QTI - Background

Background

QTI was produced by the IMS Global Learning Consortium, which is an industry and academic consortium that develops specifications for interoperable learning technology. QTI was inspired by the need for interoperability in question design, and to avoid people losing or having to re-type questions when technology changes. Developing and validating good questions is time consuming, and it's desirable to be able to create them in a platform and technology neutral format.

QTI version 1.0 was materially based on a proprietary Questions Markup Language (QML) language defined by QuestionMark, but the language has evolved over the years and can now describe almost any reasonable question that one might want to describe. (QML is still in use by Questionmark and is generated for interoperability by tools like Adobe Captivate).

The most widely used version of QTI at the time of writing is version 1.2, which was finalized in 2002. This works well for exchanging simple question types, and is supported by many tools that allow the creation of questions.

Version 2.0 was released in 2005, with v2.1 due for release in 2008. 2.0 addressed the item (individual question) level of the specification only, with 2.1 covering assessments and results as well as correcting errors which had become apparent in 2.0. Version 2.x is a significant improvement on earlier versions, defining a new underlying interaction model. It is also notable for its significantly greater degree of integration with other specifications (some of which did not exist during the production of v1): the specification addresses the relationship with IMS Content Packaging v1.2, IEEE Learning Object Metadata, IMS Learning Design, IMS Simple Sequencing and other standards such as XHTML. It also provides guidance on representing context-specific usage data and information to support the migration of content from earlier versions of the specification.

Because v2.0 was limited to items only, and v2.1 has yet to be formally released by IMS (although two public drafts plus an addendum are currently available), uptake of v2.x has been slow to date. The delay between the release of 2.0 and 2.1 (over three years to date) may have hindered uptake to some extent, with developers reluctant to commit to v2.0 knowing that v2.1 is in development. The use of a profile of v1.2.1 in the IMS Common Cartridge specification may exacerbate this. A number of implementations are emerging, however, and uptake may increase once the specification is finally available in a stable form.

In early 2009, the IMS Global Learning Consortium withdrew QTI 2.1, stating that "Adequate feedback on the specification has not been received, and therefore, the specification has been put back into the IMS project group process for further work." The most recent version of QTI that is fully endorsed by IMS GLC is v1.2.1. This decision met with disapproval on the IMS-QTI mailing list. A further clarification on the QTI 2.1 withdrawal acknowledged the work done on implementing the QTI 2.1 draft specification, and cited criticism on the lack of interoperability of IMS specifications as a reason for endorsing only IMS QTI 1.2. A few weeks later IMS GLC reposted the QTI v2.1 draft specification on their website with a warning that the specification is incomplete:

Caution: The QTIv2.1PD Version 2 specification is incomplete in its current state. The IMS QTI project group is in the process of evolving this specification based on input from market participants. Suppliers of products and services are encouraged to participate by contacting Mark McKell at . This specification will be superseded by an updated release based on the input of the project group participants. Please note that supplier's claims as to implementation of QTI v2.1 and conformance to it HAVE NOT BEEN VALIDATED by IMS GLC. While such suppliers are likely well-intentioned, IMS GLC member organizations have not yet put in place the testing process to validate these claims. IMS GLC currently grants a conformance mark to the Common Cartridge profile of QTI v1.2.1.