Kathy Lynch, Lecturer - Educational Multimedia Monash University / Faculty of Education Wellington Road CLAYTON Victoria 3168 Australia, Phone: +61 3 990 59189 Fax: : +61 3 990 52779
(previously of Casey Institute of Technical and Further Education, 121 Stud Road, Dandenong Victoria 3175 Australia, Phone: +61 39212 5393 Fax :+61 39212 5227 Casey Institute of TAFE [HREF3])
Course Information, Database, Web Database, Casey Institute, TAFE, Australia, Educational Administration
The use of databases have been an integral part of business for many years. Customer data, details about a companies product lines and personnel information, just to name a few, have been stored in a database of one kind or another. There is no need to go into the advantages of using a database in business, as it is an old tale. But, what is new, is that over the last 12 months, database on the web has been 'birthed'. Expectation in the business world of the end-user to have the capacity to search and quickly retrieve mass amounts of data is commonplace; the web is now no longer novel or different. It is a business platform. And education is big business. The emergence of applications to assist the web page designer in the construction (or 'webising') of databases, has illuminated this trend.
The product behind this paper was inspired by a keynote speaker at AusWeb96 [HREF4], Hermann Maurer, [Graz University of Technology, Graz, Austria, 'On Second Generation WWW Systems']. He spoke about the use of databases on the web. Over the past 12 months Casey Institute of TAFE (Victoria / Australia) has designed, developed and is effectively using a web database for information regarding the courses available at the Institute.
In this paper I provide an overview of the development process of this web database - known as the Casey Course Directory [HREF5], and the 'spin-offs' of the product to Casey Institute.
Web databases can be considered as one of the more recent business solutions in today's technological advanced societies. The database can be distributed over the Internet or an Intranet. At Casey Institute, we designed a course database to be accessed over the Internet. A keynote speaker at AusWeb96, Hermann Maurer [HREF6] spoke about the problems associated with large amounts of data, "current WWW systems tend to be great for small amounts of data but create headaches when large amounts of data have to be maintained.". He pointed out, amongst other things, that ".. some structuring mechanism beyond links is necessary". Maurer continued and demonstrated a product that has been of great value (and a product of) Graz University, called 'Hyper-G'. This product is used to maintain large amounts of data. Maurer's talk inspired me to look further into the concept of web databases - as I could see their application in keeping track of the large amounts of data at Casey Institute. The first application to be designed using a web database is the Casey Course Directory. Other applications are on the [big] drawing board.
Casey Institute of TAFE [HREF3] is a multi-campus government vocational training institute, servicing a large area in the south east region of Victoria / Australia. Currently there are five campuses extending from Dandenong to Wonthaggi.
In early 1996, several staff- namely Doug Wilkie [HREF7] (a Casey Institute Careers Councellor), myself and a specialist database programmer (John Shreeve) [HREF8] started to work together on the development of a Microsoft Access database. This database was to be used as the repository of course data for a touch screen kiosk application to be implemented at several of the Institute's campuses.
After attending AusWeb96, inspired by many of the concepts and advancements of the Internet, a solution emerged for an idea that had been brewing - the course information to be distributed over the Internet. Also at this time, Casey Institute opened its own doors to the world by the establishment of web, mail, dialin and proxy servers.
The database behind the Casey Course Directory was designed in consultation with the end-user. Consideration was given to the data required by the 'everyday end-user' and the 'administrative end-user'. The distinction between the data required by these two users is important - the 'everyday end-user' is the potential or current student; the 'administrative end-user' is a user who requires data for administrative purposes - such as, for example, viewing what courses are available to international students, or to update entries on the OzJac [HREF9] system. The OzJac system, using common keywords and outcomes, list courses available and the names of the providers of the selected course. The initial user interface design was for a touch screen information kiosk, this placed many restrictions on screen design. These restrictions, in hindsight, became an advantage in the design for distribution over the World Wide Web.
After much deliberation, it was decided the user interface had to be similar for the product, whether it was viewed using Microsoft's Visual Basic or a web browser. Screen design was a critical design issue, and continually caused concern especially monitor resolution and number of colours.
In consultation with one of the Institute's consultant programmers, John Shreeve, a prototype was built using relational database concepts and was written in Microsoft Access 2.0. The database schema was extended to cover future data requirements and web requirements.
The collection of accurate data was a painful task. Doug Wilkie 'hounded' those responsible for accurate and up-to-date data in each of Casey Institute's department. This may sound easy to many, but it is not. Especially when, for the first time in Casey's history, we were advocating that this was the one repository for all course data. 'All course information' became an enlightening phrase. What happened was that not only was course data being collected, but so were contact names and telephone numbers, availability of a course, and new data such as keywords. Added to this was 'web' data - such as email address, international phone codes and the availability of the course to international students.
