Socrato Crowdsources Test Prep Materials
Mark Hendrickson
26 comments »
Socrato is a Massachusetts-based company bringing test preparation materials online so they can be distributed and used more effectively.
The team behind Socrato started off by loading all of the site’s content manually, including sample questions for the SAT and Massachusetts state tests. Realizing that it would be much easier grow its collection by crowdsourcing, it has built a user generated content system that teachers and academic coaches everywhere can use to upload their own materials.
Most of Socrato’s tests consist of multiple choice, fill in the blank, and true/false questions. Long essay support is not quite there yet but will be added in the future. Users who want to add tests can do so by uploading PDF, Word, PowerPoint, and other files as complimentary materials. Teachers who want to distribute test prep materials to a particular classes can also set up groups on Socrato for that purpose.
Socrato isn’t supposed to be used to actually administer tests (although I would really like to see it evolve to that point because it would be much more powerful). Rather, students can take the practice tests on the site and it will tell them how well they did and where they need to improve. The service is smart enough to tell which subjects students did well on, and in the next release it will even be able to track how students deliberate on questions by analyzing which answers they cross off first.
This site needs some work in terms of its user interface and the ease with which users can add tests. But I think it’s a great idea to bring more educational resources online.
How does this work
Once they move to actually administering tests they better have their security work done since it’ll get more hack attempts then a bank - thousands of script kiddies with too much time on their hands…
This appears to be a really super service and much needed website. Must admit I have thought of somehting like this for my home country, but I think students in my country will welcome such a site and services. I would like to say much thanks to the crew/team at Socrato. Bless Up.
That is a really awesome service actually, definitely helpful for just students and educators. I do fear abuse as Peter mentioned, but I would definitely like to see more really useful online educational services like these developed.
Really neat! I checked it out. You can actually practice just the questions you got incorrect again and again (sort of like a loop) till you get them all right. Good bye comparing answers to the back of that old test book! Good stuff.
I Like the comment about the number of hack attempts the site will get once it actually administers the test. I also think that by administering the exam online it may lose some credibility with universities since it will become very difficult to determine that the person actually taking the exam is the student and not an over-zealous parent.
I think the site is all meant to administer more than just official tests. Seems like anyone (home schooler, private tutor, tutoring firms, students themselves) can create tests and practice them. What I really like is the potential for Socrato to go after the B2C market with students as well as a B2B market with tutors. Students outside of the US would kill for a resource like this!
This is not a web 2.0 version of moodle (moodle.org).. wish it was..
Looks good should do alright….
Michael, I have been editing Wikipedia for 9 months now. Recently I have been blocked and now undergoing mediation process on my talk page. If you want to see the inner working of Wikipedia I welcome you to come take a look at Wikipedia.
I think it will be a very interesting experience and will shed some light on the Dark Side of Wikipedia.
If you or your guest have advice as to Wikipedia and would like to share it with me and the other guests of my blog please post it on my blog, the url is in my sig.
Thank you,
Igor
Should help the students out…
check out http://www.testonline.in/ - this has been done in what is arguably the most competitive educational market in the world! Very cool.
love that Socrato is doing something similar…
talk about niche
http://www.testonline.in/ is also pretty cool, but the front page or main site looks and feels kinda 1980s
I poked around a bit on Socrato and kept finding myself thinking about Grockit instead (http://www.grockit.com/about-us/). Grockit’s mere hint of a multi player learning game has me far more excited than the dryness of Socrato. Hope we see a rebuttal to Socrato soon!
Woops - this’ll save people a copy and paste: http://www.grockit.com/about-us/
socrato.com is an interesting attempt. The usability though seems poor.
Also see our online test prep and quiz engine: http://www.proprofs.com/quiz-school/
Please note the spam from Grockit and ProProfs. This is just hilarious. I guess you need to spam even when you are venture funded. No one who isn’t a shill says:
“Grockit’s mere hint of a multi player learning game has me far more excited than the dryness of Socrato.”
Please. Sameer at least comes out and says he’s a shill.
Spam or no, Grockit is a cool idea. But, Bill, the Grockit blog has been running since Sept 06 and still no sign of an actual product. What gives?
“Spam or no”? Please learn some grammar and then comment on educational products. If Web 2.0 education companies are aiming to pick up blogtards, they won’t have much of a market.