You’re a pretty savvy and diverse crew. I’ve got a question that might be answered by some of those on board – and maybe bring some of the lurkers out of the shadows.
I’ve got a question bank consisting of, let’s say, 200 questions. The are sorted into one of several bins; powerplant, landing gear and brakes, airframe, electrical system, hydraulics, etc.
Is there a tool out there which would allow me to randomly pick from within the separate bins three to five questions and generate a monthly test that covers all of the various systems? Can such a tool over-emphasize a bin that’s relatively more important? Can it also perform a regressive look at previous tests to ensure that the god of random question selection aren’t caught napping?
I’m not that familiar with the MS Access database tool, but that was my initial path of inquiry.
Anybody can give a brother a steer?
Heh. I would’a killed for a tool like that back when I was writing NATOPS tests in a P3 squadron. I’ve been away from the IT world a bit too long to be of much help now. Gomenasai.
I fail to see exactly how a request for a castrated male bovine will be of any assistance to you in this matter….please advise. Best
Because the common domesticated cattle are among the most tech savvy of all ungulates. And lets face it, a steer doesn’t have anything else to do.
Ahhh…at last…now all is revealed…many thanks Scott for humoring this incorrigable Pedantic Peckerwood. Best
http://www.flashcardmachine.com/
Works for personal or distributed use.
MS Access is a powerful and relatively easy to use tool. It can do many of the functions you desire. That said it has been many years since I used it on a professional level…research for academic publisher and marketing and info management for the Agri chemical industry…I am sure there are other tools out there. MS access has the advantage of availability, compatibility with MSWord and MSExcel, and portability. It also has a pretty powerful report generator that can be manipulated quite deftly. Now, as a teacher, I use it mostly for personal organization. The newer versions have bells and whistles I have never even explored.
Good Luck!
http://www.mentalcaseapp.com/ipad/
Ipad app, $4.99, links to make your own cards. Better than the notecards with rubber bands I’ve had for all my aircraft systems questions.
Looks like a slick app.
Is this for personal use or to test others in a formal setting. If for personal use and you have an iPad 2 (I know you have an iPad – not sure if it’s 1 or 2) – this requires the 2/smart cover
http://blog.evernote.com/2011/06/08/introducing-evernote-peek-the-first-ipad-smart-cover-app/
FWIW, you should have regular Evernote on your laptop/ipad. Great product.
Corporate use. Doesn’t need to be a online app (I have Evernote, btw – great tool), but I might be persuaded.
My wife uses Survey Monkey, http://www.surveymonkey.com
Not sure of any costs
Is this for personal use or to test others in a formal setting? If for personal use and you have an iPad 2 (I know you have an iPad – not sure if it’s 1 or 2) – this requires the 2/smart cover
http://blog.evernote.com/2011/06/08/introducing-evernote-peek-the-first-ipad-smart-cover-app/
FWIW, you should have regular Evernote on your laptop/ipad. Great product.
If you’re working on a laptop, these may work for you;
iFlash (not the same as adobe flash)
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/iflash/id409123835?mt=12
Flashcards
http://itunes.apple.com/us/app/flashcards/id403021928?mt=12
Appears to have better math capabilities (may or may not be important)
I have no specific experience here, but overall my experience with using python is that the process from somebody saying “try using python” through learning what you need of it to hacking together a workable solution is pretty short, and possibly shorter than finding and configuring an off-the-shelf option.
Also has the advantage of you get to be proud that you’ve built a computer program, and learned a new language. For instance, I know quite little, but today I hacked together a script to chop up a bunch of PDF files and output them into new files as needed, and it took me less time than finding and applying an off the shelf solution would have, even if one existed.
I know there’s a random number generator in Excel, but have NO idea how to access it. But it can be used to generate that sort of a random question list.
“Rnd” function a good possibility. You could do weighting as well.
Int((upperbound – lowerbound + 1) * Rnd + lowerbound)
Lex, I can help with that. Were I doing it for the Web, I’d use MySQL and some scripting language like PHP to set up the database and do the weighted random number generation.
If you just want something you can carry with you unemcumbered by a server, I’d recommend Excel, OpenOffice or the like. I’d create a separate sheet for each category and enter one question per line. Each worksheet is assigned a weight according to its importance.
The tricky part is to then write a macro or VBA script that generates random numbers according to your requirements above. The numbers generated for each worksheet correspond to the lines selected. The script then collects the lines selected and places them on yet another worksheet, your test.
Email if you’d like some assistance.
