E-exams containing "time-dependent test items" with immediate check"

A critical aspect of computer-assisted exams which is usually complained about, is the lack of interaction be-tween the examiner and the person being examined. As an alternative, we here propose a model of e-exams organ-ized in diversified test items some of them consisting in close-ended questions while others are “open-ended and time-dependent questions with immediate check”. The latter type of questions allow to counterbalance the lack of examiner/learner interaction as the learner is given the opportunity of being informed about the test result imme-diately and thus may correct his/her response. Marks get as better as shorter the time lapse is between the question and the correct answer provided. In order to compare and assess the student’s open-ended answer as matched with the key answer prepared by the examiner, a measurement of student answer similarity is proposed to be applied and adapted to the keywords subspace. The model described is applicable to the computer science domain but may be also extended to any other field of distance education and learning