Software Implementation of Student Rating of Teacher Effectiveness System (A Case Study of Nnamdi Azikiwe University)

1.1 Introduction

Teacher rating is one of the topics which require pertinent attention by our education regulatory system. As teachers are only being rated and promoter base on their education qualification and time put into the service. Students also have clear pictures of these teachers as they have the first hand interaction with teachers. Student achievement is profoundly influenced by the evaluation practice used by teachers in the classroom. Research in education has consistently shown achievement monitoring and feedback to be extremely important factors in the teaching learning process. Online Student Rating of Teacher Effectiveness System is a web based application that provide platform for the colleague to conduct student’s evaluation online. Student will fill online feedback using a standard form. In this project security is also maintain that is the result of evaluation is only visible to authentic user. Student Rating of Teacher Effectiveness System is an integral feature of effective & efficient learning & teaching. It can be one of the powerful ways to enhance & strengthen student learning.

As a prelude to other parts of this study, this chapter will discuss the background upon which this study was initiated, the statement of problems that led to this study, the Aim and Objectives of the study. Others are Significance of the study, Scope of work, Limitation of the study and Definition of technical terms.

1.2 Background of Study

Evaluation is the systematic determination of merit, worth and significance of something or someone. Evaluation often is used to characterize and examine subjects of interest in a wide range of human enterprise including the Arts, business, Computer Science, criminal justice, foundation and non-profit organizations, government and other human services. Performance Evaluation is a necessity for organizations, institutions and even individuals due to the fact that it helps them to know how they are faring and to know if there is any need for improvement. This research work is going focus on performance evaluation of students. In schools students are evaluated and their result is compared based on the Grading system adopted by a particular school. Some schools adopt the 4-point Grading system while others operate on the 5-point Grading system for evaluating student performance and computing their Grade Point Average (GPA). However, most schools use the conventional (manual) system for computing the GPA of students. There have been numerous problems associated with the conventional system of computation.

Evaluation of student achievement is a crucial and pervasive issue of concern in every classroom. Traditional evaluation activities were used to certify or promote students. Currently, evaluation is recognized, as a comprehensive process not just something that occurs only at the end of some learning episode, it is an integral part of the teaching learning process.Evaluation activities provide information for the identification of student’s performances, a basis for the assessment of teaching strategies and data for important decision regarding corrective or enrichment activities. If a classroom is to function effectively, a well planned system of evaluation is essential.

The challenges encountered that led to the execution of the research work is that, A lot of time is exhausted and wasted in the process of computing while ensuring accuracy, work involved in the calculation of GPA is tedious especially when handling a large class, and most students cannot calculate their GPA accurately.

It is against the background that the development of this software to enable Student Course Evaluation, so the software users should not give false information that is out of the software deeds. This research work is based on providing adequate information about students’ records. At the end of this project, the research work, the software will able school officials to evaluate students’ course in learning and teaching and concise students’ records from the database.

1.3 Statement of Problems

Investigation reveals the problems of the existing system which are:

1. A lot of time is exhausted and wasted in the process of computing while ensuring accuracy.
2. Inaccurate evaluation of manual computation of teachers’ academic performnace from students result
3. Inadequate provision of more ways for lectures to put ways for lectures to put their lecture materials online.
4. Ineffective method for evaluating teachers. This would involve optimization of the current method

In addition, Teacher has only being assessed by the Education regulatory body and never have they considered the student assessment of the teachers. Most of these teachers put up a perfect front with good qualification but are most times unable to motivate or impact knowledge to this student. But this research work provides a basic student rating system capable of allowing various class students to rate his or her teacher and these rating are then compile and analyze by various regulatory body. It also aids proper storage and maintenance of Student documentation. Furthermore, it aids structured document representation and eliminates the tedium of performing monotonous rating system.

1.4 Aims and Objectives of Study

The aim of the study is to design and implement an Online Student Rating of Teacher Effectiveness System using Nnamdi Azikiwe University as a case study. In achieving this aim, the following specific objectives were laid out as follows to develop an application software that will:

1. Fully automated student and teacher database system.
2. Integrate an online assessment form /window for rating different teachers.
3. Decreased processing time and form errors.
4. Display teachers records only to the student registered in the teachers’ class.
5. Provides authentic, qualitative and comprehensive data on the teachers rating gotten form his / her assessments from student.

1.5 Significance of Study

The project is to create a web based application for student rating of teacher effectiveness system in order to bring teachers online and eliminate the tedium of performing monotonous transactions. The scope covers the activities involved in the assessment scheme which will in volce student ability to only rate his class teacher or subject teacher Limitation of this research work is that the system will online be available online and as such are inaccessible by student who don’t have access online.

The importance of this study is to be able to evaluate teacher’s performance so as to save the student, school or Faculty officer from the stress of computing student performance manually which waste a lot of time during the process of computing student result to determine their performance at the end of each semester or session.

This study will be of immense benefit to other researchers who intend to know more on this study and can also be used by non-researchers to build more on their research work. This study contributes to knowledge and could serve as a guide for other study.

1.6 Scope of Study

The study focuses on the Design and Implementation of an Online Student Rating of Teacher Effectiveness System using Computer Science Department, Nnamdi Azikiwe University as a Case Study.

1.7 Limitations of the Study

During the course of this study, many things militated against its completion, some of which are:

1. Time Constraint: The time frame given to accomplish this project was very short due to school academic calendar and it was carried out under pressure which made the researcher not to implement some necessary features.
2. Research material: availability of research material is a major setback to the scope of the study.
3. Frequent power failure: This made the researcher append more money on fuel to ensure sustainable power.
4. Financial Constraint: Insufficient fund tends to impede the efficiency of the researcher in sourcing for the relevant materials, literature or information and in the process of data collection (internet).

1.8 Definition of Terms

Effectiveness: The degree to which something is successful in producing a desired result; success.

Teacher: A person who helps others to acquire knowledge, competences or values.

Rating: This refers to the evaluation or assessment of something, in terms of quality (as with a critic rating a novel), quantity (as with an athlete being rated by his or her statistics), or some combination of both.

System: A set of things working together as parts of a mechanism or an interconnecting network; a complex whole.

Online Classes: These are classes conducted via electronic media, especially via the Internet.

World Wide Web: World Wide Web simply called www is the most important tool of the Internet.

Web Site: A website is a collection of many interconnected web pages organized by a specific college, organization company etc, containing web pages (good and commodities) on the Internet.

Hyperlinks: Hyperlinks are highlighted words and phrase you find on web documents that you can click on as to jump to some other documents or Internet services.