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Martin Cápay et al.
Figure 3 Process of questions generation in XML format and its transformation to other output
formats (Gangur 2011)
The creation procedure written in any programming language or in any appropriate environment is the
basis of the generating process. For example, Matlab system is used to calculate the results of the
given problems created from randomly generated input parameters. This system is appropriate for
questions that are aimed to e.g. passive programming (the skill to read and analyse unknown source
codes). There would be an existing algorithm (sorting, searching). A question to this algorithm would
be generated according to the particular input values randomly by the basic process. At the same
time, also the appropriate answer would be generated. In the following chapters we focus on the
implementation of multimedia elements that would serve not only to display the task but they would be
the interface to insert the input (answer) of the user as well.
3.2 Multimedia and interactivity
Interactivity is a wide term that can be specified (in case of ICT usage) as an ability of the device
and/or application to react on the user’s stimuli that are evaluated and processed according to the
options, e.g. the program code. With the development of the ICT together with the increasing
measure of interactivity these terms started to be used also in the field of education – in this case the
stimuli are given by the students (Neo and Neo 2004; Sonwalker 2001).
Implementation and usage of interactive media elements within the teaching-learning process in the
form of eLearning is these days regarded as one of the essential methods of supporting the
interactivity of the student with the study material. Therefore, there is a need to enable the usage of
interactive questions in the quizzes as well as the evaluation of elaborated interactive questions
directly in the Book module in LMS Moodle e-courses.
4. Implementation of interactivity into the electronic testing in LMS Moodle
Regarding that the internal structure of LMS Moodle is quite unintelligible. It was necessary to design
such a technological solution that would be acceptable not only from the programming point of view
but also from the point of view of simple organization and saving the data in the system database.
First, it was necessary to suggest the way of inserting the interactive animation directly into the
content of the study materials. The students had to be able to manipulate with the animations as well
as to use the interactivity to change the input values. Currently, we are able to integrate the Flash
animation and/or applets into the e-courses thanks to a simple application designed to generate the
HTML code necessary to include the animation or applet within the study material (Magdin 2010).
The next step was developing an electronic testing with the features of interactivity. The most suitable
solution (at this time the only one functional in Moodle version 1.9x) is considered to be the
implementation and partial modification of FlashQuestion module created by Dmitry Pupinin.
FlashQuestion module allows interconnection of the data we get during the usage of interactive tasks
with the system database. Thanks to this interconnection, we are able to statistically process and
evaluate the variables representing correct and incorrect solutions of the tasks. Implementation of the
module in education is very impressive. We can say it is a new approach in the field of testing. The
module offers the possibility of rated assessment of a student as well as the storage of the answers in
the Moodle database. There is a possibility to stop working on the task and continue later. After the
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