virtual univ

8/14/2019 virtual univ

1/76

1. Abstract

The term virtual university is used to describe an open-learning institution that uses the

Internet, to create an imaginary university environment, in which the students, faculty,and staff can communicate and share information at any time, regardless of location. In

many respects, it is commonly associated with the field of advanced learning technology,

which deals with both the technologies and associated methodologies in learning using

networked and/or multimedia technologies. This VU project envisages the design and

development of multimedia course that is web-enabled that goes towards the curriculum

of a full-fledged degree program.It strives for structural changes in the university

infrastructure. Networks of scholars within a discipline carry out collaboration, division

of labour and specialization in both teaching and research. This virtual university

attempts to mirror all parts of a real university in a computer and internet-based

environment. Its components comprise different kinds of courses as well as

communication and administration activities.

1


2/76

2. Introduction

2.1 Overview of the System

The Education broadcasting in a virtual university project aims at creating a website or

portal that creates an imaginary university environment coordinating various activities

related to student and faculty in pursuing various courses,studying in which is in a way

beneficial than studying in a brick and mortar university. This creates myriad new

alliances as traditional educational institutions can join with business organizations and

companies to provide a cost-effective professional upgradation to their employees even.

Virtual University allows students to follow its rigorous programs regardless of their

physical locations.This acts as an information "container" to supplement classroomeducation with text (course notes, pointers to external web sites), and other types of

media (graphics, videos etc.). Apart from supplementing classroom education it also

provides e-mail discussion facility for the instructor to communicate asynchronously

(not in real time) with students to help guide their understanding of content and exercises

with desktop sharing as an added feature that facilitates easy monitoring the students

problems . The instructor can also develop an online student assessment application

which allows students to take some tests online and submit them electronically.This

portal also provides the administrator with a screen through which he can make and

manage all the resources.

2.2 Advantages

1. Increasing of quality and attractiveness of offered study specializations and study

,Sharing all educational activities and events guaranteed by leading and experienced

specialists from various regions.

2. Increasing of possibility of creation individual study plan by selection from

substantially wider offer of educational subjects and increasing variety and versatility of

educational needs.

2


3/76

3. Flexibility of study as to place and location. Time flexibility is an organic result of

combined/distance form of study and learning. Stu-dents can themselves devote study

activities time interval which is to their individualtime schedule. Time management may

lead to higher efficiency comparison with classical form of centrally made scheduling.

2.3 Application, objective and benefits

Application

Students located at remote areas will be able to access the tutorials and can

enhance their skills at their own time.

ObjectivesTo facilitate student community to enhance their skills.

Benefits

Without expensive infrastructure excellent teaching material prepared by trained

faculty members can be shared with the student community.

3


4/76

3. System Analysis

System analysis is a detailed study of various operations performed by a system and their

relationships within and outside the system. It deals with defining the boundaries of the

system and determining whether or not candidate systems should consider other related

systems. For analysis, data is collected from available fields, decision points and

transactions handled by the present system.

3.1 Study of the Existing System

The education being provided currently in the university is more or like the traditional

guru-shishya form of education where the student and the faculty exist in a face-to-

face environment.To make the best possible use of time it is mandatory for the

student to be in the vicinity of the institution. Its tedious to group the top class

proffersors to deliver their lectures at a particular place.The gap that arouses from

absence of a lecture is not easy to be bridged.This system is not flexible for the

student to work at his own pace.

3.2 The Proposed System

The proposed system intends to create a new structure that takes the advantage of the

Internet and other technologies to increase access to and improve the qual-ity of

higher education. . This system envisages the design and development of multimedia

course that is web-enabled that goes towards the curriculum of a full-fledged degree

program .VU courses are hand-crafted in meticulous detail by acknowledged experts

in the field.This is cost-effective as there are no buildings and no campus to go

because students study on the Internet. In most cases, only a personal computer and

an Internet connection are needed. Through this connection students access the virtualuniversity and then do the same as other students do: attend classes, access course

material , discuss cases, take tests,ask questions, etc. Likewise they communicate

with lecturers, tutors, administrative staff, etc., but it happens over the Internet. Since

these courses are web-enabled, the student can work in his own comfortable

environment and is not restricted to the classroom.Moreover he can work at a pace

4


5/76

with which he finds convenient. Additionally, students can use the lectures to review

an entire course before their examinations a facility simply not available in the

conventional face-to-face environment. Virtual programs are best suited for people

who appreciate flexibility. "Study anywhere at any time".

Major Functions of the Proposed System

Authentication and authorization

Registration of the users.

Administring the structure of courses

Uploading course materials( Audio, Video, Text)

Online Examinations

Administering Library

View Course Contents

Facilitating interaction.

3.3 Constraints on the system

o Only Authorized persons who are registered with the site are permitted to use this

Site .

o Though every thing is claimed to be done over the internet,subjective test for

certifying the degree is not done online, and even the documents claiming the

prequalification have to be sent to the administration office.

o To avail the added desktop sharing feature the sent software installation is to be

supported .

5


6/76

3.3 Module Description

This Project consists of three modules.

