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SMS Enabled Student Information System
A Master Thesis Presented to The Faculty Members of
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Graduate Studies, AMA International University Bahrain
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Kingdom of Bahrain
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In Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree
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MASTER OF SCIENCE IN COMPUTER SCIENCE
By: Zainab Alansari
April 2011
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This research project would not have been possible without the support of many people. First of all, I would like to express my deepest sense of love and gratitude to my beloved friend Dr. Mohammed for his continuous guidance, encouragement and excellent advice during the last couple of years.
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Ms. Janette Enriquez Sideño has been the ideal thesis advisor. Her sage advice, insightful criticisms, and patient encouragement aided the writing of this thesis in innumerable ways.
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I like to convey thanks to the Deanship of Computer Science Dr. Minerva Bunagan for her generous assistance during this time.
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I would like to thank my panel members, Dr. Mirza Abdulla and Mr Hussam Ali Mohammed for their help and guidance.
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I also thank Engr. Amir Emdadi, for his help in assisting software development.
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I would like to express my special thanks to my sister, Zahra Alansari, for her moral support during the period the research took place.
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Finally, I take this opportunity to express my profound gratitude to my parent, brothers, sisters and my child Aala for their patience through the duration of my study.
DEDICATION
This thesis would be incomplete without a mention of the support given me by my cherished friend, Dr. Mohammed, to whom this thesis is dedicated. He was my own "soul out of my soul," who kept my spirits up when the muses failed me. Without him lifting me up when this thesis seemed interminable, I doubt it
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should ever have been completed.
Table of Contents
i
Approval Sheet
ii
Acknowledgment
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Dedication
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Table of Contents
v
List of Tables
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List of Figures
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Title Page
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Abstract Chapter 1:
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THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND………………………………..
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Statement of Problem…………………………………………………………
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Framework of the study……………………………………………………….
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Theoretical Framework …………………………………………………...
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Conceptual Framework ………………………………………………......
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Background and setting of the study………………………………………...
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Introduction…………………………………………………………………….. 1
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Significance of the study……………………………………………………...
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Scope and Delimitation……………………………………………………….
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Assumption of the study………………………………………………………
Definition of Terms…………………………………………………………….
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Chapter2:
Review of Related literature and Studies………………………………..
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Related literature………………………………………………………………
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Local literature……………………………………………………………...
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Foreign literature ………………………………………………………….
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Related studies………………………………………………………………...
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Foreign studies…………………………………………………………….
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Synthesis of the study………………………………………………………..
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Chapter3: 45
Research Design………………………………………………………………
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Software Design……………………………………………………………….
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Development methodology…………………………………………………...
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Requirements Analysis…………………………………………………....
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System Design….………………………………………………………….
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Implementation and Unit Testing...……………………………………....
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Methodology of the study…………………………………………………..
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Operation and Maintenance……..……………………………………….
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Respondent of the study……………………………………………………...
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Sampling Procedures…………………………………………………………
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Data Gathering instruments…………………………………………………..
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Integration and System Testing………………………………………….
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Observation...…………………………………………………………………..
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Preparation and validation of instruments…………………………………..
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Analytical Tools…………...…………………………………………………...
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Data Flow Diagram (DFD)……………………………………………………
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Questionnaire…………………………………………………………………..
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Data gathering procedures…………………………………………………...
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Statistical treatment of data…………………………………………………..
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Input Process Output (IPO)…………………………………………………..
T-Test…………………………………….……………………………………..
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Formula to compute the Mean…………………………………………….....
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Frequency Mean (FM)…….…………………………………………………..
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Weighted Mean (WM)………………….……………………………………..
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Chapter 4: Presentation, Analysis and Interpretation of the Data………………... 60 Teachers and Administrator‟s staff Evaluation…………..…………………
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Overall effectiveness analysis for teachers and administrator‟s staff..
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Parents and Students Evaluation…………..…………………………..……
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Overall effectiveness analysis for parents and students……………....
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Comparison analysis ………………………………………………………....
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Chapter 5: 88
Summary of Findings………………………………………………………….
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Conclusions…………………………………………………………………….
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Recommendations…………………………………………………………….
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Summary of Findings, Conclusions and Recommendations………..
BIBLIOGRAPHY…………………………………………………………….... 95
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Appendices……………………………………………………………………
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List of Tables Table 1 Privacy evaluation-Percentage Frequency ……………….…....... 61 Table 2 Privacy evaluation-weighted mean …………………………….…. 62 Table 3 Efficiency evaluation-Percentage Frequency …………………....
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Table 4 Efficiency evaluation-weighted mean …………………………….. 64 Table 5 Reliability evaluation-Percentage Frequency ………...………….
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Table 6 Reliability evaluation-weighted mean ………………………..…… 66 67
Table 8 Accessibility evaluation-weighted mean ……………………….…
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Table 7 Accessibility evaluation-Percentage Frequency ………………...
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Table 9 User-Friendliness evaluation-Percentage Frequency ………...... 69 Table 10 User-Friendliness evaluation-weighted mean ………………..... 70 71
Table 13 Privacy evaluation-weighted mean …………………………..….
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Table 11 Effectiveness Evaluation-Weighted Mean for teachers and Administrator‟s staff ………………………………………………………….. Table 12 Privacy evaluation-Percentage Frequency …………………..…
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Table 14 Efficiency evaluation-Percentage Frequency ………………...... 75
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Table 15 Efficiency evaluation-weighted mean ………………………..….
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Table 16 Reliability evaluation-Percentage Frequency ………………...... 76 77
Table 18 Accessibility evaluation-Percentage Frequency …………….....
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Table 17 Reliability evaluation-weighted mean ……………………….…..
Table 19 Accessibility evaluation-weighted mean ……………………...… 79 Table 20 User-Friendliness evaluation-Percentage 80 Frequency……………………………………………………………………… Table 21 User-Friendliness evaluation-weighted mean ……………...….. 81 Table 22 Effectiveness Evaluation-Weighted Mean for parents and students …………………………………………………………………….….
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List of Figures
Figure1. Schematic Framework of the Study .........................................
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Figure2. Conceptual Framework for Proposed System …………….…... 18 Figure3. The waterfall model for system development Requirements
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Analysis.............................................................................………………..
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Figure4. Entity Relationship Diagram for the developed school
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database...............................................................………………………… Figure5. Context Diagram for school-based SMS Interactive
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Application.....................................................................………………….. 105
Figure7. Level 1 DFD for Login …………………………………………....
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Figure8. Level 1.2 DFD for validating User …………………………..…..
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Figure9. Level 2 DFD for generating database window ………………...
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Figure6. Level 0 DFD for SMS Enabled SIS ..........................................
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Figure10. Level 3 DFD for receiving SMS Request …...………………....
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Figure11. Level 3.2 DFD for validating SMS Format …..………………… 107
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Figure12. Level 3.2.3 DFD for generating appropriate response …..…... 107
ABSTRACT One of the highest priorities for any educational institute, besides offering quality and accredited learning, is to provide its students with the most satisfactory interactive services. It is the time for educational institute especially higher educational ones to consider interacting with students through an innovative yet convenient and effective mean. The study‟s overall objective is to create a sound foundation for future interaction approach between the school and its students that is SMS Enabled SIS, to provide convenient, accessible and time saving application.
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SMS Enabled SIS is a fully web based solution that gives teachers instant access to their gradebooks from anywhere – in the classroom, at home, even while travelling. As the teachers enter grades, they are automatically saved to school‟s servers, meaning there are no files to transfer or export – their grades are ready and available whenever and wherever they are!
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One of the most significant benefits of the SMS Enabled SIS is the interface for Students and Parents to access grades instantly online. The mission of the system is not only to simplify grading for teachers, but, also to improve communication between teachers and students/parents. By making grades available online or using the SMS service, students/parents are empowered to monitor their progress closely, and utilize this information to focus efforts to improve their performance within class.
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This study aims to develop a dynamic two-way SMS Enabled Student Information System. The application of this study is limited to two interaction areas between the school and teachers, and one way interaction between the school and parents/ students which are message centre feature and online Student Information System. The message centre feature adapts the pull and push approach, in which case a student would not get informed until he sends a request.
Chapter 1
THE PROBLEM AND ITS BACKGROUND
Introduction SMS Enabled Student Information System is a web-based Student
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Information System with SMS Capability which acts as a teacher‟s gradebook.
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Whether teachers work at multiple sites within a school district, or simply want
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the convenience of home use, the system provides instant access to current
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gradebook data from any computer with an internet connection.
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SMS Enabled SIS was created to look and feel like a paper gradebook so
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that every step is easy and intuitive. It is the only gradebook that let the teachers
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see, enter and change all information directly on the gradebook spreadsheet.
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There are no confusing setup windows or multiple menu steps to get in the way.
Through the web browser, such as Internet Explorer, Safari, or Firefox,
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the teachers log in to the system using a secure ID and password provided to them by the school. SMS Enabled SIS needs to prevent unauthorized access, for this reason it is keeping the IP track after entering the correct username and password in the log in page. The IP is used to approve the teacher‟s information.
SMS Enabled SIS has a Message Centre feature that allows students and parents to get the information from the system through a secure, message like interface. Students, parents, teachers and administrator‟s staff can send a
message to the SMS Enabled SIS Messaging centre by the specific codes that the school is providing for them to get information back about the child progress and grades. Once a message is sent, the server will receive a notice asking for the specific student‟s information. The system then will respond back to these messages.
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SMS Enabled SIS will provide a user-friendly web-based teacher
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gradebook for all the teacher‟s record keeping needs. Roster and attendance changes are always instantly available to them since this gradebook is
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integrated with the school's SIS. It can create an unlimited number of
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assignments for homework, worksheets, quizzes, tests and Enter comments for
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each student and assignment. The teachers may enter information online
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wherever it is convenient for them -- from the classroom, home, and the library,
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anywhere. As the teachers enter grades, they are automatically saved to
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school‟s servers, meaning there are no files to transfer or export – the grades are ready and available whenever and wherever the teachers are!
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Teachers enter grades and comments through the SMS Enabled SIS
gradebook program and are required to update their gradebooks on a monthly basis. This information is saved into the system immediately and is available for administrators and parents to access. The system can show all assignments and scores that make up a particular grade for each student.
SMS Enabled SIS focus on tracking information related to students: demographics, grades, attendance, intervention tracking, and reporting. It is a subset of a complete “Management Information System” or MIS for schools. SMS Enabled SIS is not a “Learning Management System,” or LMS, such as Moodle, although they share some overlapping feature sets, such as a
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gradebook. SMS Enabled SIS does not contain curriculum or learning objects.
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Beyond a typical electronic teacher's grade book, this system is a web-
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based communication portal enabling parents and students to check online or
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use the SMS system daily to see the grades given in each class and view any
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missing assignments. All of this enables parents to keep close track of progress
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and play a more active role in the child's education.
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With SMS Enabled SIS, the teachers can rest assured that all the grading
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data is safe and secure. Using advanced internet security measures and techniques plus IP recognition have ensured that the system is safe and
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protects all critical information, ensuring it is accessible only by those authorized to see it. Every teacher or user has their own account, and they can only see information they are allowed to see. The grading data itself is very secure against loss as well. With nightly on and off-site backups, there is no fear of information becoming corrupted or lost.
While the most common method of editing grades is simply to review the assignment and make any updates to student‟s grades through the assignment view, the teachers also can see Grid View Grading. With a layout similar to old
style paper and pencil gradebooks, SMS Enabled SIS will layout any assignments that teachers have entered across the screen, giving them the ability to quickly edit grades within the view. Grades entered in the system‟s gradebook will transfer to the report card. If a teacher uses SMS Enabled SIS, he/she must enter report card comments. New students are added automatically
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to the teacher‟s gradebook once the student is enrolled by the attendance clerk.
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The system is flexible enough to accommodate teachers with almost any grading system at any grade level, yet so easy to use that it requires little or no
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training time. For these reasons, SMS Enabled SIS likely systems are
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repeatedly selected by school technology coordinators as the leading product in
for
accessing
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address
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The
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for
the
Admin
Enabled and
SIS
teachers
is and
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http://87.117.252.132/~pms/mg
SMS
http://87.117.252.132/~pms/ for students. Just click on the address for access. Otherwise, it is important to type in the address actually as shown into the
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address bar of your browser, and not into a search field on a web page such as Google, MSN or Yahoo. It is highly recommended to bookmark this site for easy access.
Background of the Study In today‟s complex society, there are multiple interrelated factors that simultaneously influence information. This requires the process of information management to be dynamic and at the same time, accurate. When information
is being modified and updated constantly, it is in the hands of a turnkey information system to process and deliver information such that it matches the speed of the ever changing environment, yet retaining qualities of accuracy and precision.
They say it takes a village to raise a child but what then does it take to
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educate a child? Should the government be responsible to educate the children?
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Or should the responsibility to educate the children fall on parents, government,
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and businesses?
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The combination of these entities constitutes a country and not just a
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village. So, by this, it takes an entire country to educate a child. Education is a key to the success of any country. If all of the people (parents, government,
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schools, churches, and society as a whole) are not involved in the children‟s
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education, the possibility of building a successful future becomes bleak and challenging.
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Today‟s children and teenagers often seem to occupy a universe entirely separate from their parents. They disappear into bedrooms to play video games, chat on cellphones, text, or spend hours immersed in online social networking sites. However, this same digital connectedness has its up-side, and focus has exploited its full potential with its portal, a means of giving parents unprecedented access to their children‟s education. But how do (parents, guardians, etc…) get fully involved in their children‟s education at a time when technology has made the children smarter and more
adept than them? Cell phones, computers, and the internet are all technologies that have complicated what we once referred to as traditional parental functions. Do the parents leave work daily to go and check on their children at school? If not, will the school be able to provide daily attendance and performance reports to inform them of their children‟s activities at school? The answer to all of these
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questions is NO!
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An existing system that is currently available is software which is installed in fifty available computers at AMA International School. The teachers can
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usually one week after the examination.
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access the system during specific time to edit and enter the student‟s grades,
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The existing system is created using Microsoft Access. It is a page that
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includes all the available subjects. To access any subject the teachers need to
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click over the name of that and enter the correct username and password which is given by the school principal to the subject teachers. After entering correct username and password they can access the editing page. In that page, the
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teacher can add a new record and delete/edit the existing record.
The names of students are already there through a server database. The
teacher needs to click over that specific subject again and enter the same user name and password, which they used it earlier, to edit the student‟s grade.
Through the system, the teachers can easily view and print the report card for all the students from grade one to grade twelve with teacher‟s comments.
The processing time of the exciting system is very law; it takes more than five minutes sometimes to access the editing page. If one teacher is using a specific database, for example computer for 12C, the other teachers cannot use it anymore. It means each database can be used just by one person at a time.
