Communication is a basic human need and for that reason, man has always found a means of meeting this need. The media, which is an umbrella term for various means of communication, has become an integral part of human life around the world. The earliest forms of personal media, speech and gestures, had the benefit of being easy to use and did not necessarily need complex technology (Idakwo, 2011).
Through the social media, the internet community has drastically increased over the years. The social media has become a significant part of today’s modern civilization. It is a defining trait of how integrated social interactions have become. The impact of the social media have been seen in basically five different contexts; news, interactions, political landscapes, learning and marketing (Guha, 2013).
With over 80 percent of teen Internet users frequenting social media sites, it’s no wonder the real world social lives are seeing some changes. Social media is definitely changing the way people communicate, but in many ways it’s for the better as we expand our social circles and explore new horizons through our online connections (Chopra, 2013).
Every age it has passed through has been based on beliefs and new technologies, responding to the needs of individuals anxious to adjust to new forms of socialization. A time of great change is a period in which society looks for meaning. Information is already a tool, the principal tool, which people use to perceive and understand their environment (Idakwo, 2011).
The emergence of online forums has become hugely popular in recent times with interactions based on similar discussions, posts and threads (Xiaolin, et al., 2009) (Sumit & Prasenjit, 2010). Online forums have become powerful tools for sharing information (Bedmar, 2010). Online discussion forums have also become one of the most popular places to ask and answer questions (Falls, 2012).
Online Forums, compared to the other social media sites, have various unique features like threads; where discussions and posts are made, RSS feeds, polls, etc. Online Forums, provide a unique type of social environment that enables people to share and access information freely. Users can either start new topics or leave comments in the threads of existing topics (Xiaolin, et al., 2009).
Prospective students of an institution (the University) have had issues in the past when it comes to selecting careers, choosing their course of study and indecisions about the right school to apply for (Ogu, 2008) (Orndorff & Herr, 1996). However, to solve these problems, a platform needs to be created where these students can relate with others who can answer these questions. Consequently, relevant requirements have to be taken into consideration in the development of a web application to solve these problems stated above.
To develop a web/online facebook platform where students can share different questions or views on various topics and majorly make information about any institution accessible. This will be achieved through the following objectives:
The research work will be conducted by using different sources of relevant data for research like online surveys, journals, books and reviews of relevant literature. The requirements needed for the development of this application will be gotten by a review of existing systems. A platform where users who will reply to the questions from other users or provide any form of information will be created by some ‘question and answer’ techniques to solve the problems stated above successfully. The online forum will also be designed showing all the different functions that will be performed by using UML diagrams like use cases, class diagrams, etc. The implementation of the web application can now be done by making use of the design diagrams and programming will be done with PHP and the database management will be done by MySQL database taking a clue from existing forum softwares. The system will later on be evaluated by making use of feedbacks and reports from relevant users.
The objectives stated above will be achieved through these means: Table I: Research Objectives and Methodology
| S/N | OBJECTIVES | PROPOSED METHODOLOGY |
| 1 | Gathering the right requirements for this application | · Requirements Elicitation · Review of Existing Systems |
| 2 | Modeling the requirements gathered using a Unified Modeling Language (UML). | · Review of Existing Models · Using UML diagrams like class diagrams and activity diagrams |
| 3 | Implementing the system by creating a user-friendly platform that will be easier for these students to interact with each other and ask questions using threads and topics. | · The code for the front-end i.e. the interface will be written in PHP · The messages and threads will be stored by using MySQL relational database. · Review of Forum Softwares like phpBB, vBulletin, etc. |
This study has its relevance in solving real life problems affecting students today like indecisions about student’s course of study, career choices and misinformation about that institution. The application will also be flexible to provide different categories where users can have specific choices to select from. Lastly, this application will be focused on one institution i.e. Abia state University rather than addressing a greater audience, in other student forums.
Information is the bane of decision-making for students and present time web applications cannot live up to providing real time information that can be accessed from anywhere by the end user. It is important to put interest into the development and usage of online forums in solving these problems.
The basic limitation of this project is that the right set of university students with the right information and answers to any question may not be available to make this project a success. But, this will also be taking into consideration during the implementation of the project.
In Chapter Two, relevant literatures will be reviewed so as to elicit requirements for the proposed system. In Chapter Three, the requirements for the proposed system using the unified modeling languages will be designed. Chapter Four will be discussing and showing the system development, deployment and evaluation. Chapter Five will summarize the work and give recommendation for future work.
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