P/00/001 Regulation 3.2 AUSTRALIA Patents Act 1990 COMPLETE SPECIFICATION FOR A STANDARD PATENT Name of Applicant: M-Bytes Pty Ltd Actual Inventors: Bharat Rajnikant Sanghvi Mary Nancy Sanghvi Jonathan Barry Sanghvi Address for Service: EKM patent & trade marks Level 1, 38-40 Garden Street South Yarra Victoria 3141 Australia Invention Title: Smart Online Educational Assessment System and Method The following statement is a full description of this invention, including the best method of performing it known to us: -2 SMART ONLINE EDUCATIONAL ASSESSMENT SYSTEM AND METHOD FIELD OF TECHNOLOGY 5 The present disclosure generally relates to the field of education assessment systems, and more particularly relates to a smart online educational assessment system and method. BACKGROUND 0 Typically, in a grade level classroom e.g., K-12, a teacher assesses students' level of proficiency in a curriculum through printed test papers. Usually, the teacher distributes the printed test paper having common set of questions to all students in the classroom. The students mark their answers on the printed test paper which are then collected and 5 evaluated by the teacher. With recent advancement in technology, some educational institutes have started assessing students in a subject matter using online assessment tools. These online assessment tools display a questionnaire format related to the subject matter on a 20 computer of respective student. However, knowledge and performance of students in a subject matter may greatly vary within a same year level. The fixed set of questions does not address the fact that students in the same year level have varying knowledge and performance. Consequently, the online assessment tools fail to accurately assess students' level of proficiency in a subject. 25 BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS -3 Notwithstanding any other forms which may fall within the scope of the present invention, preferred embodiments of the invention will now be described, by way of example only, with reference to the accompanying drawings in which: 5 Figure 1 is a schematic representation depicting an online educational assessment system for assessing an individual in a curriculum, according to one embodiment; Figure 2A is a block diagram illustrating various modules of an online assessment o module such as those shown in Figure 1, according to one embodiment; Figure 2B illustrates a detailed view of a repository such as those shown in Figure 1, according to one embodiment; 5 Figure 3A is a process flowchart illustrating an exemplary method for assessing an individual in a curriculum, according to one embodiment; Figure 3B is a process flowchart of an exemplary method of generating a remediation plan for a student upon completion of the assessment, according to one embodiment; 20 Figure 4A is a schematic representation depicting an exemplary structure of a curriculum; Figure 4B is a schematic representation depicting topics in topic groups of a knowledge 25 stream 'shapes'; -4 Figure 5 is a schematic representation depicting an exemplary navigation path associated with a student accessed in five knowledge streams of a curriculum; Figure 6 is a schematic representation depicting a remediation plan generated based 5 on performance of the student in the five knowledge streams; Figure 7 illustrates a diagrammatic view of an exemplary online educational assessment platform in which the various embodiments described herein may be implemented; 0 Figure 8 illustrates a diagrammatic view of another exemplary online educational assessment platform in which the various embodiments described herein may be implemented; and 5 Figure 9 illustrates a diagrammatic view of a yet another exemplary online educational assessment platform on which the various embodiments described herein may be implemented. DETAILED DESCRIPTION 20 An online educational assessment system and method is disclosed. In the following description, for the purposes of explanation, numerous specific details are set forth in order to provide a thorough understanding of the various embodiments. It will be evident, however to one skilled in the art that the various embodiments may be 25 practiced without these specific details. It should be noted in the following description -5 that, like or the same reference numerals in different embodiments denote the same or similar features. The terms 'year level' and 'progression level' mean the same and are interchangeably 5 used throughout the document. Figure 1 is a schematic representation depicting an online educational assessment system 100 for assessing an individual in a curriculum, according to one embodiment. In Figure 1, the online educational assessment system 100 includes an online o assessment platform 102, client devices 104A-N and a network 106. The online assessment platform 102 includes an online assessment module 108 and a repository 110. Exemplary implementation of the online assessment platform 102 in different computing environments illustrated in Figures 7 to 9. 5 The client devices 104A-N may include a smart phone, a personal digital assistant, a tablet computer, a desktop computer, a laptop and the like devices associated with students to be assessed in a curriculum. Each of the client devices 104A-N is provided with a browser application 112 such as Mozilla FirefoxTM, Microsoft Internet Explorer T M , Netscape T M , and the like. The network 106 may include General Packet Radio Service 20 (GPRS) network, (EDGE), Wireless Local Area Network (WLAN), Local Area Network (LAN) and the like which enables the client devices 104A-N to connect and communicate with the online assessment platform Upon receiving an assessment request from a client device (e.g., the client 104A), the 25 online assessment module 108 is operable for selecting a set of questions related to a curriculum from the repository 110 and displaying the set of questions via the browser -6 application 112 on the client device 