PARES: a software tool for computer-based testing and evaluation used in the Greek higher education system

This paper presents a prototype software platform, namely Platform for Adaptive and Reliable Evaluation of Students (PARES), for student testing and evaluation. The motivation has been to provide educators in the Greek higher education system a useful tool for both carrying out tests using minimal resources and for keeping the students actively involved during a semester. PARES has been developed in Java for launching it in the WWW. A pilot study using PARES at the Technological Educational Institution of Kavala is presented. A statistical evaluation of PARES is also described. A future extension, based on a synergy of machine-learning with state feedback-control techniques, for adaptive student learning is outlined.