NCDesk - Home

The application suite designed to provide an interface to the North Carolina Online Test of Computer Skills.

NCDesk is a collection of small Java programs that replicate common applications, plus a test interface and a Test Simulation used to understand how the test will work. The NCDesk programs perform a limited set of functions and can be used externally from the test and Test Simulation.

Current News/Topics

On Friday, August 24th, 2007 NCDesk was updated. A new installation package was published for Windows computers and a new Macintosh OS X installation was posted on August 29, 2007. This update is NOT REQUIRED to be taken until computers need to be prepared to administer the fall test. Notable among several improvements are:

Local dictionary for improved spell checking (see technote on Spell Check Dictionaries for more information)
New test simulation items
Supports Windows Vista
Runs under Java 6.0_02 and 5.0_08 (newer version required to support Vista)
font validation - students will not be allowed to log on to the test if their computer is missing any of the required 4 fonts: Courier New, Arial, Verdana, and Times New Roman. NCDesk will prompt with a warning message if required fonts are missing, but allow them to use the application for non-test purposes.
audio testing (for Computer Reads Test Aloud verification)

Please contact the help desk (ncdesk@ncsu.edu) if you have questions concerning this update.

This file was modified on Wednesday, August 29, 2007; at 1:24:38 PM
This website has been created to support the North Carolina Online Test of Computer Skills and the NCDesk software. Permission to link from other websites must be requested unless given as a free resource for educational purposes to students and teachers located in North Carolina.