NBME Best Practices for Web-based Testing on Wireless Networks 2016 1 Web-based Testing on Wireless Networks NBME NBME Best Practices for Web-based Testing on Wireless Networks 2016 Copyright © 2016 by the National Board of Medical Examiners© (NBME ® ). All rights reserved. Printed in the United States of America. National Board of Medical Examiners
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NBMEBestPracticesforWeb-basedTestingonWirelessNetworks 2016
1
Web-basedTestingonWirelessNetworks
NBME
NBMEBestPracticesforWeb-basedTestingonWirelessNetworks
2016
Copyright©2016bytheNationalBoardofMedicalExaminers©(NBME®).Allrightsreserved.PrintedintheUnitedStatesofAmerica.
NationalBoardofMedicalExaminers
NBMEBestPracticesforWeb-basedTestingonWirelessNetworks 2016
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OverviewThepurposeofthisdocumentistoprovideguidancetomedicalschoolsforfacilitationofNBME
web-basedtesting(WBT)onwirelessnetworks.TheNBMEdefinesWBTastheinfrastructureandactivitiessurroundingthedeliveryofassessmentservicesovertheinternetorotherlarge-scalewide-areanetwork.
Agrowingnumberofmedicalschoolsnowrequirestudentstohavewireless-enabledpersonallaptopsforlocalWBTandothereducationalpurposes.TheNBMEconductedpilottestswithseveralmedicalschoolstounderstandthecommonchallengesschoolsfacewhenadministeringweb-basedexamsontheirwirelessnetworks.TheresultisthisbestpracticesdocumentthatschoolsmayreferencewhenadjustingtheirwirelessnetworkstoaccommodateWBT.
SpeedandPerformanceofExamDeliveryoveraWirelessNetwork Manyfactorsmayaffectspeedandperformance,andthesefactorsmaydifferperschool.WhilethestandardNBMEWBTtestingrequirementsareapplicabletowiredaswellaswirelessexams,thefourwirelesscomponentrecommendationssummarizedinthetablebelowarebasedontheperformanceresultsofseveralmedicalschoolsthatadministeredweb-basedexamsovertheirwirelessnetworks,aswellasaseriesoftrialweb-basedexamsconductedattheNBME.
NBMEWeb-BasedTestingWirelessRecommendationsWirelessComponent RecommendationAccessPoints Accesspointsusedforanexamshouldbededicatedto
examineelaptopsduringtheexam.Thiswilleliminatethepossibilityofoverloadingtheaccesspointsdueto“outside”traffic.NBMErecommendsthattheratiooflaptopstoaccesspointsnotexceed25:1.
NetworkBandwidth NBMErecommendsthatatleast256Kbpsorhigherbeavailableperlaptop.
TestSitePhysicalBarriers Whenchoosingalocationfortheexam,trytoutilizearoomwithfewphysicalbarriersbetweenexamineelaptopsandaccesspoints.Wallsandcolumnscanhaveanadverseeffectonreception.
NBMEBestPracticesforWeb-basedTestingonWirelessNetworks 2016
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AccessPointCoverage Thereareseveralvariableswhichshouldbeaccountedforwhenestimatingthenumberofaccesspointsneededforawirelessexam.Thesevariablesinclude:
• Numberofexaminees• Totalcoverageareaofexamroom• Theminimumbandwidthneededfortheexaminee’slaptop(inthiscase,256Kbpsorhigher)• Thebrandandqualityoftheaccesspoint
Asaruleofthumb,schoolscanexpectgoodwirelessperformanceforupto25studentlaptopsperaccesspoint.Oneaccesspointcouldhandlemorethanthat,especiallyinaspacewithnophysicalbarriersandsquarefootagewellwithintherangeoftheaccesspoint.However,inaspacewherephysicalbarriersareaconcernorifthecoverageareaisbeyondtherangeofanaccesspoint,moreaccesspointsmaybeneeded.
OtherFactorstoConsider AsaresultofwirelesstestingscenariosconductedatNBME,itwasobservedthatexamswithhighernumbersofimages,aswellasabove-averageimagesizes,experiencedmorescreenperformanceproblemsthanthoseexamsthatdidnot.Performanceproblemsmorethantripledwhenthesametestscenarioswereconductedwiththepresenceofanexternallaptopdownloadingalargefilefromtheinternetusingthesameaccesspointutilizedbyexaminees.Whilethescreenperformanceproblemsconsistedmostlyofslow-loadingimages(longerthan2secondstoappear)andhangingscreens,examineesinbothscenarioswereabletofinishtheexam.
