The IMS Question and Test Interoperability specification is the leading open standard for defining test assessment questions, test, and results. QTI describes a file format for questions and tests, a file format for results reporting, and a runtime model for processing questions and tests.
Early versions of the QTI specification have been widely adopted, including a profile of QTI v1.2 in Common Cartridge v1.0. The current version of QTI v2.1 is in Public Draft and provides numerous enhancements to support interaction with dynamic/adaptive content, sophisticated control of feedback, cloning using item templates, distribution using IMS Content Packaging, and the collection of item statistics.
Current Status of QTI
The QTI working group is currently developing two profiles to be included in the Final v2.1 specification. The first profile is functionally similar to the QTI v1.2 profile included in Common Cartridge v1.0. This CC-QTI Profile represents a small subset of the complete specification but covers the most common interaction types (such as multiple choice or fill in the blank), to likely be included in a future version of the Common Cartridge spec. The second profile, called the Main QTI Profile captures features of the v2.1 specification that are currently supported by systems and applications with the most comprehensive implementations.
The development of these profiles gives users of QTI-based assessment applications greater confidence that systems will interoperate and provides a meaningful test to measure conformance. IMS will report official conformance status of specific products on an ongoing basis here: http://www.imsglobal.org/cc/statuschart.cfm. The profiles will also provide options for results reporting from assessment applications using IMS Learning Tools Interoperability and Learning Information services.
A reference set of QTI v2.1 test and question items was successfully demonstrated in nine different applications during IMS quarterly meetings in Koblenz, Germany (August 2010). The QTI working group sponsored the interoperability demonstrations, and showcased the capabilities of the new CC-QTI Profile at the same time. The demonstrations successfully showed that existing QTI v2.1 implementations could ingest the CC-QTI Profile test cartridges and “play” the QTI content. With this broad support, and because some of the tools can be embedded in existing learning platforms, the CC-QTI Profile is ready to become a widely accepted profile for sharing assessments. Due to significant changes in the XML structure of QTI v2.1, this CC-QTI Profile allows much more consistent interoperability than QTI v1.2. As a result, simple tests can be easily exchanged from relatively simple LMS modules to much more complex specialized test engines. The CC-QTI Profile is designed for easy implementation and interested parties should contact the QTI project group for questions or assistance.
As work continues on the completion of these profiles, the ability to test the conformance of systems, applications, and content will be a core component of the Final v2.1 specification. The QTI project group anticipates finalizing the documentation and schemas for the CC-QTI Profile in the coming months and work on the Main Profile to be completed by early 2011, with the Final specification to be released soon after.
Working Group Participants
Additional Resources
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