Topic 5- Organisation: School, Home and evironment

School registration system

• Used to record attendance
• Used for health and safety- who is in the buliding and who isn't
• Used to discoutage truancy
• Used to provide statistics to be used in comparisons with other schools

Old paper-based system

• Used paper registers
• Teachers record marks next to students
• Recorded twice a day (i.e., morning and afternoon)
• Marks added up manually by form teacher

Disadvantages of manual methos for registration

• Registers were often left unattended, which meant student could easily alter the register

• Mistakes in register entries meant registers were hard to understand
• Statistics for attendance tended only to be produced each term
• Teachers were responsible for the accuracy of the registers
• Students could register themselves adn then play truant by not attening the lessons

Computer-based methods of registration

Features include:

• Capturing students attendance automatically
• Very fast recording of attendance details
• Avoiding the misuse of the system as far as possible
• Enabling not only morning and afternoon attendance to be recorded but also attendance at each lesson
• Relatively inexpensive
• Ability to work with other ICT systems used in the school such as the system for recording student details

ICT methods available

OMR (optical mark recognition):

• Works by teachers shading in boxes on forms
• Forms are batched together
• Sent for reading by an optical mark reader
• Reports can be produced from the system

Smart Card:

• Uses a chip
• Chip is read by a reader to record attendance
• Are open to abuse by students ( you can give your card to someone else)

Swipe Cards:

• Plastic cards like a credit cards
• Contain a magnetic ***** with data on it
• Students swipe card through a reader
• Their attendance is recorded

Biometric methods

Biometric- a property of the human body, such as fingerprints or pattern on the retina that can be used to identify a person

Biometric methods include:

• Fingerprints
• Retinal scanning

Advantages of biometric methods

• There is nothing, such as a card, for a student to forget
• You have to be there to register so no- one else can do it for you and cannot be altered by students
• Performed in real times so the system knows exactly who has registered and when

Disadvantages of biometeric methods

• Biometric systems are expensive
• There are privacy issues. Some people object to fingerprinting system
• Total reliance on the ICT system

Management information system in schools

• Supply information to managers and other staff
• To enable them to make effective decisions

Examples of uses for MIS in schools

• To workout how many students will be in the new year 7 and to allocate them into forms
• To decide whether a new teacher should be employed
• To work out the best way of allocating teacher and rooms
• To decide on how best to spend the training budget to keep teachers up-to-date

Advantages of management information systems in schools

• They reduce the workload for teachers in the classroom and in the school office
• They can provide up-to-date information for parents
• They can support decision making for school managers
• They can tackle truancy effectively
• They can be used to plan timetables

Disadvanages of managment information system in schools

• They software is expensive to buy
• Student dats is personal, so there must be no unauthorized access

• The software is complex, so all staff need training

Data Logging

• Data logging is where readings are taken regularly over period of time using sensors. The main features of data logging are:
• The readings are taken automatically- there is no need for a human to be present. This means that it is much cheaper than employing a person to do this
• You can set the logging period- this is that total time over which the reader will be collected

Features of data logging

• You can set the logging rate, this is how often the readings are taken
• The sensors can be put in many locations
• The data stored is processed by a computer
• The data can be analysed

Sensors

• Sensors are used to detect and measure physical quantities
• Here are some examples of sensors:
• Temperature/heat sensors can be used in school experiment such as investigating the cooling of a hot drink in different thickness of cardboard cup. Heat sensors can be used to control; a heating system in a home or classroom
• Light sensors- detect the brightness of light. Can be used to see how light levels affect the growth of a plant. They can be used to control light that comes on automatically when it goes dark
• Sound-sensors-measure the loudness of a sound. Can be used in noise disputed
• Pressure sensors- barometric pressure sensors measure air pressure;other pressure sensors measure depth of liquid or something pressing on them
• Humidity sensors- these measure the moisture in the air
• Passive infrared sensors (PIRs)- these are the sensors used in schools adn home to detect movement

Advantages of Data Logging

• Readings always taken at exactly the right time
• Do not need anyone to take reading
• No human error when taking reading
• The system does not forget to take a reading
• Reading can be taken faster
• Can be situated in inhospitable places e.g. North Pole
• Reading can be taken 24/7

Disadvantages of data logging

• Equipment malfunction can cause wrong readings
• Equipment is expensive
• Training is needed to have expertise setting up the equipment

Control Systems

• The main components of a control systems are:
• Sensors-which are the input devices that send data to the computer/ processor
• Computer/Processor-uses a control program to decide what action to take when it receives data from the sensors
• Output Device- such as light, heaters, sprinkler system, controlled by signals from the control system

Control Systems

• Security light system
• Burglar alarm system
• Heating system

Advantages of Control Systems

• It can operate continuously 24/7
• It is cheaper- no need to pay wages

• It can work in dangerous places
• It is easy to change the way the device work by re-programming it
• It is more accurate than humans
• It can react quickly to changes in the condition

Disadvantages of Control Systems

• The initial cost of equipment is high
• The equipment can go wrong
• Fewer people are needed, so leads to unemployement
• If there is a power cut the equipment will fail

Control Systems

• Controls system work by using a series of 0's and 1's. A sensors and sent to that computer/processor for processing. The resulting weather information is then displayed in a variety of different ways such as:

• Used icons
• Graphically
• Using text
• Using numbers
• This information is usually iutput on screen
• Charts
• Animations
• Videos

Sensors used for the collection of weather data:

• Data for weather forecasting system comes from sensors:
• Heat/temperature sensors. Pressure sensors. Used to record atmospheric temperature
• Rain sensors. Used to measure rainfall
• Widn speed and wind direction sensors
• Light sensors, to record hours of sunshine
• Humidity sensors, to detect moisture in the air

Advantages of ICT based weather forecasting systems

• Data can be collected automatically
• Data is collected at exactly the correct time. Mistakes are not made when taking readings
• Weather data can be collected from remote and inhospitable locations
• Data can be transmitted using radio/satellite communication. Output can be in different formats, e.g. video, audio, etc

Disadvantages of ICT based weather forecasting system

• Equipment is expensive
• Malfunction of equipment lead to incorrect forecasts