AN ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE SUPPORT SYSTEM FOR HIGHER

EDUCATION

AFERIZA BINTI ARIFIN

A project report submitted in partial fulfillment of the

requirements for the award of the degree of

Master of Science (Information Technology – Management)

Faculty of Computer Science and Information System

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

APRIL 2011

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I declare that this thesis entitled “An Academic Knowledge Support System for

Higher Education” is the result of my own research except as cited in the references.

The thesis has not been accepted for any degree and is not concurrently in candidate

of any other degree.

Signature : ……………………………………

Name : AFERIZA BINTI ARIFIN

Date : 30 April 2011

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This is dedicated to my late mother, Hajjah Salamah bt Hj. Md Dali, my loving

husband Selamat b Ahmed, my three wonderful children Syahirah Izzati, Aida

Nazurah and Amir Zafri.

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENT

In preparing this study, there are number of people who were contributed

towards my understanding and thoughts. I would like to take this opportunity to

express my sincere gratitude to those who have contributed in completing this thesis.

First and foremost, praise and highest gratitude goes to ALLAH S.W.T. for the

blessing and blissfulness for allowing me to be able to pass all the obstacles during

completing this thesis. Praised be to ALLAH S.W.T., the Lord of the Worlds.

I would like to thank my husband for his encouragements and advices from

time to time. This thesis could not be done without his love and support. Also, this

gratitude goes to my late mother who gave inspiration for me to complete this thesis.

And, not forgetting to thank my daughters and son for their supports.

I would like to extend my sincere gratitude to my supervisor Assoc. Prof.

Rusni Daruis for her advice, guidance, recommendations, and helps during

completing this thesis. Thank you so much. Then, thank you also goes to Puan

Rozana, Puan Nik Maria and staffs of UTM SPACE for their assistance, guidance,

and cooperation.

Lastly, this special gratitude and thanks goes to all my colleagues for their

assistance, cooperation, and supports. And to all my other colleagues during two

years course in Information Technology - Management, thanks a lot for your views

and tips. May Allah bless all of you. Thank you to all for helping me either directly

or indirectly in the completion of this thesis.

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ABSTRAK

Perlaksanaan sistem kualiti oleh Agensi Kualiti Malaysia (MQA) di peringkat

institusi pengajian tinggi memberi impak dari segi kualiti yang lebih baik dan

tersusun. Perkembangan teknologi maklumat dan komunikasi (ICT) memberi

peluang kepada institusi meningkatkan mutu perkhidmatan dan produktiviti.

Perlaksanaan system kualiti ini memerlukan pengurusan pengetahuan yang lebih

efisien. Pengurusan pengetahuan adalah proses di mana pengetahuan termasuk

pegalaman dan kemahiran yang jelas atau sebaliknya, berada dalam individu-

individu di organisasi dapat dikenalpasti dan dikongsi. Tujuan kajian, yang pertama

adalah untuk mempelajari dan menganalisa isu-isu semasa dan persekitaran dalam

pengurusan program akademik sebuah fakulti. Kedua adalah untuk membangunkan

suatu rangka kerja konseptual dari sistem sokongan pengetahuan bagi pengurusan

program akademik yang akan digunakan oleh institusi pendidikan tinggi dan yang

teraknir adalah untuk merancang dan mengembangkan prototaip sistem penilaian

program akademik. Output utama dari projek ini adalah suatu rangka kerja

konseptual bagi sistem sokongan pengetahuan akademik yang boleh digunakan di

institusi pendidikan tinggi. Dengan itu, kajian ini mancadangkan satu sistem

sokongan akademik diperlukan sebagai platform aplikasi untuk menyediakan

pengetahuan bagi keperluan para pensyarah dan untuk membantu pihak pengurusan

akademik dalam membuat keputusan. Projek skop adalah untuk mempelajari tugasan

yang berkaitan dengan akademik dari segi operasi dan pengurusan dimana ianya

hanya tertumpu kepada program diperingkat diploma.di UTM SPACE kampus

antarabangsa UTM, Kuala Lumpur. Rangka kerja yang dicadangkan akan

merangkumi peringkat operasi dan pengurusan dan pengguna sistem ialah para

pensyarah, pihak pentadbiran dan operasi. Pembangunan sistem ini di harapkan dapat

memberi manfaat dalam menyelesaikan masalah tenaga pengajar dan pihak pentadbir

dalam penyediaan laporan kerja untuk setiap semester.

