Respondus 2.0: Now and Around the Corner
Now
Respondus 2.0, which was released the first week of February, is the only exam authoring tool that is fully integrated to work with the leading course management systems. Exams that are created or imported by Respondus can be published to Blackboard 5.0 - 6.0 (basic and enterprise), eCollege AU+, and WebCT 2.1 - 3.8. It's also possible to retrieve an exam from one course management system and then publish it to another.
Respondus 2.0 additionally supports the IMS QTI (Question & Test Interoperability) which is an emerging XML standard for making questions usable across e-learning systems. For instance, Respondus can be used to author exam questions for Questionmark's Perception software because both applications support the IMS QTI.
A fully-functional trial version of Respondus 2.0 can be downloaded from the Respondus web site (www.respondus.com). Registered Respondus 1.x users can upgrade to Respondus 2.0 for free. For more information on how to do this, see the following FAQ: How can I upgrade to Respondus 2 from Respondus 1.x?
Around the Corner
We've had a number of people ask whether we plan to support WebCT 4.0 (scheduled for release the last week of April) and Blackboard 6.1 (due early Summer). Our goal is to always support the latest version of a course management system, and to quickly issue a patch if changes are required for our software.
Respondus has formal relationships with WebCT, Blackboard, and eCollege. This allows us to obtain beta versions of their systems so that development and testing can be started prior to their final release. For instance, we have already completed our development for WebCT 4.0 using a beta release of the platform. Once the final release of WebCT 4.0 becomes available, we will do one last round of quality-assurance testing and then issue a patch for Respondus 2.0. Our release of the patch will happen within a few days of the release of WebCT 4.0.
One note about patches. To determine if a patch is available for your copy of Respondus, go to the Help menu and select "Check for Update." If a patch is available, you can let Respondus download and apply the patch automatically. Respondus can also auto-detect the availability of a patch if the appropriate setting is selected under Preferences.
Source: Respondus, Inc. (www.respondus.com)
Originally Published: April 21, 2003
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