Most of the teachers are not having more than six free periods a week,
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So if the school management gives two weeks for entering the grades into the
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system, does the teacher who is handling five hundred students has a time to finish grading in his/her twelve free periods? It will be a tough time and for sure
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the teacher needs to stay overtime for finishing the grading.
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The available system is just handling the final grade and the teachers
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comment. The school principal needs to check the class record of each teacher
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one by one to discover if the grading is based on SIS or not. For middle and high
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school the SIS grading is 60% cumulative + 20% summative tests + 20% final test. The 60% of the cumulative should divide by six factors: quizzes, projects, assignments, homework, behavior and participation. If the teacher doesn‟t follow
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all those rules the final grade will not be accurate. In a time of technology, there‟s always a solution. One solution to this
problem is the implementation of an electronic gradebook system with an integrated home-to-school communications component in the School System. We can pilot this at AMA International School System and at other schools as well.
An electronic gradebook system is a tool that eases the burden of paperwork, communication, inconvenience, and marginalization between faculty, parents and students. What the researcher is recommending is a web based system that can be used by faculty to record grades throughout academic semesters, inform students of test scores, distribute comments, assign projects and transmit final grades to the school‟s registrar. This system should offer
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variable weighting for different kinds of academic performance – quizzes, tests,
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midterm, final examinations, papers, class participation, projects, attendance, or
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any other performance indicators chosen by the instructor. Results from these or guardians
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performance indicators should be accessible to parents
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conveniently and electronically to enhance involvement and timely intervention.
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Getting information in the hands of parents about their children is a
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necessity and to do so the researcher need an efficient and effective system.
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The current manual and traditional system of providing information or getting parents involved involves labor and production expenses that the researcher
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believes are currently inefficient. However, implementation of a modernized system will have a tremendous impact on decreasing annual labor costs. The savings from moving to an electronic solution come in many forms: fewer sheets of paper and envelopes used, reduced labor, less wear and tear on copy machines and other equipment, and decreased maintenance cost.
Back when we were in school, there were some students that were able to conceal their report cards, skip school, get suspended, and even “eat” their tuition and not go to school, all without their parents knowing.
Now, had the concept of an electronic gradebook systems existed at the time mentioned above, the parents would have been notified of children‟s absence right after the first period attendance was taken. Obviously, the parents would know the children skipped because the driver would have returned home and confirmed that they were safely dropped off at school. This is exactly what happens here in the AMA International School. For example when a child gets
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off the school bus and is not in class by the time attendance is taken; the
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parents get a notification via email, cell phone and home phone alerting them of
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either the child‟s tardiness or her absence. The parents also get the grade report
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in the same way. This allows for quick intervention and response to a potential problem, but it certainly does not solve, or rule out the tremendous challenges
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that children of “Generation Text” present to parents.
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For the high school student, this is an excellent way to keep track of
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grades, transcripts, projects, assignments, etc. Electronic gradebook systems, allow teachers to enter scores in students' records which is sent directly to the
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school‟s registrar. This makes grades immediately available for viewing by students and parents, and makes it easy and convenient to retrieve official records within a few days. This also takes away all of the manual functions and calculations that need to be done by the faculty and registrar.
At AMA International school the current process of announcing students is through posting announcements paper on advertising boards which are located in many places in the campus, and/or distributing them through the home room teachers to the students.
Such processes of announcements and interaction may not that effective and efficient to some students. Students may or may not notice the posted announcements. He would only make sure of checking on Information he wants to get, or knows that it would be posted in a specific period, such as exams dates, times and locations. This is an annoying process since it is difficult, boring and time consuming. Since many students try to see their exam schedule at the
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same time, they crowded in front of advertisement boards, which may result in
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mistakes in copying some times, dates or locations and may result in either
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losing their exam or getting there late after looking for the right room. In case of
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any sudden changes in the exams schedule, students may or may not notice the
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posted announcements in time before the exam.
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This is not what nowadays 24/7 connected world meant to be. People
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nowadays want and should get the Information on the time they need it. Timely
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manner no longer means days or hours, every second does count. What is more, people are getting more concerned about getting Information that is direct
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to the point. They cannot afford to wait and always in a hurry to find answers to their queries along with other information. Educational institutes in general should consider a more efficient and reliable solution to inform and interact with its students. That solution should have many criteria that overcome the problems of current processes. Among many criteria,
privacy,
efficiency, reliability,
accessibility and user-friendliness are the most important ones.
One should put in mind, that informing and interacting is kind of communication. No communication is done free; this is where communication companies get its revenue from. Since informing and interacting activities with students is the concern of this study, the developed system should be ideal for them, in which each student can use it without the need for excessive training or extra unaffordable charges.
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It means that the solution should be a system that employs a simple and
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affordable technology, while trying to eliminate the role of communication
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companies or at least reducing its implication to an only third party role in order
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to reduce the system development and usage expenses. This study put the light on a technology that combine all the mentioned
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features and is already available to almost every student. The feature which is
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Short Message Service (SMS) technology is one of the most stable and popular
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mobile technologies around.
Most software developers are aware that one of the most critical obstacles to any new system or technology, which may delay its usage, is user
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resistance, which may arise because of not being popular with the new technology. Worrying from security and privacy aspect, not being familiar with included processes and not knowing the significance of using it while the current system or process is working well for the time being are some reasons behind that resistance. Apparently, with SMS, this obstacle could be easily passed, since most people in general and students in specific are used to SMS, the core technology of our informative and interaction application network.
Message types include notices of changes and cancellations (e.g., class cancellations), reminders to submit and collect assignments, notices of relevant lectures/activities, absentees),
individual
instructional
administration
messages
(e.g.,
(e.g.,
warning
instructions
messages for
to
submitting
assignments), and greeting/courteous messages. In addition, sending results by
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SMS will revolutionize and speed up the publication of exam results. Unfortunately many schools still rely on outdated manual or semi-
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automated systems of data handling. These systems are not only redundant,
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slow and inaccurate, but also struggle to keep pace with the demands of the
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high tech world. Manual systems are invariably affected by human error which is
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unavoidable and natural.
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At SMS Enabled SIS, these challenges are outperformed by two main
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factors, amongst the others: SMS Enabled SIS as a 100% web based solution.
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School information is used at several tiers. It is required within the local school district itself, regional consortia, state departments of education and all
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participants in a school district. This being the case, it is practically impossible to process information manually and individually to cater to the needs of each one of these users. A web based system ensures that a central repository of information can be created and shared, within security parameters to satisfy the requirements of the each/ all of these institutions. SMS Enabled SIS enabled features provide online access to integrated administrative tools and an abundance of world-wide resources that make calculations, assessments,
vertical interoperability and data driven decisions very straightforward and uncomplicated. In every school, several departments work continuously to keep the school functioning. Therefore each of these departments input data are relevant and crucial to them. Most of this information is required by multiple departments and hence the same data is repeatedly inputted. Traditionally, each of these
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departments had to input data individually, not knowing whether another
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department has already fed the data. This thereby decreases the efficiency of
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much needed human resource and manpower. Similarly, if the data in one place
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is modified, this updated information is not centrally reflected. This creates extreme bottlenecks when changes are not centrally reflected as many
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departments will unknowingly continue to work with incorrect data. SMS Enabled
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SIS centralized, horizontally integrated network makes data available centrally
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and changes made in one place are immediately updated throughout the system. This is a major factor that eliminates discrepancies in data and faulty information processes for the benefit of the entire schooling community.
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It is therefore the mission of SMS Enabled SIS to be partnering system
that streamlines the information process and delivers accurate, timely results in every school, for every student. We are driven to provide happy and functional educational environments. In today‟s world, smooth and reliable operation of an SIS is vital determinant of a schools success. Since an SIS performs functions as dynamic and varied as state reporting to posting a child‟s performance in extracurricular activities, it provides a rich database for all decisions.
SMS Enabled SIS‟s cutting edge technology provides a variety of tools to manage multiple processes and deliver precise results that will greatly benefit a child‟s learning environment. Its scalable, cross functional system is completely automated that guarantees an escalation in student-school achievement. The educational information manager integrates the information needs of all the end users and state representative into single central seamless
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information „bank‟. This system provides a single reference platform for
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collective information sharing that aids both individual decision making by
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students, parents, teachers and collective / state wide decision making by
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administrators thereby creating a central common source for all data driven decisions.
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SMS Enabled SIS can interface very thoroughly with all existing
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applications. The system supports the Student Interoperability Framework (SIF)
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and Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) standards. This makes interfacing with compliant applications easy. However, the system also has the built in architecture that makes interfacing with non-compliant applications, very simple.
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SMS Enabled SIS is a multi-layered SIS that integrates and consolidates
multiple management systems as shown. Sound technology enables educators in districts to deliver quality of
education students deserve. Schools need systems that are flexible, easy to support, scalable, secure, reliable, and able to integrate with existing technology and yet within the district‟s budget. SMS Enabled SIS‟s pioneering technology includes all necessary features required for schools to manage their information with ease.
Statement of the Problem The purpose of the study is to evaluate, design, develop and integrate SMS Enabled Student Information System at AMA International School Bahrain. The system helps simplify teacher‟s record keeping online wherever it is convenient for them. Specifically this study aims to answer the following
1) What is the description of the existing system?
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questions:
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2) How do the teachers, administrator‟s staff, students and parents evaluate
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the system along:
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a. Privacy b. Efficiency
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d. Accessibility
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c. Reliability
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e. User-Friendliness
3) What are the additional features or required improvements from the existing features that may enhance the developed software?
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4) What are the requirements needed in the development of the SMS Enabled Student Information System?
5) What software should be formulated to highly improve the teacher‟s access to the SMS Enabled Student Information System?
Framework of the Study I.
Theoretical Framework
Theoretical Framework
The theoretical framework that will be used in the study is the Input-
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Process-Output Model. In the IPO model, a process is viewed as a series of boxes (processing elements) connected by inputs and outputs. Information or
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material objects flow through a series of tasks or activities based on a set of
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rules or decision points. (Harris & Taylor, 1997) Flow charts and process
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diagrams are often used to represent the process. (Harris & Taylor, 1997) What
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goes in is the input; what causes the change is the process; what comes out is
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the output. (Armstrong, 2001) Figure 1 illustrates the thesis IPO model:
The IPO model will provide the general structure and guide for the direction of the study. Substituting the variables of this study on the IPO model, the researcher came up with the following:
The teacher enters grades into the system or the person/student request of specific information as input. In the process, the system evaluates the request and connects to
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The system automatically calculates the final grades and responses to
Conceptual Framework
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II.
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the person‟s request as output.
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database.
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AMA International School Proposed a framework that can help us to
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explain why we are doing a project in a particular way. It can also help us to
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understand and use the ideas of others who have done similar things. There are many ways to explain a conceptual framework. It can be a set of coherent ideas
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or concepts organized in a manner that makes them easy to communicate to others, or an organized way of thinking about how and why a project takes place, and about how we understand its activities. It can also be thought of as the basis for thinking about what we do and about what it means, influenced by the ideas and research of others. An overview of ideas and practices that shape the way work is done in other projects can be helpful as well. The study‟s overall objective is to create a sound foundation for future interaction approach between the school and its students that is SMS Enabled
SIS with SMS capability, to provide convenient, accessible and time saving application. The conceptual framework of this study can derived from overview of ideas and practices that shape the way work is done in other studies. The following figure shows the conceptual model of the proposed study
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and system.
The system provides instant access to current gradebook data from any
computer with an Internet connection. Through the web browsers, such as Internet Explorer, Safari, or Firefox, the teachers log in to the system using a secure ID and password provided to them by the school. Every teacher or user has their own account, and they can only see information they are allowed to
see. The system uses IP recognition so the teachers cannot give access to SMS Enabled SIS to others.
Students, Parents, teachers and administrator‟s staff can send a message to the SMS Enabled SIS Messaging centre by the specific codes that the school is providing for them to get information about the child progress and
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grades. Once a message is sent, the server will receive a notice asking for the
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specific student‟s information. The system then will respond back to these messages.
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Assumption of the Study
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1. School technology coordinators prefer SMS Enabled Student Information
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System with SMS capability over paper gradebooks to allow the families
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to take proactive steps to help struggling students.
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2. Interaction through SMS Enabled SIS is more satisfactory and direct to
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point than other ubiquitous grading systems. 3. SMS Enabled SIS affects interaction and informative level significantly.
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4. Teachers are more comfortable in using SMS Enabled SIS to have secure access 24/7 to their student's grades using any web browser due to its popularity.
Significance of the Study SMS Enabled Student Information System is the concern of the most if not all teachers in the new 24/7 connected world. People nowadays would rather seek timely notification and responses to their information requests. Timely manner no longer means days or hours, because every second do count. What
matters is not only to get the information into the system in a timely manner, but also to get a response in a way that is direct to the point. This differentiates SMS Enabled SIS than other online grading systems. Such applications empower schools, colleges, universities and other educational institutions to instantly communicate with their students in a split of
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second. The following illustrate the detailed idea of the importance of the study:
It will measure the role of SMS technology and the web based systems in
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Parents & Students
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improving the level of interaction and communication between teachers and
The study will measure the effectiveness of the developed application in
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their student‟s information in an efficient manner.
It will measure how accessible and beneficial it is in responding to parents
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responding to parent and student‟s request of their progress and grades.
and student‟s request of specific information. It will provide an ubiquitous communicational tool based on SMS technology
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that may utilized by AMA International School, since information is applicable for SMS delivery.
Teachers
It is pleased to introduce the new SMS Enabled Student Information System, the complete software solution for the teachers
Simple visual overview of "To Do" and "Completed" tasks ensures that no step is overlooked. Easy-to-follow, step-by-step student process makes the program almost effortless to use.
The study will save time and effort by taking grades and comments from the Web. Save hours every day entering and tracking students progress. It will scan and store documents in electronic portfolios and access them with one
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click.
The study will provide the worldwide leading secure school administrative
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Administrator‟s staff
The study would also measure the feasibility and simplicity of using the
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web portal and website solution with SMS capability.
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system.
It Integrated web streamlines communication and reduces paper costs.
The study will examine the entire history of a student's record from initial
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inquiry through final reports; it will analyze grades and monitor progress to
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improve recruitment.
Generally, this study aims to develop a secure dynamic SMS Enabled
Student Information System with SMS capability that could be adapted by AMA International School in Bahrain or any other educational system. The system is intending to enable the schools to better interact with their students, especially regarding their progress and grades.
Scope and Delimitation SMS Enabled SIS is a fully web based solution that gives teachers instant access to their gradebooks from anywhere – in the classroom, at home, even while travelling. As the teachers enter grades, they are automatically saved to school‟s servers, meaning there are no files to transfer or export – their grades
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are ready and available whenever and wherever they are! Anywhere, anytime access is the most significant aspect of the
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application. However, the application cannot replace all other traditional means
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of interaction and it is not suitable or easily adapted to all kind of informative and
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interaction processes.
