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.
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 page.