Design and Implementation of a student Management Portal

ABSTRACT

This study aimed at designing and implementing a student management system for the department of Administrative Techniques of Higher Technical teachers’ training college (HTTTC) KUMBA. Presently in the department of Administrative Techniques Students usually have complaints but are unable to report to the department. To sort results manually is difficult due to the long process used to sort out documents manually. Students face difficulties to submit hard copies of document often. Crucial information concerning students can be misplaced. The exploratory research design method was used was used for this study. The research population consists of the Department of Administrative techniques and two workers in charge of student records in the department. The stratified sampling technique was used to select the category of respondents to be used to carry out this study which included the department of Administrative Techniques and few two (2) staffs and a total of 2 interview guide was administered

CHAPTER ONE

GENERAL INTRODUCTION

Introduction

The evolution of technology has brought about with it, several benefits to the world. Apart from improving efficiency, it has turned the world into a global village and has made access to information very easy. Education has also played a vital role in the development of the world at large and our country Cameroon in particular, as the educational sector has also not been left behind in tapping into the deep resource-well of technology. There are many different concepts of information in different research areas and even in the same research area different information concepts are used. To cope with this confusing situation, it is necessary to know how information concepts are especially when it comes to managing students’ information, if possible, why they are used with their specific meanings. One important step in this direction is to understand the history of information i.e. to understand how information has been used in the past and how student records were managed in the department of Administrative techniques. It is a conviction that once this history is understood, it shall bring forth a better understanding of today’s information uses and meaning as concerning the management of students information; not only in science, but also in HTTTC and The department of Administrative Techniques in particular.

Background of the study

Back in the days, institutions usually filed students’ information manually as they saw it to be the best preservation methods to be used. The various methods of filing that were used includes; filing by subject, Alphabetical filing, numerical filing, Geographical filing and chronological filing. In as much as this filing methods were organized it had several loopholes such as mishandling of information and lost paper work, slow retrieval and time consuming, insecurity of information and privacy laws to guide this information(password) and occupying of office space. Organizational institutions began seeing the disadvantages of manual filing, and then decided to bring in the electronic method of filing which is a computer based system for the storage, cataloging and retrieval of information.

The English word ‘information’ comes from the Latin words ‘informare’ and ‘informatio’ (Capurro 1996, Callaos 2002, Peters 1988). Informare meant to shape matter and mind in a Philosophical, moral or pedagogical sense (i.e. to instruct, to educate) (for example (Cappurro 1996, Schement 1993). The Latin roots and Greek origins of the word information is represented by Cappurro & Hjorland (2003). Reference on “formation or molding of the mind or character, training, instruction, teaching” date from the 14^th century in both English (according to oxford English dictionary) and other European Languages.

Organizations rely on information management to facilitate information acquisition from different sources and enhance its distribution, depending on the underlining policies. The most vital role of information in organization is that it facilitates the process of decision making. Riedl et al. (2017) defines information management on a high-level-view as a critical organizations management functional part that ensure the best possible use of information for the organization’s goals and the goal of information management is to help people and organizations access, process and use information efficiently and effectively. Both ontology and epistemology play a crucial role for the concept of information, i.e. its meaning is defined by ontological and epistemological positions. This strong relation with ontology and epistemology can already be found in the case of Latin roots of information where information was used to translate Greek philosophical concepts [Capurro and Hjorland 2003]. In the first half of the 20^th century information was a relatively an unknown notion for the general public [c.f. Schement 1993]. Only in the second half of the 20^th century information moved to centered stage [c.f. Borgmann 1999]. The birth certificate of information, as Borgmann [1999] calls it, as a prominent world in our society is the information theory of Shannon and Weaver in 1948.

Higher Technical Teachers’ Training College (HTTTC) KUMBA, which was created in 2014, by presidential Decree No201/090 of 7^th march 2014, whose main objective is to train teachers to teach in technical colleges and high schools in Cameroon, makes great use of information as both staffs and students needs information, to attain specific goals in order to achieve a successful academic year and to attain set goals of the institution. Administrative techniques which is one out of the 14 Departments in higher Technical Teachers’ Training College (HTTTC) KUMBA with its head of department Dr. Massa Ernest who was appointed in 2022 till date, is aimed at providing students with technical knowledge in the teaching of Administrative Techniques in various schools. In addition, it is a department that develops a strong foundation for successful employment and opportunities for advancement in secretarial duties and ICT in this fast changing global society. In order for these objectives to be attained by the department, the Design and implementation of a Student management portal is necessary to enable both staffs and students to have access to information as concerning the department.

A Student management portal is a web-based system that deals with the recording and maintaining of students information. Currently, the usage of new technology in schools is limited. This is because most schools use manual methods to manage information that is, the feeling of report cards, recording of CA marks, feeling of transcripts, laying of complaints to the department, just to name a few. However, it was then realized that, there are numerous tasks that could be done by computers within a short period of time if they were programmed. This includes the registration of students, the generating of form Bs, registration of grades and even class enrolment. Managing of student grades is the task of the administrative staffs and lecturers of the department, which is very time consuming and error prone.

As more information is made available in the various formats, and in a variety of locations, the need to manage data/information efficiently becomes more and more critical. Both staffs and public users need access to stored information and they need this access more efficiently. It is the departments’ policy to improve both the efficiency and effectiveness of departmental registration, result processing operations and services through the implementation of an integrated automated data base system.

Statement of the Problem: