Designing an Electronic Logbook System for Monitoring Postgraduate Research Students Progress
Muhammad Arif Haikal Samed1, Rashidah Mokhtar2*, Norulhidayah Isa1, Mazlyda Abd Rahman2, Azrina Suhaimi3
1 Fakulti Sains Komputer dan Matematik, UiTM Cawangan Terengganu Kampus Kuala Terengganu, Malaysia
2 Fakulti Sains Komputer dan Matematik, UiTM Cawangan Johor Kampus Segamat, Malaysia
3 Fakulti Sains Komputer dan Matematik, UiTM Cawangan Johor Kampus Pasir Gudang, Malaysia
*Corresponding Author: [email protected]
Accepted: 15 August 2022 | Published: 1 September 2022
DOI:https://doi.org/10.55057/ijbtm.2022.4.3.5
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Abstract: A logbook is an essential component of any research project, whether you are a research scientist or a research student. The logbook will serve as the primary source of record for lab activity as well as thought processes for data analysis and experiment planning. The study discovered that electronic logbooks (E-Logbook) can increase data quality and generate more accurate findings than traditional logbooks. Additionally, utilizing an e-logbook improves the monitoring process and ensures that the research is completed within the time frame. Therefore, the primary purpose of this project is to develop a real-time system for monitoring postgraduate students' research activities. The development part of this system uses the adapted agile model and the theory of Eight Golden Rules for Interface Design.
Furthermore, to assure the effective and smooth operation of the e-logbook system, a test plan and questionnaires will be conducted.
Keywords: electronic logbook, agile development, information system, monitoring system ___________________________________________________________________________
1. Introduction
In recent years, there has been an undeniable growth in information technology (IT) and information system (IS). The fast advancement of technology has impacted the environment in a variety of fields, including business, administration, and education. This is due to the fact that there are assistance needs in this sector. As we can see today, most organizations have relied on information systems to meet their demands. An information system is composed of components that gather, store, and analyze data in order to provide information, knowledge, and digital products. Businesses and other organizations utilize information systems to carry out and manage operations, interact with customers and suppliers, and compete in the market (Zwass, 2020).
The adoption of IS also occurs in the management of logbooks, where the use of paper logbooks has now been replaced by digital logbooks. E-Logbooks, in general, are digital adaptations of traditional logbooks with the same goal of data collection and monitoring. Traditionally, the user would record data manually in a logbook and generate a written report. However, now that E-Logbook is available, they simply need to enter data into the system, and the system will
calculate their data. As a result, the existence of the E-Logbook can be noted to address the issues encountered in traditional logbooks and enhance the features currently existent.
1.1 Problem Statement
A postgraduate is a student who has completed their first degree or undergraduate program and is pursuing their study to a higher level. Postgraduates are expected to conduct research related to their course in order to complete the study. The research process basically involves a lot of interaction between student and supervisor. During conducting the research, the students are expected to record their activity in a logbook.
Typically, they will use any word processor software as a platform to record each meeting with the supervisor or perhaps some of them keep their record using handwriting in a physical notebook. At least once a week, students will meet with the supervisor to discuss research activities or progress of their study. The meeting's medium is unlimited, either physically or remotely. Following that, students must record each meeting detail in a logbook, including activities and hours for future references. Figure 1 depicts the existing procedure that students will use during their studies.
Figure 1: Current Process
A few issues must be addressed based on the existing process. The first issue is that postgraduate research students still manually document all sessions with supervisors. Utilizing word processing software, students will record all meeting facts such as the date, time, activity, and length of each meeting. They must keep the paper for a long period of time before submitting it to the supervisor. It can lead to further issues if students do not back up the file and lose the document due to various circumstances. In this case, students will have to recreate the logbook and re-record all of the meetings they have attended.
The second issue is lack of a systematic monitoring mechanism for postgraduate research students. This makes it difficult for supervisors to monitor each student's progress and stay in touch with them to stay up to date on the newest changes in their progress. The supervisor needs to keep track of each student's activity and the amount of hours they spend meeting with them. Monitoring students' progress is essential for ensuring that they acquire outstanding outcomes and complete their studies on time.
