Project Proposal
Lindsey Gouws
Department of Computer Science, Rhodes University
March 2011
1 Principle Investigator
Lindsey Ann Gouws
13 Gavin Relly Postgraduate Village, Rhodes University
078 873 0299
Supervised by: Dr. Karen Bradshaw
2 Project Title
Presentation system for use in computer based learning.
3 Statement of the Problem
A variety of presentation systems exist for use in learning exercises. How- ever, these are usually too general, or too specific. A general presentation system like Powerpoint does not have some of the niceties and functionality that en effective presentation may require, while a system that is specifically geared around a particular context is not much use in other contexts.
The South African context presents a specific set of challenges for learn- ing. One of these is the rural distribution of a fair portion of the population.
Another problem is the existence of previously disadvantaged groups, who may not have the same resources available. Internet access in South Africa is not widely available, which presents a barrier to e-learning techniques.
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4 Objective of the Research
The objective of the research is to build a system which will facilitate com- puter based learning among people who are not necessarily computer liter- ate.
5 History and Background 6 Approach
This project will be built as a stand-alone system, with added functionality if an internet connection is available. When a user opens the system, they will be given a list of possible presentations to choose from. This list will be pre-loaded, and can be added to. Once they have selected a presentation, the user will be given a quiz on the presentation content. The results of this phase will be stored. The user then goes through the presentation, which looks similar to a powerpoint presentation. Once they have finished, the user will be given the same quiz. Once they have completed the quiz, a second set of results will be stored. These can then be used to redirect the user back to a slide they had problems with, as well as storing and analysing information about how much they have learned through the presentation.
6.1 Collaborative Learning
Once a presentation has been authored by a teacher, health care professional etc, this will be stored in a file that can be uploaded to a central server. This allows for easy sharing of learning resources, and could be a great tool for collaborative learning. To compensate for the lack of an internet connection in parts of South Africa, presentations should be saved in a format that can be put on a CD and mailed to users.
7 Requirements/Resources
The requirements for the end product are minimal: users should have a desktop terminal, running Windows XP or later. An internet connection is preferred but not required. The requirements for the development of the project are listed below:
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7.1 Hardware
• Desktop computer with internet connectivity, as supplied in the Hon- ours laboratory
7.2 Software
• Windows OS, as supplied in the Honours laboratory.
• Visual Studio
• Authoring software (Dreamweaver?)
8 Progression Time-line
Progression Timeline 8 March Project Presentation
20 March Clearer idea of how to author the presentation
1 May Background on how to use XML and authoring software
24 June Literature Review
2 August Project Presentation 2 Sometime Implementation Stages 19 September Submit Short Paper 24 October Project ready for test 24 October - 31 October Coordinate and do testing 31 October Final Project Presentation 7 November Final Project Submission 14 November Website Complete
References
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