JP2010146560A - Automatic education assessment service - Google Patents

Abstract

<P>PROBLEM TO BE SOLVED: To perform the education assessments of one or more students respectively having educational plans. <P>SOLUTION: Assessment definitions are stored in an assessment repository. The educational assessments uniquely corresponding to an individual student having the educational plan is generated through the use of one of the educational assessment definitions. A form corresponding to one educational assessment is printed. A free-style mark is added to the educational assessment form in response to the performance of the educational assessment form to the student. The completed and performed educational assessment form is scanned in accordance with the performance of the educational assessment form to the individual student. The free-style mark is captured, and the educational assessment data are generated on the basis of the captured free-style mark. The educational assessment data are stored, and then, evaluated, thereby optimizing the educational plan of the individual student. <P>COPYRIGHT: (C)2010,JPO&INPIT

Description

This disclosure is directed to creating, performing and analyzing the results of tests or “assessments” conducted on students, and in particular, generating, performing and assessing student assessments. Enabling educators to identify students' strengths and weaknesses individually and as a whole, and more closely tailoring the student's learning experience within the classroom to the student's individual needs Directed to a computer-implemented educational assessment system and method. This disclosure relates to the process of assessing the attributes of a student or group of students at a selected number of times during the learning process, requiring teachers to educate students to proficiency levels on various subjects and at specific grade levels It relates to the assessment and assessment of student attributes or progress within a structured class.
This application is a continuation-in-part application claiming benefit and priority based on US patent application Ser. No. 12 / 237,692, filed on Sep. 25, 2008.

  Therefore, it is desirable to provide a method or means for automatically scoring and recording detailed assessment results for students in a relatively large class, thereby manually scoring and recording assessment results. Eliminates the need to fill in a book or database and eliminates loss of critical data associated with performing a total score or percentage only.

  To date, one type of well-known assessment used by teachers to enable teachers / educators to assess a student's ability to name a printed letter is shown in FIGS. There, the student is asked to read letters from a prepared sheet containing various letters of the alphabet, as seen in FIG. 22, and the teacher is asked to read the letters as seen in FIG. When reading, manually mark student responses on a separate sheet of paper. In the example shown in FIG. 21, the teacher has the heading “CC” for correctness, “IR” for incorrect response, and “H” if the child is jealous before identifying characters. Manually mark one of the marked columns (indicated as “/”). Preparations are made for writing comments or notes at the bottom of the teacher's form. Next, the teacher must interpret the results of the markings in the assessment of FIG. 21 and post them to a database or grade book in order to have a record of the student's current learning or progress status on a particular subject.

  FIGS. 19 and 20 show examples of prior art assessments used to determine the student's learning / knowledge status regarding arithmetic, where, as seen in FIG. The addition practice question is performed and then, as seen in FIG. 20, it is required to fill the corresponding circle in the attached answer sheet. This fill-up assessment form is suitable for machine scoring but not for young students. Furthermore, many assessments cannot be presented in the fill-in format.

