Anyone can Take Online Examinations at Home

Release Date :2020.10.30

• IBT/CBT

Release Date :2020.10.30

The Association for Art Certification is a general incorporated association that aims to promote the "art certification test" that connects art, people, and society. The "Bijutsu Kentei" aims to enhance the ability of art viewers to "see" artworks, and hopes that they will be moved by artworks by learning about the artists, historical backgrounds, and techniques used in their creation. In this interview, we spoke with Mr. Takada.

"The more you know, the more you see. Add some color to your life!

First of all, can you tell us about the Art Certificate?

The Art Certification Test, which aims to enhance the ability to "see" works of art, has been held once a year in November each year, with levels from Level 4 to Level 1. Originally, the test was held at venues in five cities across Japan, but in response to the Corona Disaster, we have introduced an online test that can be taken at home starting in 2020. This is out of our desire to provide many people with the opportunity to take the exam in a safe and secure environment.

Level 4 is an introductory level and can be passed if you learn a little extra to your existing knowledge. level 4 can be taken year-round starting in 2020. We have already introduced an online exam from August 2020, so if you are interested, please feel free to take it.

What is a Level 1 Art Navigator?

The "Art Certification Test" has been in existence for more than 10 years, and is a test for people who want to make art more accessible and enjoyable to the general public. The Bijutsu Kensetsu has a history of more than 10 years,art navigatorThere are currently more than 300 art navigators in Japan. We would like art navigators to share with the public the excitement and enjoyment that can be gained from looking at artworks. I hope that art navigators will help many people to enjoy artworks more deeply.

Although museums have audio guides and visitors can listen to commentaries by curators, art is still often considered a hurdle to overcome. The "Art Certification Test" is offered with the hope that people will not only memorize knowledge, but also put their memorized knowledge to use in society.

Examinee data and past pass information can also be transferred in a batch.

How did you come to know about learningBOX?

originallyQuizGenerator(Quiz Generator). The Art Proficiency Test starts at Level 4, but I wanted to create a quiz on the exhibitions held at that time, thinking it would be good to have a more approachable entrance. For example, even if you think, "I heard that Van Gogh is coming to Ueno, and it's famous, so let's go there," you don't go there after studying it. However, I thought it would be a lot of fun to learn a little bit of information about the main work, such as that he painted it when he was young or that he used colors in this way, in a quiz format. So I made a quiz to try it out, and it was really quick and easy. The images were beautifully captured, and even though I am not very IT literate, I was able to create the quiz intuitively. It was during this process that I learned about learningBOX, a learning management system.

Are there any features you recommend for learningBOX?

「GradesThe "Art Exam" screen allows users to easily collect data such as the percentage of questions answered correctly and the time it took to solve the questions. The questions in the "Art Exam" include current art industry trends and current issues, and the question creation team puts a lot of thought and effort into creating a large number of good questions each year. Until now, we have not been able to take data on the time required, so we feel that we can use this information to further brush up on our question creation.

In addition, we originally offered discounts on exam fees through student discounts and special coupons for book purchases, and we are now offering the same discounts on the learningBOX as well, with the "couponWe were able to have the "test fee discount" feature added to the online exam as well. In addition, although it is not possible to take the Level 1 exam unless one has passed the Level 2 exam for this certification test, we have had all data on past successes imported and linked to the Bijutsu Kenkyu Online account. This allows us to identify examinees by e-mail address, name, etc., and reflect the results. This has been very helpful because we do not have to ask examinees to enter the number of their Level 2 certificate.

How was the creation of the questions in learningBOX?

It was really easy and simple to create the questions. When we had a vendor do the layout for us, we had to send the necessary information in Excel and then modify it again in Excel, but that took a lot of time and it was hard to imagine what the actual layout would look like.

LearningBOX's creation screen is easy to understand and allows us to check the preview display, which we really appreciate. In addition, the size of the images and the placement of the answer columns were flexible, and they were able to respond to our requests.

Problem formatI believe that the content of the examinations will change in the future because of the new ideas that can only be achieved on the Web.

