Abstract
This study proposed an intelligent exam management system based on the Browser/Server (B/S) structure for Hebei University. The system was integrated with three levels: user interface, business logical, and data access. These levels manage the test arrangements and performance of students through intelligent data processing. Three function modules based on C#, ADO.NET, and ASP.NET technology and business demand were developed; the modules were user management, examination arrangement management, and performance management. Moreover, 10 sub-function modules, including the exam arrangement module and the score registration module, were realized. The practical operation results show that the established intelligent exam management system can efficiently achieve education informatization and plays a significant role in educational administration and management system. Consequently, the efficiency of examination work and the safety of the exam management system can be enhanced.
Introduction
In recent years, the number of college students has increased rapidly with the rapid development of domestic colleges [1]. Along with the popularization of education informatization and intelligent information technology [2], many colleges have developed comprehensive educational administration management systems; several business companies have developed educational administration systems for colleges as well. Educational administration management systems are vital to the efficient operation of colleges. The exam management system is a subsystem of the educational administration management system, and it primarily includes the examination arrangement management subsystem and performance management subsystem.
Along with the reform of the education system and the expansion of university enrollment, the work of exam management is becoming increasingly demanding [3]. Numerous assessments are being conducted around the world [4]. Under recent historical conditions, exam management aims to embody the requirements of intelligentialization and education informationization. Advanced intelligent computer technology is utilized to serve the work of examination and improve the work efficiency of examination. Thus, the design and development of intelligent exam management system is essential.
The research on the exam management system of universities currently plays an important role in the improvement of the efficiency of exam management, as well as the informatization of exam management. However, some deficiencies still exist in the present system: The function of the system is incomplete. Along with the increasingly heavy and complex work of exam management, a significant demand for other functions of the system exists. Without meeting these demands, the function of the exam management system at present is incomplete. Nowadays, the exam management systems used by a majority of universities are developed by business companies. Therefore, the system interface lacks certain characteristics. The system suffers from poor stability. As a result of the increase of college recruits and the popularization of education informatization, users of the exam management system are increasing gradually. When many users log onto the system at the same time, some errors can occur in the system.
This intelligent system sets different permissions for the work of exam management for different types of users. With the use of the B/S structure, the operation of exam management is highly convenient. The operation interface is simple and easy to understand. As a result, users who do not possess much professional knowledge can also operate the system. Through the effective combination of computer network technology, database technology, and exam management business, the intelligent exam management system not only improves the efficiency of the work of exam management, but also promotes informatization of exam management. Moreover, the intelligentialization of computer technology is fully embodied.
The remainder of this paper is organized as follows. Section 2 describes the state-of-the-art. Section 3 introduces the technology involved in the development and structure of the intelligent exam management system. Section 4 presents the result analysis. Conclusions are summarized in Section 5.
State of the art
At present, manual operation is the main operation mode of the exam management system in universities. Three working modes exist at present: the Browser/Server (B/S) structure, Client/Server (C/S) structure, and the combination of the two modes [5]. In 2010, Qin designed and developed an examination management system based on the C/S structure; it analyzed and described test arrangement in detail [6]. However, installing a specific client on the machine is essential for its operating system. Thus, the system is subject to different operating environments. With the popularization of the Internet and the continuous introduction of Web development platforms, the B/S structure and the combination of the two modes are highly scalable and may gradually replace the traditional C/S structure. Using the method of life cycle [7], Cui conducted research in 2014 on the examination management system based on the combination of B/S and C/S. However, without the arrangement for invigilation teachers, this study only introduced the classroom assignment problem. Moreover, Wang et al. conducted research on the classroom assignment problem to reduce the repetition rate of classroom assignment; they use the method of 0–1 integer programming [8]. With the same idea, Ehrgott used the method of integer programming to solve large-scale practical classroom assignment problems [9]. Elloumi et al studied the classroom assignment problem as well, but the goal of their study was to reduce the classroom usage [10].