FIG. 3 is an entity diagram of a method flow of the present disclosure. FIG. 3 is a diagram of a general configuration of the system architecture of the present disclosure. FIG. 3 is a flow diagram of the first part of the process of the present disclosure for assessment batch formation, printing, and manual marking. FIG. 4 is a similar flow diagram of the continuation of the process from FIG. 3 relating to assessment scanning and determination of the status of scanned assessment batches. FIG. 4A is a continuation of FIG. 4A and includes an option to update any batch preliminary evaluation state from pending to ready. FIG. 4B is a continuation of the process of FIG. 4B including automatic lifting of markings and automatic assessment of assessment items. FIG. 6 is a continuation of the process of FIG. 5 including teacher correction, annotation and verification. FIG. 7 is a continuation of the process of FIG. 6 including report generation. It is an example of an assessment to determine the state of student learning or ability with respect to the sounds of letters and words and is of the type that requires image analysis for evaluation. It is an exemplary assessment item that requires image analysis for evaluation to determine a student's ability to hand write mathematical numbers. It is an assessment item that requires image analysis for evaluation in order to judge the skills of students when performing mathematical operations. FIG. 5 is another example of an assessment item that requires image analysis for evaluation to determine a student's ability to quickly count numbers and write numbers for mathematical instructions. FIG. 5 is another example of an assessment item that requires image analysis for evaluation, where the student must draw a line to the correct selection of symbols. This is another example of an assessment item that requires students to circle the correct symbol and require image analysis for evaluation. An example of another completion of an assessment that requires a student to circle more than one set of symbols and requires image analysis for evaluation. 14 is another example of the type of assessment item shown in FIG. 13 that requires image analysis for evaluation prior to marking by a student. FIG. 5 is an example of an assessment that requires image analysis for evaluation where the student must recognize the commonness of the names and characters of the objects shown. Another exemplary assessment used in this disclosure to determine a student's ability to manually reproduce a picture is presented and requires image analysis for evaluation. Another example of an assessment where a student must select and circle an image based on the student's perception of the object and an understanding of the questions asked about the image, requiring image analysis for evaluation To do. It is the example extracted from the prior art assessment regarding the workbook for multiple-choice type hole-filling type tests. FIG. 20 is an example extracted from the hole-filling type answer sheet of the conventional assessment corresponding to the workbook of FIG. 19. It is an example of a prior art assessment written and marked by an assessor, taken from “Introductory Reading Assessment” by Sebastian Wren and Jennifer Watts. FIG. 22 is a student printout sheet for use in performing the assessment of FIG. 21, extracted from “Introductory Reading Assessment” by Sebastian Wren and Jennifer Watts. An exemplary assessment item for use with the type of method for determining student preferences and requires image analysis for assessment. An example assessment item of the type for determining a student's area of interest and requires image analysis for the assessment. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an education assessment system according to the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an assessment repository device according to the present disclosure. FIG. 1 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an assessment-enabled multifunction device in accordance with the present disclosure. FIG. 2 is a block diagram of an embodiment of an assessment analysis device according to the present disclosure. FIG. FIG. 6 is a block diagram of another embodiment of an assessment-enabled multifunction device in accordance with the present disclosure. FIG. 6 is a block diagram of yet another embodiment of an assessment-enabled multi-function device according to the present disclosure. 1 is a data flow diagram of an embodiment of an automated assessment system according to the present disclosure. FIG. 1 is a flow diagram of an automated assessment system according to the present disclosure. FIG.

  Referring to FIG. 1, an overview of the functional operation of the method of the present disclosure is shown in which, at station 1, a teacher / educator performs an assessment form and an assessment batch. A multi-function device (MFD) is provided for entering the required information about the desired student or number of students to create a teacher / educator once in the MFD DUI (Digital User Interface) Once an assessment batch is created in the system, the assessment can be printed on the MFD or any remote printer connected to it. In this implementation, the assessment batch includes the name of the teacher, the student list containing the names of the students included in the batch, the specific assessment form performed on the students in the student list, and the date of creation of the assessment batch .

  At station 2 of the system shown generally at 10 in FIG. 1, the teacher / educator performs the marked assessment. Depending on the type of assessment, the teacher / educator or student can mark the printed paper according to the nature of the assessment.

  At station 3, the teacher / educator or their designated representative reads the assessment marked in the MFD into the system. At station 4, the system automatically evaluates the assessment using image analysis according to a predefined annotation associated with the assessment form associated with the assessment batch, and the teacher is on the teacher's personal computer (PC). Allows access to the evaluation at station 5 shown as such a remote station. The teacher / educator verifies / annotates the assessment. Upon receipt of the verification, the system generates a report at station 6 that can be accessed and viewed on either the MFD or the teacher's personal computer terminal remote from the MFD.

  Referring to FIG. 2, the overall architecture of the system used in the method can be either a local area network or a wide area network, along line 16, through application server 14, and to the Internet. Shown with an MFD 12 connected to a network 18 that may include connections. A remote terminal such as a teacher / educator access terminal or PC 20 is connected to network 18 along line 22. A system server 24 is also connected to the network 18 and provides database access functionality and serves as a workflow engine, mail handler, web server, and image processing / scoring.

  A data warehouse / repository 26 is also connected to the network, which includes assessment forms and associated annotations, workflow definitions, assessment batch recording, reporting, and teacher / student / class. And is operable to receive updates and provide access to data stored internally away from it on the network 18.