Account Creation and Authentication Module

Student Information and Services Module: Administrator Module:

3.3.1 Module 1 : Account Creation and Authentication Module

Authentication is the process of determining whether someone or something is, in fact,

who or what it is declared to be. In private and public computer networks (including the

Internet), authentication is commonly done through the use of logon passwords.

Knowledge of the password is assumed to guarantee that the user is authorized.First an

account is created for the student with his basic details.If these satisfy the required

specifications and later when he logsin with this accountid the basic information related

to the university are made available.In the registration phase the user(ie the student or the

faculty)provides the details required and then access is provided only after verifying and

validating information provided in the registration form by the administrator.

3.3.1.1 Functionalities:

Following functionalities need to be made available before the Authentication takes

place:

Registration of New User:

This may be required in a scenario when the user(student or faculty)is new to the VU.

Password Prompts:User will be prompted with a success message or rejected message accordingly. This

may be required for security reasons to ensure protection of the account.

6


7/76

3.3.2 Module 2: Student Information and Services Module:

In this module the authenticated student can view the details regarding the courses and

the sessions,fee related to these courses offered. From this point acesss to various

services is course specific.The user is provided access to course syllabus,course

material(lecture handouts,videos) which can be downloaded.As a facility for the student

to evaluate his performance self-assessment quizzes are also provided.Apart from these

the user is also granted with a service to acess library.An important added service is the

desktop sharing,where the Instructor can share his/her desktop with students so that they

can see how the Instructor is working or viceversa.

3.3.2.1 Functionalities

View Course material

An authenticated user can view the course specific contents like the

syllabus and also the material provided in various formats like text,videos etc..

Download files:

An authenticated user can download the course lecture handouts and

videos related to it along with the library contents made available.

Online Examination:

This feature is exclusively meant for the students. After going through

the lessons in the portal, he may wish to test his level of understanding and

evaluate his performance. This can be achieved by taking an online exam

provided to him.

Interaction facility

The student can get his doubts clarified by posting the query to the

faculty through email.The other facility provided is desktop-sharing where the faculty

can virtually take over the desktop of the student to monitor his work.

7


8/76

3.3.3 Module 3:Administrator Module:

As the administrator is the whole and sole authority and the only handler of

the database directly,this module deals with the automation of the administrator

functionalities.The adiminstrator is responsible for the authentication of a user in theVU,by cross checking the details provided during the registration and the posted

documents.He can insert or update courses,sessions and fee related to them,course

material contents,library information.Administrators functionality also includes the

preparation of quizz paper under the intimation from the faculty.

3.3.3.1 Functionalities

Authentication

The administrator is responsible for assigning userids and passwords to the

users.If the details provided during registration are found to be valid and if they fit into

the criteria of the university ,he confirms the registration of the user.

Uploading/Updating content

The administrator can either insert new content to database relating to

various courses or can edit the already present contents pertaining to courses like the

sessions,fees,tutorials,library etc..

Examination

Under the instructions from the course related faculty the administrator can

set the quiz paper for the student .

8


9/76

4 . Feasibility Analysis

A feasibility study is an analysis of the viability of an idea. The feasibility study is a

management oriented activity.The feasibility analysis is designed to determine whether

or not, given the project environment, a project will be successful (in virtually any

interpretation of that word). In other words, feasibility analysis is the measure of how

beneficial or practical the development of information system will be to an organization.

4.1 Operational Feasibility

Operational Feasibility defines the urgency of the problem and the acceptability of anysolution ie if the system is developed,it deals with the study of whether it will be used,

how well the system can perform the operations that are assigned to it,how do the end-

users feel about their role in the new system. Thus it refers to the feasibility of the

product to be operational. It is observed that the proposed system is very user friendly

and has all the features mentioned above

4.2 Financial Feasibility

A financial feasibility analysis provides decision-makers information as to whether or not

they can afford to do the project, as well as successfully operate it once constructed. It

deals with establishing the cost-effectiveness of the proposed system. The technologies

and the hardware used in the development are under the acceptable costs , which can be

acquired by anyone and even provided by the institution if needed, and moreover they

promise portability, security, reliability and easy maintainability.

9


10/76

4.3 Technical Requirements

The technologies and the standard used for the development of the project are as follows:

4.3.1 Dot Net Technology

It is a Microsoft operating system platform that incorporates applications, a suite of tools

and services and a change in the infrastructure of the company's Web strategy.

There are four main principles of .NET from the perspective of the user:

(a) It erases the boundaries between applications and the Internet. Instead of

interacting with an application or a single Web site, .NET will connect the

user to an array of computers and services that will exchange and combine

objects and data.

(b) Software will be rented as a hosted service over the Internet instead of

purchased on a store shelf. Essentially, the Internet will be housing all

where applications and data.

(c) Users will have access to their information on the Internet from any

device, anytime, anywhere.

(d) There will be new ways to interact with application data, such as speech

and handwriting recognition.

4.3.1.1 Features Of Dot Net

Consistency

Using Master Page, Themes and using Cascaded Style Sheet feature of ADO.NET, one

can achieve this feature.

