International Journal of Education and Pedagogy (IJEAP) eISSN: 2682-8464 | Vol. 4 No. 3 [September 2022]
Journal website: http://myjms.mohe.gov.my/index.php/ijeap
DEVELOPMENT OF THE MOBILE APPLICATION FOR FINAL YEAR PROJECT (FYP) MANAGEMENT SYSTEM
Rosnani Affandi1*, Tok Chon Bee2 and Azaliza Baharom3
1 2 3 Jabatan Kejuruteraan Elektrik, Politeknik Melaka, Melaka, MALAYSIA
*Corresponding author: rosnaniaffandi@gmail.com
Article Information:
Article history:
Received date : 8 August 2022 Revised date : 8 September 2022 Accepted date : 9 September 2022 Published date : 11 September 2022
To cite this document:
Affandi, R., Bee, T. C., & Baharom, A.
(2022).DEVELOPMENT OF THE MOBILE APPLICATION FOR FINAL YEAR PROJECT (FYP)
MANAGEMENT SYSTEM.
International Journal of Education and Pedagogy, 4(3), 165-176.
Abstract: Students in higher education institutions must successfully complete their Final Year Project (FYP) course to graduate. Numerous students will sign up for the FYP course each semester. For instance, every semester, between 30 and 120 students register for the DEE40082 (Project 1) course at Politeknik Melaka. A lecturer will supervise each student's progress and grade them on written reports and oral presentations. In the meantime, in March 2020, the Malaysian Control Movement Order (MCO) will be prohibited according to the COVID-19. The job of the FYP coordinator is suddenly difficult. This is due to the fact that the majority of processes and FYP management have always been carried out manually at Politeknik Melaka. The student cannot turn in their logbook or report as usual during the MCO. They must submit to their supervisor using any online tool that is available, such as the Telegram or WhatsApp apps, email, or Google Drive. All of these features have restrictions and are less ideal, particularly for the FYP coordinator's use in managing and monitoring the FYP process. In order to solve the issues, an appropriate FYP management system called Mobile Application System for Final Year Project (eFYP) has been created. WixApp, OneDrive, and AppGeyser are three web resources that were combined in the development of the system. In Politeknik Melaka, the mobile application system for final year projects (eFYP) has been in use since December 2020. The management, supervision, and assessment of the FYP have all benefited from the use of this system, which has also made it easier for the students to submit their logbook and report through the online system easier and systematically.
1. Introduction
The final year project (FYP) is one of the compulsory courses for most students in the Higher Education institution (Kamal, et al., 2017). Students have the opportunity to apply the knowledge and abilities they have acquired during their academic studies in this course (Alam, Samsudin, Kamaruddin, Zakaria, & Othman, 2022; Gusau, M.M, Y, & A, 2019; Tien, Namasivayam, &
Narayana, 2015). There are two courses in Politeknik Malaysia specifically for the Electrical Engineering Department that deal with project implementation. Project 1 (DEE40082) and Project 2 are the two courses offered, and they are each taught over two semesters (DEE50102). Every semester, there are many students that register for these two courses. In Politeknik Melaka itself, there are around 30 to 100 students registering for Project 1 (DEE40082). Therefore, around 30 to 100 FYP will be produced and need to manage every semester.
The head of the department typically appoints the FYP coordinator to handle the FYP management in order to guarantee that all of the FYP operations, including the management, teaching & learning system, function smoothly. The coordinator is responsible for supervising the evaluation of the FYP process and managing the teaching and learning system as well as facilitating interactions between all students, the supervisor, the head of the department, and external panels. The Project 1 (DEE40082) and Project 2 (DEE50102) courses are managed manually by the majority of the FYP coordinators at Politeknik Malaysia, including Politeknik Melaka.
By referring to the (Buku Panduan Pelaksanaan Projek Pelajar (Diploma) Politeknik Malaysia, 2021);
the FYP process in Politeknik starts from selecting and discussing the FYP title, submitting the suggestion FYP Title Form, submitting the investigation report, logbook, Final Proposal Report, presentation and submit the FYP Report. From here, we can see that there are many processes that need to manage by the FYP coordinator to assure the FYP courses can run smoothly. However, sometimes there are unexpected or unwanted issues that happened during the FYP process, such as delays in the submission forms, or reports, shortage of storage for the FYP documents, and the worst case missing the forms or reports. (M.A. Mohamed, 2017), mentioned in his study, usually, the manually recorded data is prone to errors and is at risk of being mishandled or going missing.