The present study aims to build an intelligent exam management system with complete functions and an intuitive interface which is safe and efficient. Different platforms are designed for different types of users. Moreover, the present study realizes the function of user management, examination arrangement management, and performance management. User login, information maintenance, and password modification and permissions management functions are realized in the module of user management. Functions of arranging the examination, the maintenance of the examination arrangement, and the management of deferring exams are realized in the module of examination arrangement management. Functions of registration, maintenance, and statistics of exam results are realized in the module of performance management. The business process is shown in Fig. 1.
Design of the intelligent exam management system
Modern intelligent systems are integrated systems [11], so is the intelligent exam management system. SQL Server 2008 is used in the management of the database system based on B/S structure and C#. This study utilized Visual Studio 2010 as the development platform and used ASP.NET technology; this study realized the connection between client and database through ADO.NET.
Introduction of technology related to the intelligent exam management system
(1) Introduction of B/S framework
The B/S framework is a kind of network structure model which developed after WEB. WEB browser is the main software applied in client. The clients of the B/S framework are ordinary browsers; most of the functions of the system are on the server side [12]. Therefore, users can access the system easily through their own browsers without any additional procedures [13]. The structure of B/S is shown in Fig. 2.
(2) Introduction of ADO.NET
As a set of object-oriented class libraries, ADO.NET is used to interact with data sources, which is the database in general [14].
(3) Introduction of ASP.NET
As a part of the.NET Frame Work, ASP.NET is a scripting technique on the server side, and its scripts which are embedded in web page can be executed by the internet server [15]. The core of ASP.NET is composed of many.NET classes, which provide service for the HTTP requests through the close cooperation with each other. In addition, the process of building an application is to the same as the process of constructing classes that interact with classes in the basic framework.
(4) Introduction of C#
C#, which is used in writing source programs, is an object-oriented language. It is a kind of high-level programming language which runs on the.net framework. Every part of the C# program is an object. Derived from C and C++, C# is a safe, stable, simple, and elegant object-oriented language [16].
Structure of the intelligent exam management system
The B/S framework was chosen as the information system structure. It is composed of three levels of system structure, namely, the user interface layer, the business logic layer, and the data access layer [17]. The system structure is shown in Fig. 3. User interface layer: As the interface displayed to users, the user interface layer is the interface between users and the system. It not only displays the dynamic data transmitted by the business logical layer, but also transmits data inputted by users to the business logic layer. Therefore, it provides users with an interactive interface. Business logic layer: The business logic level operates on the data access layer. The business logic level is a part of the system architecture which shows the core value. The relevant business rules of the system are completed in this layer. The business logic layer plays an essential role in the data exchange between user interface layer and data access layer. Data access layer: The data access layer is sometimes also called the persistence layer. It has access to the database system, binary files, text documents, and XML documents. Located in the next layer of the business logical layer, it can be accessed only by the business logical layer. In the data access layer, the data information can be added, deleted, modified, and queried according to the requirements of the business logic layer. The entity relationship diagram of the system is shown in Fig. 4.
Development environment of the intelligent exam management system
Browser: IE and other browsers Server: Microsoft IIS (Internet Information Server) 7.0 Development tool: Visual Studio 2010 Database software: SQL SEVER2008 Framework: B/S (Browser/Server)
Result analysis
According to the demand of users, the examination management system includes three modules: the user management module, examination arrangement management module, and performance management module, as shown in Fig. 5.
User management module
The functions of user log-in, querying personal information, and modifying the log-in password are realized in the user management module. The administrators have access to add, modify, query, and delete the information of both students and teachers[18].
