A Better UNC Charlotte Experience Through a Mobile

Application

Prepared byMichael South,

Christopher Foley,Cole Carter

10 June 2015

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Table of ContentsTitle Page……………………………………………………………………………………………...1

Table of Contents……………………………………………………………………………………..2

Executive Summary…………………………………………………………………………………..3

Introduction…………………………………………………………………………………………….4

49erExpress and Banner Services………………………………………………………………….5

Current Banner Services…………………………………………………………………….5

Current Issues………………………………………………………………………………...5

How to Improve……………………………………………………………………………….6

Moodle………………………………………………………………………………………………….6

Traditional Learning………………………………………………………………………….6

Online Learning………………………………………………………………………………7

Transportation…………………………………………………………………………………………8

Current Transportation Application………………………………………………………....8

Issues to be Addressed………………………………………………………………………8

How to Improve……………………………………………………………………………….9

Implementation………………………………………………………………………………………..10

References…………………………………………………………………………………………….11

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Executive Summary49er Express

49er Express is a portal that students and faculty use for grades, class schedules, advising and other things of that nature. Moodle2 is one of the most widely used learning management system in the world. It is utilized by many educational institutions around the world allowing the combining of traditional learning with web-based support of Moodle2. These types of services are classified as banner services. The problem with this portal is its accessibility.

As of current accessing the 49er portal is highly frustration and sometimes nonexistent when using a smart phone or tablet device. Implementing this portal and its services into an app while fix these accessibility issues. The biggest problem with implementing 49er Express is that there is no useable code available so new code will have to be developed in order to overcome this challenge.

Transportation

The current transportation app, UNCC NextRide, which uses Google Maps, currently allows for tracking shuttles and viewing shuttle routes. When implementing this application, improvements can be made. The three current issues are (Ride Systems LLC):

Lack of building labels No shuttle navigation No walking navigation

Google Maps has all UNC Charlotte buildings labeled and a simple filter can be changed to allow for the labels to show.

Shuttle navigation has the user input a location and the application can pick the closest shuttle stop and find a correct route for the user.

Walking navigation is already in Google’s code and can be implemented by adding a search bar and direction services (Directions service; Places search box).

Adding these three features to this application and bundling everything into a single unit will appeal to a greater variety of students.

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IntroductionAs a student at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) we are provided with a numerous amount of tools to aid us in our education. For student account information, transcripts, advising, and, financial aid we would use a tool called 49er Express. For class assignments and syllabi we would use Moodle. Currently, there is not an effective tool for new or returning students to use in order to learn how the transportation system operates on campus. Most students either had to do their own research to find a route map or by word of mouth between students.

While some of these tools work fine, the accessibility of all of them are dwindling as newer technology becomes available to us. The 49er Express tool and Moodle tool are two that work fine on a desktop computer but as soon as student try to access these tools on a Mobile device (smart phone or tablet) several problems occur, anything and everything from just not being able to connect, to errors or formatting issues.

The purpose of creating a mobile app including: 49erExpress, Moodle and even a Transportation module, is to provide the students, faculty and staff with access to a system that will cater to their financial, academic and transportation needs anywhere and anytime of the day. This would fix the problems of trying to access 49er Express and Moodle on mobile devices and it would give everyone access to accurate, live tracking of the buses, their routes, when they take a break, and their location.

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49er Express and Banner Services49er Express is an online portal that students and faculty use to have access to many important services. These services are referred to as banner services. These services include Payments, Financial Aid, Personal Information, Student Services/Account, and Advising. The site overall is pretty good at providing these services reliably for the most part. With the prevalence of smart phones and tablets, technology has to adapt to these new devices to stay in cycle. 49er Express is using old technology and smart phone and tablet users are paying the price.