Therefore, with the amount of 30 to 100 students registering for the FYP course every semester, added to the manual process of the FYP management system, the task of the FYP coordinator is challenging.
The FYP coordinator task become increasingly challenging when the Control Movement Order (MCO) has been restricted in Malaysia because of the covid-19 virus in March 2020. During the early of the MCO, all the FYP processes that were managed manually suddenly must switch to the online system method. Online education has replaced the manual and traditional face-to-face project supervision as the primary method of teaching and learning (Fidalgo, Thormann, & Lencastre, 2020).
FYP systems that switch from face-to-face supervision education to online education confront a completely different educational environment, which could have an impact on the responsibilities, Keywords: Final Year Project, Management, Monitoring, Evaluation, Mobile Application.
practices, and views of coordinator, supervisors, and students (AmiraEl-Soussi, 2022; Baran, Correia,
& Thompson, 2013).
During the MCO, student cannot submit their hardcopy of the logbook or report as usual. They need to submit to their supervisor by using any available online system such as WhatsApp application, Telegram, or email media. However, the function of the WhatsApp application, telegram, or email has their limitation and is not suitable for the FYP coordinator to manage and monitor the FYP process. In addition, by using the WhatsApp application, Telegram, or email, the collected FYP documents and data are not centralized, and they became less secure (Saeed Shadlou, 2011). The fact is, all the FYP process needs to scrutinize in detail. Therefore, (Syila Izawana Ismail, 2017) in her study mentioned that it is a difficult and challenging process for the FYP coordinator to manage the FYP document effectively if the management of the FYP is managed manually.
To be more systematic and efficient, the previous way of documenting all FYP progress and assessment must be replaced with a systematic FYP Management system. The aim is to ensure FYP data security and for better data storage management as well as paperless documentation. Indirectly, this will reduce the FYP coordinator and SV workload, and, as a result, this will increase the quality of work. The development of a suitable FYP management system is not only because of the MCO, but with the MCO it became a good reason to change from manual management to a systematic management system. For instance, prior to the MCO, the supervisor (SV) encountered a number of issues, including students who failed to bring their logbooks to the discussion session, not updating the logbook, and late submission of the investigation report and Final Proposal report. Therefore, this is another reason why a suitable FYP management system needs to be developed to help in overcoming the problems.
Basically, the FYP management system is not new. Based on the previous study, there are many FYP management systems that have been developed and used in educational institutions. For example, the FYP management system was developed by (M.A. Mohamed, 2017; Syila Izawana Ismail, 2017;
Abdul kareem Ademola, 2013; Marini Abu Bakar, 2011; Wahab, 2012). But most of the FYP management system was developed for Degree, Master, and Ph.D. students and using certain programming and portals concept. Portals are popular in the community because it’s not only can be used for business activity but also for educational purposes. It became popular because it offers centralized access to any relevant content and applications. According to (Abdul Kareem et al., 2013), portals connect users not only with what they need but also it provides tools for people to work together. However, to develop portals, it will need someone that has a good background in programming.
(Affandi & Omar, 2018), their study mentioned that other than portals, mobile apps, games, and the web are other options that can be used for educational tools. Mobile apps can be a good option for innovative educational technology because mobile apps also allow learning to occur in engaging and meaningful contexts as well as portals. (Sunga, Changb, & Liu, 2015) mentions that mobile devices have great potential to become an effective educational medium. Meanwhile, (Gaurav R. Sawarkar, 2019) claimed in their study that mobile applications might improve user engagement and enhance teaching and learning. Therefore, this paper is written with the aim to explain the development of the mobile application system for final year project (eFYP) that has been developed in Politeknik Melaka
by using simple and free tools to complement the current traditional face-to-face supervision method.
The eFYP Mobile Application system is focusing on the assessment, monitoring, and management of DEE40082 (Project 1) course.
1.1 Traditional Method
Students must enroll in DEE40082 (Project 1) in Semester 4 in order to be able to enroll in DEE50102 (Project 2) in Semester 5. Throughout the 14 weeks of the DEE40082 course, the FYP coordinator basically needs to manage a few processes that involve students, supervisors, and panels.
