A conceptual object-oriented model to support educators in an outcomes-based environment
- Authors: Harmse, Rudi Gerhard
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Competency-based education -- South Africa , Curriculum-based assessment -- South Africa , Object-oriented databases
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech (Information Technology)
- Identifier: vital:10794 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/47 , Competency-based education -- South Africa , Curriculum-based assessment -- South Africa , Object-oriented databases
- Description: The introduction of outcomes-based education (OBE) in South Africa has led to a new learner-centred approach with an emphasis on the outcomes that the learners need to achieve. With this learner-centred focus has come a greater need for record keeping. It is now necessary to track each learner’s progress towards the attainment of the learning outcomes. This progress is tracked in relation to assessment standards that are defined for every learning outcome. These assessment standards define the results expected of learners at certain stages in their development. The new OBE system has emphasised accountability and this is expressed in a requirement to keep evidence to justify the assessment results given. The large numbers of learners and the increased managerial demand of OBE cause problems to educators who may find themselves unable to keep track of the learners’ progress under such conditions. This dissertation investigates the structure of the new OBE system as well as its assessment and evidence requirements. From this the features required from a support system for educators in an OBE environment are determined. The supporting processes needed to enable these features to be implemented, as well as the storage requirements of such a system are identified. In addition to OBE, the field of Computer Integrated Learning Environments (CILEs) and Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) are investigated and useful details identified are added to the requirements for an OBE support system. The dissertation then presents an object-oriented conceptual model of the items that need to be stored in order to allow the features of an OBE support system to be implemented. The relationships between these items are also indicated in this model.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
- Authors: Harmse, Rudi Gerhard
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Competency-based education -- South Africa , Curriculum-based assessment -- South Africa , Object-oriented databases
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech (Information Technology)
- Identifier: vital:10794 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/47 , Competency-based education -- South Africa , Curriculum-based assessment -- South Africa , Object-oriented databases
- Description: The introduction of outcomes-based education (OBE) in South Africa has led to a new learner-centred approach with an emphasis on the outcomes that the learners need to achieve. With this learner-centred focus has come a greater need for record keeping. It is now necessary to track each learner’s progress towards the attainment of the learning outcomes. This progress is tracked in relation to assessment standards that are defined for every learning outcome. These assessment standards define the results expected of learners at certain stages in their development. The new OBE system has emphasised accountability and this is expressed in a requirement to keep evidence to justify the assessment results given. The large numbers of learners and the increased managerial demand of OBE cause problems to educators who may find themselves unable to keep track of the learners’ progress under such conditions. This dissertation investigates the structure of the new OBE system as well as its assessment and evidence requirements. From this the features required from a support system for educators in an OBE environment are determined. The supporting processes needed to enable these features to be implemented, as well as the storage requirements of such a system are identified. In addition to OBE, the field of Computer Integrated Learning Environments (CILEs) and Intelligent Tutoring Systems (ITSs) are investigated and useful details identified are added to the requirements for an OBE support system. The dissertation then presents an object-oriented conceptual model of the items that need to be stored in order to allow the features of an OBE support system to be implemented. The relationships between these items are also indicated in this model.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
A model for the enforcement of history-based separation of duty in heterogeneous workflow environments
- Authors: Papenfus, Carl
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Reengineering (Management) , Industrial management , Workflow
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech (Information Technology)
- Identifier: vital:10797 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/69 , Reengineering (Management) , Industrial management , Workflow
- Description: The current business world is becoming more and more dependent on electronic business. Many paper documents have been made obsolete by electronic documents, as they are easier to automate and track than paper documents. The increased use of computers within organizations has therefore, lead to an increase in use of workflow software products. The increased use of computer-based workflow has allowed organizations to conduct more types of electronic business. This has lead to electronic business crossing organizational boundaries and subsequently a need for heterogeneous workflow systems. For organizations to use heterogeneous workflow systems they must perform their duties in a seamless and secure manner. It is the author’s belief that History-based Separation of Duty principles can be used to formulate access control strategies that reflect the dynamic nature of heterogeneous workflow systems. History-based Separation of Duties relies on the workflow history of a workflow object to determine the access permissions of a particular user to that workflow object. The required workflow history data must be stored in an easily accessible manner. Although this can be achieved through a centralized approach, it is difficult to achieve in a heterogeneous workflow environment where many unrelated workflow systems are interacting across various computer platforms. The model proposed by this dissertation suggests that the workflow history data of a workflow object travels with it in the form of an electronic document, from one heterogeneous workflow environment to another, as a type of “workflow