SIT Internal
UCS1001 Critical Thinking and Communicating
Guidelines to writing academic proposals
Learning objective:
 Identifying key ideas in the proposal
Task: In groups of 4-5, brainstorm ideas for your process improvement proposal using the
following questions as your guide. These questions are mapped to the sections in your
proposal assignment.
Proposed topic:
 Attendance taking in higher education (Universities)
1.0 Introduction
 Speed up attendance taking while upholding academic integrity among students
1.1 Background


In the past, the simplest form of attendance taking involved students raising their
hands when their names are being called and their attendance will be recorded
down by their teachers in the attendance book.
Over time, the Attendance Management System (AMS) in the education sector
has evolved over the past few generations.
1.2 Motivation
What is the existing process like? What are the gaps identified in the existing process? What
are the root causes for these gaps?
Your inputs:
 Currently, SIT takes attendance physically, which is not an automated way of taking
attendance
 Traditionally using pen and paper to mark attendance while educators going on a
roll call
1) Time-consuming and tedious
o Large amount of time is spent on taking administrative matters which leads
to lesser teaching time
2) Hard to monitor
o Professors may mistake the identity of different students
o Buddy punching
o More attendance malpractices would result less academic integrity
What are the current solutions available in the market to address these gaps?
Your inputs:
 Educators are exploring alternatives virtually and physically without taking much
time such as
o Signing on a name list that is passed around the class
o QR Codes
o Use of IoT (Facial Recognition)
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SIT Internal




o RFID Technology (Use of Physical Card)
Singapore Institute of Management is currently using a radar attendance system
(Students must be on-site to clock in their attendance, utilizes location services)
Similarly, back in NS days, there was an app used to track attendance based on my
presence/location in camp (Geolocation tracking).
Alternatively, rather than using location to track attendance, some schools such as
Republic Polytechnic is using QR codes to note down their attendance as well
(Prove they are physically there to scan the QR code)
Singapore Polytechnic also has an app that allows students to take their attendance
in class.
What are you proposing to improve the process (in one sentence)? What is the novelty of
the approach recommended?
Your inputs:
 NFC technology will be used to assist educators in the current attendance taking
process.
1.3 Objective(s) and anticipated benefits
Objective - What is the purpose(s) of the improvement? Be specific.
Your inputs:
 Speed up the attendance taking process by 20%
 Uphold and strengthen academic integrity
Significance of process improvement in terms of outcome – How would this improvement
be beneficial to society/a particular group in society?
Your inputs:
 The aim is to benefit those in the education sector specifically
 Educators in SIT will be able to perform attendance taking in a more effective and
time efficient manner whilst upholding academic integrity
 Simplified administrative process for educators, able to focus on teaching and
guiding students more effectively
2.0 Literature review
Write the outline for your literature review using any of the four organizations presented.
Your inputs:
Problem Solution organization
 2.1 Issues in manual attendance taking
o Attendance Fraud
o Time consuming
 2.2 Approaches/Current solutions to uphold academic integrity
o Face Recognition
o Geo-fencing
 2.3 Approaches/Current solutions to speed up attendance taking
o QR Code
o Mobile Application
 2.4 Summary
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3.0 Methods
3.1 Improved process
Describe the improved process clearly so that the reader can see what and where the
proposed improvements are as compared to the current process. (Why u choose this
process over the others)
Your inputs:
1. Improved Process
 Overall
o Definition of NFC and provide simple explanation. (how its
adopted into cards and phones)
o Students using cards or phones to tap scanners.
o Teachers being able to immediately see updated attendance
system through web application.
 Selection and Implementation of NFC System
 NFC Card Distribution and Integration
 Installation of NFC Readers
 Testing and Calibration
2. Current Process (link back from introduction but not too much.)
 Manual attendance taking performed in class
o Professor/lecturer calls out the student’s name
o Professor/lecturer passes an attendance sheet for students to
pass around and sign accordingly.
3. Comparison based on identified problems such as academic integrity and
efficiency and speed of attendance taking.
3.2 Data collection and analysis procedures
Describe the recruitment of participants. Explain and justify the procedures you plan to use
to collect and analyse the data to determine whether your proposed solution is effective.
Your inputs:
 Control group
o 2-hour lecture of class strength 30
o Using manual roll call
o Track time taken
o Count actual number present and final attendance number
 Experimental group
o 2-hour lecture of class strength 30
o Using our NFC method
o Track time taken
o Count actual number present and final attendance number (For buddy
punching)
Track the difference in time taken as well as the number of attendance frauds taking place
between both groups.
(Increase the number of classes to get average of data to get more reliable results)
4.0 Conclusion
Your inputs:
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In conclusion, the current attendance taking process in SIT can be further improved. By
improving on this process, even if it is a small one, it can provide a large positive impact on
both students and professors.
(Reiterate problem and solution.)
Questions to ask:
1. Call it a “Study” or just use the term “solution”? (Proposed Solution)
2. Is QR code considered manual attendance taking?
3. Methods
a.
b. What else do we have to add into methods
4. Data collection and analysis procedures
a. Since it's just a proposal should we add more experimental groups where
they use QR code/ Facial recognition?
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