Postgraduate dissertation E-tracker: A student research progress tracking tool

Abstract

Information Technology (IT) has changed the way most business units in both the private and public sector conduct their operations. Reduced costs and simplified processes are but simply some of the benefits being reaped by the private sector through improve technology usage. In the education industry, IT is significantly beneficial as it increases efficiency and at the same time reduces operational costs. However, having the latest IT technology will not be beneficial to an organization if it is does not meet the organization needs or requirements and / or if it is not put into proper use. Consistent progress monitoring is an essential component to determine the effectiveness of instruction and student learning. Studies showed that automated student progress tracking systems would help to reduce the amount of time that students take to graduate and reduce excess hours. This project constructs a workflow consisting of process logic that defines the sequence of tasks; and routing rules. The workflow allows the researcher to capture the collaborative business process or procedure and automate it. With the workflow defined, a system prototype (Postgraduate Dissertation e-Tracker system) is designed and developed to enable the University to track its students’ progress anytime and it allows the students to update and report their progress online anywhere. The functionality of the Postgraduate Dissertation e-Tracker prototype system is tested with several users to identify its strengths and weaknesses. iii The aim of Postgraduate Dissertation e-Tracker prototype system implementation is to provide the university with timely and accurate data collection and reporting on students taking the dissertation course for university management, administrator, lecturers and students serves as the vehicle to collect all post-graduate student taking the dissertation course related information electronically and web-based. This project, automating several dissertation processes via the Postgraduate Dissertation e-Tracker system aims to monitor postgraduate students’ progress doing research dissertation more effectively and at the same time to increase the students’ motivations to complete their dissertation in timely manner.