baggage”. In order for this workflow baggage to be easily accessible to all workflow systems in the heterogeneous workflow environment, it must be stored in a universal format, which is structured to allow it to be easily queried. The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is adopted as an appropriate format for representing workflow baggage. The proposed model hinges on the expression of Separation of Duty requirements in a way that is removed from the application programs. A policy-driven approach is thus adopted. The implementation of the model involves the utilization of four steps: policy expression, baggage evaluation, document processing and baggage collection. The policy expression step is responsible for developing the Separation of Duty constraints to be enforced within the workflow system. During the baggage evaluation step the baggage of the workflow object is evaluated according to the constraints of the Separation of Duty policy. Only users who do not violate any of the Separation of Duty constraints are allowed to process the workflow object. After the workflow object has been processed the information regarding the processing is recorded in the baggage collection step. The proposed model enables heterogeneous workflow systems to share access control information in a flexible and portable way.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
- Authors: Papenfus, Carl
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Reengineering (Management) , Industrial management , Workflow
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech (Information Technology)
- Identifier: vital:10797 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/69 , Reengineering (Management) , Industrial management , Workflow
- Description: The current business world is becoming more and more dependent on electronic business. Many paper documents have been made obsolete by electronic documents, as they are easier to automate and track than paper documents. The increased use of computers within organizations has therefore, lead to an increase in use of workflow software products. The increased use of computer-based workflow has allowed organizations to conduct more types of electronic business. This has lead to electronic business crossing organizational boundaries and subsequently a need for heterogeneous workflow systems. For organizations to use heterogeneous workflow systems they must perform their duties in a seamless and secure manner. It is the author’s belief that History-based Separation of Duty principles can be used to formulate access control strategies that reflect the dynamic nature of heterogeneous workflow systems. History-based Separation of Duties relies on the workflow history of a workflow object to determine the access permissions of a particular user to that workflow object. The required workflow history data must be stored in an easily accessible manner. Although this can be achieved through a centralized approach, it is difficult to achieve in a heterogeneous workflow environment where many unrelated workflow systems are interacting across various computer platforms. The model proposed by this dissertation suggests that the workflow history data of a workflow object travels with it in the form of an electronic document, from one heterogeneous workflow environment to another, as a type of “workflow baggage”. In order for this workflow baggage to be easily accessible to all workflow systems in the heterogeneous workflow environment, it must be stored in a universal format, which is structured to allow it to be easily queried. The Extensible Markup Language (XML) is adopted as an appropriate format for representing workflow baggage. The proposed model hinges on the expression of Separation of Duty requirements in a way that is removed from the application programs. A policy-driven approach is thus adopted. The implementation of the model involves the utilization of four steps: policy expression, baggage evaluation, document processing and baggage collection. The policy expression step is responsible for developing the Separation of Duty constraints to be enforced within the workflow system. During the baggage evaluation step the baggage of the workflow object is evaluated according to the constraints of the Separation of Duty policy. Only users who do not violate any of the Separation of Duty constraints are allowed to process the workflow object. After the workflow object has been processed the information regarding the processing is recorded in the baggage collection step. The proposed model enables heterogeneous workflow systems to share access control information in a flexible and portable way.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
SoDA : a model for the administration of separation of duty requirements in workflow systems
- Authors: Perelson, Stephen
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Electronic data processing departments -- Security measures , Computers -- Access control
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech (Information Technology)
- Identifier: vital:10796 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/68 , Electronic data processing departments -- Security measures , Computers -- Access control
- Description: The increasing reliance on information technology to support business processes has emphasised the need for information security mechanisms. This, however, has resulted in an ever-increasing workload in terms of security administration. Security administration encompasses the activity of ensuring the correct enforcement of access control within an organisation. Access rights and their allocation are dictated by the security policies within an organisation. As such, security administration can be seen as a policybased approach. Policy-based approaches promise to lighten the workload of security administrators. Separation of duties is one of the principles cited as a criterion when setting up these policy-based mechanisms. Different types of separation of duty policies exist. They can be categorised into policies that can be enforced at administration time, viz. static separation of duty requirements and policies that can be enforced only at execution time, viz. dynamic separation of duty requirements. This dissertation deals with the specification of both static separation of duty requirements and dynamic separation of duty requirements in role-based workflow environments. It proposes a model for the specification of separation of duty requirements, the expressions of which are based on set theory. The model focuses, furthermore, on the enforcement of static separation of duty. The enforcement of static separation of duty requirements is modelled in terms of invariant conditions. The invariant conditions specify restrictions upon the elements allowed in the sets representing access control requirements. The sets are themselves expressed as database tables within a relational database management system. Algorithms that stipulate how to verify the additions or deletions of elements within these sets can then be performed within the database management system. A prototype was developed in order to demonstrate the concepts of this model. This prototype helps demonstrate how the proposed model could function and flaunts its effectiveness.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