Personalization

This is done in regards with the Users taste. It may be in terms of colors, font size,

background colors, and look and feel with respect t the application. After gathering

10


11/76

requirements from the user by making use of and using Themes, Skin and Cascaded Style

Sheet feature of ADO.NET we can achieve personalization.

Themes and skins

These are new feature of ASP. Net. By this way you can customize your sites look and

feel. Like the master pages they also improve the maintainability of your site and avoid

unnecessary duplication of code for shared style.

A theme is a collection of property settings that allow you to define the look of pages and

controls, and then apply the look consistently across pages in a Web application, across

an entire Web application, or across all Web applications on a server.

A skin file has the file name extension. Skin and contains property settings for individual

controls such as Button, Label, Textbox, or Calendar controls. Control skin settings are

like the control markup itself, but contain only the properties you want to set as part of

the theme.

Tools for Navigation

Every site requires tools for navigation. The List of Navigation tools available in

.NET is as follows:

Menu Pull down / Drop down menu

Fig 4.1 Menu control for navigation

11


12/76

Tree View These are structured links. User can know where they are currently located

Fig 4.2 Tree View control for navigation

Breadcrumbs Renders tabs indicating parent and current web page.

The new Site Navigation features in ASP.NET 2.0 can make building navigation

structures across a web-site much easier.

At a high-level, the new Site Navigation features allow you to define (outside of code or

pages) the site map structure of how your site is laid out. Specifically, it allows you to

define the relationships between pages on the site what is the home entry-point, what

are the sub-sections of it, and how individual pages fit within it. This information is

cached by ASP.NET, and you can then get access to this sitemap structure at runtime.

ASP.NET includes a basic built-in XML based SiteMap provider that allows you to

define this site structure within an XML file whose default name is web.sitemap (note:

you can change the name if you want). For example, web.sitemap XML file can contain

several levels of hierarchy (a homepage root, then three sub-nodes, and under the

products node three additional sub-nodes).

12


13/76

Security

In .NET security considerations can be verified by carrying out authentication of entries,

password checking, password reminders and facility to create new users. It helps in

permitting authorized users and denies access to unauthorized users.

Wizard

NET provides a wizard called as Web Site Administrative Tools which facilitates in the

Database Providers

Security Management Provides security consideration like password and

username checking

Roles Management Which pages and folders a user is permitted to view.

With built in Windows authentication, you can be assured that your applications are

secure.

Database controls

These controls are used to connect with the database and then retrieve, display or edit the

contents of the database. They can be categorized as:

Data Source Control

These offer the behavior of connecting to sources of data.

Examples of Data source Controls are SQL Data Source, Site Map Data Source, XML

Data Source, Object Data Source.

Data-bound Controls

These perform the task of taking information provided by Data Source Controls and

render it into HTML. Examples of Data Bound controls are Grid View, Data List, Details

View, Form View and Repeater.

Componentization

Code for the various parts of the page can be handled independently.

Code for the presentation layer can be kept in a separate file i.e. default.aspx

file.

13


14/76

Code for the execution is kept in a separate file i.e. default.aspx.cs file.

Web Services

Web Services are methods of making information available in a standardized way that

could be accessed by any developers application over the web. A web service on its own

Is not an application

Cant be seen as web pages.

Cant be seen as an .exe files.

They come as part of user interface.

Helps in preventing code duplication & thus save time.

They can be created & exposed to web for other applications to share it or one can

search for web service to add to his own application

Deployment

In the past series of steps were required to be carried out to register and configure

the site on the host machine.

ASP .NET 2.0 has devised DOS XCOPY type of folder copying mechanism.

This XCOPY deploys your site from the development machine to the deployment

host.

All registration and machine level customizations occur automatically when the

first request hits the site.

XCOPY/ FTP will suffice for simple applications for more sophisticated

requirements it may well be preferable to create a Windows Installer based setup

package.

There are many common installation tasks that are not possible via XCOPY, someof which are

Creating IIS web sites or virtual directories

However, if you do need any of these you have Microsoft Windows Installer at

your disposal

14


15/76

4.3.1.2 Summary of ASP .NET

ASP.NET is a programming framework built on the common language runtime that can

be used on a server to build powerful Web applications. ASP.NET offers several

important advantages over previous Web development models:

Enhanced Performance:

ASP.NET is compiled common language runtime code running on the server. Unlike its

interpreted predecessors, ASP.NET can take advantage of early binding, just-in-time

compilation, native optimization, and caching services right out of the box. This amounts

to dramatically better performance before you ever write a line of code.

World-Class Tool Support:

A rich toolbox and designer in the Visual Studio integrated development

environment complement the ASP.NET framework. WYSIWYG editing, drag-

anddrop server controls, and automatic deployment are just a few of the features

this powerful tool provides.

Power and Flexibility:

Because ASP.NET is based on the common language runtime, the power and

flexibility of that entire platform is available to Web application developers. The

.NET Framework class library, Messaging, and Data Access solutions are all

seamlessly accessible from the Web. ASP.NET is also language-independent, so

you can choose the language that best applies to your application or partition your

application across many languages.

