AN INTRANET PORTAL FOR A LEARNING INSTITUTION

With the rise of Internet and telecommunication services in recent times, the communication needs of human life have been enhanced progressively. From the earliest times, when communication between people included word of mouth, society evolved from various stages of disseminating information. The problem of insufficient communication and interaction is common in public schools among students and lecturers because of dearth of communication technology. In some schools, communication between faculty members and students are often low. Some students and teachers show resistance to using electronic method of learning and teaching, as a result of several factors including illiteracy. The objective of this study is to develop an intranet portal that handles communication and interaction for a learning institution and also help students improve academically from their comfort zone and outside the lecture hall. The tools engaged in developing this application include ASP.NET and C# as the server side programming, and MySQL as the database. With this application, lecturers and students are able to interact better. The system serves as a medium on which information is communicated and shared. The benefit of using the developed system for effective communication is that it keeps members of the institution regularly updated with current information on happenings and events in the institution. The application will also facilitate collaboration among learners

Information Outlook, May 2004

Volume 8, Issue 5https://scholarworks.sjsu.edu/sla_io_2004/1004/thumbnail.jp

Some theoretical and practical aspects of educational portal design based on CMS System

In this paper the authors describe and review their own experience as well as the experience of other countries in the use of of CMS for the development of educational portals. In addition, the paper includes a preview of system side requirements for such CMS as Joomla!, Drupal, WordPress, PHP-Fusion, Web@all CMS, Mambo and eXtreme-Fusion. The authors propose a concept of an educational portal that meets the needs of students, academic teachers, lecturers and administrative staff of the university. A description of the layers and target groups of this educational portal is provided, too. Moreover, the article examines results of a student survey relating to their expectations concerning the faculty’s educational portal. The last section of the article provides advice for designers of CMS-based portals, based on the authors' many years of experience in the field and an analysis of the available examples.Uniwersytet Śląsk

Online help-seeking in communities of practice

Interactive online help systems are considered to be a fruitful supplement to traditional IT helpdesks, which are often overloaded. They often comprise user-generated FAQ collections playing the role of technology-based conceptual artifacts. Two main questions arise: how the conceptual artifacts should be used, and which factors influence their acceptance in a community of practice (CoP). Firstly, this paper offers a theoretical frame and a usage scenario for technology-based conceptual artifacts against the theoretical background of the academic help-seeking and CoP approach. Each of the two approaches is extensively covered by psychological and educational research literature, however their combination is not yet sufficiently investigated. Secondly, the paper proposes a research model explaining the acceptance of conceptual artifacts. The model includes users’ expectations towards the artifact, perceived social influence and users’ roles in the CoP as predictors of artifact use intention and actual usage. A correlational study conducted in an academic software users’ CoP and involving structural equations modeling validates the model, suggesting thus a research line that is worth further pursuing. For educational practice, the study suggests three ways of supporting knowledge sharing in CoPs, i.e. use of technology-based conceptual artifacts, roles and division of labor, and purposeful communication in CoPs