DESIGN AND IMPLEMENTATION OF AUTOMATED SYSTEM FOR STUDENT EXAMINATION AND RESULT GRADING A CASE STUDY OF DEPARTMENT OF COMPUTER SCIENCE, AKWA IBOM STATE POLYTECHNIC, AKWA IBOM STATE

CHAPTER ONE

INTRODUCTION

INTRODUCTION

The errors associated with the existing manual method of processing of students results , make it not only desirable but imperative that computerized approach be used to the full in measuring students’ progress. The manual methods being employed suffer a number of set-backs. They make the process to be timeconsuming and prone to error. They lead to examination results being published late, sometimes with wrong grades being entered and students’ grade point averages being wrongly computed as a result, and ultimately leading to wrong conclusions being arrived at on class of degree awarded. Some students could end up with undeserved good class of degree, while others

could be unfairly victimized, bringing about frustration and bad blood. The Departments

concerned, and the whole University, could become tarnished. The problem, therefore, that arises is to find a method of processing examination results that would be sufficiently accurate and reasonably timely. The software application in this article is intended to bring relieve by providing for timely and accurate processing of students results using the processing power of the computer. The rest of the article discusses the background to this work, the materials and method used in the work, and the results recorded.

Theoretical Background

At present the students grading system used by all universities in Nigeria is the Five-Point Grading System, established by the Nigerian Universities Commission (NUC) in 1989. The system is also called the “Carry Over” system,because a student is allowed to carry over a course up to two times (or attempt a course a maximum of three times) before a final “Fail” grade is recorded if he/she still does not pass the course. A few exceptions to the rule are the General Studies and Communication Skills (or GSS) courses, which must be passed for a student to graduate. The courses offered in a degree programme are allocated a number of credit hours which vary from one course to another, because the courses vary in their needs and scope. Hence some are allocated greater credit hours than others.The measure of performance of a student in any course is given by the grade-points obtained in that course. The grade-points obtained by a student in any course are determined by multiplying the value of the grade (numeric grade) by the credit hours of the course. The total grade-points are obtained by summing up the grade-points of all the courses offered. The Grade-Point Average (GPA) is computed by dividing total grade-points by the sum of credit hours of all the courses offered in that period. Thus:

Statement of the Problem

Sometimes the delay in declaration of results cause heavy losses to the students as generally they cannot join further studies or appear in competitive exams because of the non-availability of examination result in time [6]. Some of the limitations of the existing system, though not comprehensive, are as follows:

Repetition of Work: There is repetition of work in the existing system because the same data is recorded in different branches of the examination. This leads to data duplications as well as huge money is spent by the institution to purchase papers. In existing system, managing of students’ record is very tedious. Retrieval of students’ records through manual registers, maintaining of records and data reconciliation etc. are very time consuming.

Tempering of student Records: In manual examination system, there are chances of tempering with students records. Sometimes fake results are prepared and there is no online verification of the results. This leads to unfair practices and it mars the credibility of an institution.