Learn more about the new system for Dutch Digital examining, developed by Trifork and speech enabled with Acapela voices.
In the Netherlands, a lot of exams are going digital. And the Board of Examinations (het College voor Toetsen en Examens, or het CvTE) is mandated by the government of the Netherlands to ensure the quality and proper administration of national examinations. This obviously includes Accessibility issues, with equal opportunities at the heart of the process, for students with disabilities such as sight or learning impairments.
Project Background
‘The system that the CvTE had in place was capable of planning, presenting and correcting examinations. This system had been developed over ten years ago and was not meeting today’s standards and withholding any innovation on future development. The CvTE decided that a new system for digital examining was a logical investment’ says Vincent de Jong, Project Manager at Trifork.
Data storage and retrieval of information as well as the planning module are being managed by the DUO (Dienst Uitvoering Onderwijs) while the modules to preview, view, correct, review and practice exams with have been developed by Trifork, a leading supplier of custom-built applications for organizations primarily in Education & Research, Government & Non-Profit and Profit organizations.
The most visible improvement is the user interface. For all the tools Trifork created a new interaction and visual design. The new design had to preserve all the things that people liked after ten years of use. In the same time several tools were introduced and embedded in the examining environment; calculator, notepad, magnifier, spell-check, protractor, ruler, marker, special characters, and formula editor.
‘A major audible improvement is the text to speech (TTS) integration. We integrated Acapela Group voices which makes it possible to have all text based content read to you. We support Dutch and 3 other languages. The TTS switches language automatically when the language within a text changes’ adds Vincent de Jong, project manager at Trifork.
‘Education is a major application field for text to speech. Its capability to turn any written information into voice to easily add an audio layer makes fully sense in the exams whole process to both enrich the user interface and contribute to the equal opportunities principle. We are very proud to be part of the system and we look forward to keep it improving with Trifork’ comments Lars-Erik Larsson, Acapela Group CEO.
The project started in winter 2011, and delivered spring 2013, has been validated during field test and real exams. Most of the feedback that has been generated is very positive. To maintain this quality the system will be evaluated constantly and will be improved in the years to come.
Trifork Company profile
As a full-service solution provider Trifork offers its clients a complete end-to-end set of services to support the full project life cycle. Trifork’s project delivery services cover the creation process from the initial functional-, technical- and graphical designs, through the various development stages, into ultimately application maintenance & support in a production environment.
One of Trifork’s key success factors for delivering projects on time and within budget is the use of an agile process. Trifork’s preferred development approach is based on an iterative development model known as Scrum.
Trifork is experienced with implementing the QTI Assessment Delivery Engine in customer projects and are also actively involved with the work group set up by the IMS. Our vast experience in the education combined with our own research and dedication to the future of digital advancements within this sector make us the perfect software development partner.