  As described above, the disclosed system and method automatically evaluates assessments performed on students based on predefined annotations programmed into the system and uses teachers / educators by using image analysis. To help. The systems and methods of the present disclosure have the ability to evaluate the marked assessment by image, in addition to marking in squares or circles for multiple choice answers. The system has the ability to scan the marked assessment and lift manually marked marks made during the assessment run from pre-printed markings on the assessment sheet. The system and method then uses image analysis to identify and evaluate the lifted marks. The method and system can handle many types of assessment items used by teachers / educators, examples of which are shown in the present disclosure in FIGS.

  Various types of assessments can be performed on students, and the various types of assessments can include general, formative, diagnostic, interest, preference, and benchmark assessments.

  Referring to FIG. 8, an assessment is shown, in which the teacher / educator or person performing the assessment verbally reads the sounds associated with the letters of the alphabet, and the students in the section 1 Is required to identify the character associated with and write it on the assessment sheet. In section 2 of FIG. 8, the teacher / educator or person performing the assessment reads the word and the student is required to write the pronounced word or type it. In item 4 of section 2 in FIG. 8, the word “sack” was pronounced by the teacher. The system can identify by image analysis, for example, that the student has correctly identified the phoneme by identifying the substitute for writing typefaces by recognizing the pronunciation as “sak” or “sac” as pronounced. It is done. In item 5 of section 2 of FIG. 8, the word “crib” is pronounced, and the student who recognizes the word associated with the pronunciation uses the word “krib” as the spelling the student heard. In that case, the student is recognized to have recognized the word correctly despite spelling the word incorrectly. The system of the present disclosure by image analysis can identify the spelling “krib” as the spelling of the pronounced word.

  Referring to FIG. 9, an additional assessment item is shown, where the student is required to manually duplicate the number shape within a given space, and then the system analyzes the number and The students are required to recognize and identify the figure for similarities.

  FIG. 10 illustrates the types of assessment items that require students to perform mathematical operations such as addition and write the correct number answer in the appropriate digit space given as a blank. Accordingly, a system using the disclosed method functions to recognize an image of a numerical answer provided by a student to automatically evaluate an assessment item.

  Referring to FIG. 11, an exemplary assessment item is shown, where the student is required to recognize the number of shapes presented in the diagram and write or write the correct number associated with the shape count. . The system of the present disclosure then determines by image analysis whether the student marking is the correct number for the problem.

  Referring to FIG. 12, a group of images of a particular shape is presented and the student is asked to draw another line from the shape group to the correct number representing the count of the number of shapes in the picture. An exemplary assessment item is shown. Thus, the system used in the method of the present disclosure identifies the direction and connection of lines drawn by students in performing automated assessment of assessment items by image analysis.

  Referring to FIG. 13, an additional exemplary assessment item is shown in which a column of pictures is presented, and the student is typically different from the rest of the picture by enclosing them in a circle. Is required to mark the picture. The system then identifies the location of the marking through image analysis, determines whether the correct picture has been marked, and automatically evaluates the assessment items.

  Referring to FIG. 14, there is shown an exemplary assessment item that is correctly marked to indicate to the student how the assessment item is to be performed, and the assessment item of FIG. Requests to mark more than one group of pictures, in the illustrated case, including two images. The system then determines by image analysis whether the correct group of pictures has been marked by the student.

  FIG. 15 shows another exemplary assessment item of the type described in FIG. 14 and a form presented to the student to perform the assessment item.

  Referring to FIG. 16, another exemplary embodiment of an assessment item is shown, where a group of animal-like images, each associated with an alphabetic string, is shown, and animals in the picture And ask students to mark the first letter of the appropriate animal name. Therefore, the system determines which characters in each column are marked by image analysis and automatically performs assessment item assessment.

  Referring to FIG. 17, an additional exemplary assessment is shown, where pictures are presented by lines and students are required to duplicate each picture manually. Thus, the system determines, by image analysis, the extent to which the student marking duplicates the picture in the automatic creation of assessment item assessments.

  FIG. 18 shows another exemplary set of assessment items, where a column of objects is presented, and the student is generally in a circle to indicate the objects in a given column that represent a specially specified property. Use the listed characteristics as a basis to understand the meaning of the described characteristics and to determine each of the objects shown against the specified criteria Is required of students. The system then determines, by image analysis, whether the student's marking has been made on the correct object and automatically evaluates the assessment items.