104A. For example, the curriculum (e.g., Mathematics) may contain a plurality of knowledge streams (e.g., shapes, counting, algebra, etc.), where each knowledge stream (e.g., shapes) contains a plurality of topic groups (e.g., 2D shapes, 3D shapes). Each topic group corresponds to a progression 5 level (e.g., K, 1, 2, etc.) and contains one or more topics (e.g., naming 2D shapes, edges on 2D shapes, etc.). In some embodiments, the online assessment module 108 is configured for selecting a set of questions related to one or more topics (e.g., edges in 2D shapes, corners in 2D shapes) corresponding to a topic group (e.g., year 1) in a knowledge stream (e.g., shapes). The topic group may correspond to a level below a o progression level (e.g., year 2) of the student. The browser application 112 enables a student to input answers to each of the displayed questions using an input device (e.g., keyboard, mouse, etc.) of the client device 104A. The online assessment module 108 is operable for recording the answers 5 to the set of questions and dynamically displaying another set of questions on the browser application 112 based on the number of questions correctly answered by the student. For example, the online assessment module 108 may select another set of questions related to topics from a higher topic group (e.g., year 2) in the same knowledge stream if the maximum number questions are correctly answered. If the 20 minimum number questions are correctly answered, the online assessment module 108 may select another set of questions related to topics from a lower topic group (e.g., K) in the same knowledge stream (e.g., shapes) or another knowledge stream (e.g., counting). The online assessment module 108 may select another set of questions related to topics from a same topic group (e.g., year 1) in another knowledge stream 25 (e.g., counting) if the average number questions are correctly answered. The online -7 assessment module 108 repeats the above step of dynamically selecting questions till all knowledge streams in the curriculum are complete. Upon completion of assessment, the online assessment module 108 is operable for 5 generating an online assessment report indicating the performance in each knowledge stream of the curriculum. Additionally, the online assessment module 108 is operable for identifying knowledge gaps in the curriculum. Also, the online assessment module 108 is operable for generating a remediation plan for the student based on the identified knowledge gaps. 0 In accordance to the foregoing description, the online assessment module 108 also enables the administrator (e.g., classroom teacher or internet supervisor) to configure parameters such as number of year levels involved in the assessment (e.g., the assessment can be for one year level of the curriculum), start level (e.g., one year level 5 below the student's school year), and knowledge stream(s) used in the assessment (e.g., one or more knowledge streams or all knowledge streams) prior to the start of assessment. Figure 2A is a block diagram illustrating various modules of the online assessment 20 module 108, according to one embodiment. The online assessment module 108 includes a profile management module 202, a curriculum module 204, a question selection module 206, an answer validation module 208, a report generation module 210, a knowledge gap identification module 212, a remediation module 214, and a history module 216. 25 -8 The profile management module 202 is configured for managing profile information associated with each individual who is a member of the online assessment platform. The profile information may include name, age, cell phone number, email ID, progression level and so on. The curriculum module 204 is configured for determining a 5 desired curriculum in which the individual is to be assessed and associated progression level when an assessment is requested. The question selection module 206 is configured for dynamically selecting a set of questions related to the curriculum from the repository 110 based on the answers to the o set of questions. The answer validation module 208 is configured for recording and validating answers to the set of questions received from each individual. The report generation module 210 is configured for generating a performance report upon completion of assessment. 5 The knowledge gap identification module 212 is configured for identifying knowledge gaps in the curriculum based on the performance of the individual during the assessment. The remediation module 214 is configured for generating a remediation plan based on the knowledge gaps identified in the curriculum. The history module 216 is configured for managing performance history of each individual based on the 20 performance of the individual during the assessment. Figure 2B illustrates a detailed view of the repository 110, according to one embodiment. The repository 110 includes a profile database 252, a question database 254, an answer database 256, and a history database 258. 25 -9 The profile database 252 is configured for storing profile information associated with each individual. The question database 254 is configured for storing questions related to a plurality of curriculums. For example, the question database 254 may categorize and store questions based on a progression level and a topic. The answer database 256 is 5 configured for storing answers to each question stored in the question database 254. When an individual answer a question, the answer received from the individual may be compared with a respective answer stored in the answer database to determine whether the question is correctly answered. The history database 258 is configured for storing performance history of the individual for each assessment. 0 Figure 3A is a process flowchart illustrating an exemplary method 300 for assessing an individual in a curriculum, according to one embodiment. As mentioned above, the method 300 may be implemented by the computing device operating computer executable code and preferably, the method may be implemented by the web server. 