Project Information

Background and Motivation

What is the setting and history behind this project?

Programming is very challenging to learn. The problems can founded in premature optimization, proprietary software business models, cognitive science, user interface design, and computability theory. Java help was developed as a resource for students to alleviate some of the difficulties in programming. It is a resource which addresses questions in programming assignments and theory. Programming plays a significant part in the software development process. With rapid advancement in software design students need a resource that provides this information, for which they can comprehend and be effective.

What is the problem to be addressed?

The university's aim is to help the students build a solid foundation and form good problem solving techniques. Therefore the students can pick up new things more quickly and effectively in the future. Hence a student should be productive and pragmatic at approaching a design doc, exception handling, fault tolerance, UI design techniques, and producing good code. However there is no organized infrastructure provided from the department, which can provided these resources to the students. The students have the inability to create a profile, assess thier skills to amass a portfolio, or understand what objectives are necessary for post graduate/market place agendas.

• Steve Klabink views on beginners programmers resources

What are some current approaches to this problem?

Students have the ability to communicate with faculty about problems in class and inquiries about design, trends in the computing development process. Students can also access Java help for questions in programming assignments and theory. Career Service provides students with information about computer science internship opportunities. The department website has information about course syllabus and faculty information. As a collection these resources are not cohesive, synchronized and can quickly become outdated.

Why is this problem worth solving or worth solving better?

Students and faculty can attain accountability in using a resource that creates competitive computing skills, which can contribute to software development and academia.

How will this product be better than previous approaches?

This service will collect all independent resources and merge them cohesively. The technology will create much better maintainability, scalability, and security. Standards will govern accountability which will contribute to a stronger community among faculty and students.

 

Where is there more information on this problem?

The following pages provide additional background and motivation:

• Reverse the Trend of Enrollment Decline in Computer Science
• Exploration of gap between cs curriculum and IT skills requirements

Goal

What is the goal of this project?

This project will expand the duties of the java help representative. It will create a service which will facilitate faculty by participating in evaluations, testing and strengthening concepts in the courses which discipline programming. It will also assist student's inquiries and awareness of the changes in the software development process (i.e paradigms, methodologies, tools, internships). This service will be cohesive and develop a community among students and faculty to participate synchronous with each other.

What are the defining features and benefits of this product?

• Central Repository (Archival System) - Contains all projects, videos, images and communication trails. This information can be tracked, analyzed as well as configurable.
• Monitoring - Participates accountability can be measured and weighed accordingly.
• Services - The following services would be provided:
  Alleviate faculty in grading projects and providing trivial support to students.
  Provide awareness for students towards the changes in the software development process and emerging opportunities.
  Introduce and maintain techonology as resources
• Communication - Develop a community among students and faculty to participate synchronous with each other.
• Separation Of Concerns - Faculty and the representative will work together to promote separation between learning methodology and system design. It allows faculty to focus on methodology while the representative works on design.
• Accountability - Everyone involves understands how their purpose and participation can contribute to desired objectives

Scope

We want to focus on the central repository, and the features of that application that can help build services.

See the context diagram on assignments workflow.

• Work with common servers and browsers that we are already familiar with.
• Allow easy customizations of fonts and colors, with the same basic page layout.
• Enough security to greatly discourage abuse

Deliverables

• Content Management System
• Specifications and standards for testing
• Tools to generate documenations & create and edit multimedia
• Secure online storage options
• Re-design and hosting of department website
• Customization options
• Tutorial guides
• On-line resources for students and faculty
• Email automation
• Rubric for assessment

Risks and Rewards

What are the main risks of this project?

1. All members associated with the project will have to be able to learn and be responsible with many aspects of the service. It can range from management, communication or utilization. This will be a risk because one person may have much experience with the relevant tools and technologies. Although the others will learn, we will certainly make some mistakes and suboptimal choices. We will address this risk by scoping the project such that we have enough time to train and to review the design and implementation
2. Since majority of the resources will be dependent on a computer, access becomes a risk. Everyone involved should have access to the resources either from home, or by some provisions made on campus. Certain preparations that are not dependent on computers should be created if difficulties arise..
3. The content of computer remains safe and sound as long as it is isolated. Once connected to other computers via a network, a computer is exposed to all kinds of threats. With the expansion of cyber space the threats have significantly multiplied and the need of securing computer intensified. The resource in which we provide has to be security and potentially copyrighted.

What are the main rewards if this project succeeds?

If we accomplish the elements of this project,students and faculty can attain accountability in using a resource that creates competitive computing skills, which can contribute to software development and academia.

Project Plan

See attached draft of project plan