Simplicity:

ASP.NET makes it easy to perform common tasks, from simple form submission

and client authentication to deployment and site configuration. For example, the

ASP.NET page framework allows you to build user interfaces that cleanly

separate application logic from presentation code and to handle events in asimple, Visual Basic - like forms processing model. Additionally, the common

language runtime simplifies development, with managed code services such as

automatic reference counting and garbage collection.

15


16/76

Security:

With built in Windows authentication and per-application configuration, you can

be assured that your applications are secure.

Language Independency:

ASP.NET is language-independent, so you can choose the language that best

applies to your application or partition your application across many languages.

ASP .NET 2.0 supports more than 20 different languages.

Irrespective of language the code is converted to Intermediate Language prior to

execution.

4.3.2 SQL Server

SQL Server has many advanced features like:

Database mirroring

Database mirroring is a new high-availability feature in SQL Server 2005. It's similar to

server clustering in that fail over is achieved by the use of a stand-by server; the

difference is that the fail over is at the database level rather than the server level. The

primary database continuously sends transaction logs to the backup database on a

separate SQL Server instance. A third SQL Server instance is then used as a witnessdatabase to monitor the interaction between the primary and the mirror databases.

Database snapshots

A database snapshot is essentially an instant read-only copy of a database, and it is a great

candidate for any type of reporting solution for your company. In addition to being a

great reporting tool, you can revert control from your primary database to your snapshot

database in the event of an error. The only data loss would be from the point of creation

of the database snapshot to the event of failure.

16


17/76

CLR integration

With SQL Server 2005, creation of custom .NET objects is possible with the database

engine. For example, stored procedures, triggers, and functions can now be created using

familiar .NET languages such as VB and C#. Exposing this functionality gives tools that

never had access to before such as regular expressions.

Service Broker

This feature gives the ability to create asynchronous, message-based applications in the

database entirely through TSQL. The database engine guarantees message delivery,

message order consistency, and handles message grouping. In addition, Service Broker

gives you the ability to send messages between different SQL Server instances. Server

Broker is also used in several other features in SQL Server 2005. For example, defining

Event Nonfictions in the database to send a message to a Queue in the database whensomeone attempts to alter a table structure, of if there is a string of login failures.

DDL triggers

DDL triggers are defined at the server or database level and fire when DDL statements

occur. This gives the ability to audit when new tables, stored procedures, or logins are

created.

Ranking functions

SQL Server 2005 provides the ability to rank result sets returned from the database

engine. This allows customizing the manner in which result sets are returned, such as

creating customized paging functions for Web site data.

XML integration

SQL Server 2005 introduces the new XML data-type. Using this feature, full XML

documents in this new data-type, and validations can be placed on the well-formed

documents in the database. Additional enhancements include the ability to query the

XML documents and create indexes on the XML data-type.

17


18/76

TRY...CATCH

Use of new TRY...CATCH constructs in SQL Server 2005 helps to catch and handle

deadlocks when they occur in the database. This long-awaited feature simplifies error

handling in the database.

Database Mail

Database Mail, the eventual successor to SQL Mail, is a greatly enhanced e-mail solution

available in the database engine. With Database Mail, there is no longer a dependency on

Microsoft Outlook or MAPI e-mail clients. Database Mail uses standard SMTP to send e-

mail messages. These messages may contain query results, attachments (which can be

governed by the DBA), and is fully cluster aware. In addition, the e-mail process runsoutside of the database engine space, which means that messages can continue to be

queued even when the database engine has stopped.

Fast Recoveries

A new faster recovery option improves availability of SQL Server databases.

Administrators can reconnect to a recovering database after the transaction log has been

rolled forward.

Standards-based Information Access

Any object, data source, or business intelligence component can be exposed using

standards-based protocols such as Simple Object Access Protocol (SOAP) and Hypertext

Transfer Protocol (HTTP)eliminating the need for a middle-tier listener, such as IIS, to

access a Web services interface that is exposed by SQL Server 2005.

Security Enhancements

The security model in SQL Server 2005 separate users from objects, provides fine-grain

access, and enables greater control of data access. Additionally, all system tables are

implemented as views, providing more control over database system objects.

18


19/76

Web Services

With SQL Server 2005 developers can develop Web services in the database tier, making

SQL Server a hypertext transfer protocol (HTTP) listener and providing a new type of

data access capability for Web services-centric applications.

T-SQL

T-SQL (Transact-SQL) is the primary means of programming and managing SQL Server.

It exposes keywords for the operations that can be performed on SQL Server, including

creating and altering database schemas, entering and editing data in the database as well

as monitoring and managing the server itself. Client applications, both which consume

data or manage the server, leverage SQL Server functionality by sending T-SQL queries

and statements which are then processed by the server and results (or errors) returned to

the client application. SQL Server allows it to be managed using T-SQL. For this it

exposes read only tables from which server statistics can be read. Management

functionality is exposed via system-defined stored procedures, which can be invoked

from T-SQL queries to perform the management operation.