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ABSTRACT

Implementation of quality systems by the Malaysian Quality Agency (MQA)

in the higher education institutions have an impact in terms of quality and better

organized. The development of information and communication technology (ICT)

provides opportunities for institutions to improve service quality and

productivity. This quality system implementation requires more efficient knowledge

management. Knowledge management is the process whereby knowledge including

experience and expertise whether explicit or tacit which basically resides in the

individuals in the institution is organized, identified, and shared. The purpose of this

study firstly is to study and analyze the current issues and environments in the

academic program management of a faculty. Secondly is to develop a conceptual

framework of a knowledge support system for academic program management to be

used by the higher learning institutions and lastly, is to design and develop a

prototype of the academic program assessment system by using UML technique and

dot Net application tools. The main output of this project is a conceptual framework

for an academic knowledge support system that could be used in higher learning

institution. So, in this study it is suggested that an academic knowledge support

system is needed as an application platform for delivering knowledge required by the

academician and to support the decision making by the administration. The project

scope is to study on the academic work flow in operation and management and this

will only focus on the full time diploma programs offered by the UTM SPACE at

UTM International Campus, Kuala Lumpur. Secondly, the framework proposed will

cover both the operational and the management level and the users of the system will

be the lecturers, management and oprerations. The development of this system is

expected to provide benefits in solving the problem of instructors and administrators

working in the preparation of reports for each semester.

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TABLE OF CONTENT

CHAPTER TITLE PAGE

DECLARATION ii

DEDICATION iii

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT iv

ABSTRACT v

ABSTRAK vi

TABLE OF CONTENTS vii

LIST OF FIGURES xiii

LIST OF TABLES xv

LIST OF ABBREVIATION xvi

LIST OF APPENDICES xvii

1 INTRODUCTION

1.1 Introduction 1

1.2 Problem background 2

1.3 Problem Statement 3

1.4 Project Objectives 4

1.5 The Scope 5

1.6 Importance of Project 5

1.7 Summary 6

2 LITERATURE REVIEW

2.1 Introduction 7

2.2 Literature Review Framework 8

2.3 The UTM 9

2.3.1 Assessment of Students 9

2.3.2 Outcome Base Education (OBE) 10

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2.3.3 Teaching and Learning Process in OBE 12

2.3.4 Academic Performance Audit Unit (APA) 14

at UTM.

2.4 The Knowledge 14

2.4.1 Knowledge Management 15

2.4.2 Knowledge as an Asset 15

2.4.2.1 Explicit Knowledge 15

2.4.2.2 Tacit Knowledge 16

2.4.2.3 The Nonaka Model 16

2.4.3 Knowledge in Organization 17

2.4.4 Knowledge Repository 18

2.4.5 Knowledge Repository and Decision Making 19

2.4.6 Knowledge Base Decision Support System 21

2.4.7 Decision Support System 22

2.5 System Development 24

2.5.1 System Development Methodology 24

2.5.2 Web Portal 25

2.5.3 Software - The DotNET 26

2.6 Case Study on Similar Concept and System 27

2.6.1 DotTeach: A Portal System for The 27

Academic enterprise

2.6.1.1 Context, Requirements and Design. 28

2.6.2 Quality Assurance in United Kingdom 31

Higher Education. A Case Study: The

London Metropolitan University

2.6.3 Discussion on The Case Study 34

2.6.3.1 The DotTech Summary 34

2.6.3.2 The London Metropolitan 35

University

2.7 Conclusion 36

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3 RESEARCH METHODOLOGY

3.1 Introduction 37

3.2 Research Design 38

3.3 Research Ttechnique 39

3.3.1 Data Collection Technique 40

3.3.1.1 Using Available Information 40

3.3.1.2 Discussion 41

3.3.1.3 Interview 41

3.3.1.4 Document Analysis 41

3.4 The Stages of System Development 42

3.4.1 Concept Design and Research Question 43

3.4.2 Prototyping 45

3.4.3 Product Development and Technology Transfer 45

3.5 Project Schedule – Gantt chart 45

3.6 Summary 45

4 ANALYSIS

4.1 Introduction 47

4.2 The Organization Analysis 48

4.2.1 School Vision 49

4.2.2 School Mission 49

4.2.3 School Philosophy 49

4.2.4 School Motto 49

4.2.5 The Computer Science Department 50

4.3 The Current System 50

4.3.1 Course Coordinator Activities Workflow 50

4.3.2 Management Activities Workflow 53

4.3.3 Academic Administrative Activities Workflow 54

4.3.4 Knowledge Repository 55

4.3.5 Decision Support System 56

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4.3.6 The Overall Current System Workflow 57