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SMS Enabled SIS is designed to customize itself to the exact needs of
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the teachers. With grading information entered into the system, an important
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feature is the ability to produce up to date and accurate reports. The system features a full host of reporting options, such as progress reports and full
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gradebook printing.
Because SMS Enabled SIS always brings up the most current gradebook
data from any location, teachers no longer need to check files in or out from the network, or concern themselves with gradebook file version control. One of the most significant benefits of the SMS Enabled SIS is the interface for Students and Parents to access grades instantly online. The mission of the system is not only to simplify grading for teachers, but, also to improve communication between teachers and students/parents. By making
grades available online or using the SMS service, students/parents are empowered to monitor their progress closely, and utilize this information to focus efforts to improve their performance within class. With SMS technologies, one can recognize many limitations. Firstly, user can only use it to provide bite-size content or interaction. Simple texting is not suitable for many interaction scenarios. Secondly, although the cost to send and
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receive SMS messages is small, it is a major concern for repeated interaction
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between the providers and the learners.
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This study aims to develop a dynamic two-way SMS Enabled Student
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Information System. The application of this study is limited to two interaction areas between the school and teachers, and two way interaction between the
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school and parents/students which are message centre feature and online
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Student Information System. The message centre feature adapts the pull and
request.
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push approach, in which case a student would not get informed until he sends a
In a real deployment, SMS Enabled Student Information System would
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reside on a PC connected to temporary database through the internet. By the use of specific network design, the researcher connects the temporary database to the school main database. The IT coordinator at AMA International School can update the school database by the new information stored in the temporary database just by one click. MYSQL has been used as backend that is for database part of the application. The programming languages which are used to develop SMS Enabled Student Information System are PHP, XML, Web Service, JQUERY, and HTML
along with Java Scrip which are different from the access that the existing system used as its programming language. Of course, after measuring its reliability and usefulness to both teachers and students, the application could be expanded to include other features and other kinds of interaction and informative scenarios.
Accessibility: It means that people can perceive, understand, navigate,
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Definition of terms
and interact with the Web, and that they can contribute to the Web. Web
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accessibility also benefits others, including older people with changing abilities due to aging. In this study, the system gives teachers secure
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access 24/7 to their student's information using different username and
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password and gives students/parent‟s access 24/7 to the student's
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grades using any web browser all over the world. Parents/students and teachers can get some data from the system using SMS service also.
Efficiency: It refers to both financial, time and human resources required
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by any mission or task. In this study, it refers to the amount of computing resources and code required by SMS Enabled SIS to perform its function of interaction between schools and students.
Privacy: The extent of preventing unauthorized persons from accessing and/or using certain system. Here, it concerns about preventing others from editing or getting students information.
Reliability: The extents to which an application can be expected to perform its intended function. In our study, the extent to which SMS Enabled SIS responds to students requests with required precision.
SIS: it stands for Student Information System. In this study SIS allows the teacher to access their personal student information, access real-
SMS: The SMS is the transfer and exchange of short text messages or a
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time schedule information, obtain their final grades and more, all online.
binary image with a 72x28-pixel size in binary messages between mobile
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phones, or a mobile phone and an external system. These messages are
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carried out indirectly and by a component known as Short Message
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Service Center (SMSC). In this study SMS refers to the short messages
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sent by teachers, parents or students to the SMS Enabled SIS messaging
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centre to get some data about the monthly progress or exam results. User-friendliness: Generally, it means the effort required to learn,
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operate, and interpret input and output of the application. For this study, user-friendliness is the time required for students to get used to required SMS format of each request and understanding the format of SMS response and SMS Enabled SIS. From the school side, the effort required to operate and administer the SMS SMS Enabled SIS. From the teacher side, the effort required for teachers to get used of SMS Enabled SIS.
Web Gradebook: It is a web-enabled spreadsheet that allows instructors to manage all their term and final marks. In this study it refers to the data
that stored in a central database administered by the registrar of AMA International School. Parents/Students may view their marks using SMS service. Teachers can access student‟s gradebook in SMS Enabled SIS
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using web password to view and/or edit student‟s information.
Chapter 2
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REVIEW OF RELATED LITERATURE AND STUDIES
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Related Literature
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This Chapter presents the review of Related Literature and Studies, as
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well as other pertinent data and articles cultivated from the sources gathered
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from the Internet, books, government schools, and AMA Library. Local and
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Foreign context are taken into consideration in the review process. The Related
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Literature comprises particular subject for the basis of the evaluation and
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implementation of the study. The Related Studies compose of published and unpublished research studies. Other Related Materials such as articles and internet reviews provide information in support for the study.
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For the last 5 years, many Student Information System (SIS) projects for
teaching and learning were reported in the literature. In this section, some of the projects are highlighted.
Local Literature
Improvement and development of the education system in Bahrain Ministry Of Education (2009) in the “MOE website: Ministry Of Education I.T. Future & Vision: ” states that, Ministry of Education works hard to improve
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the education process which the population goes through, and provide
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accessible, responsive, high quality education oriented services for the public.
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The mission of MOE is to ensure the provision of evidence-bases
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education at all levels based on efficient use of ministry resources (Schools, personal responsibility for
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libraries, e-services) and encouragement of
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education.
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The ministry of education Strategy is bases for future decision making &
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provide comprehensive view for improvement and development of the education system in Bahrain, the following is few of the strategies which the MOE is
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adapts:
1.
Education gain
2.
Quality, educational excellence
3.
Service development
4.
New investment in education infrastructure in Bahrain
5.
Partnership working
6.
community involvement
7.
Organization and management
8.
Human Resources
9.
Education, research and development
10.
Financial Management
11.
Information and communication technology
Ministry of education always aims to provide choice of channels to
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citizens so that they may access the services as convenient to their situation.
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The ministry is now offering some of its services on mobile and wap. So Starting this year 2009, graduates students from Intermediate and secondary schools
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can obtain their results through mobile phones, which have the WAP service.
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They can also take advantage of the short message service (SMS) in the
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request for the result and then receive the result in the form of SMS as well. In
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Mobile on phases.
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the future, Ministry of Education plans to develop more important services on the
Implementing over 200 eServices to the citizens
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EGovernment Authority (2009) in the " Bahrain eGovernment Program: Looking beyond the obvious" states that, in Kingdom of Bahrain, many innovative SMS-based applications are being developed every day. In the following sections, some of these applications are outlined. The Kingdom of Bahrain appreciates the importance of eGovernment and has
therefore,
undertaken
a
comprehensive
program
to
implement
eGovernment in a phased manner. The impetus of the Kingdom on leveraging ICT has resulted in a high degree of intra-ministerial computerization and a
superior ICT infrastructure. However, The Kingdom focuses on service delivery to its citizens in order to optimally utilize the infrastructure that has been created, and at the same time to graduate to the next level in the eGovernment arena. As a part of this program, the kingdom is implementing over 200 eServices to the citizens through various channels like the National web portal, Mobile portal, Common Service centers, Kiosks and National Contact Centers. The strategic
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vision of this program is “Deliver Customer value through Collaborative
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Government”.
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In order to achieve the above, the Kingdom will provide customers
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multiple channels for availing government services. A "no wrong door" policy
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that allows customers to avail a service through multiple channels will be
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implemented.
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The mobile channel of the Kingdom went live on the 25th of May 2009 with over 15 services.
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Department of Defense Education Activity
DoDEA's Assessment Program (2010) states our mission is to provide an
Exemplary Education that inspires and prepares All DoDEA Students for Success in a Dynamic, Global Environment.
Bahrain School Provides Our Students with a safe environment in which they are challenged to their maximum potential as responsible members of a multi-cultural society. WE, the Bahrain School Community will...Include,
Empower, Create, Inspire and Nurture. Mumtaz! (Mumtaz is Arabic for "Highest Quality".
Bahrain School is a Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA) school and is located in the Kingdom of Bahrain. We are in the Mediterranean District of DoDDS-Europe.
Assessments
are
designed
to
fairly
measure
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System
student
To help teachers determine the strengths and needs of students in order
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achievement in different academic subjects. This information is used:
To let parents know how their children scored in different academic
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to work with them to improve their individual academic skills.
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subjects.
To provide accountability for DoDEA schools.
The testing information is used to help determine how successful DoDEA
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schools are and includes norm-referenced tests and criterion-referenced
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tests. Norm-referenced tests provide a comparison of the basic skills of DoDEA students with the achievements of students in non-DoDEA stateside schools. Criterion-referenced tests provide a measure of how well DoDEA students are performing on specific content area standards.
Foreign Literature
SMS User Interface Result Checking System Adagunodo, et al. (2009) in the paper "SMS User Interface Result Checking System" present a way to bring information to students by leveraging the availability of phones (with SMS capability), especially cell phones. They
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review the use of mobile phones for delivering examination results via Short
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Messaging Service (SMS) in a university, where student who have written examinations and anxious to see their results need to get their grades in a
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convenient and accessible way, whether in the comfort of their homes, on the
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road or while at work.
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They report that mobile phone seems to be an asset most individuals‟
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posses, and take almost everywhere with them, it is therefore a highly effective
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means of bringing information to them faster, easily and on the move. An SMS
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result checking system not only enables students to request for their grades, the system can also deliver the grades to their phones as soon as the grades
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become available. This means that they can access their grades even in the remotest locations where internet facility might be unavailable, preventing them from accessing the school‟s website. This study shows the implementation of such system and considers the security issues associated. The system enforces security with the use of secret information (password), and provides access to new and old grades. The author states that the advantages of SMS results are the same with that of any other SMS application.
Convenience–Users get their results at their own convenience.
Accessibility–Users can access their results from any location (as long as they are within a network service reception area).
Portability–Results can be received and checked from any GSM phone. All GSM phones support SMS.
Saves time–SMS is on the fly. It reduces the throughput of result
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checking as websites are sometimes unavailable due to congestion, or
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server down time. SMS provides a faster means of sending and receiving
Cheaper–SMS is generally economical, and it sometimes provided as a
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such information.
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free service (at least for certain periods) by the service provider. Most
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providers also do not charge when users receive SMS. Less human resources required – Results are processed automatically
Mobility–It is obvious that most mobile phone users have their phones
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with them everywhere they go, most people often leave their computer as
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home, or work sometimes, but they will always have their phone on them. SMS-oriented m-informational system for educational realms Boukas, et al. (2009) in the article "Pandora: An SMS-oriented m-
informational system for educational realms" describe in detail a fully functional SMS-oriented mobile-informational (m-informational) system named Pandora that was designed and developed from the onset to specifically support a plethora of services obtainable mainly by the students of their university. The analysis and contribution are two-fold starting from the theoretical background
and continuing to the technical part of the Pandora system. They present and discuss several issues, including the different services that Pandora supports, system architecture, Pandora's Box, core, Web services, security, etc. They demonstrate that the proposed system is practical to implement, flexible, effective, secure, affordable and above all scalable and potentially extensible. They address that apart from pure academic tasks, institutions seek to
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find cost-saver and better, in terms of quality, effectiveness and flexibility, ways
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to provide informational services to anyone involved and interested in. For
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example, many students prefer to electronically submit their requests to the
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registrar and receive, e.g. the corresponding certificates. In this context, popular mobile services like short message service (SMS) and multimedia message
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service (MMS) can offer a straightforward and efficient way to cover the
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aforementioned demands to any user while on the move. For instance, while
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away, a student can retrieve his/her grades by sending a simple SMS to the registrar. Such tensions are verified by the New Media Consortium 2008 Horizon Report stating that “higher education is facing a growing expectation to deliver
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services, content and media to mobile and personal devices”.
Web-based Notification Systems Robert Kennedy, former About.com Guide (2010), in the article “Webbased Notification Systems” states the shootings at Virginia Tech and other school campuses have shown us the need for instant communications with faculty, staff and students when the unthinkable occurs. How does your
notification system measure up to the task of communicating with your constituents in today's world? Here are some systems which are worth a closer look.
National Notification Network "The 3n mass notification system (2010) transforms the speed and the
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very way communication is accomplished. 3n customers use InstaCom for
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routine, urgent and emergency communications - and can rapidly contact small or a large groups through any (or all) of their members' available communication
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paths."
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3n (National Notification Network) was chosen by Virginia Tech to be the
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provider of the university's instant communications system known as VT Alerts.
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E - School Management System
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Web based school management (2011) states in its website, E - School Management System is a comprehensive web-based School Management
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Software. It is designed for better interaction between students, teachers, parents & management. This management software very gracefully handles all the requirements for easy school management. The school management system being web based can be accessed from anywhere in the world, which enables the students, teachers, parents & the management be in touch with each other at all times. A Time Table generation software & Online Quiz System included. A free school website will also be custom designed for you. Developed using
ASP.NET, VB.NET. Database: MSSQL server 2000, MSAcess 2000 Server. Type: Microsoft-IIS/6.0. The parents of students are very busy nowadays, this school management system helps the parents monitor their children from anywhere. They can check their children's academic performance from a remote location, plus the teacher's can post specific notes about the student to their parents.
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They can also deposit the school fees, bus fees etc., using online secured
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payment integrated with this software.
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Using this school management system the users can see the attendance
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in various formats, day-wise, monthly attendance, session or total attendance,
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depending on the permissions the user has. Marks or report card can be viewed
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or added, report cards generated, merit list, highest marks etc. Assignments &
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homework‟s can be viewed or posted using this software. This school
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management system also has in-built quiz software, which can be used for hosting online quizzes or tests.
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Time table software is also included with this school management system
which creates time tables for various classes, teacher‟s time tables. It effectively handles the teacher‟s substitution which is a very gruel some task for school administrators. Online leave applications can also be filed by students which gets viewed when the teachers take the daily attendance. Books, apparels & other essential items can be bought online using the online shopping cart included with the school management system
School and class notices can also be posted using this software The School Management System also has a built in forum which develops an online student teacher community over the net, sharing each other‟s ideas.
The school management software has 3 sections. Student/ Parents, Teachers/Class teachers, Admin/Principal. Please note that this school
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management system has been developed exclusively for simplifying school
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management procedures. Considering large demand from various school
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managers this work was undertaken. Main Features are:
View/Take Attendance
Assignments
Report Cards
Online Fee submission/details
School time-table generator
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Homework
Student/Teachers Profile School Bus details/tracking
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Online leave application
Shopping Cart
Tutorials
Online Quiz
Buy books/ apparels online
Discussion Forum
Internal Messaging System
Related Studies
This section introduces some related former researches and studies that focus on the SMS Enabled Student Information System in the field of education.
Foreign Studies
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Kansas Individual Data on Students (KIDS)
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SchoolWorks SIS (2006) have states the centre of every school's administration software network is their student information system. This system
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is crucial to your staff's ability to efficiently manage student data. More
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importantly, the student information system often stands as the keystone to your
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school's need to efficiently manage students themselves. With accurate data,
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accessible at appropriate security levels, your staff can facilitate the students'
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daily activities like class schedules, events and activities, attendance sign in/out,
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and health logs. By providing quick access and easy entry for your most important student data elements, SchoolWorks Student Information System
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helps reduce bottlenecks in your front office. SchoolWorks also keeps parents involved with web-based access to their student's academic records.
