanks, and answer by email (tailored to the client).

Multiple selection

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Simple answer

Fill-in-the-blanks

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Case study : OFFLINE TOOL

* Display of the examination question by question, with the questions grouped by section, or all together (depending on the SAMigo configuration).

* Display of the table of contents in a drop-down format that lets the user quickly go to each question.

* Highlighting of the "answered” questions in the table of contents.

* Marking a question for "review" (which highlights the question in the table of contents).

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* Timing of the examination (configurable from SAMigo).

- Once the examination has been completed, the application shows the final screen where you can download the file with the delivery to import into SAMigo (properly encrypted).

Finally, once returned to the virtual campus, the application offers the possibility of importing any files generated by this application.

Each file is associated internally to an examination and a user, so that after making the relevant checks, it will then create a delivery for this examination in the name of the user as though it had been done online.

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Case study : OFFLINE TOOL

Additionally, in order to launch and stop the application (remember that this is a server with Sling), we developed an interface in AWT that allows us to:

● Stop and start the application.● Launch the Home page by opening a web browser

(only if the server has fully booted).● Change some parameters in the application. It

currently only allows you to change the port on which the server is started

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Benefits :

The client can offer their candidates the option of taking examinations both online and offline to gain accreditation, whilst ensuring security in the identification and implementation of the examination between the client and the server.

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