CADE Off-Air Testing

Starting an Off-Air Exam

After the questions during the session have been issued, any test (off-air exam) associated with the course will be displayed.  A program can have any number of such exams.

When the test is started, a timer begins a countdown on both the Studio Control and Virtual Classroom screens.  This time value comes from the test length field in the Test master record in the database and is managed with the Learning Management Web.

Virtual Classroom Display

On the Virtual Classroom display, the timer is large enough so you can see the countdown timer, and how much time is left, from your workspace in the classroom.

Each student may answer each question on the test independently from all others.  Student responses during an exam can not be seen on the screen, only the individual's wireless remote control.

Plus and Minus buttons on the screen or Forward and Back buttons on the remote allow students to move forward and back using either the wireless remote control or the mouse.

Monitoring Progress

During the test, studio personnel can monitor progress from the Studio Control screen.  

Since the progress will typically be monitored periodically, the progress values are updated on demand as required.  This also helps to reduce the demand on database, communication, and computing resources during the testing process.

Studio personnel can retrieve results any time by clicking the "Get Totals" button.  This will take a snapshot of the testing activity at that point in time and displays progress for both student and site.

Each student's percent of questions complete is displayed adjacent to their name.  The overall percentage for the students at a specific location located before the site name.

Monitoring a Specific Site and
Text-To-Speech

If you click on a site, you will be shown all the people at that site and how far they have progressed in the test.

You can use text chat with a single site by selecting their site name in the chat window and sending them a message.

No one needs to be at the remote computer to receive your message.  The system uses text-to-speech generation so anyone in the room will hear your message... albeit in a computer generated voice.

Course Scheduling and Studio Identification

Scheduling can be done by authorized personnel anywhere they have access to the network.  While courses do not have to be scheduled, there are a number of advantages to doing so.

When scheduling a course for broadcast, the studio location can be specified in the scheduling form.  This will cause the system to check for scheduling conflicts or overlaps in the desired studio.

Identifying a studio location during scheduling also allows the Virtual Classrooms to automatically link to the proper studio should there be concurrent broadcast sessions at the time they were logging on.  

When a Virtual Classroom starts, the CADE system checks to see if anyone at that site is registered in a course that's about to start or is currently underway.  If they are, the Virtual Classroom will link to the appropriate studio.  If no students are registered, the currently on-air courses will be displayed on the Virtual Classroom screen so they can choose which course to join.

Text-To-Speech Communication with All Sites

Likewise, you can open the group chat window and communicate with everyone in the broadcast. The system uses the text-to-speech capability as well so you can announce the test is almost over or any other appropriate message you would like the students to hear while they are completing their test.