Design and Implementation of a Web-based Social Networking Site for Staff and Students
Chapter One
Objectives of the Study
The objectives of this study are:
- To design and implement a web based social networking system for students and
- Improve on the demands on teacher when redesigning
- How students can become valued participants in the teaching and learning
- The development of appropriate tool to ensure that active student learning takes place; learning which supports the new literacy needed in our world
CHAPTER TWO
LITERATURE REVIEW
Theoretical Background
Social networks, as a form of social constructivism, have the potential to foster the interaction through which knowledge and meaning is constructed. Jean Piaget, the Gestalt philosopher and pioneer in the theory of constructivism, saw our brains as active processors. Piaget (1955) posits that children’s understanding of reality develops as the child accumulates errors in his or her understanding. This accumulation eventually causes such a degree of confusion
(cognitive disequilibrium) that the brain must restructure its thought structures to create harmony. In other words, children construct knowledge (learn) as their misconceptions are addressed and their thoughts are “restructured.” Piaget’s theory of cognitive development has informed educational theory for decades.
Classroom interaction, according to Piaget, is one of the most important classroom tools by which children learn. Social networks are virtual extension of that essential classroom interaction. Additionally, Berger and Luckman (1966) argue in their well known work The Social Construction of Reality: A Treatise in the Sociology of Knowledge that all knowledge, including the most basic, taken-for-granted common sense knowledge of everyday reality, is derived from and maintained by social interactions. In other words, it is impossible to learn in isolation; collaboration fosters the construction of meaning. And the collaborative power of social networks cannot be denied. The idea of computer-supported collaborative learning (CSCL) arose in the 1990s, in reaction to outdated software that isolated individual learners (Stahl, Koschmann & Suthers, 2006). Rather than using technology to construct meaning, early computer-supported education programs only allowed students access to static, posted materials or methodically drilled students through computer-tutoring software. The pioneers of CSCL sought to create software that would foster learning through collaboration with other students, rather than directly from a teacher. Through shared knowledge, discussion and debate, community becomes the agent of learning. The goal of CSCL software design is to develop activities and environments that enhance the practices of group meaning making. Social networks are the newest generation of such computer-supported collaborative learning environments.
Lastly, social networks help students create narrative versions of their lives and the lives of others. Reading and writing blog entries, podcasts and creative stories on a social network encourages students to effectively express themselves, and to reflect upon the tales of their peers. As Jerome Bruner (1985) states in his article titled Narrative and Paradigmatic Modes of Thought, “Children turn things into stories, and when they try to make sense of their life they use the storied version of their experience as the basis for further reflection. If they don’t catch something in a narrative structure, it doesn’t get remembered very well, and it doesn’t seem to be accessible for further kinds of mulling over.” Educators can help students capture and analyze knowledge through the various narratives that form within an online social network.
Connections Beyond the Classroom
Social networking and online learning communities are keeping teachers and Students connected in and out of the classroom. The University of Wisconsin-Madison documented the enormous potential social networking technologies have to connect students, faculty and staff, and increase the efficiency and flexibility of campus services (Berg, Berquam & Christopher, 2007). These networks create opportunities for students to share, collaborate, showcase and grow together. At the Rhone Island School of Design for example, e-portfolio based online learning communities give teachers and students the ability to personalize and share their content (Yan, 2008). In the United Kingdom, at a school in Haslemere, Surrey, sixth graders are using a social network to post book reviews and critique each others’ writing (McLean, 2006).
CHAPTER THREE
SYSTEM ANALYSIS AND METHODOLOGY
Methodology
The methodology adopted in this research is the Structured Systems Analysis and Design Methodology (SSADM) which has Logical Data Modelling, Data Flow Modelling and Entity Behaviour Modelling. This method was chosen due to our project/research nature.
Analysis of the Present System
The analysis of a system is a procedural study with an attempt to discover the problem area of that system. The existing system must be well studied and understood in other to know the functionalities of such system. In our study, we are able to come out with the analysis of the existing face to face system of interaction and socialization and a plan describing the proposed automated system. In the present system, students only see and interact with each other in school and in their various hostels. Information from lecturers flow from student to student or in most cases from lecturers to course representatives who disseminate the information to the students. Staff also meet and interact/socialize with each other only in the school and in some cases due to much work in the office, time for interaction becomes more of imagination.
CHAPTER FOUR
SYSTEM DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION
Concept of the System Design
Social network is a set of people (or organizations or other social entities) connected by a set of socially meaningful relationships. Online social network has become very popular in recent years. Some popular social networking websites have hundreds of million users registered. In this kind of sites, users can update their personal profiles, notify friends about themselves, play game and share photos with their friends internationally. Before interacting with friends, a user must add them to form a relationship. In the existing social networking web sites, it is found that, to find a friend, the web sites are commonly based on the text- based information such as email addresses, names of friends, school names of friends, etc.
CHAPTER FIVE
SUMMARY AND CONCLUSIONS
Summary
We implement a prototype to demonstrate the basic function of user registration, and user login, upload photos, edit some text fields, and make friends with/without recommended list. There’s a lot of variety out there in the realm of social network design. Some sites keep a very professional approach (like Linkedln) while others have a more organic, free-form look (like MySpace). Most sites fall somewhere in between, mixing professional with personalization (like Facebook). But what’s the best way to design a social network? What are the elements that make a social network more user-friendly and more attractive to users?
Conclusion
There are many challenges to bringing social media to the learning environment. Some of them are technical and some of them are conceptual and cultural. In this implementation of a social learning environment several challenges have been discovered. The ability to maintain focus in a socially-aware environment is perhaps the most difficult. There are technical tricks that can mitigate this but the ultimate answer will have to be cultural. The ability to bring game-oriented behaviour to learning has considerable potential that is not being properly addressed. By adapting the existing approach, repackaging it to be more engaging and more detailed, we can tap into that potential. These challenges, although specific to this implementation, are general enough to inform the efforts of others when developing similar systems. Students need to be focused and motivated, and these are the difficulties and solutions found by our learning environment.
Recommendations
The main types of social networking services are those that contain category places (such as former school year of classmates), means to connect with friends (usually with self- description pages), and a recommendations system linked to trust. Popular methods now combine many of these, with Facebook, Twitter and Google+ widely used worldwide, The Sphere (luxury network), Nexopia (mostly in Canada); Bebo, Vkontakte, Hi5, Hyves (mostly in The Netherlands); Draugiem.Iv (mostly in Latvia), Ask-a-peer (career oriented), StudiVZ (mostly in Germany), iWiW (mostly in Hungary), Tuenti (mostly in Spain), Nasza-Klasa
(mostly in Poland), Tagged, XING, Badoo and Skyrock in parts of Europe; Orkut and Hi5 in South America and Central America; and Mixi, Orkut, Wretch, renren and Cyworld in Asia and the Pacific Islands and Faccebook, Google+, Twitter and LinkedIn are very popular in India and Pinterest is also a social networking site which is used in India, and now Zikfacets that is for Nnamdi AZikiwe University, Awka.
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