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RR243 - Summative assessment supported by the Internet: the Professional Diver Competency Theory Assessment System (DCTAS)

This report discusses and highlights key issues relating to the development and implementation of a new version of an assessment tool used by all HSE accredited diver competency assessment organisations in Great Britain (GB).

The assessment tool, DCTAS (Diver Competency Theory Assessment System) was originally developed in the early 1990's, in response to concerns with traditional paper based approaches. In early versions of the system, paper based examinations were generated 'pseudorandom' from a database of questions stored on disk. As these versions of the system were installed on a personal computer, any database updates had to be distributed and manually applied.

This report discusses the development and implementation of an Internet based approach, using an online database accessible only by proprietary software installed locally. Features of the system include online control of user access, combined with user activity reporting facilities. Users are also encouraged to submit feedback on any problems they encounter in generated examinations via the public DCTAS website, using an automated online report form.

Visit the RR243 report (PDF) [12]

The Research Report Series are produced in Adobe Acrobat. The use of the latest version of the software is recommended which is available at the Adobe website via the link on this page.

Assistance in the use of Adobe Acrobat PDF files is available on our FAQs[13] page.

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  1. Science and Evidencehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/RESEARCH/index.htm
  2. Annual Science Reviewhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/RESEARCH/review.htm
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  8. Workplace Health Expert Committee (WHEC)https://www.hse.gov.uk/RESEARCH/workplace-health-expert-committee.htm
  9. Insight researchhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/RESEARCH/insight.htm
  10. Shared research programmehttps://www.hse.gov.uk/RESEARCH/shared-research-programme.htm
  11. HSE: Innovation in Regulationhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/RESEARCH/innovation-in-regulation.htm
  12. Visit the RR243 reporthttps://www.hse.gov.uk/RESEARCH/rrpdf/rr243.pdf
  13. FAQshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/faq.htm
  14. Research Reports (RR)https://www.hse.gov.uk/RESEARCH/rrhtm/index.htm
  15. More resourceshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/RESEARCH/publish.htm
  16. Find a publicationhttps://www.hsl.gov.uk/resources/hse-science-and-research-publications/
  17. Research report serieshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/RESEARCH/rrhtm/index.htm
  18. Annual Science Reviewhttps://www.hse.gov.uk/RESEARCH/review.htm
  19. HSE Buxton Laboratoryhttps://www.hsl.gov.uk/
  20. Contract opportunitieshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/sellingtohse/contracts.htm
  21. Statisticshttps://www.hse.gov.uk/statistics/index.htm
  22. HSE jobshttp://careers.hse.gov.uk/
  23. Chief Scientific Advisershttps://www.gov.uk/government/groups/chief-scientific-advisers
  24. Government Science and Engineeringhttps://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/civil-service-government-science-engineering

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Updated 2021-04-16