+1 on the Python recommendation. Pair it up with the PyQt libraries for a GUI front-end and you’ve got something that’s not too hard to code up. IDK about the evernote suggestions, but I’ll go look into it (there’s some damn smart people in here…)
Since this is for corporate use. Oracle iLearning. It should do pretty much everything that you are looking for except for the regressive analysis. The hurdle here though is that it maybe a “little heavy” for your needs. Typically we would tie this tool back to your corporate HR system so that all that testing, tracking, and certification stuff can be easily tied out and reported against.
If you enter the questions into a database (Access Whatever) with tables for the questions and another table for the bins with the tables linked together this should be an easy query. You could have a number field (1 to whatever) on each question and use a random number generation function (Excel has one) to generate the numbers for the query.
Depending on the number of questions (sounds like a reasonable number) you could even do this in Excel by writing a Visual Basic Script. PIck up a book (they have an VBA for dummies book) and waste a day or so and you’d end up with what you need.
You can customize, but there are a number of ready-made assessment tools out there that may get you off to a faster start. One that seemed to pop up in a number of google searches is http://www.QuestionMark.com. Looks pretty much like what you need, but I couldn’t see any pricing.
You can also google the term “learning management system” or LMS and review ones that have built-in assessment. Several of them look to be web-based, which might simplify the migration a bit. The one thing to watch is that your question selection criteria are a bit sophisticated (random coupled with different weightings for different sections), so that may preclude most of the simpler (and cheaper) tools available.
One major problem with computer based random number generators is there ain’t no such thing. Back in the 80s a Computer Science friend and I put our heads together and were unable to come up with a random number generator that would pass even 3 of the 5 tests.
Having said that, most the pseudo-random number gens will work OK for your purposes. The problem I see is making sure you get every question over time, and that tends to be a trick. A flash card app may be the best solution overall.
The only other problem I see is what we used to call “fat chance” answer schemes. Professional licensing exams like to do things the Psychometric Theory way. I’ve taken Tests for Fundamentals of Engineering, Principles and Practice of Engineering, Fundamentals of Land Surveying, Principles and Practice of Land Surveying, and Certified Federal Surveyor, all of which follow Psychometric theory. Problem is, it doesn’t make a huge metal demand on you. I scored highly on all of them, not because I’m Einstein, but I’m familiar with how such tests work. Making things multiple choice, however, would fulfill the “drill and kill” method theory and it can work if the user is motivated. Of course, if the knowledge stands between you and drilling a new crater with the air frame strapped to your one and only body, then there would seem to be ample incentive to get it right. If I were doing this for myself and friends, I’d probably look hard at the flash card route. I’m not sure you could get all, or even most, of what you want without some serious programming. I doubt you could even come close in any of the readily available Office packages, unless there are some things I don’t know about.
There is Moodle, http://www.moodle.org . It’s a full on educational course management system. It allows you to specify the test setup, input the questions and correct answers. It will randomize the order of the test and order of the answers. It keeps a history of individual student results for all tests taken so you can review an individual’s progress or lack there of. The test results are broken down by section. If you want to emphasize powerplant over hydraulics you can set the test to use more questions from the powerplant section versus the others. It’s been in use for about eight years.
I personally used a version about 5 years ago and while it was rough it worked. The interface has gotten easier to use since then from what I’ve seen. It’s open source so the cost is small, linux server with LAMP setup. It takes a bit of work to set up the application but once it is up you can just keep adding questions to the various question banks and away you go.
If memory serves, our esteemed host has a Mac. If you’re inclined toward the web server based solution (say the moodle recommendation by Quentin), get MAMP (Mac/Apache/MySQL/PHP) and install a local server on your machine, then use your browser to access it.
I’ll just add that if you end up getting going with MS Access but have some missing pieces here is a forum dedicated to MS Access – http://www.accessforums.net/
I don’t work with it, but I do Oracle SQL & Programming Language SQL (PL/SQL). The Oracle Forums are wonderful and filled with expertise and people who love to solve problems. Hopefully that’s true for MS Access. I went to the Microsoft Forum site but did not see MS Access. Odd. http://www.microsoft.com/communities/forums/default.mspx Maybe the SQL server forum would be helpful?
Not to insult your intelligence, but when asking a question, give the versions of the software products you are using and the OS platform at the minimum.
If you have any code snippets to post, check the FAQ for the forum as most forums will have distinct methods to allow you to post code formatted so it is more easily readable, and the respondents will appreciate.
Good luck sir.
Excel and VBA code can do everything you mentioned. You did not mention scoring tests or tracking pupil performance, so I’ll keep the scope limited.
