DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF SOFTWARE FOR COMPUTER ASSISTED LEARINING

(A CASE STUDY OF LINEAR ALGEBRA)

By

Author

Presented To

Department of Computer Science

ABSTRACT

The term Computer Assisted Learning (CAL) covers a range of computer-based packages, which aim to provide interactive instruction usually in a specific subject area, and many predate the Internet. These can range from sophisticated and expensive commercial packages to applications developed by projects in other educational institutions or national initiatives to simple solutions developed by individuals with no funding or support to tackle a very local problem. The amount of time and money invested in development is high and partly because of the very subject specific nature of the education market as well as the very personalised nature of the teaching process - particularly at FE and HE level - means that commercial success is difficult to achieve and work done in one subject area rarely transfers to others subject areas.

In general, the use of computers in education through CAL has been sporadic a great deal of effort was expended with little general impact. Many of those academics that took part in that earlier crusade are now cynical about the effectiveness of computers in teaching. There are still good reasons to use CAL rather than Internet based technologies. CAL is run either straight from a CD or floppy disk drive, or over a local network so the constraint of the internet - slow download times for multimedia materials may not apply. This, coupled with the fact that CAL technology has been around a bit longer, means that CAL packages have the potential to offer more advanced, interactive, multimedia learning experiences than it is currently reasonable to expect from the Web. This has been changing as Web technologies develop and bandwidths improve but there are currently many things that can only be achieved with CAL rather than the Web and CAL has been an integral part of the curriculum in many departments at Warwick for some time

ORGANIZATION OF WORK

This project work is primarily designed to give an insight into computer assisted learning software for linear algebra.

Chapter one talks about introduction to computer assisted learning, CAL software system, study of problem and objectives as well as definition of the scope.

Chapter two comprises the literature review. Chapter three gives the detailed information about the existing (old) system, while chapter four and five deals with the design and implantation of new system.

Chapter six documents the project work, while chapter seven summaries, conclusion and suggestions were made.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Title page i

Certification ii

Dedication iii

Acknowledgement iv

Abstract v

Table of contents vii

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION 1

1.1 Background of the study 1

1.2 State of the problem 2

1.3 Purpose of the study 3

1.4 Aims and objectives 3

1.5 Scope of study 5

1.6 Limitations of study 5

1.7 Assumptions 6

1.8 Definition of terms 7

CHAPTER TWO

LITERATURE REVIEW 8

CHAPTER THREE

3.1 Description and analysis of existing system 15

3.2 Fact finding method used 17

3.3 Organization structure 19

3.4 Objectives of Existing system 21

3.5 Input, Process and Output Analysis 22

3.6 Information Flow Diagrams 26

3.7 Problems of the Existing System 27

3.8 Justification of the New System 28

CHAPTER FOUR

4.1 Design of the New System 30

4.2 Input Specification and design 30

4.3 Output specification and design 32

4.4 File Design 34

4.5 Procedure chart 36

4.6 System flow chart 38

4.7 System requirements 40

CHAPTER FIVE

5.1 Implementation 42

5.2 Program Design 45

5.3 Program Flowchart 48

5.4 Pseudo code 54

5.5 Source Program: Test Run 59

CHAPTER SIX

Documentation 60

CHAPTER SEVEN

7.1 Recommendation 62

7.2 Conclusion 64

Bibliography 65