Azimuth Interactive Software Training Center

Installation Instructions:

Network Skills Testing System (nSTS): Installation/Documentation (For Office 97)

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1. Introduction

2. Features of network Skills Testing System (nSTS)

3. Design Philosophy

4. Installation Instructions for nSTS

5. How to Use the nSTS Administration Program

6. How to Use the nSTS Exam Program

7. FAQs

1. Introduction

nSTS (Network Skills Testing System) permits training administrators to test students on their abilities to work within the applications of the Microsoft® Office® 97 suite. The testing system contains over 600 questions in its question database that are aligned with the skill set outlined by the MOUS (Microsoft Office User Specialist) requirements. nSTS tests can be administered either via a Local Area Network (LAN), or on a single standalone workstation.

nSTS tests students in a safe simulated environment that emulates the actual software interface with great precision. Because nSTS uses a completely simulated environment to assess students, it does not require the Office 97 software to be resident on the testing network or workstation. Using nSTS, students are less likely to be distracted by other applications, or to stray from the testing environment. Instead, they remain focused on problem solving and displaying their software skills.

Once a student completes a nSTS examination, the score is reported to a results database. Instructors can then run diagnostic reports from the results database using the nSTS Administration Software. Reports can be generated by the individual student or by entire sections and classes.

Please know that nSTS questions are task-based. Both open-ended tasks (with multiple answer support) and closed-end tasks (requiring a single specific answer) are available within the question database. The test questions are pre-programmed. A description of each available task and its respective solutions is located in the last section of this documentation.

2. Features of nSTS

- Supports both pre-testing and post-testing to measure progress

- Instructor configures exams using a question database

-· Pre-assembled exams (by MOUS objective groupings) are importable

- Supports random questions ordering

- Student option to skip and return to questions

- Instructor-defined limits on exam and question attempts

- Password protected examinations

- Instructor controlled viewing of feedback

- Instructor controlled viewing and printing of results

- Over 600 questions aligned with Office 97 MOUS objectives

- 100+ miscellaneous beginner questions

- Supports assessment in Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Access

- Supports class roster imports

- Individual student and class based reporting

3. Design Philosophy

nSTS was designed by Prof. Kenneth C. Laudon of New York University's Stern School of Business. nSTS's design objectives include:

Task-based learning of real software skills nSTS tests the student's ability to perform tasks in the software. Multiple choice and true/false questions are inadequate means for testing student software skills. Students "know" software when they can actually complete tasks using the software.
Scenario-based learning and testing of practical skills With nSTS, students are tested using realistic scenarios that make sense to students. nSTS presents students with real-world settings and uses the software to perform tasks typically required in business and office settings. Scenarios like building a resume, a report, or profit/loss statement are used throughout nSTS as examples.
Comprehensive coverage of skills nSTS offers over six hundred general skills questions based on the MOUS 97 skill sets. There are two questions for each MOUS 97 skill, which provides Instructors with many options for both pre- and post- testing.
Supports both "open" and "specific" questions There are different learning styles, and teaching styles. Some Instructors focus on simply "getting the job done" and do not care whether the student uses the mouse, the keyboard, function keys, or combinations of all of these. Other Instructors specifically want students to know how to use the mouse in certain situations, or how to use keyboard shortcuts. nSTS supports both teaching styles by providing one question of each type for each skill.
Supports all instructional packages and systems. nSTS is designed to test student software skills independent of the method or instructional package used to train students. Whether the Instructor uses books, CDs, or in-class tutorials, nSTS can be used to test student skills.
Ease of Use The user interface is specifically designed for college students to be exceptionally clear and easy to use. There are no complicated options or controls for students to worry about, and the testing screens are full screen with no text overlays. The nSTS Administration program is designed to be exceptionally easy to use and to install.
Powerful and Flexible Instructor Exam Controls The nSTS Administration program permits Instructors to fine-tune the examination process to fit their needs. Instructors can randomize questions at the desktop level to prevent cheating, choose the number of exam and question attempts, and choose the nature and timing of feedback to students.
Test in a simulated environment under system administrator control Testing in a simulated environment has many advantages. Students cannot wander off into unplanned activities; the configuration of student client machines is much less likely to interfere with server testing system operations. And students can be presented with a default Windows environment for training and testing, permitting a more standardized training environment.
Comprehensive Student Administration and Reporting nSTS performs all student registration and security tasks automatically. The results of the student exams are stored in a results database. The nSTS program automatically scores individual responses, and calculates diagnostics for individual students, sections, and classes. Instructors can access this database and retrieve predefined reports on individual students, class sections, and entire classes. The system creates spreadsheet file output that instructors can analyze using common spreadsheet software such as Microsoft Excel.

