A Method Based on Genetic Algorithms for Generating Assessment Tests Used for Learning

Abstract

Tests are used in a variety of contexts in the activity of everyday and everywhere learning. They are a specific method in the process of assessment (evaluation), which is an important part of the educational activity. Setting an optimized sequence of tests (SOT) originating from a group of tests which have the same subject, with certain restrictions corresponding to a certain wish of the evaluator can be a slowly time-consuming task, because the restriction can be various and the number of tests can be high. In this matter, this paper presents a method of generating optimized sequences of tests within a battery of tests using a genetic algorithm. We associate a number of representative keywords with a test. The user expresses the restriction by setting up a number of keywords which approximate best the subject wanted to be tested. The genetic algorithm helps in finding the optimized solutions and uses a less amount of hardware resources.