SchoolWorks student information system is based on the latest
programming and database standards. We also incorporated Internationalization standards so that implementation in any language is easily possible. With SchoolWorks, you can track daily attendance, class room attendance, activities, discipline, grades & transcripts, immunizations & nurses log, and schedules & registration. Please take a Screen Shot Tour and become familiar with our
complete student management system. You can also Request More Information and a SchoolWorks representative will contact you.
SchoolWorks Student Information System keeps pace with state required data submittals. In the example above, you can see how SchoolWorks SIS is used to track the Kansas State Department of Education's "Kansas Individual
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Data on Students (KIDS)" data fields.
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School Technology Coordinators will appreciate the fine-grained control
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of system settings provided in SchoolWorks student information system. When
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administrative or state data requirements change, our SIS has the flexibility that
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enables your school to respond immediately with accurate code changes.
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Electronic submittal of student data will be accurate and on-time.
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One stop student information management solution
WebEIM (2007) is a one stop student information management solution that was primarily developed to fulfill the requirements of private schools, public
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school and school districts.
It was the mission of Teledata Systems and Services, WebEIM's parent
company to develop a completely automated Student Information System capable of handling every piece of information in a school's database and delivering required results in an accurate, hassle free manner.
WebEIM maximizes user benefits by providing precise timely information as per the requirements of school and industry standards.
Using SMS to support administrative communication in higher education Naismith (2007) has addressed in her paper "Using text messaging to support administrative communication in higher education" that in order to be effective in higher education, text messaging must be effectively integrated into both the student and staff experience. These user groups provided input into the design of StudyLink, an email to text message service. A small-scale trial was
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conducted over a period of two academic terms to investigate the feasibility of
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using this system in a real educational setting. Students reported high
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satisfaction with the quantity and content of the text messages and tutors
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reported changes in behavior that were directly attributable to the use of text messaging. Administrative staff members were able to integrate this service into
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their current means of communicating with students, though there were some
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difficulties in composing appropriate text messages. Students were able to
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effectively receive and act on text messages. Short Message Service
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Leung (2007) has stated in his article "Unwillingness-to-communicate and college students‟ motives in SMS mobile messaging" that he growing proliferation of cell phones means that just about all mobile phone customers have access to the hardware and software they need to send and receive SMS text messages. Some believe that SMS may develop into a major form of interpersonal mediated communication, just as e-mail has replaced many phone uses. Results from a random sample of 532 college students show that students
who made the heaviest use of SMS (Short Message Service) were motivated by its convenience, its low cost, and its utility for coordinating events. The study shows that people who were socially anxious and were unwilling-to-communicate face-to-face and were put off by the confusing acronyms used in mobile messaging appeared to be those who spent less time, and not more, using SMS despite the fact that SMS could help overcome
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student‟s shyness about bringing up difficult topics with friends. In broad terms,
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SMS is a social technology and has become a popular communication utility for
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college students.
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School management system
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Mykoob (2007) has addressed that Mykoob is a school management
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system which is an essential support to educational institutions, encouraging
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student and school interaction. It improves the accessibility of information, as well as significantly increases space for communication between students,
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parents and teachers. The aim of Mykoob is to increase parental awareness of school on-going processes and to facilitate the preparation of reports for teachers. It structures the schooling of children and automates daily school work.
By introduction of Mykoob, it is possible to completely replace traditional paper-based grade book to an electronic based grade and attendance record book. Also, school administration becomes much easier and less time consuming.
The use of short message service Young, et al. (2009) conducted a pilot study entitled "Help is just a text away: The use of short message service texting to provide an additional means of support for health care students during practice placements”. They found that "Although the students made less use of the service than was anticipated, both staff
and students
were positive about the potential
of
this
type of
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communication in providing an additional form of support for students in
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placements.
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SIS comprehensive and customizable
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School One (2010) has stated in its article “SIS comprehensive and
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customizable” that school one is a pioneer in web-based software solutions for
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schools. We have built systems serving thousands of users in multiple states in
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different educational settings. Building on our experience, we developed a new generation Student Information System (SIS). This secure, reliably hosted
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system can be customized and seamlessly integrated with other applications. Most importantly, your SIS can be up and running within WEEKS rather than months or years.
Synthesis of the Study
The literature has shown that SMS Enabled Student Information System can play a major role in students and teacher everyday life aspects. Like the Internet, mobile phones and SMS facilitate communication and rapid access to information and have reached a larger proportion of the population in most
**
countries, and thus the impact of this new communication channel is greater
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every day.
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People with different background including higher education students are
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interaction channel for college students.
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familiar with SMS and using it comfortably. SMS has become a popular
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accessibility, and portability.
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Reasons behind this popularity include low cost, simplicity, convenience,
Researchers have indicated that SMS Enabled SIS is an area for further exploration in education, suggesting possible areas of investigation such as, in-
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class discussions, two-way interactions, GPA population, language learning vocabulary and study support. The literature also addresses the underlying implementation issues and the available technology that enable any kind of organizations including schools to develop such application without having to handle the extra charges set by telecommunication companies. This enables the sending and receiving of SMS
between the School and its students as if the regular SMS between any friends
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is sent and charged.
Chapter 3
METHODOLOGY OF THE STUDY
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In this chapter, the research methodology is described in terms of design,
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respondents of the study, data gathering instruments, preparation and validation
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of instruments, data gathering procedures and statistical treatment.
The study aimed to develop SMS Enabled Student
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purpose of the study.
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The research design chosen enabled the researcher to achieve the
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Information System, which is intending to enable schools to better interact with
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their students, especially regarding their final grades and their progress. It has
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measured the significance of the developed application by testing the level of effectiveness in terms of privacy, efficiency, reliability, accessibility and user-
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friendliness.
Research Design Research design is the overall structure of the research. It is concerned
with bringing all the elements of the research together and organizing it in a way that serve the purpose of the study at hand. Thus, research design could be thought of as the study of materials, sources, and data in order to get conclusions.
The following sections report the design approaches used to serve the purpose of this study. Software Design The Water Fall model was first proposed by W.W. Royce, this method was used by the researcher during the process of developing the required
**
system. The Water Fall method has different steps of approach during the
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development phase. The traditional waterfall methodology is the forefather of all other methodologies and the researcher finds it most suitable for projects where
structure.
The waterfall
provides
C
management
O
the requirements are clearly stated and static or where it helps to have a rigid an
orderly sequence
of
'S
development steps and helps ensure the adequacy of documentation and
The
O
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developed software.
R
design reviews to ensure the quality, reliability, and maintainability of the
advantage
of
waterfall
development
is
that
it
allows
for
departmentalization and managerial control. A schedule can be set with
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deadlines for each stage of development and a product can proceed through the development process like a car in a carwash, and theoretically, be delivered on time. Development moves from concept, through design, implementation, testing, installation, troubleshooting, and ends up at operation and maintenance. Each phase of development proceeds in strict order, without any overlapping or iterative steps.
MYSQL has been used as backend that is for database part of the application, while PHP, XML, Web Service, JQUERY, HTML along with Java Scrip has been used for managing the database. VB.net has been used for client-server application of sending and receiving SMS.
The data processing is presented using flow chart to demonstrate the
**
logical sequence of the application steps.
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Development Methodology
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The waterfall approach is used to develop the Web Based SMS Enabled
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O
R
'S
C
Student Information System. The stages included are as follow:
1.
Requirements Analysis Requirements analysis is critical to the success of a development project.
It yields the specifications that software is developed upon. Requirements must
be actionable, measurable, testable, related to identified business needs or opportunities, and defined to a level of detail sufficient for system design. To specify the application requirement, the researcher tried to get the following questions answered: SMS Enabled Student Information System was developed based on a
**
general situation and interaction background of most schools in Bahrain. The system is not intended to replace the schools current process of interaction. It
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provides a different yet supplementary channel that adds a value to the
O
effectiveness of the current system in terms of convenience, accessibility and
C
speed.
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The database part of the system is created for the purpose of
R
demonstrating and testing the system‟s functionality, since the focus of this
2.
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System.
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study is to ensure the effectiveness of SMS Enabled Student Information
System Design
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System design is a process of problem-solving and planning for a
software solution. After the purpose and specifications of software are determined, researcher designed a plan for a solution. During this phase, the developer has defined the system input, output and interface. That is, the SMS request format, SMS response to the students, web site response to the login username and password and interface between the modem and PC.
Then, determined where the system would reside, on mainframe, client/server, PC. In a real deployment, Web Based SMS Enabled Student Information System would reside on a PC connected to temporary database through the internet or to the database server of the school. After that, specified the hardware and software requirements. The hardware requirement for SMS Enabled Student Information System is a
**
computer with internet connection or mobile phones while the software
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requirement represented by Adobe Dreamweaver application CS4.
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Finally, all the requirements have been documented for later evaluation.
C
The Entity Relationship (ER) diagram is used to demonstrate the entities of the system at hand along with the relationships between them.
R
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Context Level Diagram and figures of different level DFD has been
Implementation and Unit Testing
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3.
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provided as well.
In this phase, the developer generated a source code using PHP, XML,
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Web Service, JQUERY, HTML, and Java Scrip along with VB.net. Then, developed test scenario by creating a sample database. Finally, conducted code and database testing. 4.
Integration and System Testing In this phase, all system units have been integrated together and an
overall testing has been conducted. That is, SMS Enabled Student Information System has been connected
to the sample database to ensure the effectiveness of the overall functionality of the system including, extracting the correct data as a response of the received SMS request, SMS request format validation and responding within an acceptable speed, Entering grades, skill grades and narratives directly into Administrator‟s
Database,
posting
report
cards
easily,
viewing
student‟s
demographic information, accessing student‟s information using any browser. Operation and Maintenance
**
5.
SMS Enabled Student Information System performance monitoring and
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This phase has dealed with the following:
C
user feedback. The researcher has demonstrated the system functionality
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and performance to a number of AMA International School faculty, staff
R
from registration and IT departments, teachers of all the subjects and
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some students of Grade 12 as a sample of potential user. The IT
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coordinator was asked to measure the management satisfaction as well. Respondent‟s feedback was valuable since each one has a relevant
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background that enables them to give a useful feedback.
Deleting the problems with the application. That is the problems. Detected by attendees during application demonstration.
Recovering from the application problem. In this step, the researcher has corrected all the problems encountered.
Respondents of the Study The respondents of this study were some students of grade 11 and 12 and their parents at AMA International School as they are the
actual
potential
management, developed
user
of
the software.
administrative
and
The
academic
study also measured staff
software functionality effectiveness
satisfaction
by the IT
with
coordinator
the the at
AMA International School, so a representative of each have been ask to attend a demonstration in order to evaluate the developed software.
**
Sampling Procedures The researcher has used the probability sampling, in which the
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researcher knows the exact possibility of selecting each member of the
O
population. Probability samples are the only type of samples where the results
C
can be generalized from the sample to the population. In addition, probability
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samples allow the researcher to calculate the precision of the estimates
R
obtained from the sample and to specify the sampling error.
O
A probability sample frequently is more accurate than a census of the
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entire population. The smaller sampling operation lends itself to the application of more rigorous controls, thus ensuring better accuracy. These rigorous
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controls allow the researcher to reduce nonsampling errors such as nonresponse problems, questionnaire design flaws, and data processing and analysis errors.
Data Gathering Instruments The collected data lies Successful
data
collection
at the heart of is
a
matter
of
the research question. making
understanding the relationship between data and findings.
choices
and
Once a research question has been determined the next step is t identify which method with be appropriate and effective. The following are the instruments the researcher uses to ensure a successful data collection. Questionnaire is
a
mechanism
for
obtaining
information
and
**
Questionnaire
opinion. It is quite flexible in what they can measure. Questionnaires
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reduce bias. There is uniform question presentation and no middle-man
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bias. The researcher‟s own opinions will not influence the respondent to
to
influence
the
respondent.
They
are
not,
however,
a
'S
clues
C
answer questions in a certain manner. There are no verbal or visual
R
comprehensive means of evaluation and should be used to support and
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O
supplement other procedures for evaluation.
The researcher after getting the permission of AMA International School
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Director took the following steps to create the questionnaires:
1. Defined research objectives: the research wish to see if the teachers, administrator‟s staff, students and parents agree that the SMS Enabled Student Information System is functionally effective in terms of privacy, efficiency, reliability, accessibility and user-friendliness or not. 2. Selected a sample: the researcher decided what population can best answer the questions he/she wants to have answered. Considering how relevant or important the SMS Enabled Student Information System is,
the questionnaire raises are for the teachers, administrator‟s staff, parents and students. 3. Designed the questionnaire: the researcher constructed the questionnaire items and organized them in a purposeful way. The researcher decided to use open (respondents write their own answers) and closed form (respondents choose from existing answers) structure for questionnaire
**
items. Avoided loaded or biased items. If the researcher does not write
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questions appropriately for his or her sample, problems in validity or
O
reliability could result. The researcher Decided to use web-based
C
questionnaires.
4. Pre-tests the questionnaire: the researcher Tested both individual
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questionnaire items and the entire questionnaire with members of the
O
R
study‟s sample. Researcher had little face to face contact with the
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respondents, leaved respondents to interpret the questions on their own. Provided opportunities on a written questionnaire or during follow-up interviews for respondents to give feedback about their understanding of
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questionnaire items.
5. Demonstrated the software: the researcher Administered during a software demonstration session to better evaluate the developed software. 6. Pre-contacted the sample: the researcher sent a letter to members of the sample telling them about the study and inviting them to participate. 7. Wrote cover letter and distributed questionnaire: the researcher designed a clear and professional cover letter to accompany the questionnaire. The
cover letter was a place where researcher pleaded his/her case for why a subject should respond. He/she included a statement of support for the project from someone well regarded by individuals in the sample. He/she sent the questionnaire via the internet. 8. Followed up with non respondents: the researcher Sent a follow-up communication to non respondents a few days after the questionnaire
**
due date by the used of emails.
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9. Analyzed questionnaire data: the researcher analyzed the data according
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to privacy, efficiency, reliability, accessibility and user-friendliness.
C
Observation
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Site visit is an opportunity for the researcher to become more familiar with
R
program by being in a site and observing processes of interaction as they occur.
O
This method helps when certain data cannot be accessed or sourced through
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questionnaires or by other means. The researcher went thorough observation of a different websites. Using this type of technique the researcher was able to
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gather information that may be vital to the design and development of the website.
