Project Abstract

Abstract
With the increasing importance of undergraduate research projects in academic settings, there is a growing need for effective management and dissemination of these projects. This research project focuses on the design and implementation of a web-based repository specifically tailored for undergraduate projects. The aim is to create a centralized platform where students can upload, store, and showcase their projects, while also providing easy access for faculty members and other students to view and engage with the work. The web-based repository will be designed to be user-friendly, with features such as project categorization, search functionality, and user profiles to enhance the browsing experience. Additionally, the platform will support various file formats to accommodate different types of projects, including research papers, presentations, and multimedia content. A key aspect of the design will be ensuring the security and privacy of the projects, with access controls to restrict viewing and editing permissions as required. The implementation of the repository will involve the use of modern web technologies and frameworks to ensure scalability, performance, and responsiveness. The system will be developed using a combination of front-end and back-end technologies, with a focus on creating a seamless and intuitive user interface. Integration with existing university systems and authentication mechanisms will also be considered to streamline access for students and faculty. Furthermore, the repository will include features for project assessment and feedback, allowing faculty members to provide comments and grades on student projects. This will facilitate communication and collaboration between students and instructors, leading to a more interactive and engaging learning experience. In addition, the platform will support social features such as commenting, liking, and sharing projects to foster a sense of community and recognition among users. Overall, the design and implementation of a web-based repository for undergraduate projects will provide a valuable resource for students, faculty, and researchers to showcase and discover academic work. By centralizing and organizing projects in a digital platform, the repository will enhance visibility, accessibility, and collaboration within the academic community. This research project aims to contribute to the advancement of undergraduate education by leveraging technology to support project-based learning and research dissemination.

Project Overview

1.2 Statement of the Problem

Projects already submitted to the SICT cannot be accessed anywhere and at anytime without having to come to the school building and reaching the office in charge. In case of fire incidence or water, the copies of the projects curated by the school could be damaged or totally lost. Searching of projects is very hectic and slow due to the quantity of projects and limited human effort. Also, access to projects can be delayed due to the official procedures and protocols involved in the process.

Therefore, this work is to develop a repository to solve this problem.

1.3 Aim-and-Objectives-of-the-Study

The purpose of this study is to develop a web-based repository for undergraduate projects of SICT, FUT Minna. This will be achieved by the following objectives:

1. To design a web-based repository for undergraduate for SICT, FUT, Minna.
2. To implement the design in (i) using PHP and MySQL.
3. To evaluate the proposed system in (i).

1.4 Significance of the Study

A key function of this research is that the SICT repository provides a unique storage identifier for every object, therefore making it feasible with the aid of the search module incorporation into the web-based repository application to efficiently search, discover and retrieve objects (projects) from its database. Both staff and student will benefit from this feature in that one can easily search for a project by the project name, student name or year. The office in charge of keeping and handling undergraduate projects will now have better support for storage of graduates’ projects and easy retrieval on request.

The SICT repository could also serve as an educational environment for many internet users and researchers. It will encourage researchers to take up further research on a subject matter (like a project) and thereby add to the body of knowledge. This repository also covers authors of the projects and because it clearly attributes the student name (author) to its content.

1.5 Scope and Limitation of Study

This study only takes undergraduate projects of the SICT of Federal University of Technology Minna into regard. A single material (like a project) will contain only the project topic, student name, abstract and the year of project submission.

A user will only be able to search the project catalog for a project either by the project topic, student name, keyword and year of submission.

The SICT repository will be only accessible online (for instance, with an active internet connection and with the aid of a browser) and cannot be accessed offline, except when installed on a computer with an active server application and a MySQL database application. Projects cannot be downloaded for offline usage or access.

1.6 Definition of Terms

Learning Objects: In the context of this research, a learning-object-is-a-resource with a clear educational-application. It is in digital form examples: a Microsoft Word Document or a PDF document.

Catalog: This research applies the word ‘catalog’ as a container that presents all the SICT projects logged/stored in an organized tabular format, showing relevant information about each project. It can be compared to a library catalog containing all the information about books their titles, author, number of pages, published year, ISBN etc.

Repository: A repository (in this case; SICT repository) is an archive, storehouse or container that allows storage, cataloging, accessing all SICT undergraduate projects and thesis, and viewing each object’s content.

Identifier: An identifier is simply a unique identity attached to one object, it aids referencing such object directly when its identifier is requested. An identifier can be a serial number, identity number (also written as ‘ID’) or an index number.

Object: An object in the context of this research refers to a project record returned by a database queried using an Object Oriented Programming (OOP) approach. An object (i.e. a project record) returns or contains the project topic, student name, abstract, year of project submission and the date and time the object record was created.

Database: A database is a repository that allows storage, retrieval and manipulation of data. A database can be used efficiently with the aid of a Database Management System (DBMS) a set of tools that allow storage, access, retrieval and maintenance of data stored in a database, examples of DBMS include XAMPP, WAMP, LAMP and AppServ to mention a few. A database understands only the Structured Query Language (SQL) which is used to communicate with it, popular databases used by well-known Information Technology (IT) firms include are MySQL, Oracle and Django DB.

Web-Browser: A web-browser,-internet-browser-or-browser-is-software program that interprets the codes written in markup languages in graphic and visual (like images, text, audio or animation) form. This allows users to easily request and access a website or to search for information through a search engine (either Google, Ask, Bing and AOL among others).

Keyword: A phrase or just one word that is used to search for a certain result or set of results.

User: A user is system, application, request or person that can use a computer or software to perform a specific task.

Metadata: A set of data that describes and gives information about other data.

Dataset: A collection of related game plans of information that is made out of disengaged segments however can be controlled as a unit by a PC.

Relational Database: A database composed to see association among relations of information delineates tables from which data can be gotten to or reassembled in different courses without rearranging the database tables.

PROJECT SOFTWARE IMPLEMENTATION IS AVAILABLE ON CODEMINT Click Here >> StudRepo – A Design and Implementation of a Web-Based Project Repository (Web Application Source Code Files)