Developing Examination Management System: Senior Capstone Project, a Case Study

Authors: S. Vasupongayya, W. Noodam, P. Kongyong

Abstract:

This paper presents the result of three senior capstone projects at the Department of Computer Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Thailand. These projects focus on developing an examination management system for the Faculty of Engineering in order to manage the examination both the examination room assignments and the examination proctor assignments in each room. The current version of the software is a web-based application. The developed software allows the examination proctors to select their scheduled time online while each subject is assigned to each available examination room according to its type and the room capacity. The developed system is evaluated using real data by prospective users of the system. Several suggestions for further improvements are given by the testers. Even though the features of the developed software are not superior, the developing process can be a case study for a projectbased teaching style. Furthermore, the process of developing this software can show several issues in developing an educational support application.

Keywords: Scheduling, Web-based, Greedy Algorithm, Engineering Education.

Digital Object Identifier (DOI): doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.1087476

References:

[1] Prince of Songkla University, http://www.psu.ac.th.
[2] Office of the Registrar, University of California Santa Cruz, http://registrar.ucsc.edu/calendar/final-exams.html#1.
[3] Office of the University Registrar, Duke University, http://registrar.duke.edu/exam-schedules/exam-schedule-spring-2013.
[4] Office of the Registrar, Texas A&M University, http://registrar.tamu.edu/general/finalschedule.aspx.
[5] The Registrar’s division, Prince of Songkla University, http://reg.psu.ac.th/Eng_index.asp.
[6] T. Prabnarong & S. Vasupongayya, "Examination management system: room assignment and seating layout", Proceeding of the Office of Academic Resources International Conference, Phuket, Thailand, April 25-27, 2011.
[7] Faculty of Engineering, Prince of Songkla University, Examination information system, https://infor.eng.psu.ac.th/exam/.
[8] T. H. Cormen, C. E. Leiserson, R. L. Rivest, Introduction to Algorithms (1st ed.). MIT Press and McGraw-Hill. ISBN 0-262-03141-8, 1990.
[9] J.R. Goldberg, "Active Learning in Capstone Design Courses (Senior Design)," IEEE Pulse, vol.3, no.3, May 2012.
[10] G. Duffy, C. Chance, B. Bowe, Improving engineering students’ design skills in a project-based learning course by addressing epistemological issues. 40th SEFI Conference, 23-26 September 2012, Thessaloniki, Greece.
[11] Y. Wang, Y. Yu, H. Wiedmann, N. Xie, C, Xie, W. Jiang, X. Feng, Project based learning in mechatronics education in close collaboration with industrial: Methodologies, examples and experiences, Mechatronics, 22(6):862-869, September 2012.
[12] Office of the Higher Education Commission, Thai Qualification Framework, (Available: http://www.mua.go.th/users/tqf-hed/news/ FilesNews/FilesNews8 /NQF-HEd.pdf).