4. Installation Instructions

To install nSTS, simply insert the nSTS CD-ROM in your computer's CD drive. The following dialog box will automatically appear.

Click the Install button to launch the installation utility for nSTS. You can now simply follow the on- screen instructions to install nSTS. Please notice during the install process that the default location where nSTS will be installed is C:\Azimuth\nSTS. You will most likely want to specify a network drive and directory location when installing nSTS to run via a Local Area Network.

After the nSTS installation is complete you will notice a new program Group (named nSTS) available from the Start Menu's Programs Group. Within this group are two icons.

nSTS Exams: the student exams software

nSTS Administration: the instructor administration program

To run the Student Exams Software from a network drive, a short-cut to the ntftoc.exe file will need to be created on each lab workstation.

At this point you are ready to run the nSTS Administration Program to specify some final setup options, import your student names, and configure exams (see Section 5 for details).

Custom Client Configuration

On some network installations it may be preferable to install the examination program locally on each client machine. This will reduce network load, and should only be done if a standard installation is too slow with the exam program stored on a server.

To install the exam files on each client follow this procedure:

Install the administration program as above.
Take the CD-ROM to each client on which you want to set up the client files.
Run the install, select A custom install, and then select only the Student Exam program.
Copy from the CD-ROM the file CLIENT.CFG to the same directory in which the student exam program was installed.
Edit the CLIENT.CFG file (with a program like NOTEPAD) to change the entries for Login_loc and Quiz_loc to be the network path of where the administrator will put the student login file (LOGIN.TXT) and the location of the Exam files (*.exm). Normally these values will be the same.

Be sure to remove the semi-colon from the start of each line you want to activate. After these steps the Student exams can be run locally but will list exam selections and report results to a common network drive.

5. How to Use the nSTS Administration Program

Before a test can be administrated, the instructor must set up his/her students, sections, and exams, and even generate reports. All of these functions are available under the nSTS Administration Program. To launch the nSTS Administration software, click on Start / Programs / nSTS /nSTS Administration. The opening screen of the Administration Software looks like the following…

The top menu bar contains all the features of the program, grouped under the following headings: File, Exam, Student, Report, and Help. Listed below is a detailed description of each of the headings and their functionality.

File

The File menu has two submenu options: Setup and Quit. The Setup submenu is used for setting default values for Exam Properties. It is also where the location of the student roster and results database is specified. It is highly recommended that these locations be hidden from student viewing. A sample setup screen can be seen below.

nSTS Exams should be installed on a network server and path to which the students have read/write access. Student Identification Information is stored in the Student ID file. The Student ID file and the nSTS exams should be stored in different locations. Access to the Student ID file should be read-only for students and read-write for instructors. Students need read access to Student ID files in order to login to the exams. We advise against giving students write access to this file.The nSTS Administration Program should be installed on a networked computer path that students cannot access.

Exam

Click Exam and three instructor options will appear: Create a New Exam, Edit/Delete Exam, and Import Exam. Listed below is a detailed description of the functionality associated with each option.

Create New Exam - Use this screen to create a new exam (open the Exam menu, and select the New Exam command). Instructors can browse the database of questions and choose only those questions desired for a particular exam. For instance, you can create a single end-of-semester exam for all software tools by simply clicking off the questions you want, and saving the exam. Or, you can create a single exam for each software tool at the end of the class section devoted to that tool. To add a question to an exam, select it in the right panel of the Exam Properties window. Then click on the left arrow button to move it into the new exam question list in the left panel. To remove a question from an exam, select it in the left panel, and then click on the right arrow button. When your new exam is complete, click the Save button.

Creating New Exam Questions - Instructors can choose from several options that alter the presentation of exams to students. Click the Exam Options button in the Exam Properties dialog box to access these options and features:

a. Randomize Question Order. To discourage cheating, this option permits randomizing question order so each student receives questions in a different sequence. The default setup randomizes questions.

b. Students may skip and then return to questions. This features permits students to skip questions they are not sure about and then come back to them later once they have completed the last question.

c.Instructor-defined limits on exam and question attempts. This option permits the Instructor to define both how many times a question may be attempted, and how many exam tries will be allowed. The default is no limit on question and exam attempts.

