Student Satisfaction Using Real Projects For Object-Oriented and Database Design

By: Lisa M. MacLean Assistant Professor Department of Computer Science and Systems Wentworth Institute of Techno o!y ""# $untin!ton A%enue Boston& MA #'(("
E-mail: macleanl@wit.edu

Michae Werner& PhD. Professor Department of Computer Science Systems Wentworth Institute of Techno o!y ""# $untin!ton A%enue Boston& MA #'(("
E-mail: wernerm@wit.edu

Student Satisfaction Using Real Projects For Object-Oriented and Database Design
ABSTRACT

In this economy& computer science !raduates can command startin! sa aries in e)cess of *"#&###. +mp oyers e)pect !raduates to perform ri!ht out of the startin! !ate. It is increasin! y important for educators to pro%ide opportunities for students to position themse %es for success in these demandin! conditions. A so& as students enterin! ha%e !rown up with techno o!y& they are ,etter prepared on enterin! computer pro!rams than pre%ious c asses& meanin! educators must cha en!e them more and often e iminate ,e!innin! materia . Students themse %es are sa%%y as education consumers& and demand increasin! %a ue for their tuition. -ne way to meet a these conditions is ,y usin! rea pro.ects in the c ass as opposed to cases.
INTRODUCTION Software Design and De elo!ment and "d anced Database "!!lications are #$$-le el courses taug%t at &entwort% 'nstitute of (ec%nolog) in *oston+ ,". 'ntroduction to Programming logic+ se eral !rogramming courses+ 'ntroductor) Database S)stems and S)stems "nal)sis and Design+ are all !rere-uisites for t%e ad anced courses. (%is assures a solid grounding in t%e conce!ts needed to com!lete a real-life !roject. 'n t%ese two classes+ grou! !rojects demonstrate t%e !ractical a!!lication of anal)sis and design tec%ni-ues. (%e !rojects are built for an actual customer wit% t%e e.!ectation t%at t%e s)stem will be de!lo)ed u!on com!letion. (%e !roject eit%er must be internal to t%e institute or else for an e.ternal non-!rofit organi/ation. Students are e.!ected to wor0 in grou!s to !roduce a large-scale+ full) functioning two- or t%ree-tier database s)stem. Pre ious course sections were allowed to c%oose a case stud) on t%eir own. &%en students e.!ressed dissatisfaction t%at t%e) e.!ended a good deal of effort for a !roject t%at merel) went awa)+ effort was !ut fort% to identif) real world !roblems. 'n our e.!erience t%e real !rojects generate muc% more ent%usiasm+ in ol e greater com!le.it) and better !re!are t%e students w%o !artici!ate in t%em. Students are more satisfied wit% t%eir wor0 and %a e !ractical e.!erience to !lace on t%eir resumes. Some of the real projects in Software Design and Development 1. " database for a bowling league designed to trac0 league members+ set u! teams for bowling meets b) matc%ing !la)ers b) abilit)+ record scores+ etc. 2. " database s)stem designed to trac0 and re!ort on t%e deli er) of ser ices to %omeless !eo!le b) a local s%elter. 3. " room reser ation s)stem for a non-!rofit retreat and conference center. 4. " s)stem for t%e college !lacement office to enter job o!enings and ma0e t%em a ailable to students w%om were -ualified access t%e listings b) submitting resumes and attending orientations. #. " student information s)stem to allow students to access t%eir transcri!ts+ sc%edules+ grades and financial status using t%e 'nternet. 5. "n e.tensible 6"SE s)stem to allow future software design students to create gra!%ics and re!ositories of design data following arious met%odologies and generate source code. "ll of t%e abo e !rojects offered good o!!ortunities to demonstrate object-oriented

anal)sis and design tec%ni-ues. 'n eac% case a real customer was identified at t%e beginning and t%e students conducted inter iews in order to fi. t%e re-uirements. !roject Delivera"les Student teams submit t%e wor0 in t%ree !%ases: 1. Re-uirements "nal)sis 7 Preliminar) Design 2. Design 3. 'm!lementation "t t%e end of eac% !%ase t%e teams gi e a !resentation. Our !rogram re-uires students to ta0e a course in tec%nical communications+ !art of w%ic% is de oted to oral !resentations. Eac% student is re-uired to !artici!ate in at least two !resentations e en if Englis% is not t%eir nati e language. Students t)!icall) use o er%ead trans!arencies or PowerPoint slides for isuals. (o en%ance communication+ documents and gra!%ics must conform to a standard suc% as O,( or U,8. 'm!lementation t)!icall) in ol es bot% a database language suc% as "ccess or Oracle and an object-oriented !rogramming language suc% as 9a a or 6::. &eb a!!lications also in ol e ;(,8 and often Perl scri!ts. "s a course re-uirement+ teams need to im!lement t%e main functionalit) of t%e s)stem+ but not e.ce!tional usages or e.tensi e data alidation. Of course t%e real !rojects need to be com!letel) im!lemented and t%oroug%l) tested to be useful. #hat happened with these projects$ (%e bowling league !roject was com!leted and deli ered but suffered from t%e fact t%at t%e customer was onl) occasionall) a ailable for inter iewing and some of t%ose inter iews were in t%e bowling alle) itself+ a er) nois) en ironment. (%e students %ad to guess at some of t%e club rules and s)stem re-uirements ma0ing t%e resulting !roduct unusable as deli ered. ;owe er+ t%e s)stem was subse-uentl) !atc%ed b) someone else and e entuall) de!lo)ed. (%e %omeless s%elter !roject )ielded a iable