Do you have a message for those who are going to take the "Art Certificate"?

If you're thinking of taking on the challenge, there is a freesample testWe would like to encourage you to try it out because there are We hope you will enjoy the sample questions, which are based on famous paintings that everyone has seen somewhere before. We are aware that not all of you are familiar with computers and IT, but we hope you will enjoy taking the test.

I presented the goal I wanted to achieve, and they responded to everything accurately, quickly, and carefully.

How has incorporating the online exam changed things from last year?

I think that the introduction of online examinations has brought us closer to the people who take the exam. By close, I mean very sensible. learningBOX'sEC OptionThis means that we are now able to better understand the status of each candidate's application, for example, what payment method they chose, or if they purchased a book and used a coupon for a discount on the exam fee. For example, we can see in real time from the administration screen what payment method was chosen, and we can also see who has used a discount coupon for the exam fee among those who have purchased a book.

We have also created an exam flow so that you can solve sample questions before taking the real exam. The "Art Exam" is taken by people of all ages, from teens to over 70s. In order to ensure that this generation of examinees, who are not familiar with computers, can take the exam, we wanted to familiarize them with the operating procedures in advance. For those who are taking the online exam for the first time, it is necessary to eliminate various uncertainties, such as what to do if they press the wrong button. We are constantly making improvements to make the exam even better, such as making real-time corrections so that the procedure can be followed in an easy-to-understand manner, in response to contacts from those who stumbled upon the operations leading up to the application to take the exam. It is a small thing, but it is a good point that we have been able to notice only because we have made the test online.

What advice would you give to those who are thinking of starting an online certification program?

We have been holding the exam on site on a Sunday in November every year and had already announced it for 2020. However, due to the Corona Disaster situation, we thought that some people might be anxious about signing up but going to the venue, so we decided to make the exam an online exam so that people could take the exam with peace of mind. If there was one concern, it was the risk of cheating. However, we decided to avoid the risk of cheating by basing this certification test on the trust we place in our examinees and by devising the time limit, the number of questions, and the content of the questions. If I had to go through each question one by one, I would not be able to finish within the time limit.

For those who have taken the test in the past, there may be some confusion because the on-site test was an environment where you were not allowed to bring in textbooks, there was an examiner, and a monitor would come around. But this certification test is for self-development, so we want people to challenge themselves to test their abilities.

Technically, I think it will soon be possible to monitor with computer cameras, etc. However, I think it will only be a matter of deciding what is best for the examinee, such as the specs of the examinee's computer. It is absolutely the online exam that can provide many people with the opportunity to take the exam, so we would like to continue to make it a good exam while making further innovations.
If you ask learningBOX, with its expertise in online examinations, I am sure they will make it happen!

How was the service response?

When we presented the goals we wanted to achieve, he handled everything with precision, speed and care. We have absolute confidence in you.

I knew that learningBOX could easily create exam questions for certification exams, but I don't think learningBOX was designed for online exams. However, when we told them of our request, they always responded positively and said reassuringly, "Let's work together! We received reassuring words of "Let's work together! They have never once said "we can't do it" in response to our difficult requests. If there was no way to achieve what we wanted, they would consider developing a new function, but first, they would propose a plan A, a plan B, and sometimes even a plan C for what could be done with the current functionality. We were able to reach this point by choosing the best solution among them.

Since learningBOX's head office is located in Tatsuno City, Hyogo Prefecture, we conducted all of our meetings via web meeting. The good thing about the web meeting was that the explanation was given using the environment we are currently using, so we were able to immediately understand where we needed to operate, which was very much appreciated.

 Also, since learningBOX is a cloud service, we could make decisions during the meeting if it was a simple change or modification. By doing so, they were able to ensure that all of these issues were resolved and realized. Thanks to them, we were able to successfully start the Level 4 online exam in August 2020. November is finally the exam for Levels 3, 2, and 1. Thank you very much for accompanying me on a tripod for about six months until the real exam. I can only express my gratitude. I expect that you will continue to work with us to make the "Art Examination" even better in the future!

Thank you for your participation
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