	d. Display Feedback. This option removes the feedback (Correct vs. Incorrect) from each question. The default is ON-feedback is provided after each question. If the OFF option is selected, the Next dialog box appears. The student clicks on Next and advances to the next question without feedback on the current question. In this case, student final scores are reported at the end of the entire exam.
	e. Enable Printing. This option allows the students to print the exam results (topics and scores) when they have completed the exam. Default is print enabled.
	f. Detailed End Feedback. Shows the topic list to students on the final scoring page and the score on each question. Default is ON-the topic list and score appears on the final scoring page. If this option is turned OFF, a list of question numbers and scores is displayed, but no list of topics. When turned OFF, this option prevents students from communicating exam topics to other students taking the exam at a later time.
	g. Question limit. Allows the Instructor to limit the number of questions used in an Exam to a sub-set of the overall database of questions. The questions are chosen randomly. The default setting is all questions will appear on the exam.

h. Pre-configured Exams - nSTS comes with a series of pre-configured examinations that ask students to demonstrate the skills they have learned in Office 97. nSTS's pre-configured exams are organized by application and MOUS 97 Skill Set. The exam questions are stored in a database of exam questions. It generally requires students about 5-15 seconds to answer each question, depending on the question's difficulty and the level of student ability. See Import Exams.

i.Edit/Delete Exam - Use this screen to edit and/or delete existing exams (click Exam, then Edit/Delete Exam). You can edit exams by selecting or deselecting exam questions from the database as above.

j. Import Exam - Use the Import Exam option to import pre-configured exams. Selecting this option prompts you to specify the location of a .exm file. nSTS comes with a series of pre-configured examinations for each of the Office applications. They can be imported from their respective folders within the SAMPLE_EXAMS folder located on your nSTS CD-ROM.

Student

The Student menu gives you all the tools you need to manage student information. Click on Student and three options will appear: Browse Students, Import Student Data, and Add New Student. Below is a detailed description of the functionality associated with each option.

a. Browse Students - Provides a convenient list to browse student ID information. Double-click on a name to delete or edit that student's information

b. Import Student Data - You can import ID information for large numbers of students by requesting that your Registrar create an ASCII file of student ID information on a network path. Ask your registrar to supply a computer file list of all students taking the course. The file must be in an ASCII COMMA DELIMITED FORMAT and contain the following information for each student:

Last Name

First Name [+middle initial]

Course Number

Section Number

Student ID Number

Password

A typical file supplied by the registrar would look like the following example:

Jones, Mary B.,B30-2000,21,345 46 4567,PSWD

All fields can be any alpha numeric unique identifier, with or without spaces, or tabs. The data itself must not contain commas. If Password is not included in the file, you will have to enter this information manually using the Edit menu.

c. Add New Student - Use this menu command to add individual students to the student database, as demonstrated earlier.

Reports

Use the Report menu to create diagnostic reports on student, section, and class performance. Click on Report and the Create Report Option will appear. Below is a detail description of the functionality associated with the Create Report Option.

Create Report

1. Open the Report menu and select the Create Report command. Use this menu command to create and save a student report.

2. Select the type of report from the pre-programmed selection boxes:

Report Type	Report Scope
	For a Single Student	For a Group of Students	For All Students
Detailed Exam Report	X	X	X
Exam Summary	X	X	X
All Exams Summary	X	X	X

Choose a Report and Scope in the Create Report dialog box (see picture below).

For this demonstration:

Choose Report: Detailed Exam Report

Choose Scope:For a Single student

Click Next button

3. Select the student. Choose a student in the Select Student dialog box:

Choose: the name of student you have set up and logged in with

Click: the Next button

4. Select the exam. Choose the name of the exam that you completed using the Select Exam drop-down list box (see picture below). For example, if you took exam Sample Word 97 Exam, then select that exam from the list. Then click the Next button. If you select an exam you did not complete, your report will contain no results.

5. Save the Report. Use the Save As dialog box to choose a directory and file name: In the Save in: box, accept the default directory, noting what it is. The default directory is C:\My Documents. Enter a report name: Give the report a name you can easily remember in the File name: box.

Click the Save button.

After saving, the results of your exam will be stored in the directory indicated in the Save As dialog box. You do have the option of creating and choosing another directory. The exam reports are stored in the directory as a spreadsheet file with a generic "WK1" file extension. You can examine this spreadsheet by starting up Excel and opening the exam with the name you provided. Be sure to change the setting of the Files of type drop-down list in the Excel Open dialog box to search for All files (*.*).

nSTS produces reports in Lotus 123 version 1 format (WK1). This format may be imported to Microsoft Excel, Lotus 123, Quattro Pro, Microsoft Access and any other spreadsheet or database program capable of reading this format. You can use Excel to manipulate the report into the format you want. You can also use all of Excel's graphics and database functions on the report.