To address this issue, a systematic monitoring system is needed to monitor the progress of postgraduate students in a more systematic and organized way. Therefore, the purpose of this research is to determine the current process of manually recording all research activities in a logbook. The study will then propose and develop an information system, E-Logbook System for Postgraduate Research Students (ESPRES), to replace the manual process.
2. Related works
2.1 Electronic Logbook System
A logbook is a document in which all relevant information, such as events, task progress, or activities, is carefully recorded. A logbook is used to record the acquisition of required knowledge, abilities, attitudes, and competences. A logbook is also a tool for keeping track of progress or activities and ensuring consistency in quality. According to Svendsen et al. (2019), logbooks are often utilized for evaluating and monitoring students' progress. To track their progress, individual trainees keep logbooks that describe each activity process and engagement throughout the project development. The logbook's purpose is to keep track of training and experience in order to achieve goals (Hee et al., 2020).
On the other hand, Electronic Logbook System (E-logbook), is a digital logbook that has been enhanced with various advantages over the traditional logbook, including the ability to be accessed from anywhere and to make it easier for users. E-logbook is a platform that allows users to record all relevant data, such as dates, events, and activities in the cloud based, to be preserved for future use or review. Logbooks are a useful tool for providing feedback to students or workers, tracking their performance, and assisting them in planning their activities (Gondal et al., 2017).
2.2 Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design
This research utilized the Eight Golden Rules of Interface Design, which establish guidelines for user interface design. Its goal is to provide a suitable design so that users may conveniently access the EPRES system. Table 1 shows the eight rules that will be used to design the EPRES graphical user interface, which include striving for consistency, catering to universal usability, providing informative feedback, designing dialogue to yield closure, preventing errors, allowing for easy reversal of actions, supporting internal locus of control, and reducing short-
Table 1: Eight Golden Rules (Marston et al., 2017)
Rules Description
Strive for consistency Consistent sequences of actions are required in similar situations, and identical terminology should be used whenever possible.
Cater to universal usability
The needs of diverse users, including novices, experts, users of all age ranges, and users with disabilities, need to be recognized.
Offer informative feedback
For frequent and minor user actions, there should be modest system feedback, whereas for infrequent and major actions, the response should be more substantial.
Design dialog to yield closure
Sequences of actions should be organized into groups with a beginning, middle, and end, with informative feedback at the completion of a group of actions.
Prevent errors The system should be designed such that users cannot make serious errors, and if a user makes an error, the interface should detect the error and offer simple, constructive, and specific instructions for recovery.
Permit easy reversal of actions
As much as possible, actions should be reversible.
Support internal locus of control
Experienced users need to feel they are in charge of the interface and that the interface responds to their actions.
Reduce short-term memory load
Interfaces in which users must remember information from one screen and then use that information on another screen should be avoided.
2.3 Prior Existing System
In this section, we will explore and analyze similar systems for the EPRESS system, which will serve as a benchmark for this study; Research Integrated Management System and United Arab Emirates University Internship and Work Integrated Learning System.
2.3.1 Research Integrated Management System (RIMS)
Research Integrated Management System (RMIS) is a system established by Universiti Pendidikan Sultan Idris (UPSI) developed to monitor the activities of postgraduate research students. RIMS is utilized by two key users: postgraduates, who will record each research activity, and supervisors, who will conduct supervision through this system. Figure 2 shows the RIMS homepage, which requires user log in prior using the system. RIMS enables students to provide details about their research progress, which are subsequently verified by the supervisor. Since RIMS is a real-time system, all information entered by students is visible to the supervisor synchronously.
Figure 2: Research Integrated Management System
2.3.2 United Arab Emirates University Internship and Work Integrated Learning System (UAEU-iWIL)
UAEU-iWIL is an online system that assists students during their internship, where students will register for internships and submit weekly reports. On the other hand, the academic advisor will monitor and review weekly progress reports through the system. Furthermore, the system also provides for planning and organization of faculty visits, as well as industry registration and job advertising. The UAEU-iWIL webpage is shown in Figure 3.
Figure 3: United Arab Emirates University Internship and Work Integrated Learning System
Based on the existing systems studied, essential features included in those systems will be proposed in the EPRES system. The features include registration, recording, reporting, and monitoring the research activities, which is expected to make EPRES function as an ideal monitoring system.
