Project Log

This page contains my project blog. I will use it to post informal updates regarding the progress of my project.


Thesis Write Up Complete
Posted 21 October 2009

After corrections, another draft and a few more corrections, my write up is complete. 96 pages (24037 words). A copy can be found here. All that remains now is to print and bind my thesis. This will be my last post here.


First Draft Complete
Posted 11 October 2009

The first complete draft of my project thesis has been handed in. All 80 pages (21908 words) of it.


Chapter 4
Posted 3 October 2009

I have completed all my user studies, with both teachers and learners, and the first draft of my results chapter is in. I am now busy editing Chapter 3.


Data Analysis
Posted 22 September 2009

In the last week I have held my final user study and have captured all of the data. I've also made a basic summary and some graphs. In addition I wrote an essay on inclusivity and race in Whitman's poetry, but I suppose that's not relevant here. Now it's time to have a closer look at my results and write the results chapter of my thesis.


Chapter 3 first draft complete
Posted 14 September 2009

I have completed the first draft of the Methodology, Design and Implementation chapter. 7291 words (around 24 pages). I also had my second user study on Friday, and have the third and final one tomorrow. Once that is complete I will focus my attention on doing some data capture and analysis. Then the next big thing is writing the Results chapter. I feel like I'm getting there though. Not long, now.


Writing again
Posted 3 September 2009

Writing the Methodology, Design and Implementation Chapter of my thesis has taken off. I'm about 2000 words in and have made some diagrams to explain some of the more difficult technical concepts.


Data and the next chapter
Posted 31 August 2009

The data from the first user study has been captured, and some basic analysis performed. On the whole, it looks like the site was well received. It was ranked by most as easy to use, useful and enjoyable to use. On the writing side, I have drawn up a rough structure for my next chapter and will begin writing soon.


User study 1
Posted 26 August 2009 at 12:05

I just got back from my user study at the first school. The site was used by two Grade 12 classes of 23 pupils each. All went well, and the site ran without any problems. Most learners were able to find all of the functionality of the site unassisted.


Getting the site ready for use
Posted 24 August 2009

The site is up! Check it out here. I have finished coding the Contribute UI, finalised all the site's static content and entered all the lessons I have so far into the system (5/8 so far, I'm still waiting for a few people). IT has organised me an alias and external access and the application is now fully deployed to Tomcat. I have also created a poster for my project, which is available on the "Deliverables" page. I will present it on Poster day (which is tomorrow, according to an email I just received). I will be testing the site at Nathanial Nyalusa this Wednesday morning, so I am close to having my first results. Evaluations at the other schools will probably happen after their prelim exams and holidays.


Wrapping up development
Posted 11 August 2009

In the last week, I have coded the user interface for the contribute module and ironed out a couple of browser quirks. IE in particular made some things look a bit funny, but after some changes I would say that it now works the best in IE. I have also started receiving lessons from those people who agreed to help out. I'm currently waiting on Rhodes IT to get an alias for my site and for external access to the site, so that I can test it at all the schools I need to. I'm busy talking to my contacts at each of the schools, to try organise dates for their learners to use & evaluate the site.


Breakthrough
Posted 5 August 2009

After a lot of struggling, working at it, and asking questions, I have managed to get Hibernate working in my project. I have set up a MySQL database for my site and set up MySQL server. With all the database stuff set up and configured, I have managed to complete most of the server side code, including annotating all my classes and all the RPC methods I need. I have also created DTOs (data transfer objects) for all of my domain classes.


Vacation
Posted 28 July 2009

I've been on holiday for the last month, so project work has taken a bit of a back seat. I have, however, still been up to a couple of things. I've re-organised my GWT project a bit and added a module for the Contribute section to go into. I have also added static content to the site, including a header image and the required site navigation.


Exams
Posted 24 June 2009

The last while has seen me busy with exams. My project hasn't been standing still, though. I've downloaded everything I need to make Hibernate work. Hibernate is an Object-Relational mapping tool which will make persisting my objects to a database easy. My literature has been proof-read, edited and finally submitted. I've approached several English Honours students here at Rhodes for their help preparing lessons for my site. I have also done some paper prototyping for the Contribute module's user interface.


Developing
Posted 24 May 2009

The last week has been focused on getting some development done. I have completed a GWT (Google Web Toolkit) tutorial, which taught me the basics of GWT and RPC (remote procedure call). After playing around with the technology for awhile, I got started with developing part of my project. I've made quite a lot of progress - I'm close to done with the interactive lesson module (for now called 'PoemGuide'). This includes a box showing the poem, a multimedia box with sound and pictures, and the interactive lesson box, complete with questions. I have done a lot of work towards planning and creating the classes necessary to hold all the data the site requires, and making it all serializable - for easy database storage and RPC. The framework currently splits lessons up into lesson segments, which are displayed one at a time. These segments can contain any number of questions at the end of them. I have currently included support for multiple choice and prompt questions, with interactive responses. The next step, which is designing the interactive tool for contributors should be pretty easy thanks to this groundwork. Other To-dos include getting content, including lesson material, questions and multimedia, and getting a logo and other general prettinesses going.


There we go
Posted 13 May 2009 at 00:42

Just finished the first complete draft of my literature review. Feels good. 7655 words, around 19 pages of writing and 27 works cited.


Getting there
Posted 12 May 2009

The literature is nearing completion. I have 6800 words and 24 references. Still need to edit what I've written, add some things here and there - then I can hand in my draft. I also have the latest version of Eclipse installed and running, and have started a useful GWT tutorial


Writing away
Posted 8 May 2009

The last while has been me with my nose buried in e-learning books, trying to get some idea of the work already done in this field. It has also been me trying to synthesise all the info, typing away at my literature review. I am 4655 words down! I’ve completed two sections (although they still need to be edited) and i am about half way with the final section, which is quite a bit larger.


Loads and loads of books
Posted 28 April 2009


Talking to some more people and starting the writing process
Posted 21 April 2009

I have finally started writing my literature review - sections 2 and 3 are down. This involved installing and learning how to use LyX - what a useful tool. I also held a focus group with some Rhodes BEd students who are teachers from around the Eastern Cape. I've also gotten onto trying to obtain permission to use poems that are under copyright - step one was asking NELM for assistance in finding contact details


Talking to people
Posted 17 March 2009

An important focus of the last week has been on interviewing teachers in order to get an ides of their experience and expectations of online learning. I drew up an interview schedule, and began conducting interview. Still going to try find a few more people to interview. Also been working on getting some useful partners on board the project (mainly in terms of contributing material / helping with testing / giving insight and advice). Hopefully the outcome of the interview process will be a clearer idea of what is required of an online learning environment. These interviews will be quite useful when drawing up a system specification.


Getting things going
Posted 10 March 2009


First Post
Posted 4 March 2009

This is my first post. To date I have completed (in addition to putting a lot of thought into my project concept) my research proposal and presented it. I’ve also (as you can see) started the process of hammering together a website.

If you want to know what’s happening with my research project and what I’m up to at any stage… this is the place to read about it.