Help

Open the Help menu and select the Help command for a description of each menu's functions.

6. How to Use the nSTS Exam Program

Overview:

Run the Student Exams Software from the Start menu by finding the nSTS Exams icon in the nSTS Programs Group. After an opening screen, the student must complete the information on the student login screen. After the login screen, the student selects an exam. The student will be prompted to confirm proper exam selection, and the simulated examination begins. If the selected exam is password protected, the student will have to enter the exam's password or will be denied access to the exam.

After completing each exam, the system presents the student with an overall score and a diagnostic sheet. The student can print this sheet. The results are stored in a results database and are available to Instructors for running reports.

nSTS Exam program - Open the Start Menu, point to Programs, point to nSTS, and click on the nSTS Exams program icon. The student exam program will start.

1. Login Procedures. To maintain exam integrity, you must enter a valid student ID to view the exam list. There is a single fictitious student already entered into the student database. This student account can be used for testing and demonstration purposes.

Name (first, last), Student Number

Sally, Jones, 1111

When you complete the Login information, click Login. Alternatively, you can enter the information for a new student using the nSTS Administration Program.

2. Once you have logged in, read the nSTS overview. Click on Continue when you are done.

3. Select an exam from the list by clicking on it. nSTS comes with a set of pre-programmed exams organized by application and MOUS Skill Set. Click on one of these Skill Set exams to get started.

4. Take the exam. Answer the questions for the exam. You may skip questions by clicking the forward arrow key. You may retake questions up to a limit defined by the Instructor in the Administration Program. [For testing purposes, the limitation on number of attempts for each question has been set to "no limit." ] After you complete the exam, a dialog box will permit you either to return to any questions you may have skipped or to score the exam. After you score the exam, the results are displayed in the score sheet window and are added to the database. Later, you can use the Administration Program to print a copy of a report on your test results.

5. Close the Exams program. You can close the program by clicking on the Navigation star in the lower right corner of the screen, or by clicking on the Windows Close button "X" in the upper right corner of the screen.

7. FAQs

Is nSTS Y2K compliant?

Yes, nSTS is Y2K compliant.

How do students enroll into nSTS?

The Administrator of the program can enter students by name, section, and password. Students can also can be entered into nSTS through an ASCII File from the Registrar. The student administration system automatically monitors student passwords and login names.

What types of security features are available for nSTS?

The security of the student database is a responsibility of the school. We recommend the results of the student tests be stored on a secure server. Azimuth provides first level encryption of student results in the event amateurs stumbled upon the datafiles. The following is a list of security features that are included in nSTS.

Password - Each Student can be assigned a password. Each Exam can be password protected.

Randomization - Each instructor can randomize their tests so multiple classes have different exams. Questions can be randomized at the workstation level in the Labs so no adjacent students see the same questions simultaneously.

What applications is nSTS available for?

nSTS is available for Office 97. nSTS 2000 will be available Spring of 2000.

Does nSTS require local installation of Microsoft Office on each workstation?

No. nSTS does not require any MS Office components. nSTS offers a simulated Skills Assessment product to customers. nSTS uses precision simulations of the actual software. All buttons and menus are active to permit visual search and exploration. Actual software and the Internet are a click away (if MS Office is present on the network or local client).

What types of networks does nSTS run on?

nSTS operates on all known corporate and university networks. nSTS has installations running on large NT networks (around 900 users on one network) and has also been successfully tested on Novell and UNIX networks.

What types of reporting capabilities are available with nSTS?

In the Administration Program under Reports the following exam reports may be generated

· By group (or class)

· By student

· All exams by student

· By Exam

nSTS also provides a report on the skills achievement by student, section, class, and Instructor.

Can nSTS provide Practice Exams?

If an Instructor chooses, nSTS can provide pre-test, post-test, and practice tests.

Does nSTS provide separate exams for each software tool?

Yes, nSTS provides separate exams for each tool. The skill sets in each tool are tied to the MOUS (Microsoft Office User Specialist) exams.

How many questions does nSTS provided for each software tool?

nSTS provides approximately 100-120 questions per tool. About 600 questions overall.

Can test results from nSTS be exported to an Excel file?

Yes, the results of the tests are emailed to professors as attached spreadsheet files. These files can be opened by MS Excel for further analysis, printing, and reporting.