Tasks, processes, and tools: A Design Methodology Management approach to design and development of e-assessment

As technological approaches continue to dominate provision of education in this modern age, effective methods and techniques should be employed in the development of the supporting systems. In this paper we discuss the use of Design Methodology Management (DMM) technology in the development of a formative e-assessment system to support the learning process. DMM promotes a framework type modular approach to system development thereby promoting flexibility and extensibility of the system. Most existing applications of design methodology management, particularly in the electrical design field, have focused on automation of the design process. Our main focus is on the structural representation of the system as well as the flow of data between its components. We first discuss design of the generic e-assessment framework and then describe how we used it in the context of a Data Analysis formative assessment.