5 The method starts at step 302 in which a progression level of a student and a knowledge stream(s) to be assessed in the curriculum are determined. At step 304, a topic group in the knowledge stream is identified. In one embodiment, the topic group corresponding to a level below the progression level of the student is identified. In 2o alternate embodiment, the topic group corresponding to the progression level of the student is identified. At step 306, a set of questions that pertains to topics in the topic group is selected from the questions database. In some embodiments, the set of questions are randomly 25 selected from a plurality of questions associated with the topics in the questions database. At step 308, the set of questions that pertains to the topics in the topic group -10 is displayed on a user device of a student. For example, the set of questions may be displayed in a web browser of the user device. Alternatively, the set of questions may be displayed in an application running on the user device. At step 310, results (e.g., correct or incorrect) associated with each question of the set of questions is recorded 5 based on the answers to each question inputted on the user device by the student. Once the student has finished answering the set of questions, number of questions correctly answered by the individual in the set of questions is determined based on the recorded results, at step 312. At step 314, it is determined whether number of questions o correctly answered is equal to a maximum percentage threshold. If the number of questions answered correctly is equal to the maximum percentage threshold, then at step 316, a next set of questions related to topics in a topic group taken from the higher year level in the same knowledge stream is dynamically selected from the questions database. Then, the process repeats the steps 308-312. If there is no higher year level 5 available in the knowledge stream, it implies that the assessment of that knowledge stream has been completed and hence, a next set of questions is selected from the same year level in the next knowledge stream and the steps 308-312 are repeated. If the number of questions answered correctly is not equal to the maximum percentage 20 threshold, then at step 318, it is determined whether the number of questions answered correctly is less than a minimum percentage value. If the number of questions answered correctly is less than the minimum percentage value, then at step 320, a next set of questions related to topics from a topic group in a lower year level of the same knowledge stream is dynamically selected from the questions database and the steps 25 308-312 are repeated. If the lower year level in the same knowledge stream is not - 11 present, then at step 320, a next set of question related to topics from a topic group in a lower year level of a next knowledge stream is selected. If the number of questions answered correctly is not less than the minimum threshold 5 percentage, then it implies that the number of questions correctly answered is within the minimum threshold percentage and the maximum threshold percentage. In such case, at step 322, a next set of questions related to topics in the first topic group in the same year level of the next knowledge stream is selected (i.e., assessment of the knowledge stream is complete and assessment proceeds to the next knowledge stream). Then, the o process repeats the steps 308-312. The above method 300 is performed till all the knowledge streams in the curriculum are completed. It should be noted that, the above described method steps 302-312 are applicable even in cases when the administrator (e.g., classroom teacher or internet supervisor) is 5 allowed to configure parameters such as number of year levels involved in the assessment (e.g., the assessment can be for one year of curriculum), start level (e.g., one year level below the student's school year) and knowledge stream(s) used in the assessment (e.g., one or more knowledge streams or all knowledge streams) prior to the start of assessment. 20 Figure 3B is a process flowchart of an exemplary method of generating a remediation plan for a student upon completion of the assessment, according to one embodiment. The process 350 starts with step 352 in which an online assessment report indicating performance of the student in each knowledge stream of the curriculum is generated 25 upon completion of assessment for all knowledge streams in the curriculum. At step -12 354, one or more knowledge gaps in the knowledge stream of the curriculum are identified based on the online assessment report. At step 356, a remediation plan for the student is generated based on the identified knowledge gaps. Exemplary remediation plan for the student is illustrated in Figure 6. 5 Figure 4A is a schematic representation 400 depicting an exemplary structure of a curriculum. Particularly, Figure 4A illustrates a structure of mathematics curriculum 400. The curriculum 400 includes four knowledge streams viz, shapes 402A, counting 402B, addition 402C, subtraction 402D, and fractions 402E. Each knowledge stream o corresponds with a particular subject built over consecutive years (e.g., K-1 0). For example, each of the knowledge streams for K-1 0 contains topic groups 404A-K, with each topic group corresponding to one progression level. Each of the topic groups 404A-K sits on pre-requisite knowledge from a previous progression level. Further, each of the topic groups 404A-K within each knowledge stream is assigned with one or more 5 topics pertaining to each knowledge stream and a progression level. Figure 4B is a schematic representation 425 depicting topics in the topic groups 404A K of the knowledge stream 'shapes' 402A. It can be seen in Figure 4B that, each of the topic groups 404A-K contains one or more topics pertaining to the knowledge stream 20 'shapes' 402A. Each topic of the topic groups 404A-K has a plurality of questions having same level of difficulty stored in the question database 254. Figure 4C is a schematic representation 450 depicting an example of a pre-requisite knowledge for a student being assessed in a curriculum. Consider that a student who is 25 in year 6 is to be assessed online in a knowledge stream 'shapes' 402A. In such case, topics in the topic groups 404A-F of the knowledge stream 'shapes' 402A are pre- -13 requisite knowledge for the student. The student should have attained a pass percentage in the topics pertaining to the topic groups 404A-F in order to be assessed in the knowledge stream 'shapes' 402A for the year 6. 