# Comparative Study of Moodle Plugins to Facilitate the Adoption of Computer-Based Assessments
###### Abstract  
The use of Learning Management Systems (LMS) has had rapid growth over the last decades. Great efforts have been recently made to assess online students' performance level, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Faculty members with limited experience in the use of LMS such as Moodle, Edmodo, MOOC, Blackboard and Google Classroom face challenges creating online tests. This paper presents a descriptive and comparative study of the existing plugins used to import questions into Moodle, classifying them according to the necessary computing resources. Each of the classifications were compared and ranked, and features such as the support for gamification and the option to create parameterised questions are explored. Parameterised questions can generate a large number of different questions, which is very useful for large classes and avoids fraudulent behaviour. The paper outlines an open-source plugin developed by the authors: FastTest PlugIn, recently approved by Moodle. FastTest PlugIn is a promising alternative to mitigate the detected limitations in analysed plugins. FastTest PlugIn was validated in seminars with 230 faculty members, obtaining positive results about expectations and potential recommendations. The features of the main alternative plugins are discussed and compared, describing the potential advantages of FastTest PlugIn. content creation tools; plugin; Moodle; e-learning technologies; LMSs; XML file; quiz; parameterised questions +
Footnote †: journal: Applied Sciences  
Once online classes had been established, the next step was to assess students' performance level. At the beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic, examinations were sometimes postponed; however, as lockdowns continued, institutes of higher education were forced to offer online examinations [14]. Online examination has both advantages and disadvantages for institutions, faculty members and students [15; 16; 17; 18]: it is considered to be more economical and environmentally friendly (paper saving), and to have some other advantages such as automatic grading, student authentication and effectiveness [19; 20]. However, online assessment also involves some disadvantages, such as a lack of technological resources by students [21; 22], network connectivity problems [23; 24] and the difficulty of detecting cheating [25; 26]. One of the biggest challenges is to ensure the credibility, security, and validity of online assessment. Prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, cheating detection was one of the main concerns of faculty members [27; 28; 29; 30], and several works have recently been published on this topic [16; 31; 32; 33]. There is no general agreement in academia as to which online examination method is most suitable for assessing students [16; 34; 35; 36]. [PERSON] et al. [34] studied the use of online tests in assessing learning in the 21 st century. Online tests (also known as online quizzes) are a kind of computer-assisted assessment in which deployment and grading are automatic. The use of online tests has undergone rapid growth over the last two decades due to the widespread implementation of LMSs in higher education [37]. [PERSON] [38] highlighted the efficiency of online tests due to the use of automatic marking and feedback. According to [PERSON] [39], online tests can be used to assess a wide range of topics within a short period of time; in addition, students have positive attitudes towards online testing [40; 41]. It should be noted that the effectiveness of online tests increases when implemented in conjunction with other assessment methods [42]. [PERSON] et al. [34] proposed some principles for the design of online tests, based on an extensive literature review. One of the most successful strategies for minimising cheating identified in [43] was the use of multiple versions of the test in which the order of the questions and responses is randomised. In general, online tests may be composed of Multiple-Choice Questions (MCQs), matching questions, true/false questions and short answer questions, among others.