 SUNNYVALE, CA - Mneme - Test Center is one of ten open source, worldwide, projects that received a prestigious Mellon Award for Technology Collaboration (MATC) on Monday, December 8, 2008 (http://matc.mellon.org/press-release).
Mneme - Test Center, also known as "Tasks, Tests and Surveys," is a comprehensive assessment engine that consists of an authoring module for creating questions and managing pools; a module for publishing assignments, tasks, tests and surveys; a grading module for evaluating assessments, optionally integrated with the Gradebook; and a delivery module for administering assessments to students. Additionally, a test-drive component allows instructors to take assessments as students.
Mneme is an open source development effort that was launched by the Etudes team in February of 2007 -- a collaboration between Foothill College and the University of Michigan to respond to critical assessment needs by the Etudes and Sakai user communities. Joseph Hardin, University of Michigan, Chair of the Sakai Board of Directors at the time, assigned Software Architect, Glenn Golden to work closely with Vivie Sinou, now CEO of Etudes, and lead the architectural design and development of Mneme. Funding support for Mneme was also provided by the California Community Colleges Chancellor's Office.
"Open source communities provide an effective way for contributors to solve a pressing local problem while also helping everyone. The leadership of Foothill, Michigan, and particularly Vivie Sinou on Mneme exemplify why open source is the best path for teaching and learning in higher education," says Brad Wheeler, Vice President for IT and Professor, Indiana University.
The Mellon Awards honor not-for-profit organizations for leadership in the collaborative development of open source software tools with application to scholarship in the arts and humanities, as well as cultural-heritage not-for-profit activities. Foothill College was awarded a $50,000 MATC Award for leading the Mneme effort. "We intend to use the award monies to support the development of features in the Mneme Test Center that have been requested by the entire Sakai Community," says Foothill President Judy Miner. "I am particularly grateful for the expertise and leadership of Vivie Sinou, without whom this award would not have been achievable."
The first generation of Mneme was deployed successfully in Etudes on December 28, 2007. Mneme is now the default assessment engine in 4,039 course sites on Etudes, serving over 90,000 students. "Mneme is the heart and soul of my class," says Leslie Hope, Professor of English at Los Angeles Valley College. Serving a large number of distance education programs, Mneme is used for administering assessments around the clock. The Etudes production now holds 1,488,109 questions in 91,548 pools. Instructors have created 40,828 assessments, which include 883,952 completed student submissions.
Other institutions and organizations that have adopted or are piloting Mneme include: University of Michigan, Universidade Fernando Pessoa (Portugal), Leidse Onderwijsinstellingen (Netherlands), University of Hawaii, Saginaw Valley State University, Johns Hopkins University, Charles Sturt University (Australia), Valencian International University (Spain), Allegheny College Department of Physics, and others. "Mneme was the test tool we dreamed about and you have just concretized it! Special thanks to the Mneme team!" says Nuno Fernandes, Universidade Fernando Pessoa.
"I feel honored by the award and by the very positive acceptance of the system by our users. I look forward to adding in the additional features that will make Mneme even better," says Glenn Golden, now the Chief Architect of Etudes, Inc.
Mneme (pronounced nee' mee) is a muse. In Greek mythology, the nine muses were "a guiding spirit" and "a source of inspiration." Mneme has been a source of inspiration for the users, trainers, and developers who have been involved in the design and evolution of the system. It has taken two years of intense work to deliver a fully-featured release of Mneme. "Assessment is very complex," says Vivie Sinou. "I would not have taken on the development of a testing engine without Glenn's superior talent and expertise in software architecting. I am most grateful to Joseph and U of Michigan for Glenn's time."
Etudes is committed to evolving Mneme further. With the MATC Award monies, the Mneme team plans to implement several critical user requirements, including QTI import / export of test banks and downloading of assessment results for statistical analysis.
For information about Mneme, contact vsinouetudes.org or ggoldenetudes.org.
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The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation is a philanthropic organization with offices in New York City and Princeton, NJ. The MATC awards (http://matc.mellon.org) are a project of the Foundation's Program in Research in Information Technology (RIT).
Etudes, Inc. is a non-profit organization that leads open source software development of learning, assessment, and collaboration tools. Additionally, Etudes offers centralized hosting, support, site and account management, and professional development opportunities to higher education institutions and other organizations. (http://etudes.org)
Foothill College located in Los Altos Hills, CA, is known for its leadership in online instruction. With more than 180 course offerings, Foothill College offers more online classes than any other Bay Area community college. (http://www.foothill.edu)
The University of Michigan (UM), Ann Arbor, is a public research university located in the state of Michigan. Joseph Hardin (Sakai Board of Directors) of UM, was the principal investigator of the Sakai Project, and continues to play a leadership role in the Sakai community and Open Educational Resources movement. (http://www.umich.edu)
The California Community College System provided educational, vocational and transfer programs to more than 2.5 million students during academic year 2007-2008. Constituting the largest system of higher education in the world, the California Community College System is currently comprised of 109 campuses. Etudes, Inc. provides course management, collaboration and assessment solutions to CCC's.
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