Replication Monitor

With its intuitive user interface and wealth of data metrics, Replication Monitor is a tool

that sets a new standard for ease of use in managing complex data replication operations.

Cross-Tier and Cross-Language Debugging

SQL Server 2005 and Visual Studio 2005 together provide even deeper integration in the

area of application debugging. The combination lets you seamlessly debug both CLR and

Transact-SQL code using the same Visual Studio debugging interface, and enables you to

debug from CLR to Transact-SQL and back again, regardless of the location of the code,

whether it is on the developer computer or stored in the SQL Server database

19


20/76

4.3.3 Standards used

SCORM stands for "Shareable Content Object Reference Model", is a standard for

developing, packaging and delivering high-quality training materials for online training

Courses. We are following SCORM standards in our project. SCORM was developed

based on the concept of "using a common e-learning Standard to modernize education

and training courses". Now, with the SCORM standard, and more specifically SCORM

compliant tools/platforms, you can find, import, share, reuse and export learning contents

through compliant web-based learning systems.

The benefits of using SCORM standards are as follows:

Reusability

Lowers cost because learning contents can be used many times. SCORM incorporated

contents can be easily incorporated into multiple applications, allowing for learning

contents to be easily modified and used by different tools and platforms. This allows you

to spend less effort in creating new contents from scratch and focus more on

incorporating existing contents to meet the specific needs of the learner and corporation.

Accessibility

Increased access to learning information. The SCORM standard offers you the ability to

access learning contents from anywhere and at anytime. It enables you to customize the

delivery of your learning contents from one remote location and deliver them too many

other locations. It allows you to search, identify, access and retrieve contents that are

widely distributed in SCORM compliant repositories. This way, it is easier for learners to

identify, retrieve, and incorporate valuable content from many trusted sources.

Interoperability

Systems work efficiently together. SCORM provides an extension for compliant

courseware and similar tools/platforms to communicate under a common interface. With

consistent content production specifications, learning contents developed using one set of

tools/platform can be easily identified, and launched with a different set of tools/platform.

In other words, SCORM compliant learning contents can be authored and/or launched by

any SCORM compliant authoring tools and/or platforms, providing maximum flexibility.

20


21/76

Durability

Learning contents will not easily become obsolete. SCORM is becoming the

technological standard for the e-Learning industry because SCORM compliant contents

are preserved and portable even when base technology (tools/platform) changes. This

means learning contents do not need to go through a Redesign or redevelopment process,

even when technology changes (platforms, tools, Access, devices, products, vendors).

Manageability

A track of system usage and learning experience can be maintained. SCORM can keep

track of the learners' learning experiences and activities, and more Specifically how

learning objects are created, stored, assembled, and delivered to individuals. Also it

provides tracking based on an individuals learning assessment, which gives a betterevaluation reference for determining the learning results. Thus, corporations purchasing

SCORM compliant software (such as TCMS 2.0 or Stream Author 2.5) can better assess

their e-Learning environment and provide a more detailed measurement for their ROI.

4.4 Hardware and Software Requirements

4.4.1 Hardware Requirements

Pentium 4 processor

Minimum 256 MB memory

10 GB Hard disk

Modem / Network card

4.4.2 Software Requirements

Microsoft Windows XP Professional, Version 2002 or above

C# with ASP.NET 2.0

SQL server 2000 / 2005

21


22/76

5. System Design

5.1 Introduction

Systems design is the process or art of defining the architecture, components, modules,

interfaces, and data for a system to satisfy specified requirements. Once the software

requirements are analyzed and specified, the software design involves three technical

activities-- design, code generation and testing that are required to build and verify the

software. The design activities are of main importance in this phase because in this

activity decisions ultimately affecting the success of the software implementation and its

ease of maintenance are made. These decisions have the final bearing upon the reliability

and maintainability of the system. Design is the only way to accurately transfer the

customer requirements into a finished software or system.

5.2 UML Diagrams

The Unified Modeling Language (UML) is a standard language for specifying,

visualizing, constructing, and documenting the artifacts of software systems, as well as

for business modeling and other non-software systems

5.2.1 Use case diagram

A use case diagram is a type ofbehavioral diagram defined by the Unified Modeling

Language(UML). Its purpose is to present a graphical overview of the functionality

provided by a system in terms of actors, their goals represented as use cases and any

dependencies between those use cases.

Use Case

A use case describes a sequence of actions that provide a measurable value to an actor. A

use case is drawn as a horizontal ellipse on a UML use case diagram.

22


23/76

Fig 5.1 Use Case

Actor

An actor is a person, organization, or external system that plays a role in one or more

interactions with your system (actors are typically drawn as stick figures on UML Use

Case diagrams)

Fig 5.2 Actor

Relationships

There are several types of relationships that may appear on a use case diagram:

Include

In one form of interaction, a given use case uses another. The first use case often depends

on the outcome of the included use case. This is useful for extracting truly commonbehaviors from multiple use cases into a single description. The notation is a dashed

arrow from the including to the included use case, with the label "include".