- Authors: Perelson, Stephen
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Electronic data processing departments -- Security measures , Computers -- Access control
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech (Information Technology)
- Identifier: vital:10796 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/68 , Electronic data processing departments -- Security measures , Computers -- Access control
- Description: The increasing reliance on information technology to support business processes has emphasised the need for information security mechanisms. This, however, has resulted in an ever-increasing workload in terms of security administration. Security administration encompasses the activity of ensuring the correct enforcement of access control within an organisation. Access rights and their allocation are dictated by the security policies within an organisation. As such, security administration can be seen as a policybased approach. Policy-based approaches promise to lighten the workload of security administrators. Separation of duties is one of the principles cited as a criterion when setting up these policy-based mechanisms. Different types of separation of duty policies exist. They can be categorised into policies that can be enforced at administration time, viz. static separation of duty requirements and policies that can be enforced only at execution time, viz. dynamic separation of duty requirements. This dissertation deals with the specification of both static separation of duty requirements and dynamic separation of duty requirements in role-based workflow environments. It proposes a model for the specification of separation of duty requirements, the expressions of which are based on set theory. The model focuses, furthermore, on the enforcement of static separation of duty. The enforcement of static separation of duty requirements is modelled in terms of invariant conditions. The invariant conditions specify restrictions upon the elements allowed in the sets representing access control requirements. The sets are themselves expressed as database tables within a relational database management system. Algorithms that stipulate how to verify the additions or deletions of elements within these sets can then be performed within the database management system. A prototype was developed in order to demonstrate the concepts of this model. This prototype helps demonstrate how the proposed model could function and flaunts its effectiveness.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
The development of a model to effectively utilise computer mediated communication to support assessment in a virtual learning environment
- Authors: Pullen, Grant
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Computer-assisted instruction , Students -- Rating of , Communication in education -- Data processing
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech (Information Technology)
- Identifier: vital:10795 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/54 , Computer-assisted instruction , Students -- Rating of , Communication in education -- Data processing
- Description: Programming lecturers are faced with logistical problems associated with evaluating students’ assignments. This dissertation will discuss the problems associated with paper- and electronic-based submission and evaluation systems. Managing student assignments is thus an important issue and this dissertation investigates how the computer can be used to help in both the management of programming assignments and giving of feedback for those assignments. Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) technologies offer a technical solution for the submission of assignments. CMC technologies are therefore studied and their use in the educational sphere discussed. Information Security is another important feature that is needed when using CMC for assignment management. A guideline showing the different features that an assignment management and feedback system would need was developed. Current systems that offer some assignment management features were studied and evaluated according to the guideline. A model was developed for the management of programming assignments. The model addresses the problems of paper-based and previous electronic submission systems and includes the assessment of the assignments. The viability of the model was determined by building and testing a prototype based on the model’s specifications. The prototype was evaluated within a second year Visual Basic programming class. The evaluation determined that there were areas that needed improvement, however the feedback was generally positive.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
- Authors: Pullen, Grant
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Computer-assisted instruction , Students -- Rating of , Communication in education -- Data processing
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech (Information Technology)
- Identifier: vital:10795 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/54 , Computer-assisted instruction , Students -- Rating of , Communication in education -- Data processing
- Description: Programming lecturers are faced with logistical problems associated with evaluating students’ assignments. This dissertation will discuss the problems associated with paper- and electronic-based submission and evaluation systems. Managing student assignments is thus an important issue and this dissertation investigates how the computer can be used to help in both the management of programming assignments and giving of feedback for those assignments. Computer Mediated Communication (CMC) technologies offer a technical solution for the submission of assignments. CMC technologies are therefore studied and their use in the educational sphere discussed. Information Security is another important feature that is needed when using CMC for assignment management. A guideline showing the different features that an assignment management and feedback system would need was developed. Current systems that offer some assignment management features were studied and evaluated according to the guideline. A model was developed for the management of programming assignments. The model addresses the problems of paper-based and previous electronic submission systems and includes the assessment of the assignments. The viability of the model was determined by building and testing a prototype based on the model’s specifications. The prototype was evaluated within a second year Visual Basic programming class. The evaluation determined that there were areas that needed improvement, however the feedback was generally positive.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