  Referring to FIG. 23, an exemplary assessment item is shown, where a row of pictures of various creatures is shown, and the student is generally circled to indicate that the student has an association or preference. You are asked to mark a specified number of pictures that represent. The system then determines which of the pictures has been marked by image analysis and automatically evaluates student preferences from the markings.

  Referring to FIG. 24, another exemplary item is shown, where a row of pictures of people involved in various activities is shown, and the student is given a specified number of these activities represented by pictures. You will be asked to mark The system then identifies, through image analysis, the picture that the student has marked and automatically evaluates to determine the area of interest for the student.

  The assessment items described in FIGS. 8-16 can be used for a summary or formative assessment, while FIG. 23 illustrates a preference assessment and FIG. 24 is an interest assessment. Will be explained.

  Referring to FIG. 3, the operation of the method of the present disclosure is shown in a block diagram, where a teacher / educator receives an education assessment service (EAS) from the MFD 12 DUI (digital user interface) in step 30. ) Select a print service and then request the teacher to provide authentication information or personal identification information at step 32. The authentication information or personal identification information is compared with the stored authentication information or personal identification information to confirm that the teacher / educator has the authority to access the EAS printing service. In the embodiment, authentication information or personal identification information is stored in an authentication database. Next, in step 34, the system continues to display all predetermined assessment forms currently associated with the teacher identification entered in step 32 on the MFD DUI.

  Next, in step 36, the teacher selects an assessment form and begins forming an assessment “batch” associated with the teacher and the selected assessment form. It will be appreciated that once initiated, an “assessment batch” includes the basic assessment units or cells requested by the teacher. Next, the teacher proceeds to step 38 and assesses the class, such as a seventh grade class, a seventh grade mathematics class, a fifth grade English writing class, or a fourth grade reading class, etc. Enter. The system then proceeds to step 40 where the teacher / educator asks if he wishes to select the entire class and if the query in step 40 is affirmed then the system proceeds to step 42. Include all students in the class on the assessment batch student list. However, if the query in step 40 is denied, the system proceeds to step 44 where a list of classes is displayed on the MFD DUI and the teacher selects the specific list that will be included on the student list in the assessment batch. Select students.

  From step 42 or step 44, the system then proceeds to step 46 where the teacher is instructed to select printing from the MFD DUI. The system then proceeds to step 48 to automatically create a new assessment batch record in the data warehouse / repository, identifying the teacher, specific assessment form, student list, status data, creation date, and Stores other data that may be needed by a particular school administrator / system.

  The system then proceeds to step 50 to automatically format a separate assessment layout for each student on the student list, which layout ensures that each student receives the correct assessment. And an identification batch for encoding the assessment batch and students. The order / layout of assessment items for each student can be changed for each student, preventing a student from seeing the assessment of the next student for hints. The system then proceeds to step 52 and prints a separate page for each student on the student list in the assessment batch. The system then verifies that all pages have been printed and updates the data warehouse / repository.

  In step 54, the teacher / educator selects an individual printed assessment age and performs an assessment for each of the designated students. The teacher / assesser or student can manually mark the appropriate response to the problem indicated on the particular assessment page on the printed assessment page, as the case may be. Once the assessment marking is complete, the marked pages are collected by the teacher / educator for the next evaluation.

  Referring to FIG. 4A, the evaluation phase of the method begins, where, in step 60, the teacher / educator scans a stack of manually marked assessment pages in the MFD. At this point, there may be assessment pages from multiple assessment batches in the stack of sheets being scanned. The system then proceeds to step 62 under the operation of the requested EAS program / function as identified by the barcode found on each assessment page, and the system scans the assessments scanned in the stack. • Automatically identify assessment batches and students for each page. The system then proceeds to step 64 to automatically send the scanned page image to the data warehouse / repository to update the scan status of the assessment batch student list. The system then proceeds to step 66 to obtain the first or first assessment batch from the subsequently captured page.

