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Full Project – Design and implementation of an online discussion forum

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CHAPTER ONE

1.0 INTRODUCTION

The advancement in technologies and the fast pace globalization has led to students in higher institutions either partially or fully in an online environment (Lapointe & Reisetter, 2008). Online-learning presents not only challenges in course design but also opportunities to enhance student learning. The value of online learning communities is supported by powerful learning theories; an active learning community and a sense of connectedness to others are critical to real learning (LaPointe&Reisetter, 2008).

The recent growth in computer networks and more specifically, the World Wide Web (WWW) has given rise to communication, socialization and interaction between individuals via the internet. The internet is been used for several purposes these days ranging from education, business and so on, one major area that focuses on individual interaction and communication is online forum.

An online forum is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages. They differ from chat rooms in that messages are at least temporarily archived.

In this era which has been termed to be an information age, an age where the demand for information has dramatically increase, the internet has been the most useful place for getting information nowadays, the use of search engines is one of the most useful, the internet is not just used for getting information but for also socializing and exchanging ideas and information, this has led to the development of several software and applications, ranging from the development of online communities and interactive applications.

1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY

Information are surfed at every possible place, people are interested in sharing and obtaining feedback on their research or who are interested in studying online communities of practice. In a case of a learning community, there are ways in which the community can leverage learning; one of such way is online forum which is our area of focus.

Sylvia C. (2007) explains, an online forum is a type of interactive website for holding discussions and posting user generated content, usually each conversation has its own screen, with the original posting at the top, and responses listed in chronological order.

Forums differ from chat rooms and instant messaging because forum participants do not have to be online at the same time, they suit short posts, which request a response from others. This online forum can enhance campus-based activities; opportunities to support existing campus-based activities.

Web forums are sometimes also called discussion board or threaded discussion groups, the idea of a forum is that people can post articles or question to them and others can read and reply to their questions. Each topic in a forum is usually called thread.

Years back, number of reported security breaches has increased; intrusions and attack have become more and more sophisticated and are very common nowadays in the aspect of control and monitory activities. This introduces us to the need for a secured online forum management where security mechanisms and privileges can be enforced or applied.

1.1 STATEMENT OF PROBLEM

In recent time the quest for this knowledge has risen drastically, surfing or browsing the web without direction for information is becoming stressful especially using search engines. Also, getting information in a campus-based community, especially when carrying out research, it can be stressful and expensive.

Due to busy schedules of lecturers, they find it difficult passing information to students, students in turn also find it difficult to interact with them, especially to ask questions and get ideas.

1.2 MOTIVATION

The need to create a better and easy way to communicate and source for advisory information in the Department from both staffs and students with less stress was what motivated me to embark on this project work in order to alleviate man power or energy used to get that information.

Setting up an online forum is actually quite an interesting problem. We will need some way of storing the articles in a database with its contents.

1.3 AIM OF THE STUDY

This project is aimed at designing an online discussion forum (website) for lecturers and students in the department of computer science.

1.4 OBJECTIVES OF THE STUDY

The objectives of this study include the following:

Quick and ease of access of the school notice board (i.e. online notice board).
To protect information from unauthorized users by implementing security measures.
To have a virtual space for communication in the department.
Having a strong and friendly connection between students and staffs of the department.
Ease of communication between students, staffs and both.

1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY

It makes it easy for information to be passed across to students and staffs.
It creates an interactive platform for both staffs and students.
Only members of the department can have access to the forum.
Notification is provided and accessed to students and staffs anytime, and anywhere.
Enhancement of knowledge about implementing an online or web-based forum.
It will also help to save time and energy when they want to share some kind of information, views or ideas.

1.6 SCOPE OF THE STUDY

This project is centered on building a student online forum using HTML, PHP and SQL technology; it is going to elaborate on how security checks can be enforced to an online forum. We will give the general view of online forum, and related research especially in area like online community and interactive web. Also, it is restricted only to the department of computer science in the Nigerian Institute of Leather and Science Technology (NILEST).

1.7 LIMITATIONS OF THE STUDY

An interesting area like this is quite tasking, getting the required technical skill to develop this research is a great limitation. Surfing and searching for material and information online is expensive which makes it a major constrain and limitation in this work. Another constrain is time, due to short time frame some areas relating to this research were not covered.

1.8 DEFINITION OF TERMS

Online community: it is a virtual community that exists online whose members enables its existence through taking part in membership ritual.

Online forum: it is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages

Information: It is any kind of event that affects the state of a dynamic system

Message board: It is an online discussion site where people can hold conversations in the form of posted messages

Database: It is a system intended to organize, store, and retrieve large amounts of data easily. It is also referred to as a collection of well-structured, related and organized information.

Query: A specific set of instructions for extracting a particular data or information

Repository: It is a location where large number of information or data are kept or stored.

Thread: (sometimes called a topic) is a collection of posts, usually displayed from oldest to latest.

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