design t%at was later used. ;owe er+ de!lo)ment was not !ossible w%en t%e course was gi en since t%e s%elter %ad first to cobble toget%er a local area networ0 out of truc0loads of outmoded donated com!uter e-ui!ment. (%e retreat room reser ation s)stem resulted in an outstanding database design. 'm!lementation failed w%en t%e students tried to use a !oorl) documented database management s)stem t%at was ad ertised as !roducing world wide web data entr) forms. (%e design will !robabl) be used b) t%e retreat in t%e near future. (%e job listing !roject was com!leted and de!lo)ed b) t%e 6areer 6enter at &entwort% 'nstitute of (ec%nolog). (%e student information s)stem was com!leted but ne er de!lo)ed since it was de!endent on a securit) and aut%entication subs)stem t%at was to be !ro ided b) t%e local com!uter center but ne er was. (%e 6"SE s)stem %as gone t%roug% se eral incarnations o er t%e )ears t%e course %as been gi en. One of t%e better im!lementations was done using (cl<(0. ,ost recentl) a team did an e.cellent object-oriented design for it but foundered w%en t%e) tried to im!lement t%e gra!%ics editor using t%e ,icrosoft Foundation 6lasses. (%e learning cur e was sim!l) too stee! for t%em to master ,F6 in one semester. Some of the real projects Advanced Data"ase Applications st%dents have done Projects were originall) identified for two nearb) non!rofit agencies+ (%e =elson ,andela (raining 6enter and t%e Par0er ;ill<Fenwa) branc% of "ction for *oston 6ommunit) "ction >"*6D?. *ot% agencies are located wit%in wal0ing distance of cam!us. (%e student res!onse to being offered t%ese two !rojects was o erw%elming. (%e agencies were t%en solicited for ot%er !rojects. (en !rojects+ enoug% for a !roject for eac% grou!+ !lus one !roject to de elo! a web-based database a!!lication to facilitate future !rojects+ were assigned to t%e students.

'n order to ensure t%at t%e students were wor0ing on a !roject t%at t%e) found interesting and feasible for t%eir s0ill le els+ two sur e)s were ta0en. One sur e) as0ed eac% student about t%eir bac0ground and -ualifications outside of !rescribed course se-uences. (%e ot%er outlined eac% !roject briefl)+ noting w%et%er it was a web-enabled !roject or not+ and as0ed students to form grou!s and ran0 t%eir !references for eac% !roject. "ll grou!s but one recei ed eit%er t%eir first or second c%oice. /or The 0e son Mande a Trainin! center: 1. "n online a!!lication !rocess for students see0ing training at t%e center. (%e center offers two twel e-wee0 trac0s: com!uters and accounting. 2. " course sc%eduling s)stem to s%ow a!!licants a ailable course sections and times. 3. "n online test ban0 t%at tested students as t%e) !rogressed t%roug% t%e modules in t%e !rogram. Students 0now t%eir scores immediatel)+ and statistical re!orts are !ro ided to t%e management of t%e !rogram. 4. " trac0ing !rogram to !ro ide re!orts on student em!lo)ment and salar) gains after com!letion of a training !rogram. #. " mar0eting database of a!!licants+ !otential a!!licants+ and students w%o %ad com!leted t%e training but ma) want to u!grade t%eir s0ills. /or the Par1er $i 2/enway ABCD: 1. " database of a ailable da) care slots searc%able b) age of c%ild+ !rice range+ languages s!o0en+ %ours of o!eration+ and location. 2. " database of a ailable o!enings for lowincome %ousing. 3. " grant trac0ing database to facilitate obtaining funds for t%e agenc). 4. " database of em!lo)ment o!!ortunities.