  The system then proceeds to branch point 68 and step 70 where a query is made as to whether the page has been scanned for all students on the student list in the assessment batch. If the query made in step 70 is affirmed, the system proceeds to step 72 and updates the scan status of the assessment batch to all (All). The system then proceeds to step 74 to update the current assessment batch's preliminary evaluation state to Ready, and then proceeds to step 76. If the determination in step 70 is negative, the system proceeds to step 78 to update the scan state of the current assessment batch to Partial and proceeds to step 80 to perform a preliminary assessment of the current assessment batch. The state is updated to “Pending”, and the process proceeds to Step 76.

  In step 76, a query is made as to whether the last assessment batch from the page has been captured. If the query in step 76 is negative, the system proceeds to step 82, operates to obtain the next assessment batch from the captured page, and then proceeds to branch point 68.

  However, if the query in step 76 is affirmed, the system is instructed to display and select a list of captured assessment batches that have pending preliminary evaluation status in the MFD DUI, step 84. Proceed (see FIG. 4B). The system then proceeds to step 86 and asks whether an assessment batch having a pending preliminary evaluation state has been selected. If the determination at step 86 is affirmative, the system proceeds to step 88 and displays the name of the unscanned student on the MFD DUI for the selected assessment batch. The system then proceeds to step 90.

  However, if the query in step 86 is denied, the system proceeds to step 92 and asks if the default time has elapsed. If the answer to the query at step 92 is affirmative, the system proceeds to branch point 94. However, if the determination in step 92 is negative, the system proceeds to step 96 and asks whether an exit has been manually selected. If the query at step 96 is affirmed, the system proceeds to branch point 94. However, if the query at step 96 is denied, the system proceeds to branch point 98 and recirculates to step 84. From branch point 94, the system proceeds to step 100 and emails the associated teacher for all scanned assessment batches that have pending preliminary assessment status. The name of the student lacking the assessment is included and a suitable link for further information or input from the relevant teacher is provided, then the system stops at step 102.

  If the end or query in step 90 is denied, the system proceeds to branch point 104, branch point 106, and branch point 98.

  However, if the query in step 90 is affirmed, the system proceeds to step 108 and asks if the teacher / educator is authorized to request an assessment. If the query at step 108 is denied, the system proceeds to branch point 104. However, if the entitlement query in step 108 is affirmed, the system proceeds to step 110, updates the preliminary assessment state of the selected assessment batch to ready, and proceeds to branch point 106.

  Referring to FIG. 5, the teacher / educator initiates an inquiry about the evaluation at step 112, and the system proceeds to branch point 114 and then to step 116, where the data warehouse / Ask if there are assessment batches in the repository. If the query at step 116 is denied, the system then stops at step 118. However, if the query at step 116 is affirmed, the system proceeds to step 120, retrieves the image of the first scanned assessment page of the assessment batch, and then proceeds to step 122 to align the registration reference mark. Is automatically used to “align” the scanned image with the corresponding appropriate image of the original assessment layout. The system then proceeds to step 124 and automatically subtracts the scanned image from the corresponding stored original assessment layout image, and “lifts” the manually marked marks for each image.

  The system then proceeds to step 126 and automatically applies annotations (associated with each item on the assessment) for each image of the “lifted” mark, tabulating the results of the assessment, where each assessment image. Evaluate the mark. In doing so, the system automatically decodes each mark using an analysis of the mark shape, mark color, or mark position in the field, or any combination of color, shape and mark position in the field. To do. Here, the field is a designated area located in the scanned and registered assessment page image. The system then proceeds to 128 and automatically generates a rating for each assessment item, indicating the level of confidence that the annotation was successfully applied to the item. The system then proceeds to step 130 and automatically stores the assessment assessment results in the data warehouse / repository and proceeds to step 132.

  In step 132, the system asks if this is the last image in the assessment batch. If the determination in step 132 is negative, the system proceeds to step 134 and subsequently acquires an image of the next scanned assessment and then returns to step 120.

  However, if the query in step 132 is affirmed, the system proceeds to step 136 and sends an e-mail / notification to the teacher that the assessment batch preliminary assessment is complete, with a brief preliminary assessment summary report and preliminary assessment. Provide a link to the results in the data warehouse / repository interface for the assessment batch. The system then proceeds to step 138 and updates the preliminary assessment status of the assessment batch in the data warehouse / repository to Done. Thus, the system has completed the evaluation phase of the disclosed method.