4.4 Weakness and Problem in Existing System 60

4.5 Analysis of the Propose System 60

4.5.1 Knowledge Repository for Course Coordinator 61

Module

4.5.2 Knowledge Repository Addition to 61

Management Module

4.5.3 Knowledge Repository Addition to 62

Administrative Module

4.5.4 Integrated Environment 63

4.5.5 Configuration and Administration Tools 63

4.6 Analysis Recommendation 63

4.6.1 Framework Approach 64

4.6.2 The Propose Conceptual Framework for an 65

Academic Knowledge Support System

4.6.2.1 Course Coordinator Module 66

4.6.2.2 Management Module 67

4.6.2.3 Academic Administrator Module 67

4.6.2.4 System Administrator Module 67

4.7 Knowledge Support System for Academic Program 68

Management

4.7.1 Propose Business Process Model for an 68

Academic Assessment System

4.8 System Methodology 70

4.8.1 Hardware Requirements 70

4.8.2 Software Requirements 70

4.8.2.1 The NET – Visual Studio 72

4.9 Summary 75

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5 PROTOTYPE DESIGN

5.1 Introduction 76

5.2 Use Case Model 76

5.2.1 Actor 77

5.2.2 Use Case Diagram 78

5.2.3 Use Case Description 80

5.3 Sequence Diagram 82

5.4 Class Diagram 84

5.5 Database Design 84

5.6 Prototype Design 85

5.6.1 Prototype System Modules Development 86

5.6.2 Level of Document Searching 88

5.6.3 Graphic User Design: Screen and Report 88

5.7 Summary 90

6 ORGANIZATION STRATEGY

6.1 Introduction 91

6.2 Roll Out Strategy 92

6.3 Change Management 97

6.4 Summary 100

7 DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSION

7.1 Introduction 101

7.2 Comparison between Existing and Propose System 101

7.3 Achievement 102

7.4 Obstacles and Challenges 104

7.5 Hopes and Expectations 105

7.6 Future Enhancement 106

7.7 Summary 106

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REFERENCES 107

Appendices A – C 109-141

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LIST OF FIGURES

FIGURE NO TITLE PAGE

2.1 Literature Review Framework 8

2.2 The Program Educational Objectives (PEO) 11

2.3 Conceptual Framework of UTM’S OBE 12

Implementation

2.4 SECI model 16

2.5 Different types of KM and their relations 19

2.6 The DSS Decision making process (shim el at 2002) 23

2.7 Decision support system module and its purpose 24

2.8 A prototyping-based methodology 25

2.9 Teachers interface 30

2.10 Administrators view of the course outline 31

2.11 The quality management model (from managing 33

for quality - a holistic model by Jill Grinstead)

3.1 Research Operation Framework 38

3.2 Relationship between data collection, analysis 42

and prototyping building

4.1 Organization chart at college science and 48

technology, SPACEUTM

4.2 Course coordinator activity diagram: preparing 51

the course coordinator report

4.3 Course coordinator activity diagram: CRR task 52

4.4 Course Coordinator Activity Diagram: Analysis 52

Report

4.5 Management Activity Diagram: Analysis Report 53

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4.6 Operation workflow in academic administration 54

