EOCEP FALL/WINTERINSIGHT TECHNICAL TRAINING
South Carolina Regional WorkshopsOctober, 2012
This presentation is available on eDIRECT:
Under Documents/Presentations
EOCEP Fall/Winter 2012-13
Introductions2
DRC’s INSIGHT Technical Experts Michelle Gronemeyer Andy Gasser Gene Rees
Session Agenda3
Key Dates Student Workstation
System Requirements Installation Process
Local Caching Service (LCS) System Requirements Installation Process
Software Updates Documentation & Support Questions
4
Key Dates for Online TestingEOCEP Fall/Winter 2012-13
Date Event
November 5 Installers & Installation Document available
November 5 Tutorial and Online Tools Training (OTT) available
November 26 Test Setup in eDIRECT available
December 3 - January 29
State Testing Window
February 4 - March 29
Alternative Testing Window for eligible groups
Student Workstation
SC Online Assessments
(Student Interface)
System Readiness Check
SC Online Tutorials Link
= Used by Technology Coordinator
= Used by Student
Web Browser
SC eDIRECT
LCS Manager Page
5
System Overview
Supported Configurations6
Student interface software is primary delivery engine for test content to the students
Desktop installed client-server application Supports automatic updates Configurations:
Standard single-user desktops Remote desktops/Terminal Servers (Citrix, Microsoft
Remote Desktop, Ncomputing Vspace)* Virtual machines*
*Oral administration functionality not supported on remote workstations or virtual machines
Bandwidth7
Difficult to determine precisely, but can be estimated Each test is delivered in its entirety at student login to
ensure a smooth and consistent testing experience (most bandwidth is used at this time)
Bandwidth can be estimated by dividing the size of the test by the desired “wait” time
If we assume an average test size of 1MB and an average wait time of 60s, then each student would need .1333Mbit/second (oral administration increases test size by 15-65 MB)
Boost capacity by increasing wait time or staggering logins
Use of an LCS decreases internet bandwidth requirements by approximately 50%
System Requirements for Student Workstations
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Windows Installer 256 MB of RAM or greater Updated graphics drivers
with a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 or greater
Mouse and keyboard 100 MB of available hard
disk space or greater(300 MB for Oral Administration)
700 MHz or faster processor
Must have connectivity to the Internet
Supported Operating Systems Microsoft® Windows® XP
with SP 1 or greater Microsoft® Windows
Vista® * Microsoft® Windows® 7 Microsoft® Server 2003 Microsoft® Server 2008
* NOT supported for Oral Administration
System Requirements for Student Workstations
9
Macintosh Installer 256 MB of RAM or greater Updated graphics drivers
with a screen resolution of 1024 x 768 or greater
Mouse and keyboard 10 MB of available hard
disk space or greater(200 MB for Oral Administration)
400 MHz or faster processor (PowerPC not recommended)
Must have connectivity to the Internet
Supported Operating Systems Apple® Mac OS X® 10.5 Apple® Mac OS X® 10.6 Apple® Mac OS X® 10.7
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A separate installer (HVA) is available that includes the Oral Administration feature
This installer should only be used on workstations where oral administration will be used
If a workstation installation needs to be changed from a standard installation to the oral administration installation, the previous version should be uninstalled before installing a different version
Schools are responsible for supplying headsets for this functionality
Requires the use of the LCS Does NOT run on remote or virtual configurations Does NOT run on Windows Vista Requires additional disk space from standard configuration
(refer to slides 8 and 9)
System Requirements – Oral Administration for Student Workstations
Future Plans(post Spring 2013)
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Currently in development Web-based version that will utilize a secure
browser to lockdown the student interface
iPad version that will utilize iOS 6 and Apple’s new “Guided Access” to lock down the student interface for security
Both of these versions will be available after Spring 2013
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Network Connectivity All workstations used for student testing should have
access to the Internet and should be able to access the servers using HTTP/HTTPS protocols on ports 80 and 443
Firewalls at the local workstation and the network level should allow Java connectivity on ports 80 and 443
All the URL’s corresponding to the testing servers should be white listed on content filtering or other proxy software used locallyhttps://sc-insight.drcedirect.comhttp://sc-insight-client.drcedirect.com
Network Requirementsfor Student Workstations and LCS
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Easy process; testing engine and LCS installed in minutes
DTCs will be notified via email when installers are available on eDIRECT Under Test Setup/General Information eDIRECT account with “Online Testing – Secured Resources”
permission is needed to access installation software