  Referring to FIG. 6, the validation phase of the method begins with the teacher receiving an email from the system that the assessment batch has been preliminarily evaluated and a link has been given to the data warehouse / repository. The The system then proceeds to step 142 where the teacher accesses the assessment batch validation interface in the data warehouse / repository by selecting the link provided in the notification.

  The teacher then provides the authentication information required in step 144 and the system then queues the first evaluated assessment in the assessment batch in step 146. In step 148, the teacher manually marks, the appropriate “important” information about each item (obtained from the assessment annotations), the automatic evaluation for each item, and the color-coded trust for each item View assessment images by gender level. In step 150, the teacher can perform preliminary assessment verification and enter corrections / updates / corrections to the preliminary assessment as needed, and the system proceeds to step 152 to add annotations or metadata. Ask about it. If the query at step 152 is denied by the teacher / educator, the system proceeds to step 154. However, if the query at step 152 is affirmed, the teacher adds the annotation / metadata to the assessment image at step 156 and the system proceeds to step 154.

  In step 154, the system automatically updates the data warehouse / repository with the corrected assessment data and any assessment image annotations / metadata. The system then proceeds to step 158 to update the assessment verification status to complete in the data warehouse / repository and proceeds to step 160.

  In step 160, the system asks if another assessment is seen, and if the answer to the query in step 160 is negative, the system proceeds to step 162 and validates the assessment batch in the data warehouse / repository. Update state to complete and then stop.

  However, if the query in step 160 is affirmed, the system proceeds to step 164, queues for the next assessment, and returns to step 148.

  Referring to FIG. 7, the reporting phase of the disclosed method is shown in a block diagram where, in step 166, the teacher requests a report for an assessment batch having a verified verification status. The system proceeds to step 168 and asks if the teacher's request is in the MFD, and if the answer to the query is negative, the system proceeds to step 170 where the teacher remotely receives the data warehouse / repository. The system requests the teacher to provide authentication and identification at step 172 and proceeds to step 174 where the teacher selects a verified assessment batch. Next, the system allows the teacher to select one of the known collections of a given type of report from the menu at step 176, and the teacher provides some relevant information required by the report. Proceed to The system then proceeds to step 180 where the report is displayed at a remote location with print options and the system proceeds to step 182.

  If the query in step 168 is affirmed, the teacher provides authentication information in step 184, and in step 186, the teacher selects an assessment batch verified in the MFD DUI. Next, in step 188, the teacher selects one of the known collections of a given type of report in the MFD DUI, and in step 190, the teacher provides any relevant information required by the report, and the system Proceeding to step 192, the report is printed in the MFD and the system proceeds to step 182.

  In step 182, a query is made as to whether the report is stored in the data warehouse / repository. If the query in step 182 is denied, the system stops. However, if the query in step 182 is affirmed, the system proceeds to step 184, stores the report, and then stops.

  Referring now to FIGS. 25-31, an embodiment of an educational assessment system 200 in accordance with the present disclosure includes an assessment-enabled multifunction device 400, an assessment repository device 300, an assessment and analysis device 500, an assessment An access device 600. As previously described herein, the assessment-enabled multifunction device 400, the assessment repository device 300, and the assessment analysis device 500 are interconnected by the data network 18.

  Assessment-enabled multi-function device 400 includes a processor 410, a scanning assembly 434, a printing assembly 432, a storage device 430, a user interface 436, and a communication interface 420 in operative communication. . The assessment-enabled multifunction device 400 further includes an assessment module 440 having at least one of software, firmware and hardware for performing the method of accessing EAS services as disclosed herein. In one embodiment, the assessment module 440 includes a software program having a set of programmable instructions configured to be executed by at least one processor 410 of the multi-function device 400 for accessing EAS services. Including. In an embodiment, the assessment module 440 may select an EAS print service, allow a user to select an assessment form, and allow a user to print an assessment class or portion thereof (ie, a student printing the assessment). A group of a plurality of groups), printing an assessment set, scanning an assessment set, communicating with an assessment repository device 300, and communicating with an assessment analysis device 500 Contains executable instructions for one of them.