Current Banner Services

The current banner services are Payments, Financial Aid, Personal Information, Student Services/Account, and Advising. While these services work, the university screen shows a lack of organization. (See fig 1 and 2) The advising tab is located on one side of the site and the other services are on the other. In addition, there seems to be some redundancy with the current version as well. For example, if you click ‘Banner Self Services’ (see fig. 3) the screen will duplicate the same information listed above. This can make the system confusing to new or unfamiliar users.

Current Issues

If a user tries to access 49er Express on their mobile device chances are they will have trouble. Depending on your connection and the type of connection such as wifi or celluar network you may or may not be able to access the site. This is an huge issue when you have to sometimes deal with time senstive information such as advising, financial aid or payments. Having to access a computer every time you need to get on banner is a hassle and shouldn’t be nessecary. The other issue at hand is reducing the redundency of services and placing them in well placed catagories will help the usability of the product for new and previous users. Both of these problems are relatively easy to fix.

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Figure 1

Figure 2

Figure 3

How to Improve

The best way to improve the current portal is to write a mobile app for it. The task brings its challenges but overall shouldn’t be too difficult. The longest part would be creating original code to have the same functionality while staying within the form factor of mobile devices. Also creating original code will allow for the services to be reorganized into the clean and concise categories that I mentioned before. The best programming language to create this app will be C# for window platforms, JEE (Java Enterprise Edition) for android platforms, and Objective C for IOS platforms.

MoodleThis report will address the difference between the traditional learning and online learning which includes Moodle2. We will also discuss problems and possible solutions that will assist students in choosing the right choice for their circumstances.

Traditional Learning

Traditional education allows students to come to a college and attend classes in classrooms. This type of learning has been the only means to receive a good education for many years. It has and still allows students to interact with other students and teachers face-to face. Students learn the importance of communicating with their peers verbally and nonverbally.  In addition, the traditional education creates an environment that addresses questions and answers easier and quicker. Likewise, for this type of education has prepared many students for the real world, by teaching them how to be responsible and accountable while taking test, meeting assignment deadlines and regular attendance.

The disadvantages of the traditional education lifestyle are attendance, location, lack of flexibility and campus life. Many students must work in order to take care of themselves and possibly their families; but, if these students’ goals are to receive a higher education, they are expected to be on campus on time, without any excuses. Similarly to the real world, tardiness and absences in these traditional classrooms can count against them. In addition, the inflexible schedules have been known to be a challenge for working students because it is difficult to plan classes around their schedule. Lastly, many students do not have reliable transportation or better yet, their finances may not be consistent enough to ride the public transportation, if any in their area. Therefore, location is also a disadvantage of traditional education that has hindered students from continuing their goal of graduation from a community or university.

In the article, “Adult Learning in the Digital Age,” the author informs its reader of the changes that online learning has impacted. This change has affected learners of all ages including offering valuable knowledge and tools that assist them in accomplishing daily task as well as educational goals. The author quoted, “communities were important in prehistoric times, today online communities are an inherent and critical part of the Web learning experience”. (Martinez

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68). Likewise, technology is replacing the need to physically go to a building to request information; people have access to handling personal business by connecting to an online site.

Online Learning

Online learning allows the student to create an environment that fits their circumstances. It basically gives the student the directions and tools needed, which are computers and basic computer skills in order to attend college. What is this online learning called? It is called Moodle2. As author Donovan Walling said in his article “Designing Learning for Table Classroom” that investing in “cost –effective technology has proved to be a good fit with learning capabilities of today’s students”. (Walling 1) Likewise, he stressed that in many classrooms, electronics have replaced not only printed materials but, the desktop computer and laptops as well. This clearly shows how and why Moodle2 based learning can be effective. However, lets discuss the meaning of Moodle2 and some of its disadvantages here on the campus of University of North Carolina –Charlotte.

