Return to Homepage
CAA Centre >> Resources >> Online >> Software >> CASTLE
 
CAA Centre History link button
CAA Centre Project outcomes link button
CAA Centre Resources link button
CAA Centre Contacts link button
Blueprint for CAA link button

The Castle Toolkit

http://www.le.ac.uk/cc/ltg/castle/

The CASTLE (Computer ASsisted Teaching and LEarning) - An excellent place to begin with CAA for formative assessment, particularly if user is looking for free materials. CASTLE is a JISC/JTAP funded project that provides an authoring shell for the delivery of web-based multiple-choice questions. It was developed by Helen Pownall of the Learning Technology Group, within the Computer Centre at the University of Leicester.

The CASTLE toolkit has been developed so that Tutors and Course managers can create on-line interactive multiple-choice questions (MCQs) quickly and easily without any prior knowledge of HTML, CGI, or similar scripting languages.

These tools are freely available to HE institutions and they are now part of the Talent project that aims to enhance teaching and learning through the use of web technology.

The CASTLE tools are now available for other sites to have locally. The software for the project is mainly written in Java, with a couple of simple C programs providing an interface between CGI and Java. The tools are form part of a package that can be used on any platform. The tools have been tested on Unix platforms, but should also be compatible with NT servers.

There are currently two CASTLE versions available for downloading.

Version 1.2

This has been used for over two years and includes:

  • 'Type-In' style questions
  • Adding 'Rubric' to the start of a question
  • New test layout
  • New modify functions

Version 1.2 can still be used via a browser accessing the Leicester University Server. However, user can download version 1.2 for installation on their own server.

Version 2

This has all the facilities of version 1.2. In addition it sends the results of each test to a log file stored on the server. These log files are simple tab delimited files that the tutor can then read into Excel (for example). All attempts by all students are logged and time stamped. Version 2 is being offered as a trial service only at Leicester University at present.

System requirements

The software was developed under SGI IRIX 5.3, with SGI JDK 3.0.1 (Sun 1.1.3) and NCSA 1.4.2 server. It was ported with very little trouble to SGI IRIX 6.4, with SGI JDK 3.1 (Sun 1.1.5) and Netscape Enterprise Server 3.5.1. Ports to other UNIX-like operating systems are expected to be easy. The following software is required: Sun JDK 1.1.5 or later, ANSI C compiler, tar, sed, sh, web server capable of CGI.

Return to Assessment Tools List
 
© CAA Centre 2002