Preparation and Validation of Instruments McCall's Quality Factors have been used as a source of criteria the questionnaire involved to measure the system effectiveness. In order to answer whether the tools used in this study can measure what is expected to, the researcher has gave the questionnaire to statistical advisor to
make sure that it is correct, complete and accurate. And before finalize it; it has been introduced to the statistician Dr. Mohammed Reza to ensure its correctness and ability to be statically treated to measure the specified criteria. Validation of instruments is important to decide if the measurement tools are reliable, in a good format and the questions are logical and serve the
**
purpose of the study.
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Analytical Tools
Analytical tools helps the researcher to design and develop a system in a
O
more systematic way, as it gives a defined approach to each step of the
C
development process. By using analytical tools the researcher was able to
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O
Data Flow Diagram (DFD)
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analyze the existing and the proposed system in detail.
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The DFD shows the data process of the entire system. It depicts the complete process of the system and its various functions. The diagram consists of entity, flow of data, process and data store. Using this diagram, the
** A
researcher was able to visualize how the data should flow through the system. Input Process Output (IPO) There are three very common terms that are linked to each other. They describe particular stages in information handling. These are the basic functions of a system. Data must be feed into the system (input), which is then analyzed and reorganized (process), and then it is displayed (output), (See Figure1 in Chapter 1).
Data Gathering Procedures
One of the most common techniques in data gathering procedures is surveying. The researcher created a set of questions and then distributed them to the target respondents. The questions were dealing only with the topic interest of the research which is evaluating SMS Enabled SIS functionality. The
**
researcher defined research objectives, selected a sample, designed the
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questionnaire, pre-tested the questionnaire, demonstrated the software, precontacted the sample, wrote cover letter and distributed questionnaire and
C
O
followed up with non respondents.
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Statistical Treatment of Data
R
All gathered data will be presented and grouped accordingly in
O
tabular form. Since there was a limited number – of observation, the
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table was translated to an Ungrouped Frequency Distribution. Data are average and categorized by purpose and frequency response.
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The researcher also used T-test for uncorrelated data. Percentile ranking used to show the percentage of shares by ideas and
needs, as answered by the respondents. Percentage was computed by dividing the frequency of each item by the total number of frequency, multiplied by a hundred Percentage (%)-(ƒ / ∑ƒ)*100 Where %
= Percentage
ƒ
= frequency of each item
∑ƒ
= summation of all item frequencies
According to Reyes (1996) percentage ranking is one simple way of showing, how gathered data are dispersed between choices. Lickert Scale has five points; each corresponds to an evaluation range and
SCALE
4.51 – 5.00
Strongly Agree (SA)
3.51 – 4.50
Agree (A)
2.51 – 3.50
Undecided (U)
3
1.51 – 2.50
C
RATINGS
Disagree (D)
2
1.00 – 1.50
Strongly Disagree (DS)
1
**
RANGE
'S
rating.
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5
O
R
O
4
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The Lickert scale, using the five different levels, tabulates the specific answer to corresponding specific questions or criteria. This is done by
** A
determining the number of respondents, identifying the corresponding scale, and then multiplying it with the corresponding scale, weight and total score. The
total
was
divided
respondents. The resulting
by
value is
the
original
total
number
the weighted mean
that
of is
the then
compared to equivalent range on the five-point scale. The data gathered from evaluation form will undergo the statistical test called the T-Test.
T-Test The two-sample t-test is used to determine if two population means are equal. A common application of this is to test if a new system is superior to the current system.
There are several variations on this test, such as the data may either be
**
paired or not paired. By paired, we mean that there is a one-to-one
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correspondence between the values in the two samples. That is, if X 1, X2, ..., Xn and Y1, Y2, ... , Yn are the two samples, then Xi corresponds to Yi. For paired
O
samples, the difference Xi - Yi is usually calculated. For unpaired samples, the
C
sample sizes for the two samples may or may not be equal. The formulas for
R
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paired data are somewhat simpler than the formulas for unpaired data.
O
The variances of the two samples may be assumed to be equal or
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unequal. Equal variance yields somewhat simpler formulas, although with computers this is no longer a significant issue.
** A
In the case of the designed system and the existing system, the t-test
gives the probability that the difference between the two means is caused by chance. It is customary to say that if this probability is less than 0.05, that the difference is 'significant', the difference is not caused by chance. The t-test is basically not valid for testing the difference between two proportions. However, the t-test in proportions has been extensively studied, has been found to be robust, and is widely and successfully used in proportional data.
Formula to compute the Mean: 1. Frequency Mean (FM) = ∑ f (x1 + x2 +-------Xn) n Where f = frequency of number of times that a given number (x) was chosen by the respondents as rating for a given criterion.
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evaluator‟s rating options for each given criterion.
**
x = represents any of the numerical ratings 1, 2, 3, 4, 5 representing the
O
n = refers to the sample size or the total number of respondents
n
R
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Where
C
2. Weighted Mean (WM) = ∑ f (x1 + x2 +---------Xn)
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f = summation of all frequency means
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n = total number of criteria After collecting, summarizing and testing data, results have been
** A
interpreted and given narrative explanations.
Chapter 4
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Presentation, analysis and interpretation of data
**
PRESENTATION, ANALYSIS AND INTERPRETATION OF DATA
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This chapter presents the analysis and interpretation of data according to
C
the statement of the problems mentioned in Chapter 1:
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1) The description of the existing system:
R
The existing system is software which is installed in fifty available
O
computers at AMA International School. The teachers can access the
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system during a specific time to edit and enter the student‟s grades (usually one week after the examination).
** A
The existing system is created using Microsoft Access. It is a
page that includes all the available subjects at school. To access any subject you need to click over the name of that specific subject and enter the correct username and password which is given by principal to the subject teachers. After entering
correct username and password
you can
access
the editing page. In this page you can add a new record and delete/edit
the existing record. The names of students are already there through a server database. In this page you need to click over that specific subject again and enter the same user name and password which you used it earlier to edit the student‟s grade. Through the system you can view the report card of each student
**
with his/her full grades and teacher comments. You can easily view and
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print the report card for all the students from grade one to grade twelve. 2) The teachers, administrator’s staff, students and parents evaluate the
O
system along:
C
a. Privacy
c. Reliability
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d. Accessibility
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b. Efficiency
e. User-Friendliness Teachers and Administrator’s staff Evaluation
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The software has been evaluated teachers & Administrator‟s staff
according to the following Criteria: 1. Privacy Evaluation: 1.1 Frequency Table1. Privacy evaluation-Percentage Frequency No. Factor 1
The system provides a mechanism to prevent others from getting student information.
Scale 5 4
F 8 4
%F 66.67 33.33
2
It is impossible for unauthorized people to access and edit the system.
5 4
11 91.67 1 8.33
3
The system gives teachers secure access 24/7 to their student's information.
5 4
5 7
41.67 58.33
4
The system generates Username with login instructions and uniquely-assigned initial passwords.
5 4
9 3
75.00 25.00
**
According to table 1, 66.67% of respondents strongly agreed that the
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system provides a mechanism to prevent others from getting student information and 91.67% strongly agreed that it is impossible for unauthorized people to
C
O
access and edit the system.
58.33% of respondents agreed that the system gives teachers secure
'S
access 24/7 to their student's information and 75% strongly agreed that the
O
R
system generates Username with login instructions and uniquely-assigned initial
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passwords.
There is no disagreement on the four determinants of Privacy factor. Respondents either agree or strongly agree on system Privacy.
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1.2 Weighted Mean
Table 2. Privacy evaluation-weighted mean No. Factor The system provides a mechanism to prevent others 1 from getting student information.
Weighted Mean 4.66
2
It is impossible for unauthorized people to access and edit the system.
4.91
3
The system gives teachers secure access 24/7 to their student's information.
4.41
4
The system generates Username with login instructions and uniquely-assigned initial passwords.
4.75
Average
4.68
An strongly agreement on that it is impossible for unauthorized people to access and edit the system is indicated by a weighted mean of 4.91, as in table 2. First and last factor of privacy got strongly agreement by the weighted mean of 4.66 and 4.75 while third factor got a weighted mean of 4.41 which means agreement on the system gives teachers secure access 24/7 to their student's information.
**
Overall, the average mean of privacy, which is 4.68, indicates a strongly
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agreement on software privacy. There is no undecided or disagreement on the
O
four determinants of privacy factor according to their weighted mean.
C
2. Efficiency Evaluation: 2.1 Frequency
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Table 3. Efficiency evaluation-Percentage Frequency No. Factor
No much programming effort required to integrate the system with the current school database.
2
The additional required Hardware is easily obtained.
F 7 5
%F 58.33 41.67
5 4
7 5
58.33 41.67
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O
1
Scale 5 4
3
The cost of additional required Hardware is affordable.
5 4
10 83.33 2 16.67
4
The system operates at an acceptable speed.
5 4
3 9
25.00 75.00
5
The system is easy to maintain or upgrade.
5 4
4 8
33.33 66.67
6
The program monitors its own operation and identifies errors that do occur.
5 4
5 7
41.67 58.33
It is easy to check the correctness of system‟s functionality.
5 4
9 3
75.00 25.00
8
The system automatically sends information to the school temporary database.
5 4
2 9
16.67 75.00
9
It takes a short time to import data into the system.
5 4
11 91.67 1 8.33
**
7
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The percentage of strongly agreement on the first and second determinants of software efficiency is 58.33%, as in table 3, while the agreement
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percentage on the same determinants is 41.67%.
C
Table 3 also shows that the majority of respondents agreed on the
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software efficiency, with a considerable percentage of strongly agreement.
R
2.2 Weighted Mean
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Table 4. Efficiency evaluation-weighted mean
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No. Factor No much programming effort required to integrate the 1 system with the current school database. 2 The additional required Hardware is easily obtained. 3 The cost of additional required Hardware is affordable. 4 The system operates at an acceptable speed. 5 The system is easy to maintain or upgrade. The program monitors its own operation and identifies 6 errors that do occur. It is easy to check the correctness of system‟s 7 functionality. The system automatically sends information to the 8 school temporary database. 9
It takes a short time to import data into the system. Average
Weighted Mean 4.58 4.58 4.83 4.25 4.33 4.41 4.75 3.83 4.91 4.5
The first two determinants of efficiency have a weighted mean of 4.58, as in table 4. The third has a weighted mean of 4.83 and the remaining six have a weighted mean of 4.25, 4.33, 4.41, 4.75, 3.83 and 4.91 respectively. This reveals a strongly agreement on the first, second, third, seventh, and last factor of efficiency and agreement on fourth, fifth, sixth and eighth factors. Overall, the average mean of efficiency, which is 4.5, indicates an
**
agreement on software efficiency. There is no undecided or disagreement on
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the nine determinants of efficiency factor according to their weighted mean.
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3. Reliability Evaluation:
C
3.1 Frequency
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Table 5. Reliability evaluation-Percentage Frequency No. Factor
R
The system covers the most important interaction functions between school and enrolled students.
O
1
Scale 5 4
F 3 9
%F 25.00 75.00
The overall functionality of the system is good.
5 4
11 91.67 1 8.33
3
The system fills a need not addressed by software you currently use.
5 4
11 91.67 1 8.33
4
The system is effective and accountable.
5 4
8 4
66.67 33.33
5
The system Admin can view and approve updates before they are entered into School Database.
5 4
6 6
50.00 50.00
6
The source code provides meaningful documentation.
5 4
1 8.33 11 91.67
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2
Considerable percentage of respondents agreed that the system covers the most important interaction functions between school and enrolled students. The percentage is 75% as table 5 shows. While the remaining 25% strongly agreed on these items of reliability. As a determinant factor of reliability, the overall functionality of the system is good and the system fills a need not addressed by software you currently use
**
get the higher percentage of strongly agreement, 91.67% of respondents.
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The remaining three items of the reliability, which are, The system is
O
effective and accountable, and The system Admin can view and approve
C
updates before they are entered into School Database and The source code provides meaningful documentation get a strongly agreement from 66.67% of
R
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respondents and agreement from 50% and 91.67% respectively. There is no
O
disagreement among respondents.
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To conclude, all the respondents agreed on all determinant factors of the developed software reliability. 3.2 Weighted Mean
** A
Table 6. Reliability evaluation-weighted mean
No. Factor 1 2 3 4 5 6
The system covers the most important interaction functions between school and enrolled students. The overall functionality of the system is good. The system fills a need not addressed by software you currently use. The system is effective and accountable. The system Admin can view and approve updates before they are entered into School Database. The source code provides meaningful documentation. Average
Weighted Mean 4.25 4.91 4.91 4.66 4.5 4.08 4.55
The weighted mean of the first three determinants are 4.25, 4.91, 4.91, as in table 6. The weighted mean of the remaining three is 4.66, 4.5 and 4.08 as well. These numbers reflects a strongly agreement. Overall, the average mean, 4.55, is interpreted as strongly agreement on software reliability. There is no undecided or disagreement on the six determinants of reliability factor according to their weighted mean.
**
4. Accessibility Evaluation:
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4.1 Frequency
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Table 7. Accessibility evaluation-Percentage Frequency
C
No. Factor
The system is easily accessible by parents/students.
2
Teachers can access their student information using any browser.
3
4
'S
1
%F 91.67 8.33
12 100.00
Parents can view their student‟s demographic information.
5 4
10 2
83.33 16.67
From home or school, from any computer with a web browser, SMS Enabled SIS users can View and edit data in all modules and Create and print reports from all modules.
5
11
91.67
4
1
8.33
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O
R
5
** A
5
Scale F 5 11 4 1
5 2 16.67 The system provides online forms for inquiries, grades, teacher comments and more. 4 10 83.33 There is a strongly agreement on the first, second, third and fourth
determinants factors of accessibility of 91.67%, 100%, 83.33 and 91.67% respectively. Respondents who agreed were 8.33%, 16.67% and 8.33% respectively.
Frequency percentage shows a strongly agreement of 16.67% and agreement of 83.33% of respondents for the fifth factors respectively. In general, combining frequency percentage of strongly agreed respondents making agreement on the accessibility of the software is greater than percentage of agreement, as table 7 reveal. 4.2 Weighted Mean
**
Table 8. Accessibility evaluation-weighted mean
Weighted Mean 4.91 5 4.83
4.91
R
'S
C
O
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No. Factor 1 The system is easily accessible by parents/students. Teachers can access their student information using 2 any browser. Parents can view their student‟s demographic 3 information. From home or school, from any computer with a web browser, SMS Enabled SIS users can View and edit 4 data in all modules and Create and print reports from all modules.
O
The system provides online forms for inquiries, grades, teacher comments and more.
4.16
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5
Average 4.76 The weighted mean of Accessibility factors in table 8 reflects the
** A
interpretation we get from table 8, as 4.91 is interpreted as strongly agreement on that The system is easily accessible by parents/students and From home or school, from any computer with a web browser, SMS Enabled SIS users can View and edit data in all modules and Create and print reports from all modules. Third and fifth factors of Accessibility have a weighted mean of 4.83 and 4.16, and the second one has a weighted mean of 5. This indicates a strongly agreement among respondents on these factors.