Installation
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eDIRECT Testing Software Downloads Installation document will be available
Installation
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Silent/unattended installs for Windows Windows MSI installer is capable of running in
silent mode Custom attributes can be sent to MSI, such as
ENABLE_AUTO_UPDATE=false The software can be installed using tools
such as Microsoft System Center, IBM Tivoli, and Symantec Altars
Automatic updates available
Installation
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Software downloads require administrative rights Similar process for Windows and Macintosh
Mac installation requires a reboot of each computer once download is complete
Windows XP Demonstration
Installation
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Same system requirements with one exception: requires 1 GB of available hard disk space or greater
Runs on a computer within the local network Increases reliability by caching student responses
when Internet connection fails; responses will be automatically transmitted by LCS every 15 minutes
Reduces Internet traffic by caching test content Student workstation must be configured to use
an LCS
Local Caching Service (LCS)
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Installed using an installation wizard; requires administrative rights
Populated with test content using the LCS Manager; test content updates are automatically downloaded
Student workstations must be connected to LCS or Internet otherwise test will terminate
LCS highly recommended whenever possible LCS mandatory for the oral administration
online testing accommodation
Local Caching Service (LCS)
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Local Caching Service (LCS)
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Windows XP LCS Demonstration
Installation LCS
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After installation, the LCS can be loaded with test content using the LCS Manager Updates are automatic Can be used to manually update content
LCS Manager
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Student interface must be configured to use a LCS can be configured during the software installation, and can also be modified through the System Readiness Check application
LCS Client Configuration
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Student Responses sent to LCS if Internet connection dropped
Responses will automatically be transmitted by LCS every 15 minutes
Responses can be manually transmitted
LCS Student Responses
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Student Responses must be transmitted before a test can be continued
LCS Student Responses
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Monitoring Enhancements: Drill down capabilities into stored responses Historical response data activity reporting Automated pinging DRC and reporting of
latency Automated capacity indicator with indicator
if over capacity Automated bandwidth availability collected
and displayed
Future Plans - LCS
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Runs as part of the installation
Can be run afterwards or on-demand for debugging purposes
System Readiness Check
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The student interface is capable of automatically updating itself with the latest published version of the code
There is an Automatic Update property that is set initially on the software installation, and can also be modified through the System Readiness Check application
Software Updates
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If Automatic Updates are enabled, the student interface software will check the version each time the application is started
If an update is necessary, it will download and install automatically
The updates do not require administrative rights
Software Updates
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If Automatic Updates are disabled, the student interface software will not check the version when the application is started
When a student tries to log into a test, they will be notified they are not on the latest version and will not be able to continue
The software will need to be updated manually by getting the latest version from eDIRECT and reinstalling
You can run the System Readiness Check application at any time to see if you have the latest version
Software Updates
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The software previously installed can be updated by the Automatic Update process
To avoid delays at the start of testing, it is recommended that you update the software before testing begins by executing the installer
Software Updates
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Documentation available: Workshop Presentation INSIGHT Technology User Guide (November 5)
South Carolina Project Team For any technical-related online testing questions, Technical
Coordinators may contact DRC directly, given DTC approval Direct Line: 1-800-451-7834 Fax: 1-866-237-9314 E-mail: [email protected] eDIRECT: https://sc.drcedirect.com
Documentation & Support
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Questions?