CHAPTER ONE
1.1 INTRODUCTION
The use of an
online tutorial system to educate students in higher institution as a secondary
learning channel is growing, and the number of users accessing the various
digital platforms is steadily increasing. As the number of web users grows, it
is important that lectures and educative materials are both digitally
accessible and usable by all.
Online environments applied in education usually involve
the use of learning management systems or Virtual Learning Environments such as
Moodle, Sakai, WebCT, Blackboard, Joomla etc. Online tutoring may be offered
either directly through the virtual learning environment of a tutoring service
or via a link in a learning management system.
The tutoring may take the
form of a group of learners/students simultaneously logged in and receiving
instruction from a single tutor, also known as many-to-one tutoring. This is
often known as e-moderation, defined as the facilitation of the achievement of
goals of independent learning, learner autonomy, self-reflection, knowledge
construction, collaborative or group-based learning,
Therefore, the
use of online tutorial system as a tool to digitally communicate knowledge is a
necessity in an ever increasing world of technology depends on its ability to
make it accessible to student at large throughout the department with a website
as the platform through the internet.
The reliance
of students for fast mobile information and communication has greatly taken its
toll on many educational institutions and schools. Thus, a fast and quick development
has begun in many schools in the world using online tutoring systems as a
tool. Such advancement includes the
employment of an instructive platform powered by a website as seen in various
universities, polytechnics, colleges and down to faculties and departments.
The intent
of an online tutoring system is to
create a web-based platform (a collection of electronic files and web-modules
residing on one or more web servers) that presents content (including
interactive features or interfaces) to the end user in the form of web pages
once requested. Such elements as text, forms, and bit-mapped images (GIFs,
JPEGs, and PNGs) can be organized on the page using HTML, XHTML, or XML tags.
Displaying more complex media (vector graphics, animations, videos, sounds)
usually requires plug-ins such as Flash, QuickTime, Java run-time environment,
etc. Plug-ins are also embedded into the web pages by using HTML or XHTML tags.
The latest standards and proposals aim to lead the various
browsers’ ability to deliver a wide variety of media and accessibility options
to the client possibly without employing plug-ins.
The web site
of Computer Science Technology department of the Federal College of Agriculture
Ishiagu (its portal) is a vital
instrument that integrates several sectors of its offices and units into this
electronic tool for a speedy and effective means of information dissemination,
interaction with people and for delivery of services to the students of the
department majorly.
1.2 BACKGROUND OF STUDY
The department of computer
science and technology started as a department in the year 2009/2010 as the
only computer related discipline in the Federal College of agriculture,
Ishiagu.
The federal
college of agriculture, Umudike and at Ishiagu as the training wing of national
root crop research institute situated at Umudike, in Abia state. She still
trains staff of NRCRI in advance certificate, national and higher diplomas.
The relocation of the
college to Ishiagu in 1993 made way for the establishment of federal university
of agriculture now Michael Opara University of agriculture Umudike.
Ishiagu being the new
location is quite suitable for academic and agricultural work. Presently, the
college occupies an area of 200 hectares.
1.3 OBJECTIVE OF THE
STUDY
The main objectives of
this work is to design an online tutorial system through the aid of a website
to deliver online lectures and effective tutoring for the students of the
department of Computer Science Technology Federal College of Agriculture
Ishiagu, in other to aid in lectures system and allow the student to think
independently and also reduce the burden of the modern lecturers.
The objective of the study focuses on the following:
·
To allow teachers and lecturers to
prepare and deliver lectures, notes and the ability to offer that training
anywhere, anytime.
·
The ability to allow teachers optimize
the timeliness and focus of the curriculum.
·
To provide a platform to ease the flow
of information and relationship between students and lecturers.
·
To allow students think independently
and promote team work.
·
Providing information on homework and
class assignments.
·
Display school/departmental curriculum
courses and course outline.
·
Students can better fit learning time
into their schedules.
·
Providing the most up-to-date content at
much lower cost.