/or Wentworth Institute of Techno o!y: 1. " web-enabled database t%at would trac0 new re-uests and facilitate student assignment to new !rojects and trac0ing of com!leted !rojects. Since t%at semester+ students %a e com!leted !rojects for ot%er local agencies+ suc% as t%e United Sout% End Settlement ;ouse and 8a "lian/a ;is!ana+ organi/ations t%at aid lowincome and immigrant !o!ulations. One !roject for t%e ;ome for 8ittle &anderers >;8&?+ a foster and ado!ti e care agenc)+ was a webenabled a!!lication for 6%ristmas s!onsors%i! of c%ildren w%om would ot%erwise recei e no %olida) gifts. 't sa ed t%e organi/ation 12$ %ours and t%e %iring of a !art-time aide w%ile enabling t%em to increase c%ildren ser ed b) 5@ !ercent. !roject Delivera"les Student teams were re-uired to !roduce t%e following documentation: 1. Re-uirements "nal)sis 7 Preliminar) Design 2. 6once!tual Design >Entit)-Relations%i! Diagram? 3. 8ogical Design >(able ma!!ing and normali/ation? 3. P%)sical 'm!lementation 4. S)stems Documentation >including a data dictionar)? "ll teams were re-uired to conduct !rofessional !resentations to t%e clients. "ll used PowerPoint slide !resentations and conducted t%oroug% demonstrations of t%eir s)stems. 'm!lementation of t%ese !rojects for t%e two outside agencies was com!leted in "ccess 2$$$ as a bac0 end+ wit% "ccess 2$$$+ 6:: or Aisual *asic front ends. (%e web a!!lication to trac0 new !rojects and t%e ;8& !roject was written in P;P wit% a ,)SB8 bac0 end. "ll !rojects %ad a!!ro!riate securit) measures in !lace+ suc% as grou!s and user logins wit% !asswords. #hat happened with these projects$ "ll !rojects were im!lemented at t%e client sites

during t%e last wee0 of classes. "ll !rojects+ e.ce!t t%e one for &entwort%+ are currentl) in use. Follow-u! calls made to t%e agencies %a e all %ad !ositi e feedbac0. (%e staff are ent%usiastic about t%e software. "ll agencies %a e e.!ressed a desire to %a e an ongoing relations%i! wit% &entwort%. Benefits (%e real !rojects were e.tremel) moti ating to t%e students w%o usuall) !ut in e.tensi e time on t%em. (%e "d anced Database classes contained #3 students w%om estimated 3+$$$ total %ours of time inclusi e of anal)sis+ design+ !rogramming %ours and on-site installation. Eac% !roject in ol ed unforeseen com!le.it). (%e) were %arder t%an to) !roblems and more t)!ical of w%at t%e students will see on t%e job. Since t%e off-cam!us agenciesC a!!lications %ad o erla!!ing !ieces+ t%e students %ad to wor0 in a larger grou! t%an just two or t%ree of t%eir friends. (%e customers alwa)s got somet%ing useful in return for t%eir time. Sometimes t%is was a functioning s)stem+ in ot%ers a reusable design. (%e Database s)stems were full) functioning and wor0 well toget%er. 'n all cases a better understanding of t%eir own business was a !ositi e e.ternalit) of t%e !rocess on t%e side of t%e agencies. (%e wor0 was guaranteed to be original. (%ere was little -uestion of students rec)cling somet%ing t%e) %ad done for anot%er course or %ad found on t%e 'nternet. Projects done for non-!rofit organi/ations can be used to satisf) t%e communit) ser ice re-uirement t%at man) colleges %a e for graduation. Partici!ation in t%e wor0 of non!rofits ma0es students more aware of t%e social and et%ical im!lications of com!uting. Suc% understanding is now mandated b) t%e "*E(+ 6"6 accreditation criteria.i &%ereas some ot%er sc%ools offer a se!arate course in ser ice learningii+ t%e &entwort% model is to incor!orate it into t%e !roject !ortion of e.isting courses.

Draw"ac&s and !ro"lems (%e !rojects %ad to be com!leted wit%in a single si.teen-wee0 semester. 6ustomers were often una ailable for inter iewing. (%e student teams were on tig%t sc%edules but were %eld u! b) customers. Student goals sometimes clas%ed wit% agenc) e.!ectations. Feature cree! was a significant !roblem as agenc) ent%usiasm increased. Some staff t%oug%t t%at t%e students were res!onsible for data entr). 'n addition+ some !roject contacts were not tec%nologicall) literate. Students disco ered an "ccess 2$$$ bug t%at nearl) derailed se eral !rojects. " bad code !atc% de!lo)ed on cam!us wrea0ed %a oc for t%e students in t%e final !rogramming %ours. " code fi. was a ailable+ but &entwort%Cs Office of 'nformation (ec%nolog) %ad not )et installed it. Students were forced to write wor0arounds. (%e most common com!laint was one t%at is ec%oed in nearl) e er) office in e.istence: in some grou!s+ not all students !ulled t%eir weig%t+ w%ic% generated significant resentment. 8astl)+ some of t%e agencies are located near to t%e !o!ulace t%e) ser e+ meaning+ disad antaged and dangerous sections of t%e cit). (%e students e.!ressed discomfort wit% t%e need to tra el to t%ese sites. St%dent Satisfaction Students were generall) ent%usiastic about t%eir e.!eriences in wor0ing on real !rojects. (%e most !ositi e feelings were generated towards t%e %omeless s%elter database s)stem+ alt%oug% t%is !roject !osed man) difficulties for t%ose in ol ed. Se eral students e.!ressed t%eir !ersonal needs to !i%e ,ac1 somet%ing to societ). (%e) sta)ed wit% t%e !roject for mont%s after t%e course ended+ and e en olunteered to do ot%er t%ings at t%e s%elter+ suc% as ser ing meals. "lt%oug% &entwort% 'nstitute loo0s fa orabl) on ser%ice earnin!ii+ it is not a graduation re-uirement. (%e student effort was entirel) altruistic.

