AN INTRANET PORTAL FOR A LEARNING INSTITUTION

Abstract

With the rise of Internet and telecommunication services in recent times, the communication needs of human life have been enhanced progressively. From the earliest times, when communication between people included word of mouth, society evolved from various stages of disseminating information. The problem of insufficient communication and interaction is common in public schools among students and lecturers because of dearth of communication technology. In some schools, communication between faculty members and students are often low. Some students and teachers show resistance to using electronic method of learning and teaching, as a result of several factors including illiteracy. The objective of this study is to develop an intranet portal that handles communication and interaction for a learning institution and also help students improve academically from their comfort zone and outside the lecture hall. The tools engaged in developing this application include ASP.NET and C# as the server side programming, and MySQL as the database. With this application, lecturers and students are able to interact better. The system serves as a medium on which information is communicated and shared. The benefit of using the developed system for effective communication is that it keeps members of the institution regularly updated with current information on happenings and events in the institution. The application will also facilitate collaboration among learners.

Full text

AN INTRANET PORTAL FOR A LEARNING INSTITUTION
Ambrose A. Azeta, Nicholas A. Omoregbe, Jonathan Oluranti, Olabode A. Bello
Department of Computer and Information Sciences, Covenant University (NIGERIA)
Abstract
With the rise of Internet and telecommunication services in recent times, the communication needs of
human life have been enhanced progressively. From the earliest times, when communication between
people included word of mouth, society evolved from various stages of disseminating information. The
problem of insufficient communication and interaction is common in public schools among students
and lecturers because of dearth of communication technology. In some schools, communication
between faculty members and students are often low. Some students and teachers show resistance to
using electronic method of learning and teaching, as a result of several factors including illiteracy. The
objective of this study is to develop an intranet portal that handles communication and interaction for a
learning institution and also help students improve academically from their comfort zone and outside
the lecture hall. The tools engaged in developing this application include ASP.NET and C# as the
server side programming, and MySQL as the database. With this application, lecturers and students
are able to interact better. The system serves as a medium on which information is communicated and
shared. The benefit of using the developed system for effective communication is that it keeps
members of the institution regularly updated with current information on happenings and events in the
institution. The application will also facilitate collaboration among learners.
Keywords: Communication, Intranet, Learning, Virtual classroom and Portal.
1 INTRODUCTION
The intranet is a system that connects all the computers within an institution. It is a private network
that makes use of the Internet protocol to share any part of an organization’s data. In the last few
decades, the web has changed from a mere hypertext document repository to a powerful
communication media. This move has made Web applications suitable for the support of educational
activities, which often include collaboration between two or more people [1].
With the rise of Internet and telecommunication services in recent times, the communication need of
human life has increased. From the earliest times, when communication between parties included,
word of mouth, society has evolved from various stages of disseminating information. Within a
learning institution, insufficient communication and interaction between students and lecturers can
lead to a disaster, many of the students and faculty members are often ignorant about new
developments in the institution, communication between faculty members and students is often low
and difficult, most students have little or no interest in going to the library and borrowing books and are
mostly attracted to using their computer system.
The meaning of web portal [2] shows a virtual system and a pathway to information storage and
processing. The definition suggests that, “when a virtual portal system is built for a university as an
example, there is need to identify the target portal users; and decide how many portals are required;
also the need to have a clear vision of what the portal will be used for and what levels of security are
needed.
As the world is fast becoming a global village, the emergence of Internet has brought about the term
e-learning, which is the teaching and learning activities over the internet just like we have electronic
services such as e-commerce, e-banking, e-government and e-politics [4]. Electronic learning means
the use of information and communications technology (ICT) to support learning in higher education.
Although this covers a wide range of systems, from students using e-mail and accessing course work
online to programmes offered entirely online [3].
E-learning systems based on social approach provides learning experiences using personal tools and
social networks. Adopting a social network approach provides learners with valuable resources for
using the web as a tool in order to develop understanding in solving problems – irrespective of
location, place or time [4]. The intranet facilities adopted in most schools seem not be well maintained
because of the huge amount involved in maintenance in the absence of adequate power supply. The
Proceedings of ICERI2015 Conference
16th-18th November 2015, Seville, Spain
ISBN: 978-84-608-2657-6
1227