Extend

In another form of interaction, a given use case (the extension) may extend another. This

relationship indicates that the behavior of the extension use case may be inserted in the

extended use case under some conditions. The notation is a dashed arrow from the

extension to the extended use case, with the label ''extend'

23


24/76

Generalization

In the third form of relationship among use cases, a generalization/specialization

relationship exists. A given use case may be a specialized form of an existing use case.

Module 1

Fig 5.3 Use Case Diagram for account creation/authentication module

24


25/76

Module 2

Fig 5.4 Use Case Diagram for information/services module

25


26/76

Module 3

Fig 5.5 Use Case Diagram for Administrator module

26


27/76

5.2.2 Sequence diagrams:

Sequence diagrams demonstrate the behavior of objects in a use case by describing the

objects and the messages they pass.A sequence diagram shows, as parallel vertical lines,

different processes or objects that live simultaneously, and, as horizontal arrows, the

messages exchanged between them, in the order in which they occur.

Basic Sequence Diagram Symbols and Notations

Class roles

Class roles describe the way an object will behave in context

Fig 5.6 Representation of an object

Activation

Activation boxes represent the time an object needs to complete a task. Activation boxes,

are opaque rectangles drawn on top of lifelines to represent that processes are being

performed in response to the message.

Lifelines

Lifelines are vertical dashed lines that indicate the object's presence over time. The dotted

lines extending downwards indicate the lifeline.

27


28/76

Messages

Messages are arrows that represent communication between objects. The arrows

represent messages (stimuli) from an actor or object to other objects.

Loops

A repetition or loop within a sequence diagram is depicted as a rectangle. Place thecondition for exiting the loop at the bottom left corner in square brackets [ ].

Module 1

28


29/76

Fig 5.7 Sequence Diagram for account creation/authentication module

Module 2

29


30/76

:Student :Course_info :Course DB :Library DB:CourseAdmin

1: View course material

2: Access library

3: Display(library)

4: Take Quiz()

5: Store(quiz)

6: Ack()

7: View(Quiz)

8: Display()

9: Post results()

10: Ack()

11: View results()

12: Display()

Fig 5.8 Sequence Diagram for information/services module

Module 3

30


31/76

Fig 5.9 Sequence Diagram for Administrator module

5.2.3 Class Diagram

Class diagrams are the backbone of almost every object-oriented method including UML.

They describe the static structure of a system.

31


32/76

Basic Class Diagram Symbols and Notations

Classes represent an abstraction of entities with common characteristics. Associations

represent the relationships between classes.

Fig 5.10 Sample representation of a class

Classes

Classes are represented with rectangles divided into compartments. The name of the

class is placed in the first partition , the attributes are listed in the second partition, andoperations are written into the third.

Active Class

Active classes initiate and control the flow of activity, while passive classes store data

and serve other classes.Active classes are illustrated with a thicker border.

Visibility

Visibility markers are used to signify who can access the information contained within a

class. Private visibility hides information from anything outside the class partition. Public

visibility allows all other classes to view the marked information. Protected visibility

allows child classes to access information they inherited from a parent class.

Associations

Associations represent static relationships between classes.

Generalization

Generalization is another name for inheritance or an "is a" relationship. It refers to a

relationship between two classes where one class is a specialized version of another

32


33/76

Class diagram

Fig 5.11 Class Diagram for the entire system

5.2.4 Activity Diagrams

An activity diagram is to model the workflow behind the system being designed. . An

activity represents an operation on some class in the system that results in a change in the

33


34/76

state of the system. Typically, activity diagrams are used to model workflow or business

processes and internal operation.

Basic Activity Diagram Symbols and Notations

Action states

Action states represent the noninterruptible actions of objects.

Fig 5.11 Activity

Action Flow

Action flow arrows illustrate the relationships among action states.

Initial State

A filled circle followed by an arrow represents the initial action state.

Fig 5.12 Initial node in an activity diagram

Final State

An arrow pointing to a filled circle nested inside another circle represents the final action

state.

Fig 5.13 Final node in an activity diagram

Swimlanes

Swimlanes group related activities into one column

34


35/76

Activity diagram

Fig 5.14 Activity diagram for the system

5.3 Architecture Diagram

The architecture of a software system defines its structure. In fact, it defines several

structures, each of which comprises elements and the relationships among those

35


36/76

elements. The elements may be computational entities related by control flow or business

entities connected by semantic constraints. It is a multi-perspective, quality-based

approach to ensuring that software is built to fit its purpose.

