Introduction to Gnowledge

What is Gnowledge?

Gnowledge is the test publishing platform and is meant to provide a global repository of user-generated test, assignment and exercises questions for educators, students and parents all over the world. Gnowledge can be found online with all of its features free-to-use at www.gnowledge.com.
As of June 2012, Gnowledge houses more than 2,000 tests online, with more coming from the user base everyday. Take one of them or create yours now!

What can it do?

Besides the basic functionality of taking, creating, and sharing any tests that you want on Gnowledge, you will gain access to the following features:

Access to any tests' answers at the end of taking a test

Track your taken test scores history

Save the progress in your test, so you can continue it at any time.

You can have access to your own Vanity Page detailing your profile information and all of your tests in one page.

Test timer function, which is optional.

Tracking the results and individual answers of everyone who has taken your test.

Gnowledge employs a question and answer orders randomization system, allowing you to take the same test multiple times and have it be different each time.

What makes Gnowledge unique?

Other online test sites have some combination of the following:

A single solitary source of content. Gnowledge enables users to create and publish tests, quizzes and exercises, share them via their Vanity Page and/or link to their individual pages or tests from other sites.

Feature creep and overload, many of which are ignored. With so many features, the interface of other sites are often cluttered and unintuitive. Gnowledge instead wants to build from a small base of core essential features and add-on based on usage and demand as well as key internal metrics.

Many other similar sites are closed in nature; if a university employs the system, you will only see and be able to access content for that university. Gnowledge is public by nature.

Who is Gnowledge for? What benefits will they get?

Gnowledge is most suitable for students, educators and parents with school-going children.
Students worldwide have free ready-access to exercises and test papers pertaining to their studies with results delivered to them instantly upon completion of each individual exercise.
Educators can utilize the Gnowledge website to store frequently used exercises and test papers, which can then be assigned to individual students or entire classrooms. Assigned exercises can be handed in electronically with the results automatically corrected and completed, thus saving precious time on manual individual exercise correction.
Test papers stored on the site can be reused and reassigned to as many students as frequently as desired.
Parents can use the site to keep tabs on the academic aptitude and progress of their school-going children in a similar way that teachers use the Gnowledge website for. Detailed results of exercises completed by their children on the Gnowledge website can be forwarded to and subsequently viewed and evaluated by parents.

Who is Gnowledge not for?

Gnowledge was designed from the ground up to scale to thousands, if not millions of users. Those looking to use Gnowledge with open-ended assessments might have problems. Gnowledge was designed to automatically assess answers and the sophistication required for marking open ended questions/essays just isn’t currently viable. As such, educators that utilise open-ended assessments day by day probably will not benefit from using Gnowledge as much. Please note that allowing educators to mark open-ended assessments by themselves IS possible, it’s just doing it automatically isn’t viable at the moment. However, letting users manually mark their tests beats the purpose of us providing an automated marking system in the first place. Imagine waking up one morning with 10,000 tests to manually mark?

Are there any tutorial documents?

Gnowledge currently has video tutorials online, viewable here. This page will also have a printable handouts introducing Gnowledge and its main features soon.
Our blog has online guides to Taking Tests and Creating Tests.

Will there be more features?

There most definitely will be! We're just getting started and will be adding more features as we move along, based on user feedback and internal Gnowledge metrics. Watch out Facebook or Twitter for updates!

What cheat prevention does Gnowledge offer its users?

Gnowledge employs randomization of question and answer orders, which means test takers cannot copy each other even if they take the same test at the same time. This also stops them from memorizing and then redoing the answers when they retake a test.
Additionally, every Gnowledge user has their own account, and all of their taken tests are stored on this account. Duplication and transfer of scores across accounts is not possible.

How does Gnowledge back up and secure my data?

Gnowledge runs on the world's most advanced cloud computing platform – Microsoft Windows Azure, and benefits from the ongoing development, enhancement and evolution of the Windows Azure cloud computing platform, including its security features and regulatory compliance.

Will my data/info be kept private?

Yes. Gnowledge only publicly shows the stats available on your Vanity Page (www.gnowledge.com/username), which consist of your registered name, username, what tests you have created and how many, as well as how many people have taken your test. All other captured data will be kept private.

What are the minimum technology requirements to use Gnowledge – online and offline?

