The design of a web-based computer proficiency examination

In 1996, the Kansas Board of Regents passed a requirement that, beginning in 2001, a student applying for admission to a Kansas university must have earned one high school unit of computer technology. One option a student has for satisfying this requirement is to pass a computer proficiency examination. This paper reports on the development of a web-based proficiency test designed and developed at the University of Kansas. It discusses initial design decisions that were made as well as unanticipated problems which arose that had to be resolved in order to bring this project to fruition. Two types of security issues had to be addressed-maintaining the integrity of the question source and ensuring that the testing environment at the remote site was strictly monitored. Having to deal with different versions of browsers as well as different computing platforms presented additional challenges