Project statement:
Historically the teaching and learning process has always been more or less teacher-centered and the student has very less or no opportunity to interact with the course instructor outside the classroom (Osborne 2013). Over the years, with the development of various learning management systems (LMSs) there has been change in this approach. However, the systems have some limitations in terms of design and it does not allow the student to interact with the teacher any time anywhere (Arkorful and Abaidoo 2015).
The project will try to integrate the social network site (SNS) with the LMS to address the problems by ensuring better mobility and effective learning experience irrespective of time and place. To execute this project, Moodle will be used as LMS and Mahara as SNS.
Aim of completing the project:
The project will allow gaining more practical knowledge as the system will be designed from scratch. It will also help to gain knowledge about the various tools and techniques used for the project. it will encourage to explore topics that were previously not known like how social networking site works , how it can improve the learning experience and lastly how to integrate SNS with the learning management system. Moreover, the project has to be finished within the timeline as proposed .in doing this, it will help to learn managing work within time and it will be possible to gain practicle knowledge of time management. The project is considering topic that has not been yet explored, so this will encourage for original work as well.
Equipment and tools needed for the project:
To implement the project, version 1.9 will be used and for the Mahara software version 1.5 will be chosen. It will require Ubuntu Linux of version 11.10 and for the server application, Apache web server of version 2 will be considered. MySQL version 5 will be used for the database design. In order to design the login page PHP version 5 will be used.20 GB server space in approx will be required to host the integrated system.
The tools have also been listed bellow with their version number:
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Tools
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Version
|
|
Moodel software
|
1.9
|
|
Mahara software
|
1.5
|
|
Ubuntu Liunux
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11.10
|
|
Apache web server
|
2
|
|
MySQL Database
|
5
|
|
PHP
|
5
|
The tolls are free to use and hence there will be no issue in arranging these tools for the project.
Project timeline:
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Task
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Start date
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Duration in days
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End date
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project presentation
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6th March, 2018
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1
|
6th March, 2012
|
|
review of project proposal
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7th March, 2018
|
3
|
9th March, 2012
|
|
modification of Moodle functionalities if needed
|
12th March, 2018
|
21
|
30th March, 2012
|
|
website design for the project
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2nd April, 2012
|
7
|
5th April, 2012
|
|
modification of Mahara functionalities if needed
|
9th April, 2012
|
21
|
27th April, 2012
|
|
Literature review submission
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28th May, 2012
|
|
28th May, 2012
|
|
environment setup for system implementation
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13th August, 2012
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5
|
17th August, 2012
|
|
system testing with student
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21st August, 2012
|
35
|
21st September, 2012
|
|
collection of data using survey
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24th September, 2012
|
11
|
4th October, 2012
|
|
writing of report
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5th October, 2012
|
30
|
1st November, 2012
|
|
final presentation
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29th October, 2012
|
1
|
29th November, 2012
|
|
submission of thesis and short paper
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2nd November
|
|
|
In order to get the permission to proceed with the project, the project will be presented for review and it will take approximately four days including one day for project presentation. Once the proposal is accepted, the tools will be arranged for the project. The project will be done using the Moodle software. The functionalities of the software will be analyzed to get the idea if the software needs modifications to make it compatible with the requirement of the project. This particular task will take around 3 weeks to complete. In the next step after the Moddle software is modified, the website will be designed and it is expected to finish the design within one week. The next task in the sequence will be the review of the Mahara software, which will be as social network platform for the project. Necessary modification will be done if required and the task is expected to be completed within 3 weeks. Another five days will be required to setup the environment to implement the system. Approximately 5 week will be spent to complete the design of the system. Now the software might have some errors in terms of design, stability. Software design is something that needs careful implementation of codes and resources. Even after putting the best effort in the design, the errors are expected to occur in the actual implementation and the errors are not easily identifiable until it is tested in the user environment. In order to get the user review and have a better understanding of the user experience with the software, a survey will be conducted with the student and it will take approximately 11 days to complete the survey. After the survey is done, the final presentation will be completed within a day. It is expected to submit the thesis paper on 2nd November.
Conclusion :
Once the proposal is accepted, the actual implementation will take place. The necessary tools will be first collected. Several students will be surveyed to get idea about the necessary changes and modification that the learning management system needs for better efficiency.
The website will be first designed using HTML and CSS. To design the login page PHP will be used. The website will require server site for hosting the data. Server site application will be managed by Apache web server. The database that is necessary to store and manage data will be designed using MySQL database.
Once the design is completed it will be submitted for review and if the design is accepted the final research paper will be submitted for consideration and recommendation.
References:
Arkorful, V. and Abaidoo, N., 2015. The role of e-learning, advantages and disadvantages of its adoption in higher education. International Journal of Instructional Technology and Distance Learning, 12(1), pp.29-42.
Osborne, M., 2013. Modern learning environments. The CORE education blog.
