ABSTRACT

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

1. 1. Background of the Study

In current tech era, technology has been taken almost all the necessary steps which was used to be done by human. Almost all the equipment has become automated with the help of advanced technology. We live in a world where technology is having great impact from corporate life to our personal life. Even in small retail shop to giant one all the paper works has been replaced with fully automated system to make it more user friendly. If we look to the education sector we can see some of the universities having their own system for the students where students can communicate with their lecturers by sending messages or files from home and abroad (Guess, 2010).

An online assignment handling is a system contained within the Module virtual learning environment. The functionality of the standard assignment handling module has been extended to cater for all the Department's needs in terms of receiving assignments from students, making them available to tutors to mark, returning grades, comments and marked work to students and keeping Registry and course administrators informed at all stages of the process. Extension requests are an integral part of the system. Universities, Polytechnics and colleges of education are considered the main provider of knowledge in various fields. Various courses of studies are taught in institutions, covering several fields including applied Sciences, Math, Computer, Human Resource, and Accounting. Most courses at universities consist of theoretical as well as practical subject matter. To evaluate the level of understanding and degree of comprehension among students, assignments are often given (David et al., 2003).

The use of software to facilitate and add value to the process of student submission of assignments, and the subsequent marking by teaching staff, is becoming common, facilitated by the ubiquity of Internet access, and the relative affordability of computing equipment. Public domain and commercial course management tools are available which include assignment submission and automated assessment as part of the software functionality. However, such tools do not address the specific needs of online course assignments. In particular a system is required to support academics in assessing student submissions, through collecting submissions, performing automatic tests on them, checking for plagiarism, and providing an interface for delivering feedback (Ben-Ari et al., 2001).

The myriad of procedures associated with traditional assignment submission and management presents many problems to academic and clerical staff particularly where cohort size is large. Students also face problems, especially if they are remote to the university and rely on postal services. Online assignment submission and feedback offers potential benefits in this regard, and there has been a considerable degree of interest in its use although experience of its implementation in many institutions is limited (Behrens et al., 2003).

1.2     Statement of the Problem

Now-a-days most of the universities following the current system in case of student’s assignments submission. Students need to print their assignments, bind it and submit it with the soft copy to admin office which is completely time consuming. Besides, to submit the assignments hard copy they need to provide the Feedback Form where they usually write down their details (Mat No., Name) along with the assignment’s details (Course Code, Title, Lecturers Name, Due Date) which is nothing more than consuming their important times. Moreover, some universities having separate campus for assignment submission. As a matter of fact, students need to go there for submitting their assignments as well. On the contrary, regarding the student’s feedback issue some of the universities doesn’t allow students to give feedback about the quality of the lecturer as well as their duties which they are abide by. Besides, it is difficult for the lecturer to provide feedback on paper to individual students as there is a less space on paper to point out the student’s fault regarding their individual and group assignments.

1.3     Aim and Objectives of the Study

The aims of the research are to develop an online assignment submission and feedback system for the students as well as for the lecturers.

The aim of this research work is to design and implement a web based academic forecast of event generator.

The objectives include the following;

1. To develop an online assignment submission system where students will be able to submit their assignments from home.
2. To have a partition of feedback for the students where students will be able to provide feedback about teaching quality of the lecturers and duties.
3. To allow lecturers to provide feedback to each of the students about their individual and group assignments as well.

1.4     Significance of the Study

This study will give ease to the submission of assignment and the reception of feedback on the NACEST campus.

The software is relevant in the following ways:

i.   The designed software will aid in carrying out the submission of assignments.

ii.  The designed software will be useful in receiving feedbacks from students.

iii. The designed software will be useful in terms of data security, as records can only be accessed by the management designated administrator via their login details.

1.5     Scope of the Study

This research work covers the design and implementation of a web-based assignment and feedback system for Computer Science Department of the Nigerian Army College of Environment Science and Technology (NACEST).

1.6     Definition of Terms

Assignment: An assignment is a legal term used in the context of the law of contract and of property. In both instances, assignment is the process whereby a person, the assignor, transfers rights or benefits to another, the assignee

Event scheduling: is the activity of finding a suitable time for an event such as meeting, conference, trip, etc. It is an important part of event planning that is usually carried out at its beginning stage.

Event: a thing that happens or takes place, especially one of importance.

Feedback: Feedback occurs when outputs of a system are routed back as inputs as part of a chain of cause-and-effect that forms a circuit or loop. The system can then be said to feed back into itself.

Forecast: a statement of what is judged likely to happen in the future, based on information you have now

Internet: Internet is a global system of interconnected computer networks that use the standard Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to serve billions of users worldwide. It is also known as the network of networks.

Software: These are set of instructions that are designed to solve a specific problem. Software is made up of data and instructions. There are two categories of software; System software and Application software.

System: A system is a set of detailed methods, procedures and routines created to carry out a specific activity, perform a duty, or solve a problem

Web Application: A web application is application software that runs on a web server, unlike computer-based software programs that are run locally on the operating system of the device. Web applications are accessed by the user through a web browser with an active network connection.