The architecture below explains the complete flow of the project:

Fig 5.15 Architecture Diagram

5.4 Database Tables Used for The Design

36


37/76

Database tables are used to organize and group the data by common

characteristics or principles. The database can contain as many tables as needed to

organize the data. Database tables involved in this project for storing and

retrieving the data/information are as following:

Login Table

Register Table

Field Type Max length

Student ID int 4

Name String 50

Qualification String 50

Course String 50

Session details String 50

Session ID String 50

Course ID String 10

DD Amount float 8

DD No Numeric 9

Bank String 50

Email String 50

Fields Type Max Length

User ID int 4

User Name String 50User Password String 50

DOB Date time 8

Contact Number Numeric 13

37


38/76

User Name String 50

Password String 50

Faculty table


Faculty ID String 50

Course String 50

First Name String 50

Last Name String 50

DOJ Date time 8

Qualification String 50

Gender String 50

Mobile No Numeric 9

Landline No Numeric 9

Email String 50

Address String 50

Course ID String 50

User Name String 50

Password String 50

Course Details Table


Course ID String 50

Course Name String 50

Date of Starting Date time 8

Date of Completing Date time 8

Session Code String 10

38


39/76

Session Details Table

Field Type Max length

Course name String 50Course ID String 50

Session ID String 10

Session details String 50

Fee Details Table


Course Id String 50

Fees Amount String 50

Last date of Payment String 50

Java Library Table


Content String 1000

Course ID String 50

Book ID int 4

Author String 50

Book Name String 1000

Tutorials


Content String 1000

Course ID String 50

Tutorial ID String 50

Tutorial Name String 1000

39


40/76

Syllabus Details


Course Name String 50Course ID String 50

Topic Title String 50

Topic Details String 1000

Topic No String 10

Video Table


Content String 1000

Course ID String 50

Video File Name String 1000

Exam Table


Course ID String 50

Tutorial String 50

Q No int 4

Question String 1000Option 1 String 1000

Option 2 String 1000



Correctans String 1000

40


41/76

Result Table


Student ID String 50

Course ID String 50

DOE Date time 8

Marks numeric 9

Toe Float 8

6.Testing

In general, testing is finding out how well something works. In computer hardware and

software development, testing is used at key checkpoints in the overall process todetermine whether objectives are being met. For example, in software development,

product user representatives test product objectives. When the design is complete, coding

follows and each programmer tests the finished code at the unit or module level, at the

component level by the group of programmers involved; and at the system level when all

components are combined together. At early or late stages, a product or service may also

be tested for usability. Software testing is a critical element of software quality assurance

and represents the ultimate review of specification design and code generation.

6.1 Testing Objectives

Testing is a process of executing a program with the intent of finding an error.

A good test case is one that has a high probability of finding an as yet

undiscovered error.

A successful test is one that uncovers an as yet undiscovered error.

6.2 White -Box and Black-Box Testing

41


42/76

Software testing methods are traditionally divided into black box testing and white box

testing. These two approaches are used to describe the point of view that a test engineer

takes when designing test cases.

6.2.1 White Box Testing

White box testing is a security testing method that can be used to validate whether code

implementation follows intended design, to validate implemented security functionality,

and to uncover exploitable vulnerabilities. White box testing is performed based on the

knowledge of how the system is implemented. White box testing includes analyzing data

flow, control flow, information flow, coding practices, and exception and error handling

within the system, to test the intended and unintended software behavior. White box

testing requires access to the source code.

Using white-box testing we can derive test cases that

Guarantee that all independent paths within a module have been exercised at least

once.

Exercise all logical decisions on their true and false sides.

Execute internal data structures to assure their validity.

By the test cases each of the modules have been executed at least once and tested forbugs. All the logic decisions on their true and false sides are executed so that the system

will perform well.

6.2.2 Black Box Testing

Black box testing is based on the softwares specifications or requirements,

without reference to its internal workings. Black box testing attempts to derive

sets of inputs that will fully exercise all the functional requirements of a system.

This type of testing attempts to find errors in the following categories:

Incorrect or missing functions.

Interface errors.

Errors in data structures or external database access.

42


43/76

Performance errors

Initialization and termination errors.

All the modules have been thoroughly tested in order to find if all the functions,

interfaces designed for the user, all the data structures used are working as per the

intended requirement.

6.3 Unit Testing

Unit testing is a procedure used to validate that individual units of source code are

working properly. This would test the interaction of many functions but confine the test

within one unit. Unit testing involves only those characteristics that are vital to the

performance of the unit under test. This encourages developers to modify the source code

without immediate concerns about how such changes might affect the functioning of

other units or the program as a whole. Unit testing must be done with an awareness that it

may not be possible to test a unit for every input scenario that will occur when the

program is run in a real-world environment.

Keeping in mind the above rules, each and every module of our project was tested

individually and seen that all the modules are working in an error-free manner.

6.4 Integration Testing

Integration testing is a logical extension of unit testing. In its simplest form, two units

that have already been tested are combined into a component and the interface between

them is tested. A component, in this sense, refers to an integrated aggregate of more than

one unit. Integration testing can expose problems with the interfaces among program

components before trouble occurs in real-world program execution. Simulated usage of

43


44/76

shared data areas and inter-process communication is tested and individual subsystems

are exercised through their input interfaces.

After testing the individual modules, we have combined all the modules and tested if all

the modules as a whole are working properly or not.

