Vasilenko Anton
Faculty: Computer Science and Technology
Speciality: System Programming
Theme of master's work:
Development of student progress monitoring web-service
Scientific advisor: Anoprienko Alexandr
Abstract
Introduction
Nowadays IT technology spread all over the world and continue "expansion" very fast. Lives of people became connected connected with computers, mobile phones, a world wide web more closer each day. Widely speaking, no enterprise could exist without using modern technologies that give opprtunity to process, supervise and record huge data flows in the shortest terms. The modern smart companies try to automate manufacture and circulation of documents as much as possible. And modern high school is not an exception of that process. Eventually it is also the company and it is necessary for it to survive in the conditions of a modern business competition.
Necessity of informatization is caused by two global reasons. The first is that educational institutions have started to live under business laws:This meansthey started to earn independently so and as a result - to consider students as clients. In the near future the demographic situation in our country will force them to enter a rigid structure, and the one who will render better services will win[1]. In this situation using of information technologies is one of of the best ways to improve quality.
The second reason - overcoming of an educational using remote education. United Nations researches show: for the population of large cities and small settlements break in access to such base social service as education increases enormously[1].
Elevating IT in high schools can be divided in two types: automation of administration management and information of educational process, in fact.
In practice, process of informatization of high school passes some stages and commonly begins with automation of dean's offices. Then if goes the library, educational department, a management, a staff department, the trade-union organisation, social sector, chairs etc. There is an automation of accounts department and other financial divisions after that. It is a second real point of IT deployment in high school. Creation of the electronic monitoring system, territory access management, video observation subsystems , the current consumption and heat account then begins.
For today progress of Internet technologies brings new advantages in development of such systems. Modern development tools of Internet applications make them comparable on speed and convenience with usual desktop applications, being at th same time more accessible everytime and everywhere and being OS independent. Such advantages decline customers, and also developers, to creation of web-based appendices as alternatives to desktop solutions(and now even more often - as replacements ones).
The subject of research is the development of web-based application - so-caled "web-service" of study progress at faculty level.
The purposes and problems
The purpose of current work is to develop information web service for students and teachers of university.
Faculty database of students will be the primary basis for the organisation of such service.
Defining goals:
- Grant a possibility to access personal data for students within the educational process at university;
- Improvement the monitoring system of student progress and to make it more accessible;
- Forming statistical data about educational process on a set of criteria and in various scale;
- Creation of an effective mechanism of dialogue and notifications between the student and dean's office, and between the student and the teacher in future[2].
Urgency
For today the first stage of IT introduction(dean's office system) is completed in DonNTU. It's now standing at the initial stage of introduction of the second point(library, educational department, etc).
Hovewer, there is no any web interface for access to already existing information. Students and their parents have no possibility to preview personal data, concerning their training in high school. For examlpe, it can be current progress, attendance of classes, rating, other information about student (the list of debts in study or library, other notices under the curriculum).
Therefore realisation of this web service would help to solve an existing problem of limited access. For example, the folowing movie clip shows how trackings of the student rating can become easier.
Picture 1. Sequence diagram of rating request
(Flash-animation contains 132 scenes with frequency 13.0 fps. Total duration - 10.1s)
Press "Play" to run or repeat animation
Connection of work with scientific programs, plans, themes
Masterwork is performed in 2009 respectively to the scientific trends of the "Digital computers" department of Donetsk National Technical University.
The review of a researches and develpoments state
Global level
There are various realisations of similar systems in the world. As a whole, automation of educational process in foreign high schools stands at much higher level, than in universities of Ukraine and the CIS countries. It is connected as well as with the general delay of the CIS countries in a question of implementation of new technologies, and with wide development of remote education in the west countries. The last condition forces high schools to improve automation processes, and to introduct web interfaces of access to automation functions. The student who studies remotely, can learn and check a state of affairs only using the Internet, therefore access to accout via worldnet is necessary for successful introduction of remote education.
During writing of this work search of current realisations has been done. Founded examples are presented in the list of references of the given site in section «Foreign online students support services»
Though direct access to the listed services is closed for the obvious reasons, each of them has open section with the description of functionality and possibilities. There are even video lessons on some of them.
National level
In Ukraine, as well as in the CIS countries, a level of development of remote training the lowest. Therefore quantity of similar services is much less. Thus from the founded high schools which introduce remote education, many are branches of foreign high and secondary schools. Several founded examples of solutions can be found in the list of references in section «Analogues in the CIS».
In Ukraine it is necessary to carry the software of educational progress for secondary schools to similar realisations. Such services are directed to pay parents attention on a state of affairs of children in study. These complexes are usually developed by the private companies and offered for use in high schools. However many of these services do not give access to pupil data via Internet. But, in spite of that, The development of such «electronic class registers» is the good precondition for evolution of similar systems to larger, university scales.
Local level
From the projects similar developed, which are realised in DonNTU it is possible to note a site of support of scientific conferences and the service developed for entrants of university on which the arriving can receive the information on results of entrance examination. Also, it is necessary to note a resource the "Center of remote education", constructed on base of MOODLE which also is a good example of Internet service for students in the educational purposes. Moodle is designed to help educators create online courses with opportunities for rich interaction.
Realisation[2]
For effective introduction of the given project following decisions are offered:
The first stage (Acquaintance)
On the base of existing databases of DonNTU samples of tables which contain the data that can be potentially useful to students and their parents in educational process are formed. Access is organised in read-only mode. (The structure of tables and ouptut fields, and also the access organisation to a DB will be specified).
Picture 2. "Student" account options
The rigid system of students autentification is created: access rights for the user account (UA) "Student" stand out personally to each student the worker of dean's office (on a presentation student ticket). If necessary access of parents of the student to is authorised. At this stage the project purpose is to give the information which will be useful to the student, thereby to draw attention of students to the given resource.
The second stage (Advancement)
More flexible system of data views is created, additional tables of existing base are involved and the new are formed. The UA "Headman" is entered. The given type of access stands out dean's office for heads of groups. This UA is expansion UA "Student" by addition of possibilities: filling of class register of group attendance.
Picture 3. Headman and Secretary account options
At this stage the purpose is expansion of possibilities of service.
The third stage (Functioning)
UA "Teacher" will be established. It will provide possibilities of filling of current progress and attendance of students, dispatches of announcements concerning the organisation of educational process, etc. Functionality of UA "Student" extends by adding the possibility of sending mails to dean's office and teachers .
Picture 4. Teacher account options
At this stage the purpose is attraction of teachers in the project that will give the chance to simplify communications of students with teachers.
The description of results
At present Masterwork is at the initial stage. Search, material studying, the analysis of existing workings out, designing and the statement of structure of service in the conditions of existing realisations is in progress. The decision to develop the given service in server language PHP with use "merged" database MySql is accepted. It is planned to install service on http-server Apache under control of Unix-based OSThe description of results
At present Masterwork is at the initial stage. Search, material studying, the analysis of existing workings out, designing and the statement of structure of service in the conditions of existing realisations is in progress.
The decision to develop the given service in server language PHP with use "merged" database MySql is accepted. It is planned to install service on http-server Apache under control of Unix-based OS.
During author's abstract writing master work is not completed. Final completion: December, 2009. Work's full-text and materials on theme can be get from author or his supervisor after mentioned date or on the alternative version of the site .
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