  In an embodiment, the assessment module 440 includes a set of application programming interfaces (e.g., without limitation, that implement a modular application programming architecture such as Extensible Interface Platform (EIP) developed by Xerox Corporation). API). For example, software instructions compliant with the EIP API and configured to implement the aforementioned assessment module functions can be dynamically downloaded and / or executed by the multi-function device 400. In an embodiment, the assessment module 440 is a web-based application (eg, web server or “webapp”) that can be executed by and / or run on the multi-function device 400. be able to. Downloaded and / or executable software instructions implementing the assessment module 400 can be pre-programmed into the multi-function device 400 or, for example, an assessment repository device 300, an assessment analysis device 500, an EIP It can be downloaded dynamically from the application server 14 or other network server on the local area network or wide area network. In an embodiment, the download is made on a per use basis, and the end user (ie school / educator) can be charged for access and / or download fees.

  The assessment repository device 300 includes a processor 310, a storage device 330, and a communication interface 320 that are in operative communication. Assessment repository device 300 communicates with multifunction device 400, communicates with assessment analysis device 500, stores scanned assessments, stores metadata about scanned assessments, and at least one It further includes an assessment repository module 340 having at least one of software, firmware and hardware for performing at least one of maintaining one assessment database (not explicitly shown).

  Assessment analysis device 500 includes a processor 510, a storage device 530, and a communication interface 520 that are in operative communication. Assessment repository device 500 communicates with multifunction device 400, communicates with assessment repository device 300, retrieves scanned images of assessments, stores and / or retrieves annotations, scanned To perform at least one of processing the image to detect manually placed marks thereon, applying relevant assessment annotations to assess the assessment, and storing assessment assessments An assessment analysis module 540 having at least one of software, firmware and hardware.

  The assessment repository module 340 and / or assessment module 440 also presents an image of the assessment to the user / teacher, including any manually marked marks that currently correspond to the answer key information, A web server 730 may be included to present the preliminary assessment assessment results to the user / teacher and facilitate review and correction thereof. In this way, the user / teacher has been manually attached, for example, without limitation, stray marks, incomplete or ugly marks, and / or may be misinterpreted by the assessment module 440. Corrections that may appear from the mark can be entered into the assessment evaluation.

  In an embodiment, at least one of the assessment repository module 340, the assessment module 440, and the assessment analysis module 540 may include the ability to transmit an email message (not explicitly shown). . The email message can include information regarding the assessment assessment results, summary information associated with the assessment batch, and / or hypertext links to the assessment review page. Can be transmitted to the user / teacher by the web server 730 and, as described above, within the assessment repository module 340, the assessment module 440, or in a stand-alone server (not explicitly shown) Can be included.

  Referring now to FIG. 29A, an assessment-enabled multifunction device (AE-MFD) embodiment according to the present disclosure is disclosed, where the multifunction device 400A includes an assessment analysis module 540A that is operatively in communication with the processor 410. In addition. Assessment analysis module 540A communicates with assessment module 400, assessment repository device 300, retrieves scanned images of assessments, stores and / or retrieves annotations, processes scanned images Software, firmware, and hardware for performing at least one of detecting marks manually attached to, applying associated assessment annotations to assess assessments, and storing assessment assessments At least one piece of wear. In FIG. 29B, an assessment-enabled multifunction device (AE-MFD) according to the present disclosure is shown, where the multifunction device 400B communicates with the assessment module 400, the assessment analysis device 500, and / or the assessment analysis module 540B. Software, firmware for performing at least one of: storing scanned assessments, storing metadata associated with scanned assessments, and maintaining at least one assessment database 720 And an assessment repository module 340B having at least one of hardware.

  Referring to FIGS. 30-31, the academic database 710 includes a student data set 712, a class data set 714, a teacher data set 716, and a score data set 718. The assessment database 720 includes a paper data set 722 and an annotation data set 724. In an embodiment, the data set can be organized as a database table as is well known to those skilled in the art. The assessment repository module 340 is in operative communication with the academic database 710 and the assessment database 720 and can further be in operative communication with the assessment module 440, the assessment analysis module 540, and the assessment access module 640. . The assessment access module 640 can communicate with the assessment repository module 340 via the web server 730. In an embodiment, the assessment access module 640 includes a web browser.