5 Figure 5 is a schematic representation 500 depicting an exemplary navigation path associated with a student accessed in five knowledge streams of a curriculum. Consider that a student who is in year 6 wishes to take a test in a mathematics curriculum comprising knowledge streams (i.e., subtraction 402A, counting 402B, addition 402C, subtraction 402D, and fraction 402E). Also, consider that the starting point of test is o current school year, three threshold percentages (i.e., maximum 100%, minimum 66%, and between 66% to 100%) are set, remediation is set for less than 66% in a topic group, and a progression level remediation is automatically considered in a remediation plan unless percentage level attained is above 66%. 5 At first, the online assessment module 108 selects and displays a set of questions pertaining to a year 6 topic group in the knowledge stream 'shapes' 402A on a client device of the student. As the student inputs the answer to each question, the online assessment module 108 records the answers to the set of questions and verifies correctness of the recorded answers. 20 As depicted in the navigation path 502, the student has achieved less than 66% in the year 6 topic group of the knowledge stream 'shapes' 402A. Hence, the online assessment module 108 selects and displays a set of questions pertaining to a year 5 topic group in the same knowledge stream 402A on the client device. In the questions 25 pertaining to the year 5 topic group, the student managed to correctly answer the questions greater than 66% and less than 100%. Therefore, the online assessment -14 module 108 selects and displays a set of questions pertaining to the year 5 topic group in a knowledge stream 'counting' 402B on the client device. The student correctly answered all the questions pertaining to the year 5 topic group, as 5 a result the online assessment module 108 selects and displays a set of questions pertaining to the year 6 topic group in the same knowledge stream 402B on the client device. In the year 6 topic group of the knowledge stream 402B, the student correctly answered less than 66% of the questions. Consequently, the online assessment module 108 selects and displays a set of questions pertaining to the year 5 topic group in a o knowledge stream 'addition' 402C. The student correctly answered less than 66% of the questions pertaining to the year 5 topic group. Therefore, the online assessment module 108 selects and displays a set of questions pertaining to a year 4 topic group in the same knowledge stream 402C. In the 5 year 4 topic group, the student managed to correctly answer more than 66% and less than 100% of questions and hence the online assessment module 108 selects and displays a set of questions pertaining to the year 4 topic group in the next knowledge stream 402D. 20 In the year 4 topic group, the student has achieved less than 66% and thus the online assessment module 108 selects and displays a set of questions pertaining to a year 3 topic group in the same knowledge stream 402D. In the year 3 topic group, the student managed to correctly answer more than 66% and less than 100% of questions. Therefore, the online assessment module 108 selects and displays a set of questions 25 pertaining to the year 3 topic group in a knowledge stream 'fractions' 402E. The student correctly answered 100% of the questions in the year 3 topic group of the knowledge -15 stream 402E and hence the online assessment module 108 selects and displays a set of questions pertaining to the year 4 topic group in the same knowledge stream 402E. Since the student correctly answered 100% of questions in the year 4 topic group, the 5 online assessment module 108 selects and displays a set of questions pertaining to the year 5 topic group in the same knowledge stream 402E. Further, the online assessment module 108 records student's answers to the questions in the year 5 topic group and generates an online assessment report of performance in the knowledge streams 402A E is generated. In Figure 5, white coloured blocks indicate topic groups in respective o knowledge streams passed by the student while grey coloured blocks indicate topic groups in respective knowledge streams in which the student has failed and requires remediation. It can be noted that, topic groups, which correspond to the current progression level and below, and on top of the failed topic groups are also considered as failed. Further, black coloured blocks indicate topic groups which are above current 5 progression level and not assessed. Figure 6 is a schematic representation 600 depicting a remediation plan generated based on performance of the student in the five knowledge streams 402A-E. Further to the assessment in Figure 5, the online assessment module 108 identifies knowledge 20 gaps (i.e., grey blocks numbered 1 to 9) in the progression levels assessed within the knowledge streams 402A-E. Based on the knowledge gaps, the online assessment module 108 generates a remediation plan for the student. The remediation plan indicates teaching order of remediation for the student. For example, based on the assessment in Figure 5, the teaching order may be year 4 subtraction, year 5 addition, 25 year 5 subtraction, year 5 fractions, year 6 shapes, year 6 counting, year 