Low-Cost Active Monitoring of Attendance using Passive RFID Technology

In this paper, a smart attendance system for students attending schools is proposed. The proposed attendance system is based on Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) technology to facilitate automation and convenience. The proposed RFID Attendance System (RFID-AS) should be used by school administration to ensure safety for students as well as using it for grading and evaluation purposes. After careful study, passive RFID technology is selected to be used by the proposed system for its reasonable cost. The main components of the system are an RFID tag, an RFID reader, Visual Studio (XAF Tool), and SQL Server to compare the data from the RFID tag with the students’ database to record attendance automatically. A Graphical User Interface (GUI) is developed using Visual Studio (XAF Tool) to allow parents and school faculty to log in and browse the students’ records. Students will pass the classroom door, which will have an integrated RFID reader device to read their RFID. The paper discusses the design of the solution as well as the testing scenarios

Automated recording and processing of lecture attendance data using RFID student cards

Aspects of the ongoing project to automate the recording of students' lecture attendance using RFID cards and automate processing of the records without a university wide infrastructure are presented and discussed

A Survey of Smart Classroom Literature

Recently, there has been a substantial amount of research on smart classrooms, encompassing a number of areas, including Information and Communication Technology, Machine Learning, Sensor Networks, Cloud Computing, and Hardware. Smart classroom research has been quickly implemented to enhance education systems, resulting in higher engagement and empowerment of students, educators, and administrators. Despite decades of using emerging technology to improve teaching practices, critics often point out that methods miss adequate theoretical and technical foundations. As a result, there have been a number of conflicting reviews on different perspectives of smart classrooms. For a realistic smart classroom approach, a piecemeal implementation is insufficient. This survey contributes to the current literature by presenting a comprehensive analysis of various disciplines using a standard terminology and taxonomy. This multi-field study reveals new research possibilities and problems that must be tackled in order to integrate interdisciplinary works in a synergic manner. Our analysis shows that smart classroom is a rapidly developing research area that complements a number of emerging technologies. Moreover, this paper also describes the co-occurrence network of technological keywords using VOSviewer for an in-depth analysis

Development of Lecture Attendance System for Staff Performance Rating in a Tertiary Institution using Fingerprint Technology

Managing time attendance of staff in organizations has proven to be a challenging endeavor. Manual methods have been proposed in capturing employees’ attendance but there are inadequacies in measuring the performance of employees. This paper aims at promoting staff efficiency at work by developing a secure attendance management system for use in tertiary institutions via two subsystems; Fingerprint biometrics as a method of identification and authentication and Question-Answering module for staff performance rating. The system uses staff fingerprints stored in the database upon registration for carrying out the process of attendance and validate staff lectures’ requirements. It is accentuated by creating a question-answering module that allows students to answer some questions on each available and registered staff, hence, giving a more concentrated content about staff’s activities within the school. The evaluation was carried out based on the matching efficiency and attendance accuracy of the proposed system. The proposed system performed excellently with 98.51% attendance accuracy based on the high successful staff identification recorded. Hence, staff performance rating was generated, thereby creating an avenue for determining promotion grounds

The Effect of the Internet of Things (IoT) on Education Business Model

The introduction of the Internet of Things (IoT) in education, which allows Internet based communications to happen between physical objects, sensors and controllers, has changed educational institutions massively. By embedding sensors in objects and integrating cloud computing, augmented reality, wearable technologies and big data in this platform, different parameters of the educational environment can be measured and analysed to provide useful information. It also has created a new interaction between people and the environment in educational organisation. In this research based on the recent IoT projects in education, we will categorize the application of IoT in education into four groups: energy management and real time ecosystem monitoring, monitoring student’s healthcare, classroom access control and improving teaching and learning. We will investigate and analyse how this platform has changed the Education Business Model and added new value propositions in such organizations based on the Canvas Business Model

Change in the Middle: Implementing Professional Learning Communities for Sustained Instructional Change

The purpose of this research was to explore the influence of school leaders and teachers on surface level vs. sustained change through the implementation of professional learning communities, furthering the understanding of why some schools increase student achievement and others do not. Two predominant psychological theories, Kruglanski’s lay epistemic theory and Schwartz’s value theory, were used to explore the influence of cognition formation and values on the phenomenon within a complex environment. This research studied three Southeastern Virginia suburban middle schools. Case study methodologies were utilized, including school leader and PLC teacher member interviews, and an online survey that included the following measures: demographic and information questionnaire, sociogram questionnaire, need for cognitive closure scale, and value questionnaire 5X value survey. Triangulation was met through interviews, online survey measures, and other artifacts. Four themes were identified: power structures, school leader involvement, school culture factors, and sustained change. Findings suggested these four interrelated factors influenced PLC implementation to create an environment for sustained change vs. surface level change. Each school case was unique, as was each PLC studied. Two school cases were suggested to have more PLC implementation than the third school case. The factor of effectively dealing with conflict was indicated as a possible gateway factor to sustained change. More PLC implementation was indicated as creating more collaboration beyond PLCs to influence the whole school community

Design and Evaluation of a Gamification-based Information System for Improving Student Attendance