The course directory has many facets, raw data is one. The upgrading and improvement of this data is another. This became evident very early in the data collection phase. Departments had previously been responsible for their own data, with no comparison to other departments. With Casey Institute being a certified ISO9002 organisation, the development team took the opportunity to 'upgrade' the data being presented thus instilling quality and consistency in phrases and terms used. This appeared necessary, particularly in areas such as 'course purpose', 'entrance requirements', and in terms such as 'full-time' rather than 'full time' etc.
The development of reports for administrative purposes was done using Crystal Reports and for the moment, are only accessible on a 'need to use basis'. This is also true for the data entry screens are written in Microsoft Access and as for the reporting, are only accessible on a 'need to use basis'.
Many hours were spent on the end-user data screens which were written in Microsoft Visual Basic. The screens needed to:
As the development progress, the amount of TAFE jargon increased. It was deemed necessary to include a help file. This help file was developed using a Windows Help development tool - Hypertext Development Kit - HDK [HREF10]
With the advent of web databases still being reasonablly novel during mid 1996, information was scarce about products (especially ones that were not too expensive) and the product line was limited. A web database product - Allaire's Cold Fusion [HREF11] was selected and purchased as the web database engine. Cold Fusion uses template files written in HTML and SQL queries to dynamically create web pages using data retrieved from a database. A server to house the software was made out of spare parts and acted as the 'test' server for the Course Directory database.
Familiarity of the Cold Fusion had to be achieved prior to the adaptation of the Microsoft Access version of the Course Directory. One of the initial problems to be overcome was the conversion of table and field names. (We should have adhered to ODBC [HREF12] naming standards in the first instance). [Open Database Connectivity (ODBC) is the name given to a set of standards that allow a client application to access data in any relational database without having to write vendor-specific code. Instead, the client application sends queries to a standardized interface called an ODBC Driver, which is provided by a database vendor.] Testing was carried out using a small uncomplicated database.
A web interface was developed for the Course Directory towards the end of the development of the Visual Basic interface (version 1). The web interface needed to have a similar 'look and feel' as the Visual Basic product.
The help file needed to be placed into format readable on the web. There are products that would have converted the Windows Help file to HTML, but, it was decided to place the data into a database. An image map and a word search were designed for the user to access the 'help file'.
The old saying 'garbage in garbage out' is still true these days. Maintenance of the data in the Course Directory will continue to be a task that requires professionalism, quality procedures and accuracy. A central area is currently responsible for the maintenance of the data, this will continue.
Forms for on-line data entry for the maintenance of data are currently being designed. Security and authorisation of the data are two areas that need to be studied in more detail prior to the implementation of the on-line data entry. Currently, a central area collects the data, then updates the database using Microsoft Access. The data is collected using paper forms which use a check box to signify the data checked and if required, the edits to be made. On-line forms, are being designed to replace the paper forms, once completed they are to be emailed to the data maintenance area. Off-line data entry will continue until the on-line data entry is introduced.
The development and subsequent introduction of the Course Directory at Casey Institute has extended the quality system that is in existence at the Institute. This has happened, in the main, unintentionally. For example, course data is now more:
The streamlining of several Institute procedures has been an adjunct to the introduction of the Course Directory database. For example:
Reports can be customised for specific use, for example, numerous times throughout the year, the Institute needs to supply data to various governing bodies and in varying formats. This information is now readily available.
The Casey Course Directory database [HREF5] is now being accepted and relied upon throughout the Institute. It is considered (as it well is), the most up-to-date, and 'official' data regarding course information within the Institute.
Additional uses of the Course Directory are being put into place frequently; it is expanding, and thus, value is being added for its users. It is interesting to note that the web Course Directory has a quicker access time for searching and production of the reports that its Microsoft Access counterpart, making this web product an efficient use of time for the administrative-user.
The Course Directory database is just the tip of the iceberg. Staff - teaching and administrative, are requesting assistance in the development of more efficient and thus productive ways of using the World Wide Web in their workplace. A web database in many instances is the best solution. Research and development of projects taking advantage of web databases are being conducted in many places, such as Monash University (1) [HREF13] / Monash University (2) [HREF14]. Using such research, together with information (or is it inspiration) gained from conferences such as AusWeb, web database development at Casey Institute, will address two of the Institute's major concerns- improved productivity and customer service.
With the commitment of the Institute to production of administrative, learning and marketing materials for the Internet, a change in culture across the organisation is beginning to occur. Staff, students and technology are all moving forward.
Kathy Lynch ©, 1997. The authors assigns to Southern Cross University and other educational and non-profit institutions a non-exclusive license to use this document for personal use and in courses of instruction provided that the article is used in full and this copyright statement is reproduced. The authors also grants a non-exclusive license to Southern Cross University to publish this document in full on the World Wide Web and on CD-ROM and in printed form with the conference papers, and for the document to be published on mirrors on the World Wide Web. Any other usage is prohibited without the express permission of the authors.