6 addition, year 6 subtraction, and year 6 fractions. It can be noted that topics corresponding to -16 failed topic groups in a remediation program may be same or different to the topics corresponding to the failed topic groups in the assessment. In some embodiments, the online assessment module 108 may provide access to an 5 automated study plan on the client device. In these embodiments, the online assessment module 108 may provide access to a work list for a predefined time period (e.g., week, month, etc.) along with a revision cycle. Figure 7 illustrates a diagrammatic view of an exemplary online educational o assessment platform 700 in which the various embodiments described herein may be implemented. It is appreciated that the platform 700 is an exemplary embodiment of the online educational assessment platform 102 of Figure 1. In the online educational assessment platform 700, the online assessment module 108 is deployed in one or more servers 702 and the repository 110 is deployed in a database server 704. The 5 server 702 may be a web server remotely connected to the client devices 104A-N via the network 106. The server 702 includes a processor 706 and a memory 708 coupled to the microprocessor 706. The memory 708 contains the online assessment module 108 stored as a computer 20 program code instructions executable by the processor 706. For example, the computer program code instruction libraries, such as dynamic link libraries (DLL), wherein each of the libraries performs one or more method steps of the method. Additionally, a subset of the one or more libraries may perform graphical user interface tasks relating to the method step of the method 300. The processor 706 is configured for executing the 25 computer program code instructions to perform one or more method steps for online assessment an individual in a curriculum.
-17 The database server 704 includes a processor 710 and a memory 712 coupled to the processor 710. The memory 708 contains the repository 110 having various types of data (e.g., profile data, questions, answers, history and so on). The processor 710 is 5 configured for retrieving a specific type of data from the memory 712 and providing the retrieved data to the server(s) 702 when such request for the specific data is received from the server(s) 702. For example, the processor 710 is configured for retrieving requested question data from the repository 110 and providing the retrieved question data to the server(s) 702. 0 Figure 8 illustrates a diagrammatic view of another exemplary online educational assessment platform 800 in which the various embodiments described herein may be implemented. It is appreciated that, the online educational assessment platform 800 is an exemplary embodiment of the online educational assessment platform 100 of Figure 5 1. In the online educational assessment platform 800, the online assessment module 108 and the repository 110 are deployed in cloud architecture 802 so that online educational assessment can be provided as a cloud service. The cloud architecture 802 includes a processor 804 and a memory 806 coupled to the 20 processor 804. The memory 806 contains the online assessment module 108 stored as an executable computer program code instructions, and the repository 110. The processor 804 is configured for executing the computer program code instructions which then cause the processor 804 to perform one or more method steps illustrated in Figure 3. 25 -18 Figure 9 illustrates a diagrammatic view of a yet another exemplary online educational assessment platform 900 on which the various embodiments described herein may be implemented. It is appreciated that the platform 900 is an exemplary embodiment of the online educational assessment platform 102 of Figure 1. In particular the steps of the 5 method 300 may be implemented as an online assessment module 108 which are in the form of computer program code instructions and executable by the online educational assessment platform 900. The computer program code instructions may be divided into one or more computer program code instruction libraries, such as dynamic link libraries (DLL), wherein each of the libraries performs a one or more steps of the method 300. o Additionally, a subset of the one or more of the libraries may perform graphical user interface tasks relating to the steps of the method 300. The online educational assessment platform 900 consists of semiconductor memory 902 which includes volatile memory such as random access memory (RAM) or read 5 only memory (ROM). The memory 902 may include either RAM or ROM or a combination of RAM and ROM. The online educational assessment platform 900 consists of a computer program code storage medium reader 904 for reading the computer program code instructions from a 20 computer program code storage media 906. The storage media 906 may be optical media such as CD-ROM disks, magnetic media such as floppy disks and tape cassettes or flash media such as Universal Serial Bus (USB) memory sticks. The online educational assessment platform 900 further includes I/O interface 908 for 25 communicating with one or more peripheral devices. The I/O interface 908 may offer both serial and parallel interface connectivity. For example, the I/O interface 908 may -19 include a Small Computer System Interface (SCSI), USB or similar 1/O interface for interfacing with the storage medium reader 904. The I/O interface 908 may also communicate with one or more human input devices (HID) 912 such as keyboards, pointing devices, joysticks and the like. 5 The I/O interface 908 may also include a computer to computer interface, such as a Recommended Standard 232 (RS-232) interface, for interfacing the online educational assessment platform 900 with one or more personal computer (PC) devices 918. o The online educational assessment platform 900 also includes a network interface 914 for communicating with one or more computer networks 104. The network 104 may be a wired