Students in t%e Database class %ad mi.ed reactions. "ll students were as0ed during !roject !resentations w%at t%e) %ad enjo)ed t%e most and least about t%e !rocess. "ll e.!ressed satisfaction and !ride in t%eir finis%ed !roject. (%e) were uniforml) sur!rised at %ow muc% wor0 a real !roject actuall) entails. O erall+ a dee!er understanding of "ccess 2$$$ and t%e com!onents of an ad anced database s)stem were t%e most enjo)able as!ects of t%e !rojects. Students disli0ed most t%e conflicting communications wit% t%e users >w%ic% t%e !rofessor actuall) saw as a benefit+ since t%is e.!erience will better !re!are students for user interactions in t%e !ost-graduation wor0!lace?. One grou! felt t%at t%e) s%ould %a e been com!ensated for t%eir wor0 be)ond a grade. (%e) were told t%at t%e) were re-uired to com!lete a !roject for t%e course an)wa)+ so t%e difference between a to) and a real !roject was not significant. 'n addition+ t%e) could translate t%is e.!erience into a %ig%er-!a)ing job offer after graduation+ since t%e) now were able to sa) t%at t%e) %ad com!leted an actual+ functioning !roject. " %ig% !oint for t%ese students was t%e im!rom!tu and elo-uent address from Ro)al *olling+ a !re ious ,assac%usetts State Re!resentati e now t%e Director of t%e =elson ,andela training center. ;e %ad attended t%e student !resentations for %is agenc) and was mo ed at t%e -ualit) of t%e studentCs wor0. ;e t%an0ed t%em and too0 time to inform t%em of t%e im!act of t%eir wor0: in an age w%ere social ser ice agencies are o erwor0ed and underfunded+ t%ese !rojects would free staff from administrati e tas0s+ lea ing t%em more time to ser e t%eir !o!ulace. One student did note on t%eir semester-end e aluation t%at t%e use of "ccess 2$$$ was a disa!!ointment. ;e would %a e !referred a more difficult bac0 end suc% as SB8 Ser er or Oracle+ since t%ese s0ills are more in demand. ;owe er+ t%ese agencies onl) %ad "ccess 2$$$ a ailable. (%e e.!erience of com!leting a real !roject outweig%s t%e selection of a !latform. (%ese

s0ills are greatl) transferable to SB8 Ser er and Oracle im!lementations. ;owe er+ t%ere is currentl) a SB8 Ser er 2$$$ !roject under construction for t%e Fall and Summer 2$$3 w%ic% t%ese !rofessors are wor0ing on toget%er. (%is !roject %as re-uired two students to act as database administrators. (%e most ambitious !roject to date+ students from two different courses and t%ree different sections %a e alread) wor0ed on it+ and will continue to wor0 on final !olis%ing in t%e Senior Project class offered t%is summer. "s students %a e found t%at t%e real !rojects %a e eased t%eir difficult) in finding re-uired co-o!erati e em!lo)ment+ subse-uent classes %a e e.!ressed greater satisfaction. ,an) students are now c%ec0ing wit% instructors to see if t%eir courses offer real !rojects+ and ta0ing initiati e to recruit t%eir own. Advice and Concl%sions Real !rojects are an e.cellent teac%ing tool. 6%oose !rojects t%at are small enoug% to be doable but large enoug% to !ose some com!le.it). For e.ternal !rojects+ t%e sco!e of t%e !roject must be clearl) defined and !ut in writing. E.ternal agencies s%ould be as0ed to !ro ide a contact for eac% !roject t%at is 0nowledgeable and a ailable for student -uestions. 'nternal !rojects wit%in t%e uni ersit) !ose less ris0 t%an e.ternal ones and t%e customers are more li0el) to ma0e t%emsel es a ailable to t%e students. On t%e ot%er %and+ e.ternal !rojects for non-!rofits are more of a t%rill for t%e students and allow t%em to e.!erience feelings of gi ing somet%ing bac0 to t%e communit)-at-large.

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