REAP Team Members (left to right): Jason Hensel (web team), James Allen (Proj. Mgmt-PM and scripting teams), Vivian Guo (web team), Nathan Stobaugh (PM and web teams), Sotoku Tomotsugu (PM team) and Brian Wan (PM and scripting teams)
In Fall 2017, MIS students designed and implemented a real-time tracking application for student extra-curricular activities. Named Report Engagement and Participation (REAP), the system provides a simple means for students and faculty to enter real-time activities and participation, storing the information for retrieval by faculty and students. The primary purpose of the system is to track events demonstrating student success.
The system was designed with a front-end webpage, which allows both students and faculty to log in securely. Once logged in, students can easily enter information about internships, externships, volunteer hours, meetings and other engagement activities. Students can enter information by phone, tablet, or any other device that connects online. QR codes for meetings and other formal proceedings make it easy for students to register their participation in multi-student events. The information can then be retrieved by faculty for class/grading purposes (as needed) and by others as indicators of success by students. This system will aid the College of Business in telling the story of student achievements and allow students to track their own activities.
The design for REAP included the creation of an extensive database to store the information, a webpage as the entry point to the system, and a server that binds them together. There were three teams of students who participated in this project; each team participated as part of a semester-long class. The project management team, headed by James Allen, also included Brian Wan, Nathan Stobaugh, and Sotoku Tomotsugu. This team, under the direction of Dr. Kaye McKinzie in MIS 4355 Project Management, designed the system and monitored progress through to its completion. Another team developed the front-end webpage, guided by Carla Barber in her MIS 4366 Advanced Web design course; this team included Nathan Stobaugh, Jason Hensel, and Vivian Guo. The server-side scripting, using PHP, was completed by Brian Wan and James Allen. Brian and James also designed and implemented the database used in the project. This team was directed by Dr. Jeff Hill (in MIS 4370), who was also the overall leader of the entire project. Dr. Stephanie Watson served as project champion, meeting with teams to provide key system requirements. Three of the students were members of two of the three teams, contributing a significant amount of time and effort into the success of the project, including Brian Wan, James Allen, and Nathan Stobaugh.
The REAP system has been migrated from the MIS Department servers (used for testing and on-campus design) to UCA’s IT Department, where it is now available for use. Training will be held in January for faculty to learn how to enter new events and use the system to track student success activities. Overall, the project included a significant MySQL database, a complex website, and over 12,000 lines of code to integrate it.