Web based school administration systems

[Bobby Wise]

Hi, I was wondering if any of the members know of instances where school administration is used successfully on the web. I don't mean just for 1 school, I mean for an entire country. So all the state schools are connected to the internet, doing their daily administration tasks as well as printing schedules and reports at the end of the term, and then combining all the data for statistical purposes.

Which country does use a web based system?

Which system do they use?

Are there any instances you know of where this has been tried and eventually thrown out do to the insufficeint band width?

Does anybody know how succesful these system are or aren't?

Thanks & cheers

[Volker Dirr]

In Germany each German Federal Land (Germany has 16) is itself liable for school systems/questions.

As far as i know no German Federal Land has an Web Based Software.

(Some) Lands use own (not web based) school administration software. But even it is not web based there is a lot of trouble with that in a few lands, because German school systems are very complex.

[Volker Dirr]

(if i understand correct) In German Federal Land NRW it is illegal to use a webbased school administration tool by internet. compare this law:
http://www.schulministerium.nrw.de/BP/Lehrer/VODVII/#A_1

[Bobby Wise]

Thanks very for your response Volker. I did not even consider the legal implications of such a system until I read your response. It is very interesting and makes a lot of sense.

Cheers & thanks again.

[Silver]

please see :
http://sourceforge.net/projects/class/

[Bobby Wise]

Thanks Silver, I'm not actually looking for a software solutions, I'm rather trying to find out how effective these systems are on a grand scale.

Lets say that you have 10000 schools in a country and they are all connected to the MoE via the internet on a web based system.

What sort of infrastructure would have to be inplace to make this viable on a day to day basis?

At the end of a term when all 10000 schools want to print EoT reports and Schedules at more or less the same time, will the system not just fall over?

This of course if you disregard the fact that you have confidential information about children available on the internet. Are you not setting yourself up for very bad experience?

That is why I find Volker mention about the Federal Repulic of Germany banning these systems relevant. Why do you suppose that is?

[Volker Dirr]

I think it is just because of security and/or data privacy protection.

I guess there are also other countries where such systems are not allowed because of data privacy protection. There are several countries in the world where you don't need to prove one's identity because of data privacy protection law. In some countries this law is pretty "strong".

But in Germany for example you need to prove your identity (but you don't need to carry always your id-card). But on the other side we always try to keep privacy. For example if the police find the DNA at a crime scene and later identify that DNA as yours, then the police is not always allowed to keep that data. If you done a "strong" crime (like killing), then the police is a allowed to store your name, adress, plaint and DNA in a database. But if you done a "weak" crime (like stealing), then the police is also allowed to store your name, address and plaint, but they are not allowed to keep your DNA. (They can keep also a picture and the fingerprint.) Little bit stupid, but that are all data privacy protetions law problems. Also there are rules that some data must be deleted afer a special time.

[Silver]

Dear Bobby Wise
i don't know if undrestand you or not, but in my country over 10000 schools connect with (maaref) program.
maaref program build with powerbuilder language.

[Bobby Wise]

Hi Silver,

Is maaref used for school administration?

If it is, do you feel it works effectively in times when all the schools access it at once, perhaps say at the end of the term when everyone needs to print school reports?

Cheers

[Silver]

image: mareef_installer

Yes it is used for the school administration and recording of student grades and calculate the results and print certificates.
Server program is located in the school, the Director and agents of the introduction of the school student data, and test scores using the debugger manually or automated.

Are then saved on the school server, and sends a copy to the server of the Department of Education in the region.
Then the Department of Education in the region to send data for all schools to server, Ministry of Education in the capital.
And print the certificates of students from the school server and not server of ministry.

[Bobby Wise]

Thanks Silver, that's interesting and I suppose it answers my question.

From your explanation it would seem that the database is locally based for day to day admin and then centrally uploaded and downloaded for ministerial purposes.

They do not in effect run online when they are processing.

[silvia]

In Spain every region is autonomous for school system, and where I teach, Catalonia, the autonomous government uses a web-based system for all public schools (one for primary and one ofr secondary schools). Teachers enter marks, absences, etc. Administration enter all students data (phone, curriculum, photograph, contact info, etc). The government enter the new curriculums, etc. Everything is stored in a central database accessible from everywhere, provided you have the proper user and password.

Administration also manages the economical stuff in there (invoices, payments, etc)

The only part that is still not implemented is a user for parents to check their children's absences, or marks or whatever. They only get a printed copy once per term.
http://educacio.gencat.net/portal/page/portal/Educacio/Saga

[Bobby Wise]

Thanks Silvia, tell me I am concerned that at crucial times like the end of the term, does the system hold up well to the amount of traffic is on or do you experience a degradaton in speed of processing?

[Volker Dirr]

i think it will be possible to split such request on several computers. so i guess it it not limited in speed if you have enough computers for this task. have a look at ebay, amazon, google, ... they also run fast even million guys work at the same time with that software. they work all on independent tasks, so it is possible to paralize it. (i think, i haven't exerience in coding that, but the other guys can do it also. so why not also the education web based systems.)

[Bobby Wise]

That does make sense and basically answers my question so thanks Volker, Silver and Silvia

Cheers