3. Methodology
The methodology used to develop the EPRES system is the Agile Model adopted by Farooq et al. (2022). The agile methodology consists of six phases: planning, analysis, design, development, testing, and release. Figure 4 depicts the Agile model's process flow. According to Venkatesh et al. (2020) the Agile method is a very important approach for developing small to medium-scale systems where Agile can improve the quality of a product. The Agile model is selected because it helps to develop the system faster as it is an iterative approach and produces a rigorous feedback cycle and continuous improvement for each of the phases.
Figure 4: Flow of the Agile model
The first phase is planning that identifies the flow of the current business process in recording research activities in a logbook. Existing systems are studied and evaluated in order to gain a better knowledge of their constraints and limits. An interview with the real user is conducted to understand the current process and identify possible problems.
The second phase analysis involves identifying the functional and non-functional requirements and user requirements of the system. These requirements are usually defined during the interview session, observation from the similar existing system and online journals or materials from articles. There are three important users identified for this system namely postgraduate student, supervisor and postgraduate officer.
The third phase is design of the database and user interface based on all the requirements gathered in the analysis phase. Several diagrams, including the context diagram, data flow diagram (DFD), entity relationship diagram (ERD), site map, and user interface design, are included in this phase. The design phase's goals are to give a clear picture of how the proposed system will function at the end of a project.
The development phase proposes the development of an EPRES system based on the designed functionalities. The EPRES system is an online system that is built on a web-based architecture.
PHP and HTML are used to create the system, while MySQL is used as the database.
The test phase will test functionality of the system using the test plan for the system’s users including student, supervisor and postgraduate officer. This testing phase will employ two
methods: a test plan and a questionnaire. To test the usability of the EPRES system, a system usability scale (SUS) adopted by Lewis (2018) is used. This stage is crucial in ensuring that the EPRES system is error-free and functions appropriately based on the business process logic.
4. The ESPRES System
The E-Logbook System for Postgraduate Research Students (ESPRES) is designed for postgraduate research students at higher education level. The ESPRES is a web-based system that allows students to record all their research activities. This system records all student meetings with supervisors and the number of hours spent in meetings, and accumulates the total meeting hours for each month. It will notify students if the number of meeting hours is insufficient. Furthermore, this system will assist supervisors in monitoring students' progress thoroughly. Figure 5 is a sitemap for the EPRES system that represents all the navigation functions each of the users can perform in the proposed system. Each level in the hierarchy indicates the different tasks or functionalities of the project.
Figure 5: Sitemap of EPRES System
Figure 6 shows a sample of user interface for students. On the sidebar on the left, there is navigation that allows users to link to the desired page, such as profile, logbook, report and log out. In addition, at the top of the sidebar, there is also a picture, name and user ID number. In the middle of the page is a space for students to fill in meeting information, where the information can be saved into the system by clicking on the save button.
The supervisor interface has two main functions: student information and a logbook where supervisors are able to track the progress of their students. If supervisors wish to view student information, they can navigate to the student section, and all the information will be displayed.
Supervisors may view their students' progress by navigating to the logbook button, where the system will display the progress accordingly. To verify them, simply click the verify button in the action area. Postgraduate officer interface has features for viewing student information and generating reports of the progress. Furthermore, postgraduate officers perform the same duty as the supervisor in terms of monitoring student progress and evaluating student performance.
As the system is online based, all the data will be saved in the cloud storage.
5. Discussion and Conclusion
This research explores the current process of manually recording all research activities in a logbook and identifies the problem that exists throughout the process. It is identified that manual logbooks are difficult for the supervisors and postgraduate officers to monitor students’
progress. Monitoring the progress is essential for ensuring that they acquire outstanding outcomes and complete their studies on time. To address this issue, a systematic monitoring system is needed to monitor the progress of postgraduate students in a more systematic and organized form. Therefore, this research proposes an information system, E-Logbook System for Postgraduate Research Students, to replace the manual process. The EPRES system includes a registration module, an activity recording module, a report generation module and a monitoring module. In conclusion, the EPRES system is beneficial to supervisors, students, and postgraduate officers to manage and monitor research activities. The system also enhances the monitoring process and ensures that the students can complete their research within the stipulated time.
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