Department

4.7 Implementation of the Decision Support System to 56

The Knowledge Support System

4.8 Current system workflow of the knowledge 57

support system

4.9 The relation in repository system 61

4.10 The management relation in repository system 62

4.11 The administrative relation in repository system 63

4.12 The structure of repository components with 65

system functional

4.13 Propose conceptual framework for an academic 66

knowledge support system

4.14 The academic assessment system process model 69

5.1 Actors of the academic program assessment system 77

5.2 Use Case Diagram for Course Coordinator and 79

Program Coordinator

5.3 Use case diagram for Head of Department and 79

Deputy Dean / Dean

5.4 Use Case Diagram for System Administrator 80

and Academic Administrator

5.5 The Academic Program Assessment 85

System Component

5.6 The Academic Program Assessment System features 87

6.1 System Implementation Steps 92

6.2 Change Management factors in The Academic 98

Program Assessment System

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LIST OF TABLE

TABLE NO . TITLE PAGE

2.1 Document in OBE 13

2.2 The knowledge matrix 20

3.1 Users and the questions 44

4.1 Documents and time of preparation 51

4.2 The cultural knowledge matrix to be capture and 55

organize in knowledge repository

4.3 The cultural knowledge matrix in 59

knowledge repository

4.4 Object Oriented Requirement Models 71

4.5 The Dot net 72

5.1 Actors Roles and Actions 78

5.2 Table of use case description 81

5.3 Sequence Diagram 83

6.1 Role and Responsibilities are needed to Operate 94

in the Academic Program Assessment System

6.2 The challenges in Change Management process 98

in The Academic Program Assessment System

7.1 The Comparison of existing and propose system 102

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LIST OF ABBREVIATION

CRR - Course Review Report

PRR - Program Review report

AJAX - Asynchronous JavaScript and XML

SQL - Sequence Query Language

GUI - Graphic User Interface

HTML - Hypertext Markup Language

ASP - Active Server Page

CSS - Cascading Style Sheets

CST - College Science and Technology

APA - Academic Performance Audit

UML - Unified Modeling Language

UTM - Universiti Teknologi Malaysia

MQA - Malaysia Quality Agency

OBE - Outcome Base Education

CQI - Continual Quality Improvement

PO - Program Outcome

CO - Course Outcome

PEO - Program Educational Objectives

PDCA - Plan, Do, Check, and Act

DSS - Decision Support System

UTM SPACE - UTM’s School of Professional and Continuing Education

KPI - Key Performance Indicator

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LIST OF APPENDICES

APPENDIX NO TITLE PAGE

A Gantt Chart 109

B UML DIAGRAM 112

B (a) Use Case Description 113

B (b) Sequence Diagram 120

B (c) Class Diagram 126

C Screen Design 129

D Report Design 138

1

CHAPTER 1

PROJECT OVERVIEW

1.1 Introduction

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (Technological University of Malaysia) is the

public engineering and technological university in Malaysia and is known by the

abbreviation UTM. The University specializes in technical studies, with separate

faculties for Education, Pure Sciences, management and Human Resources

Development. The university’s objectives are to fulfill Malaysia’s national aspiration

as a public university by providing quality graduates for various needs and industries

as well as performing various social obligations expected by its many stakeholders

and also to promote and develop academic excellence at various levels.

All higher institutions in Malaysia, public or private have to apply for the

qualification award from the Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA). The

Malaysian Qualification Agency (MQA) is the single quality assurance agency in the

country which supports the national agenda to make Malaysia as the preferred centre

to pursue higher education. Most of the programs offered by UTM have been given

accreditation by the MQA and currently in the stage of maintenance to ensure

continuous quality improvement. The MQA accreditation will also serve as evidence

in official resume to the public and will support part of the institution’s goal towards

achieving world class standard. In order to maintain the quality standard for the

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programs offered, UTM needs to comply with procedures provided by the MQA

related to the teaching and learning activities. The compliance to the standard

procedures will be done through the academic performance audit (APA) exercise by

the MQA.

1.2 Problem Background

At present, the management of the academic programs in the faculties is

mainly supported by the present student record system and the examination system

developed by the center of information and communication technology (CICT).

Before MQA come into the picture, these systems seemed to be adequate to fulfill

the academic management requirements in each faculty. In the current environment,

with new requirements set by the MQA for all higher education institutions, the

existing student record system and the examination system can no longer fulfill the

needs of the academic community. New sets of reports and documentations required

by the MQA need to be produced at the end of every semester, and this creates new

tasks and responsibilities on the part the lecturer. Since there is no system to

automate the process, the task is done manually and it demands a lot of commitments

from the lecturer in terms of time and effort. The report preparation process involves

a lot of calculations, and doing it manually will make the process error prone.