network, such as a wired EthernetTM network or a wireless network, such as a Local Area Network (LAN), such as a home or office computer network, a Wide Area Network (WAN), such as the Internet or private WAN, a General Packet Radio Service 5 (GPRS) network, (EDGE) network, or Long Term Evolution (LTE) network. The online educational assessment platform 900 includes an arithmetic logic unit or a processor 920 for executing the computer program code instructions. The processor 920 may be a reduced instruction set computer (RISC) or complex instruction set 20 computer (CISC) processor or the like. The online educational assessment platform 900 further includes a storage device 922, such as a magnetic disk hard drive or a solid state disk drive. Computer program code instructions may be loaded into the storage device 922 from 25 the storage media 906 using the storage medium reader 904 or from the network 916 using a network interface 914. During the bootstrap phase, an operating system and -20 one or more software applications are loaded from the storage device 922 into the memory 902. During the fetch-decode-execute cycle, the processor 920 fetches computer program code instructions from the memory 902, decodes the instructions into machine code, executes the instructions and stores one or more intermediate results in 5 the memory 902. The online educational assessment platform 900 also includes an audio/video interface (AV interface) 924 for conveying video signals to a display device 926, such as a liquid crystal display (LCD), cathode-ray tube (CRT) or similar display device. 0 The online educational assessment platform 900 also includes a communication bus subsystem 910 for interconnecting the various devices described above. The bus subsystem 910 may offer parallel connectivity such as Industry Standard Architecture (ISA), conventional Peripheral Component Interconnect (PCI) and the like or serial 5 connectivity such as PCI Express (PCIe), Serial Advanced Technology Attachment (Serial ATA) and the like. According various systems and methods illustrated in Figures 1 through 9, a student can be assessed over a wide curriculum (e.g., all knowledge streams in a National 20 Maths Curriculum from Year 5 to 8) in one sitting. A single question is selected randomly from questions pertaining to each topic in a topic group and displayed on a client device of each student in random order. It can be noted that, in the present invention, questions do not have hyperlinks to other screens or questions, rather questions are randomly selected from different pools of questions. Thus, students in the 25 same classroom will not be answering the same test as their neighbours. Also, the online educational assessment platform 102 ensures that a student, appearing the -21 assessment individually, will not re-answer the questions answered on a previous occasion. This has the advantage of allowing a very extensive coverage of curriculum topics in a short period of time. 5 Furthermore, on completing assessment of a knowledge stream (e.g., multiplication), the online educational assessment platform 102 records the level achieved in the knowledge stream and enters the next knowledge stream (e.g., division) at the level achieved in the completely assessed knowledge stream. Based on this, the online educational assessment platform 102 can determine the student's individual level and o dynamically design a test without the disappointment and frustration of being delivered questions which are too hard or too easy to answer. Moreover, the online educational assessment platform 102 can automatically generate a remediation plan based on student's performance in the assessment (e.g., a computer 5 based assessment, where the activities are automatically fed to the student, or a printed program connected to a paper-based tutorial program). In either type of assessment, the online educational assessment platform 102 generates a remediation plan which is connected via a table of activities with parameters linked to the topic group/levels in the descriptive table. It can be noted that, the above-mentioned features can be achieved 2o due to the inbuilt "artificial intelligence" which enables the online educational assessment platform 102 to automatically respond to the student's answers, dynamically navigate through the questions database and generate a remediation plan based on the assessment if needed. 25 Moreover, the online educational assessment platform 102 enables forming a new curriculum by rearranging topics pertaining to various knowledge streams. In some -22 embodiments, the online educational assessment platform 102 organises a curriculum into a table of knowledge stream/year level topic groups. Thus, the topics in the curriculum can easily be moved from one year level to another or topics can be removed or inserted by editing the said table. 5 Interpretation Wireless: The invention may be embodied using devices conforming to other network standards and for other applications, including, for example other WLAN standards and other o wireless standards. Applications that can be accommodated include IEEE 802.11 wireless LANs and links, and wireless Ethernet. In the context of this document, the term "wireless" and its derivatives may be used to describe circuits, devices, systems, methods, techniques, communications channels, 5 etc., that may communicate data through the use of modulated electromagnetic radiation through a non-solid medium. The term does not imply that the associated devices do not contain any wires, although in some embodiments they might not. In the context of this document, the term "wired" and its derivatives may be used to describe circuits, devices, systems, methods, techniques, communications channels, etc., that 20 may communicate data through the use of modulated electromagnetic radiation through a solid medium. The term does not imply that the associated devices are coupled by electrically conductive wires. Processes: 25 Unless specifically stated otherwise, as apparent from the following discussions, it is appreciated that throughout the specification discussions utilizing terms such as -23 "processing", "computing", "identifying", "determining", "selecting" or the like, refer to the action and/or processes of a computer or computing system, or similar electronic computing device, that manipulate and/or transform data represented as physical, such as electronic, quantities into other data similarly represented as physical quantities. 