Sunday, April 24, 2011

Group Project: Beth, Maria, & Henry

Beth Howlett, Maria Schenk, & Henry Coates

ELP 510

Group Project

Dennis Schultz


 

Web-based Course Design: Collaborative Web Development Team Project


 

This project will involve learning to:

Use control structures for decision-making

Use looping structures

Use functions

Design and create a database (MySQL)

Connect to a database and perform SQL queries to insert and retrieve data

Use session variables


 

Project Deliverables

Project Proposal
Database Model

Site Architecture Diagram
Final Project & Web Presentation


 

Course Structure:


 

The learners in this course will be broken into small groups to work collaboratively on the assigned project. Upon being assigned your group, members are required to meet (synchronously or asynchronously) to choose one of the three project options, distribute responsibilities, set project goals and a time line. By the end of the first week of class, each group must email the instructor their decision on a project type and a "learning contract" detailing each individual's responsibilities. An additional class-level discussion forum Q&A moderated by the instructor will be available throughout the class to support learners across groups as they complete their projects. Final projects are due during the final week and will be subject to a peer review process.


 

Basic Guidelines:


 

As a team please choose one of the following projects to complete:


 

Project Assignment & tracking system

    Database to hold all employee information and assigned projects

    Page to enter tasks and assign task to a specific employee

    Way for employee to log in and see assignments

    Way to notify employees of new assignments

    Way to change status of assignment

    Way to view closed or open assignments


 

Search engine – data storage and retrieval based on specific keywords

    Database holding books or articles with keywords

    Page to enter search terms

    Page to add additional info into database

    Page to view all items


 

Knowledge/Content Management (e.g. – Site that gathers information about reptiles or amphibians)

    User registration page

    Page that allows users to post new information

    Page that displays all information related to a specific reptile or amphibian

    Page that lists all animals in the database


 

At a minimum, your project must include:

1. A database with at least three tables.


 

2. A form that requests information and a processing script that validates that appropriate data has been entered into the form and then inserts data into the database. The processing script will validate submitted data and us a control structure to determine if the user has filled out the form correctly.


 

3. A page that queries the database and displays a listing of all of the entries in your database (e.g. - a listing of all the models). Use some type of looping structure to print out this information.


 

4. A Main Menu that provides links to all other pages of your site.


 

5. A page that displays a subset of the data in the database (e.g. – only the appointments for a specific model).


 

6. A login form. The processing script will validate that appropriate information was entered into the form. The database will be queried to ensure that the user is in the database. If the user is authenticated, he/she will be redirected to the Main Menu.


 

7. Session variables to store information that you will need as users navigate from one page to another (e.g. – user id, name, etc.).


 

8. SQL queries (at least one INSERT, one SELECT, one SELECT query with a WHERE clause, and one join query).


 

Format all web pages so that they look attractive/professional and follow the practices you have learned in previous courses. Provide links where necessary to allow users to move from one page to another (e.g. – Return to Main Menu). Store your database connection information in a script located somewhere other than public_html. Include this file in all scripts that will access the database.


 

Course Evaluation:

Each student will be evaluated according to their deliverables and through a peer review process. Individual participation and group projects will both be subject to peer review. All evaluations will use a likert-scale scoring rubric and all peer review will be conducted anonymously.


 

Instructor (75%):

  • Group projects will be scored according to a point scale. Each of the listed required items is worth 10 points each.


 

Peer Review (25%):

  • Group projects will be subject to peer review via an online survey which offers a likert-style scale for the databases appearance, utility and filiality to the course's stated minimum requirements. The survey instrument can be previewed here: http://www.surveymonkey.com/s/3KW9WQ5
  • Individual members of each group will be rated anonymously by their peers on a likert-style scale for their level of participation, ability to stay on task and general quality of work submitted.


 


 


 

5 comments:

Birgit said...

I'm feeling really really really tired, and I don't clearly understand what the course is about. I think I need to get some rest, can't use my brain any more or wait for last project to get posted to the blog.

Donna said...

How did you decide to use a ratio of 75% for instructor and 25% for students?

RMerritt said...

Nice idea of having the students email the instructor with their decision and "learning contract". Would you have the instructor provide feedback at this point or just wait until the project were finished?

Beth said...

We hadn't discussed this eventuality, but in my opinion, instructor feedback on this item would be important and given after submission, not at the end of the course.

Monica said...

How long would this course be? I am not familiar with web development, but it seems like the learners would have a lot of work to do. I really like the idea that a Q&A forum would be available throughout the class. I also like how you used surveymonkey for the peer evaluation piece.