I would start with a worksheet which contained your question bank (columns for Bin, Number, Question). The next worksheet would have test creation controls (e.g. bin weights, create test button). Clicking the create test button would cause a new test to be generated on a third worksheet (done with VBA code). You could print that worksheet to administer the test. The click event would also cause a fourth worksheet to be appended with the used questions (again done with VBA). This would be used for your rear view mirror reports (pivot tables, charts, etc. on a fifth worksheet).
You can do all of this with just Excel (which includes VBA). The “macro recorder” is a good training tool if writing code is a new skill. I’m the poster boy that anyone can do it.
If your organization decides later that it also wants ______ , you could create a web application. Your experience with VBA code would ease the transistion to VB.Net code. Using Visual Studio Express you could develop a web application using;
- SQL (tables),
- LINQ (move data to/from tables),
- ASP.Net (web pages for login, test taking, reports) and
- VB.Net (code)
to do anything they may desire.
Cost to do part one; zero (assuming you have Excel and time to learn VBA).
Cost for part two; zero (the express versions of Visual Studio are free). Of course scope creep can crush any forecast.
Visit your local clearance book aisle for a five year old book on VBA (originally $50, now $3). Later you could do the same for one on VB.Net and another on ASP.Net & HTML (usually includes enough SQL and LINQ).
Captain,
I second Fridge’s recommendation of excel and .vba. A macro enable excel file can do pretty much anything you need, and mostly make it look like you’re using something other than excel. I’ve been told a million times “we have to do this manually” and .vba has been the answer every time.
Assuming it’s all un-class and non-proprietary I’d be happy to take a look for you. I’d offer to help more (time you aren’t coding .vba is time you’re writing for my entertainment and all that), but I can’t guarantee anything, it is busy season for us bean counters.
Not sure how random it is, but I know some guys who when they were stumped as to what answer to put on the advancement exam would squeeze their eyes real tight for 60 second, them open them and count the spots if front of their eyes and divide by four to come up with A, B, C, or D. Not user if any of them ever made chief or not.
Here’s one you can try:
http://search.dilbert.com/comic/Random%20Number%20Generator
Lex;
At first I didn’t understand the question and the answers, (comments), only furthered my confusion.
But, if I had 200 questions and I wanted a random selection, I would buy 4 decks of cards, remove 8 cards, number the remaining 1 thru 200, shuffle the pack, then deal.
What-the-hell, it works for Poker.
Or, as is likely, is your quest for randomness more esoteric?
Lex,
I’ve built a couple of database applications for aircraft/vehicle/weapons system maintenance and inventory management, for Maintenance including scheduling Depot level rebuild and for Finance for cost analysis of airframe maintenance.
Depending on what you want to do with it, how much you want to spend, and where the source data is I would recommend these solutions.
Spreadsheet
1. MS-Excel using pivot tables.
Relational Databases
2. MS-Access. Can import your data automatically, crank out reports, interact via forms. Pretty good low cost solution.
3. MS-SQL Server. Access on Steroids. You may need a developer.
4. MXI Software. The gold standard for Aviation Maintenance, its extremely expensive, and bolts onto SAP or Oracle.
Online Analytical Processing (OLAP) tools “Cubes”, use only if work is paying for it.
4. Cognos
5. Business Objects
Process:
1. Figure out what you want your outcomes to be and draw a physical picture of it. This becomes your design document.
2. Look at your data. Sources of data and how it is structured. Much of your work is in data clean up.
3. Go to a college and get a computer science kid as an intern.
Just re-read what you’re looking for. Go with Excel and a VBA macro.
If you’re doing this for work in support of the government contract, you may be able to get some support for this from one of the existing contractors on the base or from your own company. The software I mentioned is all pretty common and for what you’re looking to do, you’ve already got the questions written, this shouldn’t take too much time to crank out.
The KISS principle is very important here. There isn’t a lot here that stays within the bounds of that principle. An app that can put up flash cards, with the pseudo random generator determining how the cards get “shuffled” is about as simple as you can get and scoring would be simple as well. Anything that demands VBA demands Windows and Microsoft. iPad has a problem in that area, as do Android tablets, although Android tablets can be had for a lot less than an iPAD, and so has a lot to speak for them. I don’t know what is available for Android, however.
Windoze tablets are coming in version 8, but once more have no idea what will be available for them although it is rumored they will have essentially all the capabilities of a lap top.
I just wanted to add my voice to this. I’ve reviewed all the options and I think I like the Moodle suggestion the best – with a twist. Instead of downloading and intalling Moodle, do a search on Moodle Hosting. It appears to me there are several outfits that will provide Moodle hosted to you for a small annual fee. I saw one site that seemed to offer it for $150.00 for a single instructor. That’s the easy button in my opinion.
Chris
Anki
Simple, and perfect for keeping limitations and memory items in memory