Therearepotentialproblemsassociatedwithconductingwirelessweb-basedexamsusingaccesspointswhichareopentousersotherthanexaminees.Forexample,ifawirelessweb-basedexamutilizesthesameaccesspointsastheschool’scommonstudentcenter,studentcenterusersarecompetingwithexamineesforaccesspointbandwidth.Thisincreasesthelikelihoodofproblemssuchaslatencyandhangingscreensduringthetestadministration.
Toensureagoodenvironmentforwirelessweb-basedexams,schoolsshouldpayparticularattentiontothelocationofthetestingroomandthepotentialforoutsidesourcescompetingforexambandwidth.
NBMEBestPracticesforWeb-basedTestingonWirelessNetworks 2016
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StandardNBMEWeb-BasedTestingRequirements
ThestandardNBMEWBTrequirementsoutlinedbelowapplytoexamsdeliveredoverbothwiredandwirelessnetworks.Examineesmaytakeaweb-basedexamoneitherMacsorPCs.Anycombinationoffixeddesktops,institutionallaptops,orexamineepersonallaptopsmaybeusedforexamdelivery.DedicatedDedicatedtechnicalsupportstaffwith“Admin”privilegesisrequiredpriortoandonthetestdays.Hardware • Windows7,Windows8,Windows10
• MacOSv10.8,v10.9,v10.10,v10.11,v10.12• 1GHzprocessororhigher• 17”orlargercolormonitorrecommended(Desktops)• 13”orlargercolormonitorrecommended(Laptops)• Aminimumscreenresolutionof1024x768• 32-bitcolorsettingenabled• TurnoffWindowsupdatesorvirusscannerupdatesto
avoidinterruptionsduringtheexam.• Virtualmachinesandapplicationsarenotallowed.• iPads/tabletsarenotallowed.• Laptopwithintegratedtouchscreensarenotallowed
Browser • MicrosoftInternetExplorer9,10,11• Safari5.1.9orhigher• GoogleChrome34.0.1847orhigher• MozillaFirefox29orhigher
BrowserSettings • JavaScript,CSS,andCookiesallenabled• Disablepop-upblockers• Ifpossible,disabletoolbars,pop-upblockers,and
Adware/Spywareprogramstopreventslowness.Internet/NetworkBandwidth • Broadband(DSL,CableorT1)
• 256KbpsorhigherperworkstationNetworkSecurity Somelevelofencryptionmustbeinplaceforwireless
networkswhiletheexamisinprogress.SSLcanbesupplementedwithanothersecurityprotocol,suchasbutnotlimitedtoWEP,WPAorWPA2.
SecureBrowser ASecureBrowserisrequiredtoadministeranNBMEweb-basedexam;thisapplication“locksdown”thecomputerandpreventsexamineesfromaccessingothersoftwareapplicationsduringtheexam.TheSecureBrowserwillalsodetectanyprogramsrunningontheexaminee’scomputerthatcouldcompromiseexamcontent.TheSecureBrowserapplicationdoesnotrequireconfigurationoradministratorrightstoinstallandisdownloadedontestdaywhentheexamineeURLisprovidedbytheChiefProctor.
NBMEBestPracticesforWeb-basedTestingonWirelessNetworks 2016
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WorkstationCertificationforSchool-ownedWorkstations*
TheNBMEprovidesautilitythatchecksthecomputerforWBTcompatibilityandlaunchesasampletest.Thisutilitymustberunoneachcomputerinthetestingroompriortotestday.Fourteendayspriortothetestdate,ChiefProctorswillreceiveanemailwithaURL,auniqueticketnumberandinstructionstoruntheWorkstationCertificationutility.Donotforwardthisemailtoexaminees–itisforinstitutionaluseonly.
WorkstationCertificationforExaminee-ownedLaptops
ExamineeswithpersonallaptopsarerequiredtorunaseparateWorkstationCertificationcheck.Priortotestday,forwardtheURLandWorkstationCertificationinstructionsfromthe‘PriortoTestDay’sectionoftheChiefProctor'sManualtoexaminees.Donotsendexamineestheuniqueticketnumberusedfortheinstitutionalversionoftheutility.Examineeswithpersonallaptopsshouldalsobeadvisedtoarriveearlytore-runWorkstationCertificationtodetectanyproblemswiththelocalfirewall.
AdditionalWorkstations Extraworkstations/laptopsshouldbeavailabletoreplacecomputersthatmaymalfunctionduringthetestsession.ThesesparesshouldbeenabledforwiredandwirelessLANuse.
*PleasereviewtheChiefProctor’sManualforadditionaldetailsregardingWorkstationCertification.
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