educational domain which is the basis for the development of future professionals, leaders,
researchers, etc. has experience a great turn around which calls for exchange of ideas as well as
information about the recent development in the world in real time [5]. Content Management Systems
(CMSs) are also called Learning Management Systems (LMS) or a Virtual Learning Environment
(VLE). Example of LMS includes Moodle (Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment),
which is basically an Open Source e-learning platform that helps educators to create quality courses
online [6].
The aim of this paper is to develop an intranet-based portal that handles communications and
interaction for a learning institution and also help students to advance their academic knowledge level.
The rest of this paper is presented as follows: Section 2 describes the literature review. Section 3
depicts the system design and modelling. Section 4 describes the system implementation and Section
5 concludes the paper.
2 LITERATURE REVIEW
Several studies exist that relates to the work described in this paper. The features found in [7] shows
some analyses in various types of portals and groups’ portals in four different categories (including
search engine-based, Internet service provider-based specialist, vertical, and academic). No single
portal is likely to serve all the required needs. Depending on the job at hand, different portals will need
different requirements that are suitable for the need at that moment.
A survey to appraise institutional take up of e-learning was carried out in [1]. The survey was an
attempt to provide an up-to-date evidence-based account of how e-learning has been taken up at
European higher education institutions. The results of the survey shows that practically all higher
education institutions of the sample have started to embrace e-learning. Most of the surveyed
institutions were using blended learning (91%), integrating e-learning into conventional teaching, but
surprisingly 82% of institutions also indicate that they offer online learning courses [8]. The aim of the
research in [9] was to investigate the merit of the e-learning portal for adult learning who have enrolled
their studies in distance education. Data were collected from a sample of 1084 undergraduate learners
through questionnaire. The data revealed that the learners agreed that they benefited from using the
portal. Most learners agreed that E-learning portal adds value to their learning.
The study in [10] looked at the impact of web portal on e-learning among undergraduate students. It
considers the benefits of using the portal and the problems encountered when engaging the portal. A
pure qualitative method using descriptive survey approach was embarked upon. The data collection
method used during the survey was focused group discussion method. The results revealed that most
of the respondents confirm that web portal positively impact e-learning in several ways. The purpose
of the paper in [11] was to study the problems with current e-learning platforms and recommend ways
to improve the effectiveness and efficiency of e-learning platforms.
The paper in [12] explored the development of a framework for interoperability that will bridge the
existing gap between research and education in the universities and ultimately deployment in the
corporate world. This will further encourage the ability to develop a whole new breed of educational
tools and technologies that could benefit learners in their professional spheres and workplaces. The
research in [13] suggested an approach to e-learning that places emphasis on active and open
collaboration, and also the incorporation of other services that contribute to the process of learning.
This approach aims at having an enhanced learning environment that is linked to other systems within
the surrounding environment.
The study in [14] took advantage of the new features of Joomla open source in building a system used
by lecturers to develop the skills and capabilities of students through the electronic portal and to raise
their educational level. The work in [15][16] explored the opportunities of using Free and Open Source
Software (FOSS) in developing an e-learning portal, which could function in an e-learning institution,
or as a training section inside the intranet of a company. Mobile Telephony application was also
reported in several studies including [[17].
1228

3 SYSTEMS DESIGN AND MODELLING
Figure 1 shows the interaction between the user object and the chat control which involves sending a
message from the Chat GUI to the Chat Control, which stores the input of the GUI and displays it to all
users online. It then sends a message to the user entity. Figure 2 shows the collaboration diagram for
message composition.
!
<<Boundary>>!
Chat!GUI!
!
<<Control>>!
Chat!
!
<<Entity>>!
User!
!
!
Figure 1: Collaboration diagram for the online chat.
!
<<Boundary>>!
Message!GUI!
!
<<Control>>!
Display!
!
<<Entity>>!
User!
!
<<Control>>!
Compose!
!
!
Figure 2: Collaboration diagram for messages.
The activity diagram as presented in Figure 3 shows workflow of activities in the proposed system. It
starts from the home page and on to the login module once the user has been validated. It then
redirects the user based on his / her role and is given access to functions / activities based on the role.
If the user is not validated he can register and has to wait for the administrator to validate his / her
account. When the user is done he / she will have to log-out.
4 SYSTEMS IMPLEMENTATION
The tools engaged in developing this application include ASP.NET and C# as the server side
programming, Apache as middle ware and MySQL as the database. With this application, lecturers
and students are able to interact better.
1229

Figure 3. Activity diagram of the system.
Home%Page%
Log%In%
Register%
Student%
Lecturer%
Administrator%
Log Out
Messages%
Chat%
Class%Forum%
Mini;Library%
Validate%
Start%
NO%
Yes%
Yes%
NO%
%
End
1230

Figure 4. Student’s home page.
The home page of the system is presented in Figure 4. It provides a wall for communication to the
students. The chat room page presented in Figure 5 is used by logged in users to interact with each
other. It displays the online users and the message from each user in real-time. The page presented in
Figure 6 is used to compose new messages to be sent to another user. It consists of text boxes that
allows user to type a message and send to intended recipient.
Figure 5: Chatroom Page.
1231

