Authoring Offline

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Using Test Pilot v2's standalone authoring database, it is possible to develop your question sets offline. That is, you can place a copy of Test Pilot standaloine authoring database on any MacOS or Windows-based computer to create your question sets. Then, later you can post those question on a web server equipped with the Test Pilot server extension. Please note that whether you choose to author online or offline, ultimately a web server is required to generate the web pages of your assessment and record participant responses.

Note that the v2 authoring database does not support many of the question features in v3. Thus, it is recommended that editing occur online to get the richest editing experience.

The database implements the subset of the functionality of the online editing the is necessary for basic question entry and assessment design. Since the web server is far more capable than the standalone database, many more options for assessment design and control are available when editing online. However, it is possible, and even recommended, that once you edit your questions offline, you can place them on the web server for further online editing.

The process for offline authoring is divided into four steps:

1. Edit the questions using the standalone authoring database
   
   
2. Export a .tp3 file for the web server using the database's built in export for web server command
   
   
3. Copy the .tp3 file to your web server directory along with any associated multimedia files.
   
   
4. Edit the test online, making final adjustments, using the online editing functions of Test Pilot.

Please note that this is a ONE WAY process. That is, once a test is deployed on a web server, you may not move that test back to the standalone authoring database. If you wish to make changes to your standalone database and deploy those changes on the web server, you must repeatedly follow the above four steps in order. Editing your assessment online is far more efficient. However, your network environment may preclude you from doing so on a regular basis. It is for that purpose that the ability to edit your assessments offline is provided by Test Pilot's standalone authoring database.

Downloading the Standalone Authoring Database

Downloads

This documentation on the standalone authoring database is divided into eight sections:

• Question Design - how to use the authoring database to author a question
  
  
• Selecting Questions - how to group your questions and pick which ones will appear on your assessments
  
  
• Customizing Look and Feel - how to customize the look of the web pages of your assessment
  
  
• Assessment Security - how to limit access to your assessment
  
  
• Publishing Your Assessment - exporting a .tp3 document to put on your web server
  
  
• Managing Question Databases - how to manage multiple question databases
  
  
• Including Multimedia - supported multimedia types and how to include them in your assessment