Gnowledge can be accessed by any web browser that can access the internet by typing www.gnowledge.com into the address bar. Gnowledge is a cloud hosted managed solution ready to run upon activation. No hardware or infrastructure investment is required by the end-user.
Gnowledge currently cannot be accessed offline. However, access can be limited to a local server once set up, but this is only available if your school, institute or organization opts for customization.

What are the Customization features?

The Gnowledge website front-end can be white-labeled to integrate into an organization's corporate identity and branding.
Gnowledge is content-neutral, so assessment content of any nature can be keyed into the Gnowledge question bank. Non-standard question formats can be added onto the platform as plug-ins. Data entry services and administration can be provided to organizations that require such services for a fee.
Additionally, reports, analytics and key assessment measurements can be customized to the end-user's requirements. Additional reports and frameworks can be added on to the Gnowledge platform for organizations that require additional assessment reports beyond those provided out of the box.
Gnowledge site licenses start at 1,000 users with subsequent upgrades in increments of 1,000 users. All licenses are bundled with unlimited tests and storage based on a yearly licensing structure with next business day turnaround technical support.

Why did you start in Singapore? What's the progress?

We started in Singapore because it was a country with a single, standardized syllabus that has a high internet penetration rate. As a result of our efforts, we have over 800 test papers from Singapore schools from about 100 top Singapore schools.

Who created Gnowledge?

Gnowledge is the product of long-time business developer Choong Chong Yew, who has more than 15 years experience in developing custom software.

Gnowledge is a free public portal, so how do you make money?

Gnowledge currently does not make money directly off its user base. We are aiming to establish its traffic flow before allowing advertisement placements to be put on-site in a non-intrusive manner. Revenue from advertisement placements is generated by:

User clickthroughs – revenue is generated every time a user licks on an advertisement.

Page impressions – revenue is generated by the display of advertisements located on a web page. A page impression is counted every time a user navigates to a page that contains an advertisement.

Gnowledge will in future also have subscription fees for users that want more advanced features that are available on site. Exact fee and features to be confirmed.

What does the name "Gnowledge" mean and how do we pronounce it?

Gnowledge is pronounced just like the word knowledge. It stands for General Knowledge, where we believe everyone in the world has the right to easy access to knowledge, and that all knowledge is useful. To this end, we keep Gnowledge content-neutral, so assessment content of any nature can be keyed into the Gnowledge question bank.

Where can I read up more about Gnowledge?

Feel free to read up more about us on our news & events page. Highlighted articles include an interview with our founder on Ed Tech Digest, and a review by education consultant David Kapuler.

How do I get in touch with you for feedback, comments or suggestions?

If you have any feedback, do please contact us. You can also get in touch through our Facebook or our Twitter.

Using Gnowledge

How do I start using Gnowledge?

Find out what you want to do:

Are you at Gnowledge for test papers (for yourself, or others)? Then you'll want to click on Test Taking.

Do you want to contribute your test papers? You'll want to sign up and log in to be able to access the feature.

Just want to have a look around? Check out our Videos section, we run through some of Gnowledge's features.

Can I use Gnowledge without signing up and logging in?

You need to sign up for a free account to take and create tests.

What will I get if I log in?

You will get the following features once you're logged in:

You can save progress on your taken test papers.

You can view the test answers upon completion of a test paper.

You can access your records of previously taken test papers.

You get to create tests.

You get to access see who took your tests and how they did on your tests.

Why do you have to login to use these features?

Most of these features are simply tied to registered users to make it easier for you to keep track of what you've done. Any new features that we release that are based on a user account will have a similar requirement.

Okay, I've signed up. Now what?

You can start using all of Gnowledge's features of course. You'll also be able to customize your profile details and your very own Vanity Page.

My very own Vanity Page?

Yup, Gnowledge gives all their users access to their own Vanity Page. It's a public viewing of your profile details and all of your created test papers, making it easier for others to find all the tests for you (we thought this would be particularly useful to you teachers). More features to your Vanity Page will come with time. You can access your vanity page by going to www.gnowledge.com/yourusername. You'll notice that you can also change your username here and if you do, your Vanity Page gets updated accordingly.

What else do I get for the moment?

That's all at the moment, but we will definitely be updating Gnowledge periodically. Keep up to date, follow us on Facebook or Twitter. We might even give you a something if you do...

Test Taking

Why doesn't Gnowledge immediately skip to the next question after I answer a question?

