Sakai Offline Tool - Entornos de Formación

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.
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.

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
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.

- 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
Simple answer
Fill-in-the-blanks

* 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).
* 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.

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
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.

Sakai Offline Tool - Entornos de Formación

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