Top Project – Diploma in Information Technology

This project was developed by Kelvin Chong, Koh Cher Guan, Eric Ng and Steve Teo from the Diploma in Information Technology. The project was a result of collaboration between the Info Tech School and Tanjong Katong Secondary School.

The team developed SPA (Science Practical Assessment), a computerised system to help teachers record and track the performance of students during the Science Practical Assessments, which were recently introduced to secondary schools by the Ministry of Education.

In order to meet the teachers’ needs and help overcome the constraints they faced in assessing and tracking performance, the team developed SPA to help teachers in the following ways:

• The system can be used to record observations of students’ skills competencies. Teachers can do this in the science laboratories or at the work desk;
• The system computes the results for each assessment as well as the cumulative results of the students. These results contribute towards part of the grade in the GCE ‘O’ Level exams;
• The application also provides teachers with an item banking feature for assessments.

By harnessing wireless technology, the students have created a system that provides teachers with mobility and flexibility when assessing and recording students’ performance. SPA is the first system developed using Java technology for school-based science practical assessments. While currently catering to ‘O’ Level Science subjects, it can be easily extended to cater to ‘A’ Level Science subjects. With school-based science practical assessments being implemented in all MOE schools from 2006, it looks like SPA is set to be a great help to all Science teachers in Singapore.