Moodle2 is one of the most widely used learning management systems in the world. It is utilized by many educational institutions around the world allowing the combining of traditional learning with web-based support of Moodle2. Moodle2 stands for "Modular Object-Oriented Dynamic Learning Environment." This E- learning tool was created in 2002 as a doctoral research by an Australian man named Martin Dougiamas (Martinez 68)

A physical presentation of most educational institution’s Moodle2 home page usually includes participants (educators and students) and a calendar with a course schedule and list of assignments. In addition, Moodle2 also includes forums, that allows its students to communicate by asking or answering questions; it also includes class quizzes, glossaries of terms, and links to other Web resources. Moodle2 gives educational institutions the ability to create online courses and useful tools while its students are granted an opportunity to enjoy virtual classrooms.

The disadvantages that many students have expressed are that, the format is not clear and concise while utilizing it on cellphones. Therefore, it’s like being back at square one, the inconvenience of being able to stay connected to useful information concerning classroom assignments, announcement or other task. For instance, there are spaces on the pages being displayed that do not allow administrators to insert information there. Also, the website will shut completely down at times, making it difficult for students to take test or simply access information.

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TransportationPublic transportation on campus for a new or an inexperienced student is difficult. When visiting the UNC Charlotte website about transportation, the shuttles are shown with their service stops and a map of each route, but when students are on campus, this information is hard to access when searching for a stop (UNC Charlotte). UNC Charlotte, with Ride Systems, created a mobile application called UNCC NextRide that gives users the information they need while on campus. The 49erExpress application will take UNCC NextRide, add features to improve the experience, and implement everything into a single unit (Ride Systems LLC).

Current Transport Application

The current transportation app was created by Ride Systems LLC and utilizes Google Maps to trace the four shuttle routes on campus, as well as the Daytime Disability route (Figure 4). The green color code on the map represents routes beginning and ending on the east side of the campus. Each of the routes are color coordinated and mapped showing each stop. The active shuttles for each route are shown using an arrow to indicate where the shuttle is going and is tracked using GPS. The button at the top-left allows the user to activate and show different routes and the estimate time of arrival for each stop (Ride Systems LLC).

Issues to be Addressed

While this application is great at showing the routes and live tracking each shuttle, it does not have everything needed to get around campus. If a user has little to no knowledge of the layout and buildings, the routes alone cannot help. UNCC NextRide does not have a great labeling system and the ability to get directions to a location on campus. Even though each stop is labeled with a building or road location, the buildings seen on the map are not labeled; therefore, navigating to a specific building becomes a difficult task (Ride Systems LLC).

The three issues to be addressed before implementing this application are: Building Labeling Shuttle Navigation – the application currently does not inform the user how to alert the

transportation service that their service is needed at a particular location

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Walking Navigation – the application currently does not inform the user how to alert the transportation services that their service is needed at a particular location.

How to ImproveGoogle Maps already has each building on UNC Charlotte’s campus labeled and allows users to search for a specific building. When the 49erExpress application is implemented, the labels for each building will be visible and a search bar will be provided. This implementation could cause issues if the user’s search returns a location off campus. To limit the search function to only the UNC Charlotte area is a simple task of editing the bounds of the search code. This creates boundaries for the search to the specific location between two latitude and longitude points enabling the search for a building name.

This example of the binding code for JavaScript is (FIGURE 5).

Shuttle navigation can be solved by having the user enter the desired building or location and the application finds the closest shuttle stop to the destination. After the destination stop has been found, another shuttle point is located near the user on the same route. The application will inform the user which shuttle location to move to, how long the shuttle will take to arrive, and the expected drop off time.

Implementing walking navigation is simple because Google Maps has every sidewalk and road mapped out for campus and has walking navigation available. The process of allowing this application to have walking navigation is through adding the search bar and enabling the direction service using the Google Map API (Directions service; Places search box).

Adding everything into a single application can be designed much like the concept to the right (Figure 5). This design would allow for just viewing the campus map to find a building or location and accessing shuttle navigation or walking navigation (UNC Charlotte).

