Designing an Innovative Training Tool: A Formative E-Assessment System for Project Management

Learning is the only way of developing the necessary competences in the new economy and e-learning is a strategic instrument in this process. E-learning platforms must not be just tools of content distribution of pedagogical resources and not taking into account the real interests of the learners: “...without personalization, e-learning is only ever going to be a generic mass produced experience and will tend towards a model of teaching that makes the computer a virtual lecturer, rather than a virtual personal tutor” (Ashman et al., 2009). In order to correct this drawback of e-learning, coming from the lack of personalization, researchers and educators try to use various methods: evolutionary algorithms, personalized e-testing rules, adaptive feedback or exploiting recommender engines, connected to learning applications. All these methods are briefly described in this paper, in the context of e-assessment in project management (PM) domain. The interest towards the eassessment services in e-learning environments is explained by the applicability of the eassessment in various types of education, from formal education, in schools and universities, to work-based education and preparation activities for obtaining professional certifications. The interest for the PM domain is explained by the strategic importance of project, as main form of organization in current economy.