Strongly Agreement on software Accessibility is easily interpreted by the 4.76 average mean of Accessibility. There is no undecided or disagreement on the five determinants of
accessibility factor according
to their weighted mean. 5. User-Friendliness Evaluation: 5.1 Frequency
**
Table 9. User-Friendliness evaluation-Percentage Frequency
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No. Factor
The system provides a new satisfactory channel to interact with students.
2
The system is convenient and simple.
3
The system interface is intuitive and easy for noncomputer literature people to use.
4
The system meets the school's mission of providing quality educational-related informing services.
** A
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O
R
'S
C
O
1
5
6
No additional training is needed to enable the teachers/Administrative Staff to use the system.
Scale F %F 5 10 83.33 4 2 16.67 5 4
3 9
25.00 75.00
5 4 3
1 5 6
8.33 41.67 50.00
5 4 3
4 7 1
33.33 58.33 8.33
5 4 3
5 1 6
41.67 8.33 50.00
5 The output of the system is easily understood. 4 3 As shown from the table 5.1, 83.33% of respondents strongly
9 75.00 1 8.33 2 16.67 agreed on
that the system provides a new satisfactory channel to interact with students. The third and fifth determinants of software user-friendliness, the system
interface is intuitive and easy for non-computer literature people to use and No additional training is needed to enable the teachers/Administrative Staff to use the system, get the same percentage of undecided of 50% for each. Most respondents agreed on the second, third and fourth determinants, which are, The system is convenient and simple , The system interface is intuitive and easy for non-computer literature people to use and The system
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percentage is 75%, 41.67% and 58.33% respectively.
**
interface is intuitive and easy for non-computer literature people to use. The
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The fifth and sixth determinants of software user-friendliness, No
C
additional training is needed to enable the teachers/Administrative Staff to use the system and The output of the system is easily understood., get the same
R
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percentage of agreement of 8.33% for each.
O
Although, there is undecided among respondents, it remains lower than
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the percentage of agreed and strongly agreed respondents. 5.2 Weighted Mean
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Table 10. User-Friendliness evaluation-weighted mean
No. 1 2 3 4 5 6
Factor
The system provides a new satisfactory channel to interact with students. The system is convenient and simple. The system interface is intuitive and easy for non-computer literature people to use. The system meets the school's mission of providing quality educational-related informing services. No additional training is needed to enable the teachers/Administrative Staff to use the system. The output of the system is easily understood. Average
Weighted Mean 4.83 4.25 3.58 4.25 3.91 4.58 4.23
As shown in table 10, all user-friendliness factors have a weighted mean greater than 3.50. The weighted mean of the first, second and third are 4.83, 4.25 and 3.58 while fourth, fifth and sixth have a weighted mean of 4.25, 3.91 and 4.58 respectively. To disclose, there is an agreement on the software user-friendliness, as the average mean of 4.23 indicates. There is no undecided or disagreement on
**
the six determinants of user-friendliness factor according to their weighted
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mean.
O
Overall effectiveness analysis for teachers and administrator’s staff
C
The criteria which explained in chapter 3 are used to determine the effectiveness of the developed software. In order to determine its effectiveness
'S
the weighted mean result is grouped in the following table:
O
R
Table11. Effectiveness Evaluation-Weighted Mean for teachers and Administrator‟s staff
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Criteria
1. Privacy The system provides a mechanism to prevent others from getting student information.
** A
It is impossible for unauthorized people to access and edit the system. The system gives teachers secure access 24/7 to their student's information. The system generates Username with login instructions and uniquely-assigned initial passwords. 2. Efficiency No much programming effort required to integrate the system with the current school database. The additional required Hardware is easily obtained. The cost of additional required Hardware is affordable. The system operates at an acceptable speed. The system is easy to maintain or upgrade.
Weighted Mean
Scale
4.66
SA
4.91
SA
4.41
A
4.75
SA
4.58
SA
4.58 4.83 4.25 4.33
SA SA A A
4.41
A
4.75
SA
3.83
A
4.91
SA
4.25
A
4.91
SA
4.91
SA
4.66
SA
4.5
A
4.08
A
4.91
SA
5
SA
4.83
SA
4.91
SA
4.16
A
4.83
SA
4.25
A
3.58
SA
4.25
A
3.91
A
4.58 4.53
SA SA
O
R
'S
C
O
PY
**
The program monitors its own operation and identifies errors that do occur. It is easy to check the correctness of system‟s functionality. The system automatically sends information to the school temporary database. It takes a short time to import data into the system. 3. Reliability The system covers the most important interaction functions between school and enrolled students. The overall functionality of the system is good. The system fills a need not addressed by software you currently use. The system is effective and accountable. The system Admin can view and approve updates before they are entered into School Database. The source code provides meaningful documentation. 4. Accessibility The system is easily accessible by parents/students. Teachers can access their student information using any browser. Parents can view their student‟s demographic information.
U TH
From home or school, from any computer with a web browser, SMS Enabled SIS users can View and edit data in all modules and Create and print reports from all modules.
** A
The system provides online forms for inquiries, grades, teacher comments and more. 5. User-Friendliness The system provides a new satisfactory channel to interact with students. The system is convenient and simple. The system interface is intuitive and easy for noncomputer literature people to use. The system meets the school's mission of providing quality educational-related informing services. No additional training is needed to enable the teachers/Administrative Staff to use the system. The output of the system is easily understood. Average
Table effectiveness
11
gathers
determinants
weighted mean is
the
weighted
stated
criteria.
4.53, which leads us
mean The
result
overall
of
average
to a conclusion of
all of
the its
strongly
agreement on the effectiveness of the developed SMS enabled student
** A
U TH
O
R
'S
C
O
PY
**
information system.
Parents and Students Evaluation The software has been evaluated parents & students according to the following Criteria: 1. Privacy Evaluation: 1.1 Frequency Table 12. Privacy evaluation-Percentage Frequency Scale F %F 5 46 92 4 4 8
**
No. Factor The system provides a mechanism to prevent others from getting student information.
2
It is impossible for unauthorized people to access and edit the system.
5 4
39 11
78 22
C
O
PY
1
'S
According to table 12, 92% of respondents strongly agreed that the
R
system provides a mechanism to prevent others from getting student information
U TH
O
and 78% strongly agreed that it is impossible for unauthorized people to access and edit the system.
There is no disagreement on the two determinants of Privacy factor.
** A
Respondents either agree or strongly agree on system Privacy. 1.2 Weighted Mean
Table 13. Privacy evaluation-weighted mean No. Factor The system provides a mechanism to prevent others 1 from getting student information. It is impossible for unauthorized people to access and 2 edit the system. Average
Weighted Mean 4.92 4.78 4.85
A strongly agreement on that the system provides a mechanism to prevent
others
from
getting
student
information
is
indicated
by
a
weighted mean of 4.92, as in table 13. Overall, the average mean, 4.85, is interpreted as strongly agreement on software privacy. There is no undecided or disagreement on the two determinants of privacy factor according to their weighted mean.
**
2. Efficiency Evaluation:
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2.1 Frequency
O
Table 14. Efficiency evaluation-Percentage Frequency
The system operates at an acceptable speed.
O
5 15 30 It is easy to check the correctness of system‟s functionality. 4 35 70 The percentage of strongly agreement on the first and second
U TH
2
Scale F %F 5 24 48 4 13 26 3 13 26
R
'S
1
C
No. Factor
determinants of software efficiency is 48% and 30% as in table 14, while the
** A
agreement percentage on the same determinants is 26% and 70%. Table 14 also shows that the majority of respondents agreed on the
software efficiency, with a considerable percentage of strongly agreement. 2.2 Weighted Mean Table 15. Efficiency evaluation-weighted mean No. Factor 1 The system operates at an acceptable speed. It is easy to check the correctness of system‟s 2 functionality. Average
Weighted Mean 4.22 4.3 4.26
The first determinant of efficiency has a weighted mean of 4.22 as in table 15. The second has a weighted mean of 4.3 respectively. This reveals an agreement on the two factors of efficiency. Overall, the average mean of efficiency, which is 4.26, indicates an agreement on software efficiency. There is no undecided or disagreement on the two determinants of efficiency factor according to their weighted mean.
**
3. Reliability Evaluation:
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3.1 Frequency
O
Table 16. Reliability evaluation-Percentage Frequency No. Factor
The system covers the most important interaction functions between school and enrolled students.
2
The overall functionality of the system is good.
3
4
'S
C
1
Scale F %F 5 17 34 4 33 66 37 13
74 26
The system fills a need not addressed by software you currently use.
5 4
41 9
82 18
The system is effective and accountable.
5 4
29 21
58 42
** A
U TH
O
R
5 4
Considerable percentage of respondents agreed that the system covers
the most important interaction functions between school and enrolled students. The percentage is 66% as table 16 shows. While the remaining 34% strongly agreed on these items of reliability. As a determinant factor of reliability, the overall functionality of the system is good get the higher percentage of strongly agreement, 74% of respondents.
The remaining two items of the reliability, which are, The system fills a need not addressed by software you currently use, and The system is effective and accountable get a strongly agreement from 82% and 58% of respondents and agreement from
18% and 42% respectively. There is no disagreement
among respondents. To conclude, all the respondents agreed on all determinant factors of the
**
developed software reliability.
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3.2 Weighted Mean
O
Table 17. Reliability evaluation-weighted mean Weighted Mean 4.34 4.74 4.82 4.58 4.62
U TH
O
R
'S
C
No. Factor The system covers the most important interaction 1 functions between school and enrolled students. 2 The overall functionality of the system is good. The system fills a need not addressed by software you 3 currently use. 4 The system is effective and accountable. Average
The weighted mean of the first two determinants are 4.34 and
** A
4.74, as in table 17. The weighted mean of the remaining two is 4.82 and 4.58 as well. These numbers reflects an agreement and strongly agreement.
Overall, the average mean, 4.62, is interpreted as strongly agreement on software reliability. There is no undecided or disagreement on the four determinants of reliability factor according to their weighted mean.
4. Accessibility Evaluation: 4.1 Frequency Table 18. Accessibility evaluation-Percentage Frequency No. Factor
Scale F %F 5 48 96 4 2 4
The system is easily accessible by parents/students.
2
Parents can view their student‟s demographic information.
3
From home or school, from any computer with a web browser, SMS Enabled SIS users can View and edit data in all modules and Create and print reports from all modules.
4
The system provides online forms for inquiries, grades, teacher comments and more.
5 4
43 7
86 14
5
49
98
4
1
2
5 4 3
11 17 22
22 34 44
O
R
'S
C
O
PY
**
1
U TH
There is a strongly agreement on the first, second and third determinants factors of accessibility of 96%, 86% and 98% respectively. Respondents who agreed were 4%, 14% and 2% respectively.
** A
Frequency percentage shows a strongly agreement of 22% and
agreement of 34% and undecided of 44% of respondents for the fourth factor respectively.
In general, combining frequency percentage of strongly agreed respondents making agreement on the accessibility of the software is greater than percentage of agreement, as table 18 reveal.
4.2 Weighted Mean Table 19. Accessibility evaluation-weighted mean Weighted Mean 4.96 4.86
4.98
3.78 4.64
O
PY
**
No. Factor 1 The system is easily accessible by parents/students. Parents can view their student‟s demographic 2 information. From home or school, from any computer with a web browser, SMS Enabled SIS users can View and edit 3 data in all modules and Create and print reports from all modules. The system provides online forms for inquiries, grades, 4 teacher comments and more. Average
C
The weighted mean of Accessibility factors in table 19 reflects the
agreement
on
that
The
system
is
easily
accessible
by
R
strongly
'S
interpretation we get from table 19, as 4.96 and 4.98 are interpreted as
O
parents/students and From home or school, from any computer with a
U TH
web browser, SMS Enabled SIS users can View and edit data in all modules and Create and print reports from all modules. Second and fourth factors of Accessibility have a weighted mean
** A
of 4.86 and 3.78. This indicates an agreement and strongly agreement among respondents on these factors. Strongly Agreement on software Accessibility is easily interpreted by the
4.64 average mean of Accessibility. There is no undecided or disagreement on the four determinants of accessibility factor according to their weighted mean. 5. User-Friendliness Evaluation: 5.1 Frequency
Table 20. User-Friendliness evaluation-Percentage Frequency No. Factor
Scale F %F 5 31 62 4 19 38
The system provides a new satisfactory channel to interact with students.
2
The system is convenient and simple.
5 4
44 6
88 12
3
The system interface is intuitive and easy for noncomputer literature people to use.
5 4 3
26 14 10
52 28 20
4
The system meets the school's mission of providing quality educational-related informing services.
5 4 3
34 7 9
68 14 18
5
No additional training is needed to enable the parents/students to use the system.
5 4 3
18 12 20
36 24 40
5 4 3
21 18 11
42 36 22
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O
C 'S
R O
The output of the system is easily understood.
U TH
6
**
1
** A
As shown from the table 20, 62% of respondents strongly agreed on that
the system provides a new satisfactory channel to interact with students. The third and fifth determinants of software user-friendliness, the system interface is intuitive and easy for non-computer literature people to use and No additional training is needed to enable the parents/students to use the system, get the percentage of undecided of 20% and 40% respectively. Most respondents agreed on the second, third and fourth determinants, which are, The system is convenient and simple , The system interface is
intuitive and easy for non-computer literature people to use and The system interface is intuitive and easy for non-computer literature people to use. The percentage is 12%, 28% and 14% respectively. The fifth and sixth determinants of software user-friendliness, No additional training is needed to enable the parents/students to use the system and the output of the system is easily understood, get the percentage of
**
agreement of 24% and 36%.
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Although, there is undecided among respondents, it remains lower than
O
the percentage of agreed and strongly agreed respondents.
C
5.2 Weighted Mean
2 3 4
R
** A
5
The system provides a new satisfactory channel to interact with students. The system is convenient and simple. The system interface is intuitive and easy for non-computer literature people to use. The system meets the school's mission of providing quality educational-related informing services. No additional training is needed to enable the parents/students to use the system. The output of the system is easily understood. Average
O
1
Factor
U TH
No.
6
'S
Table 21. User-Friendliness evaluation-weighted mean Weighted Mean 4.62 4.88 4.32 4.5 3.96 4.2 4.41
As shown in table 21, all user-friendliness factors have a weighted mean greater than 3.50. The weighted mean of the first, second and third are 4.62, 4.88 and 4.32 while fourth, fifth and sixth have a weighted mean of 4.5, 3.96 and 4.2 respectively.
