magex project

M A G E X	A system for evaluation automation that weaves a just little more magic.


Project Overview The Magex project provides a library of tools and markup protocols designed to realize dynamically-rendered HTML in evaluative or survey contexts, particularly also in educational settings. By offering a standard set of HTML-complimentary directives and by also offering extensible tools that recognize those directives, content creators can concentrate more of their efforts on authoring, while worrying less about technological implementations of online evaluation. Similarly, for those desiring to create highly complex evaluative systems, the availability such a well-implemented standard and extensible API provides a quick, solid starting foundation on which to build. Project Organization The larger Magex project is focused on two related sets of mark-up directives: the first is Mastik; the second is Magoo. Mastik directives are used in HTML documents when there are explicitly "correct" responses. Because their explicit nature, the responses can be automatically evaluated. However, Magoo directives are designed to be used whenever responses will be human-evaluated. Magoo directives are also used in survey contexts, where user responses may need to be controlled, yet there is not a "correct" answer. HTML content containing Mastik and Magoo directives is processed by an advanced string processing library. The library allows for a single source document to be dynamically presented to evaluated individuals and their evaluators in several ways: a complete-able form, a human-evaluable document, a contextual view of evaluation, and statistical analysis of responses, in context. The project provides a suite of extensible tools to access this library for use in various World-Wide-Web contexts. Java class files with standardized API [v. 1.5] A configurable CGI wrapper to the Magex Java classes [v. 1.5] A Magex document DynamicElement class for WebObjects [v. 1.5] A J2EE-oriented Magex document Java bean [in planning] The Many Faces of Magex The word "Magex" appears in many contexts and takes on many meanings, so it may be helpful to frequently use Magex only as a descriptor for an actual noun: "protocol, interface, program, standard, project" Mastik Mark-up Documentation At present, detailed documentation on Magex is still in authorship, as are the tools. For those interested in the use of Magex directives in HTML, a now outdated "how-to" document provides a very cursory overview of some core Magex interfaces. Mastik v1.4 Question Formats (Covers core Mastik v.1.4 directives only, no Magoo, nor advanced directives currently in development) For more information... Contact the project team members: Matthew Taylor (matt@mmlc.northwestern.edu) Tomas Kuprys (tkuprys@mmlc.northwestern.edu)