In the user management module, users can log into the system only when both the user-name and password are correct; the selected identity must also correspond to the data in database. When modifying the password, users must input the original and new password and then input the new password once again. However, users fail to modify the password, if the original password is different from the log-in password, or the two new passwords do notmatch. Each function operates as follows: User log-in. According to the demand analysis, the validation of information inputted by users is achieved in the log-in interface. Users may fail to log in and operate the system, if the user-names or passwords are invalid. At the same time, the system presents users with a prompt. Figure 6 shows the screen-shots of user log-in. Management of information: The management of information includes the functions of adding, modifying, deleting, and querying users’ information. Addition of information means adding students’ and teachers’ information through the administrator. Modification of information means modifying students’ and teachers’ information through the administrator. For querying information, both users and administrators are allowed to query the information of students and teachers. Because of the different kinds of querying methods, querying information is convenient for administrators. For example, the administrator can query the information of students according to department, class numbers, and student ID. In addition, administrators can get the information of teachers by department, job title, and staff number. Modification of password: When modifying the password, users must input the original and new password and then input the new password once again. However, users fail to modify the password, if the original password is different from the login password, or the two new passwords do not match, as shown in Fig. 7. Permission administration: In the present study, teachers are given permission to enter scores once and for all.
Exam management module
The exam management module completes the management of exam arrangement and delaying exams. The administrator arranges the exams before the formal exams and supplemental exams mainly by arranging the time, classes, and examination invigilators. As for the information of exam arrangement, the administrator can view, modify, and delete the arrangement information; students are only allowed to view personal arrangement; and teachers can query the arrangement of invigilation.
The application forms for delaying the exams are filled in and submitted by students. Once the administrator responds to the submission, the form is deposited in the database. Arranging exams: Arranging exams is the key to exam management. The rules for exam arrangement are as follows: each student can only take one exam at one time; only one exam can be held in each class; and each examination invigilator can monitor only one exam at a time. For supplemental exams, students who fail the formal exams are filtered by the system; under the same rules for arranging exams, the system will arrange the supplemental exams according to the subject of examination. Management of exam arrangements: The administrator can query, modify, and delete the arrangements. Each student can view personal exam arrangements. Teachers can query the arrangements of invigilation. Figure 8 shows the screenshot of querying arrangements. Management of delaying exams: The application forms for delaying exams are filled in and submitted by students in this system, as shown in Fig. 9. Once the administrator responds to the submission, the form is deposited in the database.
Performance management module
The operand of this module is the marks of students. Teachers are allowed to register marks only once; subsequently, they can only inquiry results. The administrator can query, modify, and count the exam results. Students can only inquiry personal marks. Score registration: After getting permission from the administrator, teachers can register marks of the courses taught by them, as Fig. 10 shows. Moreover, they can choose to manually enter data or to import data. Management of marks: As shown in Fig. 11, the administrator is allowed to query and modify the marks by course name key and student ID; teachers can inquire the results of the courses they teach; and students can view all results, including results in one semester and failing grades. Performance statistics: The operator of performance statistics is the administrator, who completes the statistics of grade point average, number of students who take part in the exams, and number of students who pass and fail the exams. To vividly show some of the performance statistics, he may graph them [19]. The screenshot of performance statistics are depicted in Fig. 12.
Conclusion
With the rapid development of informatization and intelligentization, the simple operation and convenient management of an intelligent system bring new development opportunities in the exam management system. The current construction of exam management system faces high cost, information security, and complicated operation issues among many other problems. This study proposes an intelligent information system of exam management based on the life cycle standard of software engineering to solve the problem of heavy exam management work. The study’s computer network utilizes Visual Studio 2010 as the development platform and uses ASP.NET technology. This study achieves the connection between client and database by ADO.NET. Thus, the requirement for the client configuration is decreased; the local resource can also be effectively shared. Furthermore, the system realizes functions that meet the system construction demand of the administrator, students, and teachers. The operation is stable, safe, and simple. The intelligent exam management system connects the campus network through the network platform and IT. This system can optimize the internal resources allocation of enterprises and share the resources and information through linking among networks and users.
Footnotes
Acknowledgments
The work was financially supported by the National Planning Office of Philosophy and Social Science of China (No. 12BTJ012), the Technology Foundation for Selected Overseas Scholars in Hebei Province (C201400103), and the Midwest University Comprehensive Strength Promotion Project. The authors declare that there is no conflict of interests.