In recent years, software operating skills, the ability in computer literacy to solve problems using specific\nsoftware, has become much more important. A great deal of research has also proven that students� software\noperating skills can be efficiently improved by practicing customized virtual and simulated examinations.\nHowever, constructing these simulation-based examinations is cost intensive and time-consuming. Thus, a\nreconfigurable simulation-based test system designed on a proposed Software Operation-Finite State Machine\nhas been developed. Using this system, teachers can use a graphic authoring tool to construct and reconfigure\nsimulation-based tests for designated software operation tasks. For the students, these simulation-based tests can\nbe performed via the Web browser without any extra computer environment setting costs. After students finish\nthe test, the proposed system can automatically assess their online operating paths to generate the assessment\nreport for self-reflection. Moreover, in order to share and reuse the designed simulation-based tests, this paper\nsuggests some extensions of IMS Question & Test Interoperability to support the proposed simulation-based\noperation test format. Finally, an experiment was conducted to evaluate 38 sixth grade elementary school\nstudents. The experimental results show that this system can meet both teachers� and students� educational\nrequirements while significantly improving students� learning performance of the software operating skills.
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