6.5 System testing

System testing of software or hardware is testing conducted on a complete, integrated

system to evaluate the system's compliance with its specified requirements . System

testing falls within the scope of black box testing, and as such, should require no

knowledge of the inner design of the code or logic. As a rule, system testing takes, as its

input, all of the "integrated" software components that have successfully passed

integration testing and also the software system itself integrated with any applicable

hardware system(s). The purpose of integration testing is to detect any inconsistencies

between the software units that are integrated together (called assemblages) or between

any of the assemblages and the hardware. System testing is a more limiting type of

testing; it seeks to detect defects both within the "inter-assemblages" and also within the

system as a whole

.

44


45/76

7. Implementation

The first page that is displayed to the visitor gives an overview of the virtual education

and also answers to the frequently raised doubts .If the student wants to know more

information about the university he needs to create an account .If the details entered are

according to the specification he is granted to use the account id and password he has

chosen, then the details of various courses offered along with their session, fee details can

be known. Now if the student is interested in registering he should fill the online

application form and send the copy of certificates to the university .If the student logs in

with the registered id and password he is provided access to various course specific

services like he can view the syllabus ,tutorials(lecture handouts),video of the lectures.

Authenticated student is also granted access to library .To facilitate the student to

estimate his knowledge ,self assessment quizess also provided ie..he needs to take a

online examination which is evaluated and the result is made known to him immediately .

If the student needs to clarify his doubts ,he can post the doubt to any of the course

related faculty as their email ids are listed to him. Apart from this an added service is the

desktop sharing through which the virtually overtaking of the desktop is possible through

which the difficulties can be monitored. once the faculty gets registered by he filling in

the details and the administrator validating them he gets his login id and password. The

faculty service includes viewing the course tutorials , videos ,syllabus, library.Faculty can

also set the quiz paper for the student. The administrator who is whole and sole authority

45


46/76

of the database is also provided with an interface to automate some of his activities .

Firstly the registration details of the users(students, faculty) are listed which can be

verified with the documents he received and if they are found to be valid and if they fit

into the criteria of the university ,the administrator then assigns them their respective ids

and passwords and intimates through email .The admin can now insert new course ,

session, fee , tutorials , syllabus ,videos and library details as well as can edit the existing

details through the interface.

7.1 Sample Screens

This section is to provide the sample screens of the virtual university for educationbroadcasting.

These screen shots provide an insight into the general working of the system.

46


47/76

Fig 7.1 home page of the virtual university

47


48/76

Fig 7.2 Page displaying the information about virtual learning

48


49/76

Fig 7.3 Page displaying the frequently asked questions about university

education system

49


50/76

Fig 7.4 Account creation for new user (student)

50


51/76

Fig 7.5 Page displaying the basic information links for account created student

51


52/76

Fig 7.6 list of various courses offered

52


53/76

Fig 7.7 session details of various courses offered

53


54/76

Fig 7.8 fee details of various course sessions offered

54


55/76

Fig 7.9 student registration page

55


56/76

Fig 7.10 Page displaying various services offered to students

56


57/76

Fig 7.11 Page displaying the syllabus details of the course

57


58/76

Fig 7.12 Page displaying the tutorial contents

58


59/76

Fig 7.13 Page displaying the video links for the course content

59


60/76

Fig 7.14 Demo of the video file

60


61/76

Fig 7.15 Page displaying the library service

61


62/76

Fig 7.16 Online examination for student

62


63/76

Fig 7.17 Displaying result for the exam taken

63


64/76

Fig 7.18 Page Displaying email ids of the course related faculty

64


65/76

Fig 7.19 Faculty registration

65


66/76

Fig 7.20 Page displaying various services offered to faculty

66


67/76

Fig 7.21 Setting the question paper for quizz

67


68/76

Fig 7.22 Page displaying the activities of the administrator

68


69/76

Fig 7.23 Administrator authenticating student

69


70/76

Fig 7.24 Administrator authenticating faculty

70


71/76

Fig 7.25 Inserting new course details and viewing the record

71


72/76

Fig 7.26 updating course details and viewing the modified record

72


73/76

Fig 7.27 Inserting new fee details and session details

73


74/76

Fig 7.28 Inserting new syllabus details and library details

74


75/76

8. Conclusions and Scope for Future enhancements

8.1 Conclusions

This virtual university attempts to mirror all parts of a real university in a computer and

internet-based environment. It allows authenticated students to follow its rigorous

programs regardless of their physical locations. The web-enabled course contents

facilitates the student to work in his own comfortable environment unlike restricting to

the classroom. Moreover he can work at a pace with which he finds convenient. It

enhances the time management skills which is supposed to be the greatest of the greater

skills.

8.2 Future Enhancements

o The scope of the project is high,Apart from making them avail a degree ,the

university can make an attempt to offer the student the training required for the

student to get placements through the portal itself.

o Disscussion rooms can be provided for the students to share their ideas and grow.

o

Video conferencing for the live interaction can be provided.

75


76/76

9. References

o Microsoft Press, SQL SERVER 2005

o Roger.S.Pressman ,SOFTWARE ENGINEERING .

o Matthew MacDonald, Robert Standefer., ASP.NET: The Complete Reference,

McGraw-Hill/Osborne, Active server pages, Published 2002

virtual univ

Documents

Transcript of virtual univ