Automated generation of tests and homework instructions using R: an R package and a web-server implementation

Preparing the tests for written examinations can be a very time-consuming task; this task can be more demanding if some stratagem has to be adopted to prevent students from cheating during written exams, for instance when multiple versions of the same test is necessary. Another common and time consuming task is the preparation of the instructions for personalized homework.

In this talk I will present genertest, an R package for flexible generation of tests and of personalized homework. I will show examples on how to prepare the database with questions, how to use Sweave syntax in the formulation of questions and answers and how to include other personalized features.  I will also present a web-server implementation of the package, based on shiny. The main functions of the package can be used through a web-server, either locally or on-line, without the need of installing R or other software.

The package is available at https://github.com/llaarraa/genertest .