Test Nation History

Test Nation has taken 3 years to develop and it's roots date back further to 1996, when Rupert Carr-Smith, the founder of Cool Fish was at University, studying Interactive Multimedia Communication. His final year was spent researching and developing multimedia applications for use in education.

He soon discovered that programming educational content was time consuming and often led to syntactical mistakes. This was particularly apparent with content that required text formatting (eg. colour, italics, size), specialist symbols (eg. foreign letters, scientific symbols) or multimedia clips. So to save time, a content creation program was devised that allowed content to be entered directly into the application database, quickly and easily using a simple interface. It was a great success and resulted in more content and flexibility.

On leaving University with a 1st Class Honours degree, Rupert worked in Cambridge for a number of leading web development companies. A broader understanding of Internet innovation and technology resulted. During this time, the original content creation concept was adapted for a number of internet and CD-ROM applications, from dynamic quizzes and games to business presentations and hotel booking systems.

Version Summary

Below is a summary of land mark version releases:

• Research and Development started in February 1999. Macromedia Director was chosen as the programming platform because of it's versatility, cross platform compatibility and network features.

 
• Version 1 (Apr 2000) Featured the Public Resource Library with categories and subjects, full text control and support for JPG and GIF images, user score, attempts and last accessed memory.

 
• Version 1.1 (Jun 2000) Enhancements included: MP3 audio support, library search engine, metatags and keywords, performance improvements.

 
• Version 2 (Sept 2000) - Basic E-Class system implemented where results can be retrieved by the author of the test, Interface redesigned making the system easier to use.

 
• Version 2.1 (Nov 2000) - Enhancements included: Flash animation support, redesigned media manager, data encryption, interface improvements.

 
• Version 2.4 (Mar 2001) - Enhancements included: Test Reviews for students after they have taken a test.

 
• Version 2.6 (Jul 2001) - Enhancements included: High quality / low quality modes added for different spec systems, better text control.

 
• Version 3 (Oct 2001) - This version was almost totally reprogrammed. Enhancements included: Fully Integrated E-Class System, Question feedback and explanations, informative pages.

 
• Version 4 (Dec 2001) - Enhancements included: statistical analysis, CSV export, New test status system allowing E-Class Authors to import shared test.

 
• Version 4.2 (Mar 2002) - New sister program, Test Nation for Windows is released. An identical system which does not rely on a web browser or plug in.

 
• Version 5.0 (May 2002) - Enhancements included: New 'look and feel' functionality (allowing authors to change the background colour font size and fore colour), view printable test, page type options (case sense and no shuffle), customisable grading system, Fast E-Class Access, performance improvements.

 
• Version 5.4 (Jul 2002) - Question analysis, enhanced Test Review mode, Extra E-Class functions, fuzzy matching for written answers MORE.