Inom matematikämnet har e-bedömningar, aktiviteter där digitala tekniker används för att bedöma studenters kunskaper, inte utvecklats i samma takt som e-bedömningar inom andra områden. Detta beror sannolikt på det stora inslag av symboler och icke-standardiserade tecken som karakteriserar matematiskt språk och särskiljer det från traditionellt skriftspråk. Ett problem som har noterats i samband med e-bedömningar inom matematik är att inmatningen av matematiska uttryck i ett digitalt system i många fall varit långsam och svår att begripa. Den här rapporten syftar till att undersöka tre kategorier av inmatningsmetoder utifrån aspekterna snabbhet, korrekthet och upplevd lätthet för att på så sätt skapa en bild av vilken av teknikerna som lämpar sig bäst att implementera i en e-bedömningsapplikation riktat mot den svenska gymnasieskolan. För att uppnå syftet har jag granskat tre familjer av tekniker genom att låta gymnasieelever genomföra inmatningar av matematiska uttryck och analysera dessa inmatningar baserat på inmatningstid, korrekthet och upplevd lätthet.Resultaten visar på att det finns tydliga skillnader mellan de undersökta teknikerna med avseende på samtliga undersökta aspekter. Noterbart är att medelvärdet för genomförandetiden sett över samtliga tekniker och uttryck är 1 minut och 32 sekunder vilket satt i relation till den verksamhet teknikerna är tänkta att konkurrera med, att skriva matematiska uttryck med papper och penna, är högt. Andra noterbara resultat är att av undersökningens totalt 127 inmatade uttryck så var 49,6 % av dessa inte korrekt inmatade med den här rapportens syn på korrekthet. Trots att ingen av dagens tekniker är perfekt finns det bra inslag att bygga vidare på. Bland dessa kan nämnas ASCIIMathML´s, av eleverna upplevda, naturliga inmatning och dess förmåga att avgöra om ett uttryck tolkas matematiskt eller ej samt Math Input Panels förslag på alternativa uttryck, goda korrektionsmöjligheter och dess likhet med traditionell inmatning. Det finns också frågor av mer praktisk karaktär som rör exempelvis licenser och exportering av data man behöver adressera innan man beslutar sig för en specifik inmatningsteknik för en applikation. / E-assessment, activities in which digital techniques are used to assess students’ knowledge, in mathematics is an area that has not developed as fast as e-assessments in other areas. This is likely caused by the large elements of symbols and non-standard characters, which is characteristic of mathematical language and distinguishes it from ordinary written language. One problem that has arisen is that the input of mathematical expressions in a digital system in many cases has been slow and difficult to comprehend. This report aims to investigate three categories of input methods from three different aspects: speed, correctness and perceived ease in order to get an idea of which of the technologies are best suited to implement in an e-assessment application directed against the Swedish upper secondary school. To meet this objective three interrelated techniques where investigated by allowing upper secondary school students to use these techniques to input mathematical expressions and analyze these entries based on time, correctness and perceived ease.The results show that there are clear differences between the studied techniques for all examined aspects. Notably, the average time viewed over all techniques and expressions is 1 minute and 32 seconds which in relation to the activity these techniques are meant to compete with, writing mathematical expressions with pen and paper, is high. An additional notable finding is that in this survey a total of 127 expressions were processed and of those 49.6 % were not properly entered with this report's view of correctness. Although none of today's technologies are perfect, there are good elements to build on. These include ASCIIMathML's perceived ease and its ability to determine whether an expression is mathematically or not and Math Input Panels suggested alternative expressions, good correction ability and its similarity to traditional input. There are also questions of a more practical nature relating to things such as licenses and export of data which need to be addressed before deciding on a specific input technology for an application.

Tese de mestrado integrado. Engenharia Informática e Computação. Faculdade de Engenharia. Universidade do Porto. 2011

M. Tech. (Department of Information Technology, Faculty of Applied and Computer Sciences), Vaal University of Technology. / Computer based assessments have become one of the largest growing sectors in both nonacademic and academic establishments. Successful computer based assessments require security against impersonation and fraud and many researchers have proposed the use of Biometric technologies to overcome this issue. Biometric technologies are defined as a computerised method of authenticating an individual (character) based on behavioural and physiological characteristic features. Basic biometric based computer based assessment systems are prone to security threats in the form of fraud and impersonations. In a bid to combat these security problems, keystroke dynamic technique and facial biometric recognition was introduced into the computer based assessment biometric system so as to enhance the authentication ability of the computer based assessment system. The keystroke dynamic technique was measured using latency and pressure while the facial biometrics was measured using principal component analysis (PCA). Experimental performance was carried out quantitatively using MATLAB for simulation and Excel application package for data analysis. System performance was measured using the following evaluation schemes: False Acceptance Rate (FAR), False Rejection Rate (FRR), Equal Error Rate (EER) and Accuracy (AC), for a comparison between the biometric computer based assessment system with and without the keystroke and face recognition alongside other biometric computer based assessment techniques proposed in the literature. Successful implementation of the proposed technique would improve computer based assessment’s reliability, efficiency and effectiveness and if deployed into the society would improve authentication and security whilst reducing fraud and impersonation in our society.