Distributed Web-Based Assignment Management

Abstract

There is an ever-increasing use of computers and applications used by educators for delivering course material. The term ‘courseware’ has been applied to the comprehensive software available to manage many aspects of the delivery process. Until recently, the main thrust of such software has been towards the delivery process and the incorporation of educational material. However, subject management is also an important task carried out by the subject coordinator, and the role it plays in the overall course delivery process should not be underestimated. Although the subject administrative tasks are usually transparent to some degree, if they are performed inefficiently, they become immediately obvious and in the worst case can distract students and staff from the learning process. An instructional system must be backed up by an efficient subject administration system. One administrative task that can consume much of a subject coordinator’s time is assignment management. Assignment management involves collection, date stamping, redistribution to tutors for marking, collation of results, and return of assignments to students. Many such computerized systems have been previously developed, but due to the nature of the infrastructure they were designed for, their use has been awkward and they are not easily transferred from system to system. With the development of the Web since the early 1990s, we now have a ‘standard’ platform used by education and the general community that allows us to build platform independent systems to implement assignment management functionality. Such software provides tangible benefits to both students and subject coordinators.