Students must prepare their project proposals during the fourth semester. The selection of the FYP title with the supervisor is the first step in the process for DEE40082 (SV). Students must submit the Suggestion FYP Title Form to the SV and FYP coordinator for record-keeping after the SV approves the FYP title. After the FYP title has been approved, students can start writing their investigative report. Students should present their investigative report in Weeks 5 or 6, and if it is accepted, they can continue to prepare their Final Proposal report. Students must also discuss the FYP progress, document the progress in their logbooks, and submit their logbooks to the SV at the same time.SV will supervise and monitor their student's progress throughout the semester. The evaluation for the DEE40082 is through the SV and panel, including evaluation for Logbook, Investigation report, and Final Proposal Report. SV and Panel need to submit students’ marks to the FYP coordinator for key- in processes in the SPMP Sistem Pengurusan Maklumat Pelajar (SPMP) or Student Information Management System. The flowchart for the DEE40082 (Project 1) implementation process can be referred to the Figure 1.
Figure 1: The Flowchart for Implementation of DEE40082 (Project 1)
As mentioned before, the frequent problem that happened during the FYP process, especially in semester 4 are, some of the students were late to submit their Suggestion FYP Title form to the SV and did not bring their logbook, investigation report, or final proposal report during the discussion session with SV; with a reason that they forgot to bring the logbook or the report. To some extent, all these problems will disrupt the FYP management process. The traditional method mostly requires students to submit the hardcopy of forms, and logbooks, and report directly to their SV. FYP coordinator will not know whether the student has submitted or not to the SV. It will be wasting time if the FYP coordinator needs to check or ask the students frequently who have not yet registered, or submit their FYP title form, logbook, or report. Added with, the requirement of hardcopy submission, this process is requiring a proper and large space to keep all the forms and reports. All this process is very tiring, not efficient, and should be changed to assure a systematic and efficient work can be done for the FYP process management. Through the eFYP Mobile Application system, some of the processes for the DEE40082 (Project 1) such as submission, checking, monitoring, and evaluation can be done promptly and easily.
3. Methodology
To help in producing systematic and efficient work and to cope with the problems related to the manual FYP management system; one of the initial steps is developing an online platform system that can access by all the users. In the eFYP Management System, users are, students, supervisors, FYP coordinator panel, and the Head of the Department.
Basically, the development of the eFYP Management System is using three tools that are Wixapp, OneDrive, and AppGeyser. All these tools are available online, free, and easy to use. Figure 2 shows three tools that used in developing of the eFYP Management System.
Figure 2: Process Flow for eFYP Management System Development
Overall Flow
Flow 1
Flow 2 Flow 3 Flow 4
Wix is used in the development of the core platform for the eFYP Management System. Wix offers a wide range of design options to guarantee that the platform looks engaging and, more importantly, is simple to manage. It's simple to select the images, buttons, and text for each section or tab in Wix.
Furthermore, Wix is more appealing and simpler to use due to the drag and drop tools that don't require any technical expertise to construct the platform. Figure 3 displays the Wix design option, which includes selectable images, buttons, and text.
Figure 3: Drag and Drop Tools in Wix
Every user in the eFYP Management System has a unique role and set of restrictions when logging in. In order to ensure that users can easily access the system, a few issues have been found during the development of the primary platform. Firstly, the system user, the second task of users, and the third overall flow of the FYP system. There are a few links in the system that can be accessed by user for them to do editing, submission, saving files or documents as well as doing an assessment of the related documents based on their own task. The related documents are 1) FYP Title Form; 2) Investigation Report; 3) Final Proposal Report; 4) Logbook; 5) Evaluation/Marking Form. All these documents need to be prepared and submitted by students, then evaluate by their SV and panel; then the evaluation mark needs to submit to the FYP coordinator for record and key in process in the SPMP system (Figure 4).
Figure 4: User, Task, Document and Flow Process
Meanwhile, all the template for the documents is provided in the eFYP Management System.
Therefore, users can get the template easily and without worries, if they use the wrong or an old version of the template. Then to submit and evaluate the document, users can directly access to their own folder through the eFYP Management System. Users also can-do editing, upload new documents, and an evaluation to the related document anytime and anywhere in their own FYP folder.
Besides, in the platform, there are also a few interesting and useful links provided for users such as the list of the FYP Title for the previous semester, a Video link, Arduino & Related software, and a supervisor list. These links are useful especially for the students in helping them to understand the FYP process throughout the semester.
All the data and documents that have been prepared, editing, submitted, and evaluated by the users are saved online by using cloud storage OneDrive. OneDrive is one of the applications that is provided in the Microsoft Teams that can be used by Polytechnic staff and students for Teaching and Learning purposes. Therefore, students can save or access their files or document anywhere, easy, and without worried the storage size because the provided storage for each student is a large storage.