  In use, at step 810, the assessment definition is stored in the assessment database 720. The assessment definition can include the physical layout of the assessment that can be stored in the paper data set 724 and the associated annotation (eg, answer key) that can be stored in the annotation data set 724. An image data collection 726 for storing a scanned image of the assessment performed and, optionally, alternatively, metadata associated therewith may be included in the assessment database 720. Additionally or alternatively, the image data set 726 can be included in the storage device 530 of the assessment analysis device 500. In step 812, an assessment is generated using an assessment definition stored in assessment database 720 and at least one of a student database, a class database, and a teacher database, so that each of the generated assessments is an individual Respond uniquely to students. Next, in step 814, the assessment is printed on the multifunction device 400 or, optionally or alternatively, a stand-alone printer, fax, or other rendering device that can render the page. In an embodiment, the assessment can be printed in a portable document format (PDF) file.

  In embodiments, the printed assessment can include, without limitation, at least one of a student name, student identification number, classroom identifier, teacher identifier, identified assessment, date, etc. A machine readable identifier such as a barcode may be included.

  In step 816, a printed assessment sheet is performed on the student, where the student's response is recorded on the sheet, and in step 818 the completed assessment is scanned and stored in the image data set 726, optionally. The scanned assessment data is stored along with the associated metadata.

  In step 820, the assessment analysis module 540 evaluates the scanned assessment data. The assessment analysis module 540 may use the identifier from the assessment sheet, such as a barcoded machine readable identifier or a human readable identifier (ie, a preprinted or handwritten text identifier), when possible. The corresponding student, class, teacher, and / or assessment ID can be determined. Analysis module 540 uses the annotation data corresponding to the assessment to generate evaluation data that is used in step 822 to generate an assessment score for each scanned assessment. In step 822, the assessment score is stored in the academic database 710. The academic database may contain granular data, for example, data corresponding to all tests for all students in all grades. Granular data can span historical data (eg, data from any previous year) and / or geographic data (eg, data from various school districts, counties, etc.). Step 824 can optionally be performed, where individual assessment responses are correlated to identify groups of students having a common response type. For example, without limitation, responses can be grouped to identify students who have also provided an incorrect assessment response (identifying groups of students who may require special help in a particular subject area). As another example, students can be grouped according to responses that are consistent with learning disabilities (eg, consistently opposite or opposite responses may indicate dyslexia).

10: System 12: MFD (multifunctional device)
14: EIP application server 16, 22: Line 18: Network 20: Remote terminal or PC
24: EAS server 26: data warehouse / repository

Claims (4)

A method for performing an educational assessment of one or more students, each having an educational plan, comprising:
A. Store education assessment definitions in an assessment repository,
B. Using one of the education assessment definitions to generate an education assessment that uniquely corresponds to each student having an education plan;
C. A form corresponding to the one educational assessment is printed, and a free-form mark is added to the educational assessment form according to the implementation of the educational assessment form for students,
D. In response to performing the education assessment form on the individual students, the completed completed education assessment form is scanned to capture the free-form mark;
E. Generating educational assessment data from the captured free-form marks;
F. Storing said educational assessment data;
G. Evaluating the education assessment data to optimize the education plan for the individual students;
A method comprising steps. A to G are respectively executed on a multifunction printing device,
Correlate education assessment scores from multiple completed education assessment forms to identify at least one group of students that include one response type;
The method of performing an educational assessment according to claim 1, further comprising a step. A number of educational assessments are stored in the multifunction device,
G. Generating a report including the at least one educational assessment, the at least one other educational assessment score, and the common response type;
H. (A) displaying one of the multiple assessments, (b) modifying one or more of the multiple assessments, and (c) one or more of the multiple assessments. Perform one or more of the deletions;
The method of performing an educational assessment according to claim 1, further comprising a step. An educational assessment repository module for storing educational assessment definitions;
An educational assessment module for generating an educational assessment that uniquely corresponds to each student having an educational plan using one of the educational assessment definitions;
A printer for generating paper corresponding to the one educational assessment, wherein a free-form mark is added to the educational assessment form according to the implementation of the educational assessment form for the individual students. When,
A scanner for capturing the free-form marks from the educational assessment form performed on the individual students;
Generating an educational assessment data corresponding to the captured free-form mark and evaluating the educational assessment data to optimize the educational plan of the individual student; An educational assessment analysis module that communicates with the module;
An education assessment system characterized by comprising

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