A web-based application for student group management at the School of Computing and Informatics Technology in Makerere University

Abstract

The existing approaches to group formation at the School of Computing and Informatics Technology at Makerere University includes random and self-selected assignments. It has been observed that these approaches result in an imbalance in group formation and do not necessarily account for an all-rounded group of students. The development of a web-based student group management application system for the students of School of Computing and Informatics Technology was the objective of the study. The solution was to bridge the gap in group formation and participation, monitoring and evaluation of students to improve peer support and enhance collaborative learning. Data was collected from BIST students of year Three. In the designed system mixed ability and random approach is used when assigning students to groups. The students are grouped based on soft skills, academic strength as well as peer evaluation to lead to a more balanced group that is all round using a flexible web system. This brings fundamental activities of group learning like formation of mixed ability groups randomly, have chatbots for communication, file sharing features, student profiling, calendaring, scheduling, student or peer reviews for feedback, and admin portals in one place. In conclusion, the system is supposed to make group formation easier formation easier for the students of SCIT as well as benefit them academically as they are blended.