The eFYP Management System platform is then converted into an Android apk application when the design and development of the platform have been completed. Appsgeyser is being used for this task (Refer to Figure 5). The goals are to ensure that the eFYP Management system may be accessible not just through a laptop or computer, but also through an app on a phone. Appsgeyser is a quick app builder that requires no coding or design expertise. As a result, the user of the eFYP Mobile Application system on a mobile phone can easily access all the tabs or links in the eFYP Management System.
Figure 5: Changing the Wix Platform to the Mobile App Appearance
FIVE Tabs 4. Results and Discussion
Figure 6 shows the front view or home for the eFYP Mobile Application system. This main platform has been developed by using Wix. In the home or front view, it has FIVE (5) important tabs: eFYP Doc, Related Link, Supervisor List, and More. In the eFYP Doc Tab, there are sections that can be accessed by the user such as the student section, supervisor section, Project Title List section, and Search FYP title list.
Figure 6: eFYP Mobile App and the Appearance
Students’ folder (Figure 7) in the student section is created by the FYP coordinator for each class and student. The purpose of the student folder is, from here students can easily use it for saving or storing their files or documents such as forms and reports. This means that the student can upload their Project Title suggestion form, logbook, investigation report, and Final Proposal report by using the link given in the app (figure 8). The best things about this app are students can submit and update their progress in the logbook at any time and at the same time SV can also easily check any time the student progress.
This is the same for other documents such as the investigation reports and the Final Proposal report.
Figure 7: Folder for Student
Figure 8: Documents Inside the Student Folder
The supervisor has direct access to their student folder, which contains all the eFYP materials, for the supervisor tab. As a result, supervisors can simply assess, track, and mark the development of their students. In the meanwhile, users (student, supervisor, head of department, and FYP coordinator) can access or view past and present project titles in the Project Title list section. This portion was specifically designed to provide prospective students a preview of the main project before they begin on their own. Additional than that, the head of the department and supervisor might utilise this section to check the titles of student projects for other uses.
Meanwhile, there are THREE sections for the Related eFYP Link tab that have been created as shown in Figure 9. The sections are Search FYP Title, Video Link, and Arduino & Other Related software.
Search FYP Title Section is the section where there are a few links provided for users for searching or to get a project title idea from other websites. The link is given such as EDU Projects topis website, nevon projects electronics, mechanicals kit website, and many more. Meanwhile, the Video Link section provides a few videos which can guide and give students information on how student do their electronics projects, such as soldering techniques, how to make Printed circuits using PCB, learning Arduino etc. Another section is Arduino & Other related software. This section is a link where student can get information about Arduino, learn simple coding using Arduino, and can download a few software that is related to FYP such as Arduino, Thinker cad, etc.
Figure 9: Related eFYP Link
The supervisor Tab is for user references. The user can check the name of the supervisor for each class on this tab (Figure 10). Students typically have the option to choose which supervisor they want to be their SV from this point on. For More tab, it provides info about FYP and the contact number for FYP coordinator. At the front view or home for the eFYP Mobile Application system, there is also a link for the presentation schedules which provide details about student presentations, project titles, supervisor names, Panel names, and links for room presentations. At the same time, there is also a notification for users especially students and SV to remind or alert them about their task’s week by week (Figure 11).
Figure 10: Supervisor List Tab
Figure 11: Show Notification Alert for Users
One issue with the manual system is that the SV and FYP coordinators have trouble keeping track of their students' progress. Users like SV, panel, and the FYP coordinator can quickly monitor the students' progress via the eFYP Mobile Application system. They can check the date and time students submit and edit the document. Figure 12 shows the information on document access, edit, or update by users. Indirectly, this system helps the SV and FYP coordinator in monitoring their student work.
Figure 12: Information on the document access by users
Notification for users
5. Conclusion
This system has been used in Politeknik Melaka from December 2020 session until Session 1 2022/2023. From the manual system to the online FYP Management system, this system help student, supervisor, Head of Department, and FYP coordinator in managing, and access, the system easily and anywhere. There are a few benefits that have been derived from this system and have been helping the user in reducing a few problems that occur before. With that, the assessment, monitoring and management process of the FYP become more systematic and efficient than before and the important thing is, it has benefits for all the users.
6. Acknowledgement
This study was supported by Jabatan Kejuruteraan Elektrik, Politeknik Melaka. We are thankful to the Head of the Department Ts. Hj. Zahidi Bin Zamzuri, Ts. Hj. Mohd Nordin Bin Mohd Jani, and to all JKE staff who provided expertise that greatly assisted the study.
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