There is a need for a new system to support these new requirements. Some of the

reports and documentations that need to be prepared by the lecturer are such as

Program Outcome, Course Outcome, Attendance, Document Mapping, Marking and

Mapping Analysis, Course Work Sample and Analysis, Student EPP and Lecturer

Report, Course Content, Course Review Report (CRR) and Program Review Report

(PRR)

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The new system is hoped to elevate some of the burden of lecturers in preparing the

assessment documents, so that they can focus more on improving their teaching and

learning. The proposed system will also benefit the program owner as well as the

higher education provider.

Due to the many faculties at UTM for the both location, main campus and the

international campus, this dissertation will only focus on the full time diploma

programs offered by the UTM SPACE at International Campus, Kuala Lumpur. The

full time diploma programs offered by UTM SPACE currently are such as Civil

Engineering, Electronic Engineering, Electrical Engineering, Mechanical

Engineering, Computer Science, Management Technology, Property Management,

Architecture, Urban and Regional Planning, Quantity Surveying and Land Surveying

The MQA will perform the audit exercise regularly to ensure compliance of

the programs to the set standard so as to maintain the university quality performance

and this is known as Academic Performance Audit (APA) exercise.

1.3 Problem Statement

Currently, there is no proper system to assist the academic staff in producing

the documents and reports required by the faculty and the university management in

order to comply with the MQA requirements. Compliance to the MQA standards

requires new set of reports and documentations that can only be delivered by a

system that incorporates some concepts of knowledge management and decision

support.

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The proposed academic knowledge support system will benefit the academic staff

and faculty management in the following area:

1. Standardized process for academic program management by creating the central

knowledge repository that will serve the academic community requirements.

2. The incorporation of the knowledge based and decision support components for

management decision making process.

3. Help lecturers’ time management in fulfilling their many KPIs expected by the

university as the system will provide a one stop center for relevant knowledge

for the different tasks that they need to do.

1.4 Project Objectives

The main project objectives are:

i. To study and analyze the current issues and environments in the academic

program management of a faculty to maintain the university quality

performance.

ii. To develop a conceptual framework of a knowledge support system for

academic program management to be used by the higher learning institutions.

iii. To design and develop a prototype of the academic program assessment

system by using UML technique and dot Net application tools.

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1.5 The Scope

i. The study will focus on the full time diploma programs offered by the UTM

SPACE at UTM International Campus, Kuala Lumpur.

ii. The framework proposed will cover both the operational and the management

level for the full time diploma programs offered by UTM SPACE at UTM

International Campus, Kuala Lumpur.

iii. The users of the system will be the lecturers, program coordinator, and head

of department, dean, deputy dean (academic) and deputy registrar (academic).

1.6 Importance of Project

Maintaining the MQA standard is the most important agenda to make

Malaysia as a preferred centre to pursue higher education. This also serves as the

evidence of quality performance in education that is offered by UTM. The university

needs to perform continuous quality improvement by reviewing the quality system

according to the schedules.

The process of maintaining the quality performance is among the most

important matter of this study. This study is carried out by analyzing the current

process and studying the relevant literatures in order to develop the appropriate

framework for an academic knowledge support system suitable for a higher learning

institution. The development of the framework further into design and

implementation will benefit the end users, specifically the lecturers, the program

coordinators, the head of departments, and the deputy dean (academic), the academic

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registrar as well as the dean in terms of reducing the time taken in preparing the

necessary reports and documentations in order to comply with the MQA

requirements.

1.7 Summary

Universiti Teknologi Malaysia has to maintain its academic quality

performance by submitting the appropriate reports to the Auditor of the Malaysia

Quality Agency (MQA). UTM has to prepare a lot of documentation that related to

the academic quality performance and it must be prepare by the academicians. The

purpose of this project is to study and analyze the issues and environments of the

current academic management in a university faculty and also to propose a

framework appropriate for the academic environment and a prototype program

assessment system will be developed.

The academician’s have very limited time to be spared for the preparation of

the assessment documents which needs to be done at the end of every semester. The

development of an academic knowledge support system would prove to be very

beneficial and timely as such system can greatly improve the academician’s time

management to fulfill their many KPIs as required by the university.