Declining student attendance is a recurring concern in most educational environments, including tertiary education. Depending on the assumed cause of low attendance, different approaches have been proposed as a means of intervention for mitigating the problem. On the other hand, gamification is a relatively new approach that aims to increase engagement of participants in non-game contexts by utilizing techniques developed for and used in computer games. In this paper, we propose a novel approach that aims at intervening by applying gamification techniques for the purpose of increasing the extrinsic motivation for attendance in tertiary-level education settings. The approach is based on a cloud-based platform which features web and mobile clients. The main stakeholders are the lecturers, who can configure the environment, and the students who are the targeted participants. Unlike similar works, this approach aims at improving the student attendance at a wider scale, e.g. at the programme level rather than focusing on individual modules or classes. Additionally, it provides fine customization allowing the lecturers to opt in with custom settings. Finally, the paper describes some early results and paves the road for an extensive evaluation

Near Field Communication Applications

Near Field Communication (NFC) is a short-range, low power contactless communication between NFC-enabled devices that are held in the closed proximity to each other. NFC technology has been moving rapidly from its initial application areas of mobile payment services and contactless ticketing to the diversity of new areas. Three specific NFC tags highlighted in the thesis have different structures in terms of memory, security and usage in different applications. NFC information tags exploit the data exchange format NDEF standardized by NFC Forum. NFC applications are rapidly stepping into novel and diverse application areas. Often they are deployed in combination with different devices and systems through their integrability and adaptability features. The diverse application areas where NFC tags and cards are used cover smart posters, contactless ticketing, keys and access control, library services, entertainment services, social network services, education, location based services, work force and retail management and healthcare. In designing different NFC applications, it is necessary to take into consideration different design issues such as to choosing the NFC tools and devices according to the technical requirements of the application, considering especially the memory, security and price factors as well as their relation to the purpose and usage of the final product. The security aspect of the NFC tags is remarkably important in selecting the proper NFC device. The race between hackers attacking and breaking the security systems of programmable high level products and manufacturers to produce reliable secure systems and products seems to never end. This has proven to be case, for example, for trying MIFARE Ultralight and DESFire MF3ICD40 tags. An important consideration of studying the different applications of NFC tags and cards during the thesis work was to understand the ubiquitous character of NFC technology.Lähitunnistus yhteys tekniikka (NFC) on lyhyen tähtäimen, pienitehoinen, kontaktiton yhteydenpito NFC yhteensopivien laitteiden välillä, jossa laitteet pidetään toistensä välittömässä läheisyydessä tiedon siirtämiseksi niiden välillä. NFC-teknologia on siirtynyt nopeasti sen alkuperäisiltä toimialueilta eli mobiili maksupalvelujen ja kontaktittomien lippujen sovellusalueilta moninaisille uusille alueille. Kolmella NFC tagillä, joita on käsitelty tässä tutkielmassa, on muistin, turvallisuuden ja käytön kannalta erilaisiä rakenteita, joita käytetään eri sovelluksissa. NFC-tagit käyttävät tiedonvälityksessä NFC Forumin standardoimaa NDEF-tiedonvaihtoformaattia. NFC sovellukset esiintyvät yhä enenevässä määrin nopeasti kehyttyvillä, uudenlaisilla ja monipuolisilla sovellusalueilla, usein yhdessä eri laitteiden ja järjestelmien kanssa. NFC on käytettävissä erinäisten laitteiden kanssa erilaisissa järjestelmäympäristöissä. Monipuoliset sovellusalueet, joissa muun muassa NFC-tagejä ja -kortteja käytetään sisältävät seuraavanlaisia sovelluksia: älykkäät julisteet, kontaktittomat liput, avaimet ja pääsynvalvonta, kirjastopalvelut, viihdepalvelut, sosiaalisen verkoston palvelut, kasvatukseen ja koulutukseen liittyvät palvelut, sijaintiperustaiset palvelut, työvoiman ja vähittäiskaupan hallinto-palvelut ja terveyspalvelut. Erilaisten NFC-sovelluksien suunnittelussa on väistämätöntä ottaa erilaisia suunnitteluasioita huomioon kuten valita NFC-työkalut ja laitteet sovelluksen teknisten vaatimusten mukaan. Erilaiset tärkeät tekijät kuten muisti, tietoturvallisuusominaisuudet ja hinta ja niiden kaikkien toimivuus lopputuotteen kannalta on otettava huomioon. Tietoturvallisuusnäkökohta on erityisen tärkeä oikean NFC laitteen valitsemisessa, sillä käynnissä on loputon kilpajuoksu hakkerien, jotka yrittävät rikkoa ohjelmoitavien korkeatasoisten laitteiden ja tuotteiden tietoturvajärjestelmiä, ja valmistajien, jotka pyrkivät tuottamaan luotettavia varmoja järjestelmiä, välillä. Tietoturvariskiin liittyviä ongelmia on löydetty esimerkiksi MIFARE Ultralight ja DESFire MF3ICD40 tageista. Tärkeä havainto, joka saatiin erilaisten NFC sovelluksien tutkimisesta, oli oivaltaa NFCteknologian potentiaalinen kaikkialle ulottuva, yleiskäyttöinen luonne