Figure 6: Compose Message Page.
5 CONCLUSION
In this paper, an Intranet for a learning institution was developed. The basic features of the intranet
portal include: send and receive email, accessible anywhere and any time, security, teamwork and
collaboration. The Intranet portal helps to increase workflow productivity, improves efficiency of
administration, and also to enhance distance learning.
REFERENCES
[1] Momonari M. (2005), Evaluation of Collaborative Tools in Web-Based E-Learning Systems.
Master’s Thesis in Human Computer Interaction (20 credits) at the School of Computer Science
and Engineering, Royal Institute of Technology year 2005. Master’s Degree Project Stockholm,
Sweden 2005.
[2] Thompson R. I. (2001), “Web portals and integration issue at the enterprise level”. Retrieve
March 10, 2011, from
http://www.gu.edu.au/conference/educause2001/Papers/Bob_Thompson.doc
[3] OECD (2005), E-Learning in Tertiary Institutions. Policy brief. Organisation for economic co-
operation and development. December 2005.
[4] Oludele Awodele, Sunday Idowu, Omotola Anjorin, Adebunmi Adedire, and Victoria Akpore
(2009),. University Enhancement System using a Social Networking Approach: Extending E-
learning. Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology Volume 6, 2009. PP 269-283.
[5] OLANIYI S. S. (2006), “e-Learning Technology: The Nigeria Experience Shape the Change.
XXIII FIG Congress. Munich Germany, October 8-13, 2006.
[6] Dharmendra Chourishi, Chanchal Kumar Buttan, Abhishek Chaurasia, Anita Soni, " Effective E-
Learning through Moodle", International Journal of Advance Technology & Engineering
Research (IJATER), vol. 1, Issue 1, November 2011. pp. 106-111.
[7] Butters G. (2003), “What features in a portal?” Retrieved April 5, 2011, from
http://www.ariadne.ac.uk/issue35/butters/intro.html
[8] Gaebel M., Kupriyanova V., Morais R., Colluci E. (2013), Elearning in European higher
education institutions. EUA Publications 2014. Result of a mapping survey conducted in
October - December 2013.
[9] Ismail, T. Gunasegaran and R.M. Idrus. Does E-learning Portal Add Value to Adult Learners?
Current Research Journal of Social Sciences 2(5): 276-281, 2010 ISSN: 2041-3246. © Maxwell
Scientific Organization, 2010. PP. 276-281.
1232

[10] Tella Adeyinka, Bashorun M. T, Adu E.O.(2012), Impact of Web Portals on E-Learning. ARPN
Journal of Science and Technology. VOL. 2, NO. 8, Sep 2012.
[11] Firouz Anaraki (2004), Developing an Effective and Efficient eLearning Platform. Developing an
Effective and Efficient eLearning Platform. International Journal of The Computer, the Internet
and Management Vol. 12 No.2 (May-August, 2004) pp 57 -63
[12] Sanjo Fasola, Charles Robert, Ugochukwu Onwudebelu (2010), “Empowering Nigerian
Educational Systems: A Framework for Interoperability for Bridging e-learning Platform”.
Proceedings of the International Conference on Software Engineering and Intelligent Systems.
2010, July 5th-9th, Ota, Nigeria. SEIS 2010 Vol 1.
[13] Oludele Awodele, Sunday Idowu, Omotola Anjorin, Adebunmi Adedire, and Victoria Akpore
(2009), “University Enhancement System using a Social Networking Approach: Extending E-
learning”. Issues in Informing Science and Information Technology Volume 6, 2009. PP 269-
283.
[14] Dharmendra Chourishi, Chanchal Kumar Buttan, Abhishek Chaurasia, Anita Soni, " Effective E-
Learning through Moodle", International Journal of Advance Technology & Engineering
Research (IJATER), vol. 1, Issue 1, November 2011. pp. 106-111.
[15] Mihaela Brut (2005), “Using FOSS for Developing E-Learning Portals”. Faculty of Computer
Science, University “Al. I. Cuza” Iaşi, Romania.
[16] Azeta A. A., Oyelami M. O. And Ayo C. K. (2008), “Development of an E-Learning Web Portal:
The Foss Approach”, Turkish Online Journal Of Distance Education-TOJDE April 2008 ISSN
1302-6488 Volume: 9 Number: 2 Article 11, pp. 186-199. Index in Scopus. Available online at:
tojde.anadolu.edu.tr/tojde30/pdf/article_11.pdf
[17] Azeta A. A., Ayo C. K. and Ikhu-Omoregbe N. A. (2013), A Voice-enabled Framework for
Recommender and Adaptation Systems in E-Learning. Chapter 4, IGI Global, Handbook on
Integrated Models for Information Communication Systems and Networks: Design and
Development. A Book published in the United States of America by Information Science Reference
(an imprint of IGI Global). PP. 71-96. Index in Scopus.
1233