The Florida State University
College of Arts and Sciences
EC Eval
A Java Application for Engineering
Educational Outcomes Evaluation
By
Chi Cui
October, 2001
A master project submitted to the
Department of Computer Science
In partial fulfillment of the requirements for the
Degree of Master of Science
Major Professor: Dr. Robert A. van Engelen
Copyright (C) 2001, Eval group inc.
Dr. Robert A. van Engelen
Major Professor
Dr. Kyle Gallivan
Committee Member
Dr. Hilbert Levitz
Committee Member
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Abstract
This project presents a Java application to help in implementing and assessing the process
of Engineering Criteria 2000 for any engineering program and is sponsored by Eval
Group Inc.
Java Applet is used for the interface, and PHP is used when the inactive with the local file
system is needed. JDBC is employed to connect with MySQL database server. And
VisualCafe is used as the implementation tool for programming.
This project produces the department/program objectives, department/program outcomes,
each individual course outcomes, the student’s performance correlating with outcomes
and each course objective. Moreover, it provides multiple tools to evaluate the degree of
satisfaction numerically and statistically. It also compares both internal and external
outcome assessment surveys with the program educational objectives. The user of this
software includes faculty, students, department administrator and visitors such as alumni
or employers of the previous students.
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Acknowledgements
This project, both software and report, was funded by Eval Group Inc.
I would like to thank Dr. Robert van Engelen for his constant guidance and support in
this project. I also appreciate Dr. Kamar Tawfiq and Dr. Putcha for giving me this
chance. And I’d like to thank Dr. Gallivan and Dr. Levitz for agreeing to be on the
committee. Finally I would like to thank my family for their understanding.
Copyright (C) 2001, Eval group inc.
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Table of Contents
Chapter 1. Introduction .....................................................................................................6
1.1 Background and Motivation .........................................................................6
1.2 Overview of Project ......................................................................................7
1.3 User Categories ..............................................................................................8
Chapter 2. System Design ...............................................................................................10
2.1
The Programming Language ..................................................................10
2.2
Database .................................................................................................12
2.3
Web Server .............................................................................................14
2.4
Developer’s Tool ...................................................................................14
Chapter 3. Project Implementation .................................................................................15
3.1
Database Design......................................................................................15
3.2
JDBC Database Access ...........................................................................16
3.3
Database Connection Through PHP .......................................................16
3.4
Graphical User Interface .........................................................................17
3.5
3.6
3.7
3.4.1
The logon page ............................................................................17
3.4.2
GUI interface structure ...............................................................18
3.4.3
Menu ...........................................................................................19
Departmental Information .......................................................................20
3.5.1
Department Setup........................................................................20
3.5.2
Analysis Tools ............................................................................21
Course Information .................................................................................23
3.6.1
General Course Information .......................................................23
3.6.2
File Uploading & Downloading..................................................26
3.6.3
Course Analysis ..........................................................................29
System .....................................................................................................30
Chapter 4. Conclusion .....................................................................................................32
References .......................................................................................................................33
Appendix Installation and configuration of Apache, PHP and MySQL.
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Table of Figures
Figure 1. A snapshot of the logon page ..........................................................................17
Figure 2. Overview of GUI interface ..............................................................................18
Figure 3. The different menu for instructors, students and department administrators ..19
Figure 4. Course Setup Page ...........................................................................................20
Figure 5. Curriculum Analysis Snapshot ........................................................................22
Figure 6. Course Syllabus Snapshot ...............................................................................24
Figure 7. Course Objective Setup Page ..........................................................................25
Figure 8. Course Task Setup Page ..................................................................................26
Figure 9. Calendar for students .......................................................................................27
Figure 10. Grade book for instructor ..............................................................................28
Figure 11. A Snapshot for Course Report .......................................................................30
Figure 12. A Snapshot of System Admin Page...............................................................31
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