To disclose, there is an agreement on the software user-friendliness, as the average mean of 4.41 indicates. There is no undecided or disagreement on the six determinants of user-friendliness factor according to their weighted mean. Overall effectiveness analysis for parents and students The criteria above are used to determine the effectiveness of the
**
developed software. In order to determine its effectiveness the weighted mean
O
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result is grouped in the following table:
'S
Criteria
C
Table 22 Effectiveness Evaluation-Weighted Mean for parents and students
O
R
1. Privacy The system provides a mechanism to prevent others from getting student information.
** A
U TH
It is impossible for unauthorized people to access and edit the system. 2. Efficiency The system operates at an acceptable speed. It is easy to check the correctness of system‟s functionality. 3. Reliability The system covers the most important interaction functions between school and enrolled students. The overall functionality of the system is good. The system fills a need not addressed by software you currently use. The system is effective and accountable. 4. Accessibility The system is easily accessible by parents/students. Parents can view their student‟s demographic information.
Weighted Mean
Scale
4.92
SA
4.78
SA
4.22
A
4.3
A
4.34
A
4.74
SA
4.82
SA
4.58
SA
4.96 4.86
SA SA
gathers
determinants
weighted criteria.
stated
mean The
4.54, which leads us
SA
3.78
A
4.62
SA
4.88
SA
4.32
A
4.5
A
3.96
A
4.2 4.54
A SA
result
overall
of
all
average
of
to a conclusion of
the its
strongly
U TH
weighted mean is
the
R
effectiveness
22
O
Table
'S
C
O
PY
The system provides online forms for inquiries, grades, teacher comments and more. 5. User-Friendliness The system provides a new satisfactory channel to interact with students. The system is convenient and simple. The system interface is intuitive and easy for noncomputer literature people to use. The system meets the school's mission of providing quality educational-related informing services. No additional training is needed to enable the parents/students to use the system. The output of the system is easily understood. Average
4.98
**
From home or school, from any computer with a web browser, SMS Enabled SIS users can View and edit data in all modules and Create and print reports from all modules.
agreement on the effectiveness of the developed SMS enabled student
** A
information system. Comparison
analysis
between
Overall
effectiveness
for
teachers/administrator’s staff and parents/students The
overall
average
teachers/administrator‟s
staff
of
according
the to
weighted
table
11
is
mean 4.53,
and
for for
parents/students is 4.54 according to table 22. Those results lead us to a
conclusion
of
strongly
agreement
on
the
developed SMS enabled SIS for both questionnaires.
effectiveness
of
the
To summarize, statistical analysis
of
the gathered responses
to
the distributed questionnaire indicates that the hypothesis is rejected as statistics
has
clearly
shows
that
there
is
a
significance
level
of
effectiveness that the developed application adds to the current process of interaction between schools and their students.
features that may enhance the developed software:
**
3) The additional features or required improvements from the existing
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The researcher gave a short description and demonstration of the
needed
to
improve
the
SMS
with the existing
Enabled
Student
Information
system were privacy,
speed,
'S
System. The problems
by
C
which
O
existing system to the teachers. The respondents found some problems
O
were
U TH
Respondents recommendations.
R
accessibility, user-friendliness, efficiency and reliability.
Their
given
valuable
an
option
to
recommendations
provide include
their a
real
testing of the software by integrating it to a real school database, adding
** A
accessibility
administrator‟s
to
staff
other to
school-related benefit
from
information
the
SMS
and
software
as
enabling well
by
integrating it to their information database. 4) The requirements needed in the development of the SMS Enabled Student Information System: After system
the
the observation researcher
of
found
an that
existing the
system
and
requirements
the
needed
proposed in
the
development of SMS Enabled Student Information System are a host with enough available space, a full program for creating the web site, an SMS
application
and
specific
code
for
configuration
and
an
Internet
connection. In a real deployment, SMS Enabled Student Information System would
**
reside on a PC connected to temporary database through the internet. By the use of specific network design, the researcher connects the temporary database
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to the school main database. The IT coordinator at AMA International School
O
can update the school database by the new information stored in the temporary
C
database just by one click. MYSQL has been used as backend that is for
'S
database part of the application.
R
The programming languages which are used to develop SMS Enabled
O
Student Information System are PHP, XML, Web Service, JQUERY, and HTML
U TH
along with Java Scrip which are different from the access that the existing
** A
system used as its programming language.
5) Description of the software that highly improve the teacher’s access to the SMS Enabled Student Information System: This study aims to develop a dynamic two-way SMS Enabled Student Information System. The application of this study is limited to two interaction areas between the school and teachers, and two way interaction between the school and parents/students which are message centre feature and online Student Information System.
To achieve the goal of the study the software must be such that the teachers can log in to it through any web browser, such as Internet Explorer, Safari, or Firefox. The software must prevent unauthorized access, so it must keep IP track after entering the correct username and password in the log in page. The system must have a Message Centre that allows students and
**
parents to get the information from the system through a secure, message like
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interface. Once a message is sent, the server will receive a notice asking for the
O
specific student‟s information. The system then will respond back to these
C
messages.
The software must provide a user-friendly web-based teacher gradebook
R
'S
for all the teacher‟s record keeping needs. It must create an unlimited number of
O
assignments for homework, worksheets, quizzes, tests and Enter comments for
U TH
each student and assignment. The teachers can enter information online wherever it is convenient for them -- from the classroom, home, and the library, anywhere. As the teachers enter grades, they must automatically save to
** A
school‟s servers, meaning there must not be no files to transfer or export – the grades must be ready and available whenever and wherever the teachers are! The software must be a web-based communication portal enabling
parents and students to check online or use the SMS system daily to see the grades given in each class and view any missing assignments. Using advanced internet security measures and techniques plus IP recognition will ensure that the system is safe and protects all critical information, ensuring it is accessible only by those authorized to see it. Every
teacher or user must have their own account, and can only see information they are allowed to see. With nightly on and off-site backups, there will be no fear of
** A
U TH
O
R
'S
C
O
PY
**
information becoming corrupted or lost.
Chapter 5
SUMMARY OF FINDINGS, CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS
recommendations
for
presents this
the
research
findings,
based
on
the
conclusions
**
chapter
data
gathered
and by
PY
This
O
questionnaire and observation.
C
Summary of Findings
1. The existing system is software which is installed in fifty available
'S
computers at AMA International School. The teachers can access the
O
R
system during a specific time to edit and enter the student‟s grades
U TH
(usually one week after the examination). The existing system is created using Microsoft Access. It is a
** A
page that includes all the available subjects at school. To access any subject you need to click over the name of that specific subject and enter the correct username and password which is given by principal to the subject teachers. 2. The effectiveness of the developed SMS enabled Student Information System has
been
assessed
in
accessibility and user-friendliness:
terms
of
privacy,
efficiency,
reliability,
a. privacy: i.
SMS
Enabled
mechanism
Student
to
Information
prevent
others
System from
provides
getting
a
student
information. ii.
It is impossible for unauthorized people to access and edit
The
system
gives
teachers
secure
24/7
to
their
O
student's information.
The system generates Username with login instructions and
C
vii.
access
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vi.
**
the system.
'S
uniquely-assigned initial passwords.
O
No
much
programming
effort
required
to
integrate
SMS
U TH
i.
R
b. Efficiency:
Enabled SIS with the current school database. The additional required Hardware is easily obtained.
** A
ii. iii.
The cost of additional required Hardware is affordable.
iv.
The system operates at an acceptable speed.
v.
The system is easy to maintain or upgrade.
vi.
The
program
monitors
errors that do occur.
its
own
operation
and
identifies
vii.
It is easy to check the correctness of system‟s functionality.
viii.
The system
automatically sends
information
to the school
temporary database. ix.
It takes a short time to import data into the system.
SMS
Enabled
SIS
covers
the
most
important
interaction
PY
i.
**
c. Reliability:
functions between school and enrolled students. The overall functionality of the system is good.
iii.
The system fills
'S
O
The system is effective and accountable.
U TH
v.
a need not addressed by software you
R
currently use. iv.
C
O
ii.
The system Admin can view and approve updates before
** A
they are entered into School Database.
vi.
The source code provides meaningful documentation.
d. Accessibility: i.
SMS Enabled SIS is easily accessible by parents/students.
ii.
Teachers
can
access
their
student
information
using
browser. iii.
Teachers can view their student‟s demographic information.
any
iv.
From
home
or
school,
from
any
computer
with
a
web
browser, SMS Enabled SIS users can View and edit data in all modules and Create and print reports from all modules. v.
The
system
provides
online
forms
for
inquiries,
grades,
teacher comments and more.
SMS Enabled SIS provides a new satisfactory channel to
PY
i.
**
e. User-Friendliness:
O
interact with students.
The system is convenient and simple.
iii.
The system interface is intuitive and easy for non-computer
'S
C
ii.
The system meets the school's mission of providing quality
U TH
iv.
O
R
literature people to use.
educational-related informing services. No
** A
v.
additional
training
teachers/Administrative
Staff
is
needed and
to
enable
parents/students
to
the use
the system.
vi.
The output of the system is easily understood.
3. The respondents recommended the following improvements: a. A real testing of the software by integrating it to a real school database.
b. Adding more features to the software, that is enabling students to access more information beside their progress status
and
exam result. c. Enabling Administrator‟s staff to benefit from SMS software as well by integrating it to their information database.
**
4. The requirements needed in the development of the SMS Enabled Student
a. A host with enough available space.
PY
Information System are:
O
b. A full PHP program for creating the web site.
C
c. An SMS application and specific code for configuration.
'S
d. Internet connection
R
5. The SMS enabled Student Information System is formulated to highly
U TH
O
improve the student‟s access to their needed school-related information. Conclusions 1. SMS
Enabled
Student
** A
school database server
Information
System
should
to highly improve the
be integrated
student‟s
access
to to
their school-related information. This would fill gaps and needs not currently addressed. It could be considered as a new complementary channel that would add a value to the current channels of interaction.
2. SMS Enabled Student Information System is functionally effective in terms
of
friendliness.
privacy,
efficiency,
reliability,
accessibility
and
user-
3. All respondents‟ comments indicate that the developed application is a good use of technology and it makes a good way to keep students in touch with their school. Still, the suggested improvements would help
enhance
the software
to expand
its
benefit
and
functionality
effectiveness. Recommendations line
with
the
foregoing
conclusion,
the
are
PY
recommended:
It is the time for schools in general to consider interacting with and
O
1.
following
**
In
C
providing information to their students through more effective and convenient channels to add a weighted value to their current means
R
'S
of interaction with their students. SMS Enabled Student Information
school‟s
web
U TH
the
O
System can be fully integrated into existing information systems like system,
such
that
the
application
leverages
existing hardware systems and components like databases. 2.
SMS
improved
** A
highly
Enabled
Student by
Information
enhancing
the
System
effectiveness
affecting
factors
could
like
be
privacy,
efficiency, reliability, accessibility and user-friendliness.
3.
The features of the Application can be extended to include more functions and other kinds of Interaction and Informative scenarios rather than just responding to requests of Exam Result. Additional Students oriented features could be: 1. Initial course registration 2. Subjects add and drop
3. Grade slip 4. Exam permit 5. Class/exam cancelation announcement 6. Too much absentee warning 7. Special ceremony announcement 8. Payment status this
study
is
mainly
concerned
about
**
Although
interaction
features
between
the
school
academic
and
administrative
O
interactive
PY
between school and students, expanding the software features including
C
staff, so they can request some information like, salary slip and time table for example.
R
'S
It is also recommended that further study which maybe wider in
O
scope or deal with the studied issues from different perspective should
U TH
be conducted. Variables, which are not included in the present study,
** A
could be further investigated in other studies.
BIBLIOGRAPHY Journal articles from an electronic source Boukas, et al. (2009). Pandora: An SMS-oriented m-informational system for educational realms. Journal of Network and Computer Applications, [Online] 32(3), 684-702. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science [Accessed 24 December 2009]. Shirali Shareza, M.H. & Shirali Shareza, M., 2007. M-QUIZ BY SMS WITH CHEAT PREVENTION FEATURE Iranian Journal of Information Science & Technology, [Online] 5. Available at: http://www.srlst.com/ijist/ijist-Vol5N1/ijist51-19.pdf [Accessed 18 December 2009].
So, S., 2009. The development of a SMS-based teaching and learning system. Journal of Educational Technology Development and Exchange, [Online] 2(1), 113-124. Available at: www.sicet.org/jetde/jetde09/simon.pdf [Accessed 15 December 2009].
Leung, L., 2007. Unwillingness-to-communicate and college students‟ motives in SMS mobile messaging. Telematics and Informatics, [Online] 24(2), 115-129. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6V1H4J614H4 1&_user=8821903&_coverDate=05%2F31%2F2007&_alid=1147820533 &_rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_cdi=5675&_sort=r&_docanchor=&v iew=c&_ct=3&_acct=C000050221&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=8 821903&md5=8e30e0d8aba8957256b5d7dcf94c43e5. [Accessed 19 December 2009].
Young, et al., 2009. Help is just a text away: The use of short message service texting to provide an additional means of support for health care students during practice placements. Nurse Education Today, [Online]. Available at: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/?_ob=ArticleURL&_udi=B6WNX4WV5BB01&_user=781387&_coverDate=07%2F24%2F2009&_alid=1145956527& _rdoc=1&_fmt=high&_orig=search&_cdi=6974&_sort=r&_docanchor=&vi ew=c&_ct=1&_acct=C000043259&_version=1&_urlVersion=0&_userid=7 81387&_errMsg=1&md5=34b977d2dae2920c35256a39ca57f252 [Accessed 21 December 2009]
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Journal abstract from a database Naismith, L., 2007. Using text messaging to support administrative communication in higher education. Active Learning in Higher Education, [Online] 8, (2), Abstract only. Available at http://alh.sagepub.com/cgi/content/abstract/8/2/155 [Accessed 23 December 2009]
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Websites AMEinfo.com, 2007. MTC-Vodafone (Bahrain) offers interactive mobile location-based services. [Online]. Available at: http://www.ameinfo.com/116077.html [Accessed 22 December 2009]. Bank of Bahrain and Kuwait, 2009. BBK launches SMS alert service for higher security. Available at: http://www.bbkonline.com/BBK/EnBbk/Latest+News/BBK+News/BBK+lau nches+SMS+alert+service+for+higher+security.htm [Accessed: 22 December 2009] International Telecommunication Union, 2009. Bahrain launches mGovernment Services. [Online]. Available at: http://www.itu.int/ITUD/cyb/newslog/default,date,2009-06-08.aspx [Accessed: 19 December 2009].
eGovernment Authority, 2009. Bahrain eGovernment programme: Looking beyond the obvious. [Online] eGovernment Authority. Available at: http://www.bahrain.bh/pubportal/wps/wcm/connect/5577c8804ec5f44fb53 5b7c8dfeba7d9/LookingBeyondTheObvious.pdf?MOD=AJPERES [Accessed 24 December 2009].
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Publications available from websites Adagunodo, E. R., 2009. .SMS User Interface Result Checking System. [Online] Informing Science Institute. Available at: http://iisit.org/Vol6/IISITv6p101112Adagunodo601.pdf [Accessed 16 December 2009].