Not skipping allows you to check if you gave the answer that you wanted to give. If the system automatically moves you ahead, you might not notice that you put in a wrong answer until after you submit the test. This way, you get to check immediately if you want.

I answered a question on a test but Gnowledge doesn't tell me if I got it right or wrong immediately.

Like any test or exercise, you will find out if your answers are right or wrong after you have submitted a test. On your scores page, click on View Answers to see exactly what you got right or wrong. If an answer explanation is provided by the test creator, you will be able to see it there too.

Do I have to answer the whole test paper in one shot?

No. Gnowledge lets you save your progress on a test as long as you've answered just one question. Just click on Save Test next to the Submit Test button to save your progress.
You can resume any test you take by selecting "Continue Test(s) in Progress" from the Test-Taking menu.

The question order seems a bit random. I feel like it jumps around.

Gnowledge has a built-in randomization. The questions order and the answers in a question are randomized in order to prevent copying/duplication of answers. Additionally, this randomization means you can take the same test in the future and don't have to worry about remembering the question and answer order to score well.

I can't submit my test after I'm done with it. What's wrong?

Gnowledge only allows you to submit tests after you've cleared at least half of the paper. If your test is mostly blank then it won't be submitted. Remember, if you need to leave a test for whatever reason you can always just save your progess first.

Can I check my previously taken test scores and answers?

Yes you can. Go to Test Taking, then click on View My Test Results to see the scores of all the tests that you've taken and click on View Answers to see exactly which questions you got right and wrong.

Can I share a test I just took?

Of course you can! The main page of any test will have a few ways that you can share with friends the link to the test! Buttons for sharing through Facebook, Twitter and Email and other sites are available just above every test's "Take This Test" button for easy sharing.

Hey, I noticed an error in one of the tests! They should be corrected!

That may very well be the case. However, the contents of tests on Gnowledge are the responsibility of whoever that created the test. Feel free to leave a note on the Comments section in the test with the typo to notify the test creator that there is a problem.

Test Creation

Why can't I create a test?

You have to be logged in to create a test.

Why do I have to fill in so many details while creating a test?

The details you put in for a new test all help others search for your tests by filtering the results through Title, Subject, Grade, School, Country and Description. This ensures that only people that will find your test useful will find it.

Is my test published automatically once I create one?

No, upon creation your test will be kept hidden, allowing you to edit the test questions and details as you like. Once you're done, you can click the big X-Hidden button or "Apply New Changes, Make Visible" to publish your test.

Do I have to create a test one shot?

No. Once you create a test, it will be stored online and kept there until you choose to delete it. Change the details or add questions to it in your own time.

Can I create tests in different languages?

Yes. Gnowledge allows you to create tests in multiple languages, including non-latin characters like Japanese characters and Arabic characters. Note that the site itself will remain in English for the foreseeable future.

What kind of questions can I create?

You can create four kinds of questions: objective, fill in the blanks, true/false and match questions.

Why these 4 types of questions?

While developing the idea of Gnowledge, we found that if you take out the open-ended questions, the majority of questions presented in tests could be categorized into these 4 types of questions. These questions can be marked automatically, freeing test creators from having to mark manually.
Through this, we hope test creators distribute tests, exercises, quizzes and assignments to a scale unmatched through conventional classrooms and workbooks.

What is the Image Gallery for?

It allows you to add images to your test, useful for referencing pictures or diagrams that you might have.

What is the Text Snippets feature for then?

Text Snippets allow you to copy and paste chunks of test that you might want to use repeatedly throughout the test. Instead of copy and pasting it every time you need it, just use the feature to add it to any of your questions.

When creating a question, does it matter what order the answers are in?

Not really. Gnowledge's randomization feature for answer orders will take care of that for you. Just make sure you marked the correct answer and you're good.

Alright, my test is up. Now what?

Share your test with others! You can use a direct link to your test, or use the buttons above your test's "Take This Test" button to share your test.

Is there a place that compiles my tests if I create many tests?

Yup, your own Vanity Page will compile all the tests that you have created. You can use this page to refer others to any and all tests that you create. Access it by clicking on your username on the site, or just type in www.gnowledge.com/yourusername.

How do I keep track of test scores?

Go to Test Creation and click on Test Activity Report. You'll be able to see which tests were taken, on what date, and by whom, as well as have access to the exact that were given by the users that took your test.