in reply to secure CGI: books and examples?

The big proplem is going to be identification, not authorization. A poor student may give her password to a better one if online quizzes are offered. That is a much harder problem than authorization, and I don't know a practical solution for schools. The students won't share a secret with you that they won't share with each other.

After Compline,
Zaxo

Replies are listed 'Best First'.
Re: Re: secure CGI: books and examples?
by bcrowell (Acolyte) on Apr 24, 2002 at 23:07 UTC
    BTW, thanks to everyone for their excellent, thoughtful replies!

    Zaxo, re the specific issue you raise, I don't think an onlin format is appropriate for quizzes that are high-stakes, but for a low-stakes quiz, I think it might do the job. Also, most people doing this kind of thing use a big bank of questions, so no two students are taking the same quiz. A bigger issue, from what I've heard, is that if you're using the quizzes to arm-twist the students into doing the reading, they may take the quiz with the book in their laps, without having read it first!

    To me, the big security issue is simply making sure students can't crack the system and change their grades at will...