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var defaultBounds = new google.maps.LatLngBounds(      new google.maps.LatLng(-33.8902, 151.1759),      new google.maps.LatLng(-33.8474, 151.2631));map.fitBounds(defaultBounds);

Implementation

Banner

The first step to implementing the banner app is writing the new code for the basic app. This app will be developed in one base language of C# and utilize the .NET framework. It will then be converted to the code that is accepted by Mac and Android platforms to save time. After the initial code is written and the app is working, it will need to be tested extensively. The app will need to go under unit testing to make sure that it works by itself. This is will be done by white box and black box testing. White box testing is testing the code for bugs and errors in the app. Black box testing is testing the apps functionality and showing if the app is doing what you expect it to do. After unit testing, the system will need to be tested to make sure that it’s connecting to the pre-existing databases that the original site uses to store its data. Once that is all working then the app will need to go through integration testing with the Moodle component and the transportation component. This is vital to the entire project as if this fails it will need to be fixed before launch or there will be several repercussions. Once integration testing is done, you will again do system testing to test the entire system as a whole with its new components added in.

Moodle

Moodle implementation is a simpler process as it needs very little original code and the rest will be just importing the current Moodle API. This Application Programming Interface will allow for the current Moodle system to interface with our app and allow students and faculty use it from the same database as the website. The original code will just cover the basic interface and integration components needed to link the banner app with the Moodle interface. Before integration with the banner app and the transportation interface, it will need to be tested in the same manner as the banner app, white box testing, black box testing, system testing, integration testing, and then system testing again.

Transportation

Implementing the transportation application with the 49erExpress app could be a complex task. Adding the current UNCC NextRide app will not take much effort, but improving the application to add navigation will take more time and money. If UNC Charlotte has a small team of 2-3 people, designing the app will “likely cost anywhere between $50,000 to $100,000” (Yarmosh). By implementing this feature, the students can effectively utilize the services offered on campus as well as save its users a lot of time.

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ReferencesDeveloping a Campus Mobile Strategy: Guidelinds, Tools, and Best Practices. 2013. Web. 10

June 2015. <https://net.educause.edu/ir/library/pdf/ACTI1303.pdf>.

Google. Directions service. 2015. 08 June 2015. <https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/examples/directions-simple>.

—. Places search box. 2015. 08 June 2015. <https://developers.google.com/maps/documentation/javascript/examples/places-searchbox>.

Kerres, Michael. Beyond Learning Platforms: Infrastructures for the Digital Campus. 27 September 2004. Web. 10 June 2015. <http://mediendidaktik.uni-due.de/sites/default/files/beyond-learning-platforms_0.pdf>.

Martinez, Margaret. “Social Networking, Adult Learning Success and Moodle”. Adult Learning in the Digital Age; Information Science Reference; Chapter 7; p. 68-80 (2009)

MoodleDocs. Core APIs. n.d. Web. 10 June 2015. <https://docs.moodle.org/dev/Core_APIs>.

Multiple Devices and Platforms: Institutional Strategies. 16 May 2012. Web. 10 June 2015. <http://www.cni.org/resources/publications/other-publications-by-cni-staff/multiple-devices-and-platforms-institutional-strategies/>>.

Ride Systems LLC. UNCC NextRide. Vers. 2.0. 16 March 2015. Apple App Store. 08 June 2015. <http://www.ride-systems.com>.

UNC Charlotte. CATS Campus Shuttle. n.d. Web. 04 June 2015. <http://pats.uncc.edu/transportation/campus-shuttle>.

Virve Siirak Affiliation: Tallinn University of Technology (TUT), Estonia ; Some Experiences of E-Learning in the Moodle E-Learning Environment; Information and Communication Technologies, Society and Human Beings; Information Science Reference; Chapter 23; p. 307-312 (n.d.)

Yarmosh, Ken. How Much Does an App Cost: A Massive Review of Pricing and other Budget Considerations. 04 February 2015. Web. 08 June 2015. <https://savvyapps.com/blog/how-much-does-app-cost-massive-review-pricing-budget-considerations/>.

Walling, Donovan R. “Designing Learning for Tablet Classrooms: Innovations in Instruction”. Springer, 2014

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