5 Processor: In a similar manner, the term "processor" may refer to any device or portion of a device that processes electronic data, e.g., from registers and/or memory to transform that electronic data into other electronic data that, e.g., may be stored in registers and/or o memory. A "computer" or a "computing device" or a "computing machine" or a ''computing platform" may include one or more processors. The methodologies described herein are, in one embodiment, performable by one or more processors that accept computer-readable (also called machine-readable) code 5 containing a set of instructions that when executed by one or more of the processors carry out at least one of the methods described herein. Any processor capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken are included. Thus, one example is a typical processing system that includes one or more processors. The processing system further may include a memory subsystem 20 including main RAM and/or a static RAM, and/or ROM. Computer-Readable Medium: Furthermore, a computer-readable carrier medium may form, or be included in a computer program product. A computer program product can be stored on a computer 25 usable carrier medium, the computer program product comprising a computer readable program means for causing a processor to perform a method as described herein.
-24 Networked or Multiple Processors: In alternative embodiments, the one or more processors operate as a standalone device or may be connected, e.g., networked to other processor(s), in a networked 5 deployment, the one or more processors may operate in the capacity of a server or a client machine in a server-client network environment, or as a peer machine in a peer to-peer or distributed network environment. The one or more processors may form a web appliance, a network router, switch or bridge, or any machine capable of executing a set of instructions (sequential or otherwise) that specify actions to be taken by that o machine. Note that while some diagram(s) only show(s) a single processor and a single memory that carries the computer-readable code, those in the art will understand that many of the components described above are included, but not explicitly shown or described in 5 order not to obscure the inventive aspect. For example, while only a single machine is illustrated, the term "machine" shall also be taken to include any collection of machines that individually or jointly execute a set (or multiple sets) of instructions to perform any one or more of the methodologies discussed herein. 2o Additional Embodiments: Thus, one embodiment of each of the methods described herein is in the form of a computer-readable carrier medium carrying a set of instructions, e.g., a computer program that are for execution on one or more processors. Thus, as will be appreciated by those skilled in the art, embodiments of the present invention may be embodied as a 25 method, an apparatus such as a special purpose apparatus, an apparatus such as a data processing system, or a computer-readable carrier medium. The computer- -25 readable carrier medium carries computer readable code including a set of instructions that when executed on one or more processors cause a processor or processors to implement the method steps described herein. Accordingly, aspects of the present invention may take the form of a method, an entirely hardware embodiment, an entirely 5 software embodiment or an embodiment combining software and hardware aspects. Furthermore, the present invention may take the form of carrier medium (e.g., a computer program product on a computer-readable storage medium) carrying computer-readable program code embodied in the medium. o Carrier Medium: The software may further be transmitted or received over a network via a network interface device. While the carrier medium is shown in an example embodiment to be a single medium, the term "carrier medium" should be taken to include a single medium or multiple media (e.g., a centralized or distributed database, and/or associated caches 5 and servers) that store the one or more sets of instructions. The term "carrier medium" shall also be taken to include any medium that is capable of storing, encoding or carrying a set of instructions for execution by one or more of the processors and that cause the one or more processors to perform any one or more of the methodologies of the present invention. A carrier medium may take many forms, including but not limited 20 to, non-volatile media, volatile media, and transmission media. Implementation: It will be understood that the steps of methods discussed are performed in one embodiment by an appropriate processor (or processors) of a processing (i.e., 25 computer) system executing instructions (computer-readable code) stored in storage. It will also be understood that the invention is not limited to any particular implementation -26 or programming technique and that the invention may be implemented using any appropriate techniques for implementing the functionality described herein. The invention is not limited to any particular programming language or operating system. 