“The Development of a Web-Based Homework System (WBH) Via TCExam”

Abstract

The aimed of the project is to develop and produce a web-based homework system (WBH) that can be embedded in teaching and learning process by school teachers. Homework takes a large amount of teachers' and students' activities. Homework is important, but its workload can be really time-consuming. The used of Web-based Assessment and Testing System (WATS), such as WebAssign, Webwork and CAPA (Computer Assisted Personalized Assignment), has widely been implemented in several countries. Several studies have shown that this method indirectly reduces teacher’s workload. We believe that higher work load of teachers can be partially addressed by bringing teachers and technology together. The time that was used for grading and evaluating the homework can be utilised on other academic activities. However, most systems are beyond the capabilities of many schools due to the cost factors. Here in our contribution, we developed a cost effective Web-based homework system (WBH) by utilizing “the free open-source software, (FOSS) TCExam” (Asuni, (2008) which offers many advantages such as, user friendly, easy to use, and efficient grading system. The system enables the teachers to adopt it as an alternative to the existing pen and paper-based homework (PPH). The project is based on physics at the secondary school level. We have successfully developed the prototype of the system and it has been tested for use among conveniently selected teachers and their respective students. A simple survey has been done to study the perception of the users. The result shows that the users have a positive perception on the system. We anticipate that we can contribute to the schools and students by presenting them with quality educational materials (WBH) based on our school curriculum and syllabus.

DOI: 10.5901/mjss.2014.v5n15p249