Tekelec Inc., 2008. Optimizing the SMS Network by taking a holistic view of the entire SMS Network. [Online] Tekelec Inc.. Available at: http://www.mobileeurope.co.uk/asset/380/SMS_Optimization_03.27.08_F INAL.pdf [Accessed 11 December 2009].
Appendix A – SMS Enabled Student Information System Questionnaire (For Teachers & Administrator’s staff) Direction: This questionnaire aims to evaluate the developed Web Based SMS Enabled Student Information System, which is intended to facilitate the interaction between students, teachers and their school. The software
efficiency, reliability, accessibility and user-friendliness.
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effectiveness is being evaluated according to the following criteria: privacy,
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Please indicate your option about each statement below with a check mark.
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Select the response you believe most appropriate using the following scale:
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1= Strongly Disagree (DS) 2= Disagree (D)
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3= Undecided (U)
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4= Agree (A)
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5= Strongly Agree (SA)
Your participation in this study would be more than appreciated.
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1. Privacy
The system provides a mechanism to prevent others from getting student information. It is impossible for unauthorized people to access and edit the system. The system gives teachers secure access 24/7 to their student's information. The system generates Username with login instructions and
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uniquely-assigned initial passwords. 2. Efficiency
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No much programming effort required to integrate the system with the current school database. The additional required Hardware is easily obtained.
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The cost of additional required Hardware is affordable.
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The system operates at an acceptable speed.
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The system is easy to maintain or upgrade.
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The program monitors its own operation and identifies errors
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that do occur.
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It is easy to check the correctness of system‟s functionality.
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temporary database.
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The system automatically sends information to the school
It takes a short time to import data into the system.
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3. Reliability
The system covers the most important interaction functions between school and enrolled students. The overall functionality of the system is good. The system fills a need not addressed by software you currently use. The system is effective and accountable.
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The system Admin can view and approve updates before they are entered into School Database. The source code provides meaningful documentation. 4. Accessibility
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The system is easily accessible by parents/students.
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Teachers can access their student information using any
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browser. Parents can view their student‟s demographic information.
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From home or school, from any computer with a web browser,
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SMS Enabled SIS users can View and edit data in all modules
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and Create and print reports from all modules.
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comments and more.
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The system provides online forms for inquiries, grades, teacher
5. User-Friendliness
The system provides a new satisfactory channel to interact with
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students.
The system is convenient and simple. The system interface is intuitive and easy for non-computer literature people to use. The system meets the school's mission of providing quality educational-related informing services. No additional training is needed to enable the
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teachers/Administrative Staff to use the system. The output of the system is easily understood.
Summary Comments: 3. What are the positive features of the system? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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2. What are the weak features of the system?
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--------------------1. What are the additional features you will recommend for the system?
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---------------Note: your comments about the system would be considered and referred to as recommendations for further studies in such related topics.
==================Thank you for your cooperation===================
Appendix B – SMS Enabled Student Information System Questionnaire (For Parents & Students) Direction: This questionnaire aims to evaluate the developed Web Based SMS Enabled Student Information System, which is intended to facilitate the interaction between students, teachers and their school. The software
efficiency, reliability, accessibility and user-friendliness.
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effectiveness is being evaluated according to the following criteria: privacy,
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Please indicate your option about each statement below with a check mark.
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Select the response you believe most appropriate using the following scale:
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1= Strongly Disagree (DS) 2= Disagree (D)
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3= Undecided (U)
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4= Agree (A)
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5= Strongly Agree (SA)
Your participation in this study would be more than appreciated. 5 4 3 2 1
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1. Privacy
The system provides a mechanism to prevent others from getting student information. It is impossible for unauthorized people to access and edit the system. 2. Efficiency The system operates at an acceptable speed.
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It is easy to check the correctness of system‟s functionality. 3. Reliability
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The system covers the most important interaction functions between school and enrolled students. The overall functionality of the system is good.
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The system fills a need not addressed by software you currently
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use. The system is effective and accountable.
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4. Accessibility
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The system is easily accessible by parents/students.
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Parents can view their student‟s demographic information.
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From home or school, from any computer with a web browser,
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SMS Enabled SIS users can View data in all modules and Create and print reports from all modules.
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The system provides online forms for inquiries, grades, teacher comments and more. 5. User-Friendliness The system provides a new satisfactory channel to interact with students. The system is convenient and simple. The system interface is intuitive and easy for non-computer
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literature people to use. The system meets the school's mission of providing quality educational-related informing services. No additional training is needed to enable the parents/students to use the system.
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The output of the system is easily understood.
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Summary Comments:
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6. What are the positive features of the system? --------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
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8. What are the additional features you will recommend for the system?
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Note: your comments about the system would be considered and referred to as recommendations for further studies in such related topics.
==================Thank you for your cooperation===================
Appendix C – SMS Enabled SIS technical manual Entity Relationship Diagram For the purpose of SMS Application demonstration, the researcher has built a sample school database. The Entity Relationship diagram is used to
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demonstrate the database entities along with relationships between them.
Data Flow Diagram (DFD): The following is the Context Level Diagram for our application followed by
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figures of different level DFD:
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Appendix D – Permission Letter
1 February. 2011 Ms Teresita De Castro School Principal AMA International School P.O. Box 18041 Manama. Kingdom of Bahrain
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Dear Ms. Castro,
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Greetings!
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The undersigned is a graduate student of AMA International University-Bahrain taking up Master of Science in Computer Science and is currently writing a thesis entitled “SMS Enabled Student Information System”.
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In view of this, the undersigned is requesting permission from your good office to allow her to conduct the study in your school and field the questionnaire among the respondents. The result of the study will be dealt with strict confidentiality.
Yours truly,
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Zainab Ebrahim Researcher
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Thank you very much and more power.
Appendix E - User Manual Preface SMS Enabled Student Information System is a Web-based Student Information System with SMS Capability which acts as a teacher‟s gradebook. Whether teachers work at multiple sites within a school district, or simply want the convenience of home use, the system provides instant access to current
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gradebook data from any computer with an Internet connection.
Through the web browser, such as Internet Explorer, Safari, or Firefox,
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the teachers log in to the system using a secure ID and password provided to
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them by the school. SMS Enabled SIS needs to prevent unauthorized access,
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for this reason it is keeping the track of IP addresses of the network the teacher
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used to access to the site after entering the correct username and password in
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the log in page. The IP address is used to approve the teacher‟s information.
SMS Enabled SIS has a Message Centre feature that allows students and parents to get the information from the system through a secure, message
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like interface. Students, parents, teachers and administrator‟s staff can send a message to the SMS Enabled SIS Messaging centre by the specific codes that the school is providing for them to get information back about the child progress and grades. Once a message is sent, the server will receive a notice asking for the specific student‟s information. The system then will respond back to these messages.
SMS Enabled Student Information System – User Manual
Introduction SMS Enabled Student Information System enables schools to better interact with students in a more convenient, fast and easily accessible way at an acceptable cost. It provides a new supplementary channel to its existing system
Key features:
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of interaction.
Receives students‟ request of Exam Results.
Responds dynamically based on the received request.
Provides the school with an effective supplementary interactive channel.
Provides students with a convenient channel to request their school-
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related information while in move and out of internet connection.
Admin’s account: Link: http://87.117.252.132/~pms/mg Login Running the SMS Enabled SIS requires a privileged user to login. Step1: Enter user name and password.
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Step2: Click the login button, (see figure1.1).
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Figure1.1: Login form
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Correct login data generates the main window, (see figure1.2).
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Figure1.2: SMS Enabled SIS Interface Window
In the main window you can see today‟s date and the menu which contains home, configuration, class, subjects, teachers, students, workbook, send score (SMS), Login Log and exit. Home In home you can see:
Total number of subject
Total number of teachers
Total number of students
And your IP
Configuration In configuration type the correct username and password then click the update button, (see figure1.3):
Class In class, you can add, delete or edit the class name.
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To add a new class:
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Step 1:Click on New, (see figure1.4):
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Figure1.4: class window Step 2: type the name
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Figure1.3: changing Admin‟s username and password
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Step 3: click on Add button, (see figure1.5):
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Figure1.5: Adding New class
To Delete a class: Step 1: Click on the red icon under Del, (see figure1.4)
To Edit a class: Step 1: Click on the name of class. Step 2: Type the new name of class. Step 3: Click on Update button, (see figure1.6):
Figure1.6: Editing class
Subjects In Subject, you can add, delete or edit the Subject. To add a new Subject:
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Step 1:Click on New, (see figure1.7):
Figure1.7: Subject window
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Step 2: from the field choose appropriate class.
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Step 3: type the name. Step 4: type the subject code.
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Step 5: click on Add button, (see figure1.8):
Figure1.8: Adding New subject
To Delete a subject:
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Step 1: Click on the red icon under Del, (see figure1.7) To Edit a subject: Step 1: Click on the name of subject. Step 2: Type the new information. Step 3: Click on Update button, (see figure1.9):
Figure1.9: Editing subject
Teachers In Teachers, you can add, delete or edit the Teachers. To add a new Teachers: Step 1: Click on New, (see figure1.10):
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Figure1.10: Teachers window Step 2: from the class choose appropriate class.
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Step 3: type the name. Step 6: type the teacher‟s Email Address.
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Step 4: type the teacher‟s username and password.
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Step 7: click on Add button, (see figure1.11):
Figure1.11: Adding new teacher
To Delete a teacher:
Step 1: Click on the red icon under Del, (see figure1.10)
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To Edit a teacher:
Step 1: Click on the name of teacher. Step 2: Type the new information. Step 3: Click on Update button, (see figure1.12):
Figure1.12: Editing teacher information
Students In Students, you can add, delete or edit the Students. To add a new Students:
Step 2: from the class choose appropriate class.
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Figure1.13: Student‟s window
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Step 1:Click on New, (see figure1.13):
Step 3: type the student‟s information. Student ID, Name & Family, Mobile,
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Address, Birthdates, class. (The mobile number must be with code without
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zeroes)
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Step 4: click on Add button, (see figure1.14):
Figure1.14: Adding new student
To Delete a student:
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Step 1: Click on the red icon under Del, (see figure1.13) To Edit a student: Step 1: Click on the name or ID of student. Step 2: Type the new information. Step 3: Click on Update button, (see figure1.15):
Figure1.15: Editing student information
To Search a student: Step 1: Type the name of student in the search bar. Step 2: Click on Go button, (see figure1.16):
Figure1.16: searching student Workbook In workbook, you can add student‟s grade base on SIS.
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Step 1: choose the class.
Step 3: type the grades in appropriate boxes.
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Step 4: click on add button, (see figure1.17):
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Step 2: choose the name of student.
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Figure1.17: workbook window
Send Score (SMS)
In SMS centre, you can send student‟s final grades to his/her mobile.
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Step 1: choose the class.
Step 2: choose the name of student. Step 3: type the comment in the Note box. Step 4: click on Send Now button, (see figure1.18):
Figure1.18: SMS window
Login Log In Login Log, you can see the last 10 IP addresses which login or logout from Admin‟s account. This section is for the site security. It is working exactly as Gmail‟s security. If you see any strange IP address you need to change your
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password immediately. (See figure1.19):
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Figure1.19: Login Log window
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Exit
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In Exit, you can log out from Admin‟s account.
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Click on Exit button, (see figure1.20):
Figure1.20: Exit button
Teacher’s account: Link: http://87.117.252.132/~pms/mg Login Running the SMS Enabled SIS requires a privileged user to login. Step1: Enter user name and password.
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Figure2.1: Login form
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Step2: Click the login button, (see figure2.1).
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Correct login data generates the main window, (see figure2.2).
Figure2.2: SMS Enabled SIS Interface Window
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In the main window you can see today‟s date and the menu which contains home, workbook, send score (SMS), Student scores, Inbox, Send Message, Login Log and exit.
Home In home you can see:
Total number of subject
Total number of teachers
Total number of students
And your IP
Workbook In workbook, you can add student‟s grade base on SIS. Step 1: choose the name of student. Step 2: type the grades in appropriate boxes.
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Step 3: click on add button, (see figure2.3):
Figure2.3: workbook window
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Send Score (SMS)
Step 1: choose the name of student.
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In SMS centre, you can send student‟s final grades to his/her mobile.
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Step 2: type the comment in the Note box.
Figure2.4: SMS window
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Step 3: click on Send Now button, (see figure2.4):
Student Scores In student scores, you can see the student‟s grades base on SIS and edit them. Step 1: choose the name of student. Step 2: type the grades in appropriate boxes. Step 3: click on update button, (see figure2.5):
Figure2.5: student scores window
Inbox In Inbox, you can see the student or parent‟s messages which they send from their account to you with date and time. (See figure2.6):
Figure2.6: Inbox window Send Message
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In send message, you can send messages to your students account. Step 1: choose the name of student.
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Step 2: choose the specific subject which your message is about that.
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Step 3: you can choose a default message also, (see figure2.7):
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Figure2.7: default messages
Step 4: or you can write your own message in the box available for you. Step 5: click on Send Now button, (see figure2.8):
Figure2.8: Send Message Window
Login Log In Login Log, you can see the last 10 IP addresses which login or logout from teacher‟s account. This section is for the site security. It is working exactly as Gmail‟s security. If you see any strange IP address you need to change your
Exit In Exit, you can log out from Teacher‟s account.
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Click on Exit button, (see figure2.10):
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Figure2.9: Login Log window
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password immediately. (See figure2.9):
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Figure2.10: Exit button
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Student’s account:
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Link: http://87.117.252.132/~pms Login
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Running the SMS Enabled SIS requires a privileged user to login. Step1: Enter user name and password.
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Step2: Click the login button, (see figure3.1).
Figure3.1: Login form
Correct login data generates the main window, (see figure3.2).
Figure3.2: SMS Enabled SIS student Interface Window
In the main window you can see the Student‟s username, today‟s date, the exit icon and the menu which contains home and messages. Home In home you can see the student‟s full grades base on SIS. You can see student‟s name and ID also. (See figure 3.2) Messages In Messages you can see the messages sent to you by specific subject‟s
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teacher. (See figure 3.3)
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To send a new message to teachers:
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Figure3.3: Message window
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Step 1: click on the Send Message at the top of the Subject, (see figure 3.3). Step 2: choose the teacher‟s name.
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Step 3: type your message in the empty box.
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Step 4: click on Send button, (see figure 3.4).
Figure3.4: sending new message to teacher
To change the password: Type the new password and click update, (see figure 3.5):
Figure3.5: changing student password To Exit: Click on the red icon, (see figure 3.2)
SMS Format of grade Request To get grades, student should send an SMS in the following format: The name of the subject / space / Student Enrollment Number Example Let‟s say that Ali is a student with 2222 Enrollment Number. He has to request his computer subject grades by text messaging the following:
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Computer 2222
Appendix F – The Source Code of SMS Enabled Student Information System Part 1:
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