Furthermore, online
learning is a still a relatively young industry, promising a rich future of
breakthroughs. As new models of teaching are already emerging that have the
potential to take online learning to even greater accomplishments.
1.4 SCOPE OF THE
STUDY
This project work focus
mainly on the design and implementation of a web based online tutorial system
which can transform into a global class accessible to virtually every
departmental student worldwide.The system is strictly based on lecturers
management and student’s communication, online seminars, suggestions and
especially for effective independent learning.
1.5 LIMITATION OF
THE STUDY
The research of this work
is limited to federal college of agriculture Ishiagu Ebonyi state.
Many limitations
encountered, were in the process of gathering information for the development
of this project work to this extent. It
was not an easy task, so many constraints were encountered during the
collection of data.
The limitation focuses of
the following constraints;
i.
FINANCIAL CONTRAINTS: the cost of sourcing
for information and data that are involved in this work is high in the sense
that we all know that information is money.
ii.
TIME: A lot of time was involved in
writing and developing this work,
iii.
Irregularities in power supply also
dealt harshly with the researcher.
1.6 SIGNIFICANT OF
THE STUDY
The design and
implementation of a web-based online tutoring system would provide extensive,
dynamic methods of lecturing with the state of the art techniques and up to
date materials for the usability of the students, while tracking latest changes
in the educational world.
Through this system the
department can support group learning within the technology without the need
for face-to-face meetings or pictures. While lecturers are able to perceive and
interpret online behaviours of students participating, lectures can be
delivered 24/7 round the clock anywhere at anytime.
Lastly, we can also get the most important aspect of it with a
well implemented Learning Management System (LMS), it makes it easier to track
and prove progress for staffs and learners. This can be essential for our most
popular courses where proof of mandatory training is required.
1.7 DEFINITION OF
TERMS
Website: web site, in computer science, file, of information located
on a server connected to the World Wide Web (www).
HTML (Hypertext Markup language): Is the language used by the web
to define and display and its files. These files can contain text, or
multimedia HTML files are ASCII text files that contain the text to be
displayed and the markup tags that tell how to display them.
www: The www (W3) or world web is a set of protocols and
software that allow the global computer network called the internet to display
multimedia documents.
Server: A computer that supplies services or data to other machines
on a local area network (LAN) or a wide area network (WAN) such as the internet
Password: This is a measure of protection against intruders from
gaining access to the documents and secrete information.
Database: Any collection of data organized for storage in a computer
memory and designed for easy access by authorized users.
Database Update: This simply means applying and maintaining changes on
a database after data must have been added, removed or modified
System Administrator: This is a person responsible for
maintaining and operating a computer system.
DHTML – (Dynamic Hypertext Mark-up Language). It is a combination
of HTML, Cascading Style Sheets, JavaScript and Macromedia Flash Mx used to
create animated and interactive websites.
PHP – (Hypertext Preprocessor). These languages work closely
with the Web server to interpret the requests made from the World Wide Web,
process these requests, interact with other programs on the server to fulfil
the requests, and then indicate to the Web server exactly what to serve to the
client’s browser.
SQL – Structured Query Language, used in querying the databases
to retrieve, updates, and review database
CSS: (Cascading Style Sheet) a client-side scripting language,
used in styling the web pages for a greater user-experience.
ASP: (Active Server Pages) a server-side scripting language like
the PHP. These languages work closely with the Web server to interpret the
requests made from the World Wide Web, process these requests, interact with
other programs on the server to fulfill the requests, and then indicate to the
Web server exactly what to serve to the client’s browser.
SERVER – A specific application, called a Web server, will be
responsible for communicating with the browser.
WEBSITE – A website is a collection of information about a particular
topic or subject
APACHE – A server technology, designed to assist the webmaster in
utilizing database and Server technology.
BROWSER: A client software that allows a user to read and retrieve
HTML document/information from a web site. Examples of browsers include
internet explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Google Chrome, Opera etc.
JOOMLA: A tool for web-based
design, management and database system.
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