The development of a technique to establish the security requirements of an organization
- Authors: Gerber, Mariana
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Computer security -- Management , Electronic data processing departments -- Security measures , Businesses -- Data processing -- Security measures , Computers -- Access control
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech (Information Technology)
- Identifier: vital:10789 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/89 , Computer security -- Management , Electronic data processing departments -- Security measures , Businesses -- Data processing -- Security measures , Computers -- Access control
- Description: To perform their business activities effectively, organizations rely heavily on the use of information (ISO/IEC TR 13335-2, 1996, p 1). Owens (1998) reiterates this by claiming that all organizations depend on information for their everyday operation and without it business will fail to operate (Owens, 1998, p 1-2). For an organization it means that if the right information is not available at the right time, it can make the difference between profit and loss or success and failure (Royds, 2000, p 2). Information is an asset and just like other important business assets within the organization, it has extreme value to an organization (BS 7799-1, 1999, p 1; Humphreys, Moses & Plate, 1998, p 8). For this reason it has become very important that business information is sufficiently protected. There are many different ways in which information can exist. Information can be printed or written on paper, stored electronically, transmitted electronically or by post, even spoken in conversation or any other way in which knowledge and ideas can be conveyed (URN 99/703, 1999, p. 2; Humphreys, Moses & Plate, 1998, p 8; URN 96/702, 1996, p 3).It is, therefore, critical to protect information, and to ensure that the security of IT (Information Technology) systems within organizations is properly managed. This requirement to protect information is even more important today, since many organizations are internally and externally connected by networks of IT systems (ISO/IEC TR 13335-2, 1996, p 1). Information security is therefore required to assist in the process of controlling and securing of information from accidental or malicious changes, deletions or unauthorized disclosure (Royds, 2000, p 2; URN 96/702, 1996, p 3). By preventing and minimizing the impact of security incidents, information security can ensure business continuity and reduce business damage (Owens, 1998, p 7). Information security in an organization can be regarded as a management opportunity and should become an integral part of the whole management activity of the organization. Obtaining commitment from management is therefore extremely important for effective information security. One way in which management can show their commitment to ensuring information security, is to adopt and enforce a security policy. A security policy ensures that people understand exactly what important role they play in securing information assets.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
- Authors: Gerber, Mariana
- Date: 2001
- Subjects: Computer security -- Management , Electronic data processing departments -- Security measures , Businesses -- Data processing -- Security measures , Computers -- Access control
- Language: English
- Type: Thesis , Masters , MTech (Information Technology)
- Identifier: vital:10789 , http://hdl.handle.net/10948/89 , Computer security -- Management , Electronic data processing departments -- Security measures , Businesses -- Data processing -- Security measures , Computers -- Access control
- Description: To perform their business activities effectively, organizations rely heavily on the use of information (ISO/IEC TR 13335-2, 1996, p 1). Owens (1998) reiterates this by claiming that all organizations depend on information for their everyday operation and without it business will fail to operate (Owens, 1998, p 1-2). For an organization it means that if the right information is not available at the right time, it can make the difference between profit and loss or success and failure (Royds, 2000, p 2). Information is an asset and just like other important business assets within the organization, it has extreme value to an organization (BS 7799-1, 1999, p 1; Humphreys, Moses & Plate, 1998, p 8). For this reason it has become very important that business information is sufficiently protected. There are many different ways in which information can exist. Information can be printed or written on paper, stored electronically, transmitted electronically or by post, even spoken in conversation or any other way in which knowledge and ideas can be conveyed (URN 99/703, 1999, p. 2; Humphreys, Moses & Plate, 1998, p 8; URN 96/702, 1996, p 3).It is, therefore, critical to protect information, and to ensure that the security of IT (Information Technology) systems within organizations is properly managed. This requirement to protect information is even more important today, since many organizations are internally and externally connected by networks of IT systems (ISO/IEC TR 13335-2, 1996, p 1). Information security is therefore required to assist in the process of controlling and securing of information from accidental or malicious changes, deletions or unauthorized disclosure (Royds, 2000, p 2; URN 96/702, 1996, p 3). By preventing and minimizing the impact of security incidents, information security can ensure business continuity and reduce business damage (Owens, 1998, p 7). Information security in an organization can be regarded as a management opportunity and should become an integral part of the whole management activity of the organization. Obtaining commitment from management is therefore extremely important for effective information security. One way in which management can show their commitment to ensuring information security, is to adopt and enforce a security policy. A security policy ensures that people understand exactly what important role they play in securing information assets.
- Full Text:
- Date Issued: 2001
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