Weekly Journal ~week 7~

WEEKLY JOURNAL

WEEK 7 (22^nd August – 26^th August  2011)

1.0       Masalah / Isu

Sistem Analisis Peperiksaan Sekolah (SAPS) or Web based school assessment system is a new system that introduced by Ministry of Education to key in pupils’ examination marks. It is an online system to replace Sistem Analisis Peperiksaan  (SAP) that is used by all the teachers before. It should be the best way to collect and analyze examination data. But due to some problems, it causes some of the teachers face difficulties to at least log in into the page. Some of the teachers need to woke up at 2 a.m. or 3 a.m. just to key in the data and it will interrupt their focus teaching on the following day.

2.0       Analisis (Apakah punca masalah)

           

The problems may arise because of the insufficient computers in school and resort to using the computer with an Internet connection at home. Some of the teachers do not have internet connection at home and they can only use internet at school. But sometimes during day the system is busy and they can not log in into the system to key in the data. Other problems may be because of the insufficient processing capacity, system instability and lack of security. The number of online users is displayed on the log in page of the system. Some of the teachers said that when the number of users exceeds 500, the system starts to crawl and then crashes. Sometimes, the data already entered into the system goes missing after a crash and has to be keyed in all over again. The login page and subsequent pages are not secured as every web page is presented in “http:”. This means that the data transmitted by these web pages can be intercepted. According to Nancy Sehgal, the URL begin with http means the page is not secure while the URL begin with https is in the secure page. It presents a frightening security issue, especially since they are entering personal and sensitive pupils’ data via unsecured web pages.

3.0       Cadangan untuk memperbaiki / Alternatif

Teachers must aware the procedure to use this system. They should refer to the “manual penggunaan sistem SAPS” to avoid any mistakes and difficulties during the process of entering the data. Teachers can share the broadband with other teachers or rent the broadband modem from the other teachers for the sake of this task. The ministry also should take further action to solve the problems as soon as possible. The system needs to be upgraded in terms of memory and processing capability, to handle the many thousands of simultaneous users. The system’s database needs to be looked into and replaced with a robust version that can handle high volumes of simultaneous transactions. Changing the programme to validate the data and providing an online message to correct the data before updating will solve this issue. At the very least, the site must be equipped with secure web pages, most often denoted by “https:” which encrypts the data, similar to what is being offered by all Internet banking sites.

4.0       Tempoh masa

This system will be used by all the teachers in government’s school. This system will be used in every examination time. As informed by NKRA unit, this system is not developed to burden the teachers, but it is developed to gain fast and direct information about the examination marks. The NKRA unit realizes the problems and takes action to solve some of the problems. The duration to enter the data has been lengthening until September 2, 2011. So, the teachers still have time to enter the data and complete their task.

5.0       Tindakan susulan

Although the practical teachers are not allowed to use the system, but I have the opportunity to take a look the system while one of the teachers log in into the system to enter the data. The system is more to same with the older version of Sistem Analisis Peperiksaan v2 and v7 and also SAPHC that I used to use during my service as Guru Sandaran Tidak Terlatih before but this is an online version. “Manual penggunaan sistem SAPS” provides step-by-step guidance for teachers to use the system. This can help me to use the knowledge in the future. Teachers can update the data and also print out the analysis of the examination for further action. Some of the teachers share the broadband to key in the data and all the teachers in SK Kulai complete the task before 26^th of August.

6.0       Kesimpulan/ Harapan

As for me, I really hope that this system can give positive effect to the education sector as the data can be access everywhere and at any time. After I finish this KPLI programme, I will adapt the experiences and the knowledge that I collect during my practicum.