5 Means For Carrying out a Method or Function Furthermore, some of the embodiments are described herein as a method or combination of elements of a method that can be implemented by a processor of a processor device, computer system, or by other means of carrying out the function. Thus, a processor with the necessary instructions for carrying out such a method or o element of a method forms a means for carrying out the method or element of a method. Furthermore, an element described herein of an apparatus embodiment is an example of a means for carrying out the function performed by the element for the purpose of carrying out the invention. 5 Connected Similarly, it is to be noticed that the term connected, when used in the claims, should not be interpreted as being limitative to direct connections only. Thus, the scope of the expression a device A connected to a device B should not be limited to devices or systems wherein an output of device A is directly connected to an input of device B. It 20 means that there exists a path between an output of the device A and an input of the device B which may be a path including other devices or means. "Connected" may mean that two or more elements are either in direct physical or electrical contact, or that two or more elements are not in direct contact with each other but yet still co-operate or interact with each other. 25 Embodiments: -27 Reference throughout this specification to "one embodiment" or "an embodiment" means that a particular feature, structure or characteristic described in connection with the embodiment is included in at least one embodiment of the present invention. Thus, appearances of the phrases "in one embodiment" or "in an embodiment" in various 5 places throughout this specification are not necessarily all referring to the same embodiment, but may. Furthermore, the particular features, structures or characteristics may be combined in any suitable manner, as would be apparent to one of ordinary skill in the art from this o disclosure, in one or more embodiments. Similarly it should be appreciated that in the above description of example embodiments of the invention, various features of the invention are sometimes grouped together in a single embodiment, figure, or description thereof for the purpose of streamlining the 5 disclosure and aiding in the understanding of one or more of the various inventive aspects. This method of disclosure, however, is not to be interpreted as reflecting an intention that the claimed invention requires more features than are expressly recited in each claim. Rather, as the following claims reflect, inventive aspects lie in less than all features of a single foregoing disclosed embodiment. Thus, the claims following the 2o Detailed Description of Specific Embodiments are hereby expressly incorporated into this Detailed Description of Specific Embodiments, with each claim standing on its own as a separate embodiment of this invention. Furthermore, while some embodiments described herein include some but not other 25 features included in other embodiments, combinations of features of different embodiments are meant to be within the scope of the invention, and form different -28 embodiments, as would be understood by those in the art. For example, in the following claims, any of the claimed embodiments can be used in any combination. Specific Details 5 In the description provided herein, numerous specific details are set forth. However, it is understood that embodiments of the invention may be practiced without these specific details. In other instances, well-known methods, structures and techniques have not been shown in detail in order not to obscure an understanding of this description. o Terminology In describing the preferred embodiment of the invention illustrated in the drawings, specific terminology will be resorted to for the sake of clarity. However, the invention is not intended to be limited to the specific terms so selected, and it is to be understood that each specific term includes all technical equivalents which operate in a similar 5 manner to accomplish a similar technical purpose. Different Instances of Objects As used herein, unless otherwise specified the use of the ordinal adjectives "first", "second", "third", "another", etc., to describe a common object, merely indicate that 2o different instances of like objects are being referred to, and are not intended to imply that the objects so described must be in a given sequence, either temporally, spatially, in ranking, or in any other manner. Comprising and Including 25 In the claims which follow and in the preceding description of the invention, except where the context requires otherwise due to express language or necessary implication, -29 the word "comprise" or variations such as "comprises" or "comprising" are used in an inclusive sense, i.e., to specify the presence of the stated features but not to preclude the presence or addition of further features in various embodiments of the invention. 5 Any one of the terms including or which includes or that includes as used herein is also an open term that also means including at least the elements/features that follow the term, but not excluding others. Thus, including is synonymous with and means comprising. o Scope of Invention Thus, while there has been described what are believed to be the preferred embodiments of the invention, those skilled in the art will recognize that other and further modifications may be made thereto without departing from the spirit of the invention, and it is intended to claim all such changes and modifications as fall within 5 the scope of the invention. For example, any formulas given above are merely representative of procedures that may be used. Functionality may be added or deleted from the block diagrams and operations may be interchanged among functional blocks. Steps may be added or deleted to methods described within the scope of the present invention. 20 Although the invention has been described with reference to specific examples, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that the invention may be embodied in many other forms. 25 Industrial Applicability -30 It is apparent from the above, that the arrangements described are applicable to the software industry.