Application: Oral English Proficiency Program (OEPP) Exam
April Ginther, English
The project goal was to update the existing Oral English Proficiency Program (OEPP) exam application and build
a supporting exam management application to give the OEPP staff better control over process and data.
Instructional goals
- Ensure that incoming international graduate students possess the requisite oral English skills for teaching.
Project Rationale
Purdue University benefits from the knowledge and talents of non-native English speaking graduate assistants/instructors in many aspects of its instructional program. International graduate students, typically the most accomplished graduates of their home countries, offer not only their knowledge and experience but also an essential diversity of culture to the campus, and thus enrich the academic environment for all members of the academic community. These benefits are difficult to realize, however, when there is a language barrier between international students and other members of the community.The Oral English Proficiency Program offers these graduate students the opportunity to improve their English language skills. Development of these language skills is essential not only to ensure their success as teaching assistants but also to enhance their success as graduate students.
To better administer their program and examination, Dr. April Ginther and the OEPP staff asked ITaP’s Enterprise Learning Technologies (ELT) team to enhance and update their online application. The original version, created by ITaP’s Krishna Madhavan, had been in use for five years, and they wanted to continue using it by updating it with the latest technologies. The new application gives them better control over the data and improves the group’s ability to manage the exam in terms of signing up examinees, having the exam submissions rated, and assigning final scores.
Implementation
After John Ulmer and the ELT team conducted an analysis of the existing Authorware application with the OEPP group, they recommended the use of a Struts framework. They made revisions to the Authorware application and the database, and wrote the code for the model layer. The team wrote most of the business logic for the application, and mentored other members of the development team to help them adjust to this structured methodology of Web application development. They also developed the Tiles user interface that was used in this as well as other ELT applications.Technologies Used
The exam component continued using the original Authorware application with revisions and updates. The exam management component is a J2EE application written according to the Struts framework and is deployed on ITaP’s WebSphere servers.Impact on Student Learning
Purdue has a large population of international teaching assistants. It is critical that they are able to communicate effectively with students. The OEPP application allows the OEPP group not only to individually administer a computer-based semi-direct test of oral English proficiency but also to efficiently oversee an administrative process of exam registration, exam rating, and score reporting.Web link: http://www.purdue.edu/oepp
TLT Staff Contact: John J. Ulmer