Abstract
Computer science is a rapidly changing field which makes academic and
professional education both necessary and problematic. This paper shows, by
describing the analysis, design and implementation of relational database for
community child care providers, the need for technical service donations to
human service organizations. These donations have both an educational use
(appropriate for academe or industry) and a beneficial outcome for the
sponsoring organization.
Keywords:
Service learning, curriculum development.
Introduction
Current literature in Communications of the A.C.M. (CACM) and the Special
Interest Group on Computer Science Education (SIGCSE) reflect the need to
significantly change the education of computer science professionals both in
college and while employed [7, 8, 14, 15]. Many of the changes address the
needs of employers and the goals of educators. Students, educators and
employers are calling for a blend of skills and knowledge of fundamental
theory to reduce training time and increase productivity. The concept behind
reduced training is called transfer of learning [3]. When students or
professionals successfully transfer learning from one activity to another
they can be said to have mastery of a subject, insight or the ability to
judge and synthesize [2, 14]. Because students must develop their own
relationships between learned concepts to successfully transfer learning,
educators use project classes as an experiential tool to enhance transfer of
course material to "real life" projects [3, 9, 12]. Courses similar to
those being used in academe are also being used in private industry [10, 11].
Some businesses are also finding that enabling employees to participate in
community projects helps foster the communication and teamwork necessary to
build a quality product. While some community projects or project classes
have large numbers of people participating, this paper deals with service
projects of less than four people.
Service projects have much of the same characteristics of class based
projects that are gaining popularity with professional trainers and educators
except they focus mainly on increasing interaction with users. The method of
instruction is similar in both cases. Project courses are not meantto
introduce core concepts but rather to enforce a more consistent application of
learned skills (in this case it was database analysis, design and
implementation). Since project courses are student-centered, they require
more time and motivation from both the advisor and participants to prepare and
complete than the standard class or training session.
Project background
La Plata County, in southwestern Colorado, has many social services available
for its residents. One which deals with supporting the family unit is the
La Plata Family Centers Coalition (LPFCC). Some of the services the LPFCC
offers are parent education classes, child care referral, after school
programs, recreational and social activities. LPFCC interacts with schools,
families, child care providers and other social service agencies to address
the needs of the community. In order to serve families more efficiently,
LPFCC has several D2Neighborhood-based centers D3 rather than one central office.
Child care is a central issue in communities and in the operation of the
Family Centers. Because the child care providers are licensed through the
state, extensive requirements must be met before a provider can be licensed
[4]. One of the requirements of a provider is that they have at least
12 clock hours of approved training in state specified areas. LPFCC is one
social service that provides training materials and resources for providers
to train their employees. Regulations requires both an initial training
and a continuing education requirement. Often a supervisor will structure
training to address current concern regarding a certain issue (e.g. lice
or cold/flu outbreaks) and a continuing education requirement.
Information processing at LPFCC
The LPFCC participates in information sharing with human service agencies in
La Plata county. Information sharing with La Plata county social service
(i.e. Adult Education, Southwest Community Resources, etc.) is done through
the La Plata County Health and Human Services Computer Network (HHSN).
This large, centralized database is UNIX based and is accessed directly or
through a modem. Information sharing within the Family Centers is
accomplished through the Child Care Resource and Referral Program (CCR & R)
and on the HHSN. Currently only some of the CCR & R program is automated;
training resources are the materials on site and the referrals come from
the administrator of the program. There is minimal record keeping regarding
resources on a PC in the LPFCC office. The relational database implemented
in this project will serve to catalog and classify the training resources
(both human and material) available for child care providers as training
resources. The database will also allow for the checkout of materials and
enrollment in training seminars. The users will initially be the child care
providers in La Plata county. Eventually, child care providers from the
other six counties served by the CCR & R Program will be able to access
the database by modem through the HHSN.
Project development process
By coincidence, this service project fit in with an assignment for adatabase
research paper. While this was an academic endeavor, there are examples of
private industry being involved in this type of project [6, 13]. Access to
an advisor and using rigorous analysis and design tools were essential to
the progress made. Time with the director of a human service program was
difficult to schedule so I volunteered for general office work two times a
week, two hours a day. While this may not be necessary for all participants,
it is strongly recommended. By spending a few hours a week in the location
where the application is to be used, the participant gains insight into the
population of prospective users. Volunteer time also supplies the
participant background information for the analysis phase of the project.
This part of the project draws on work-oriented design, a technique used at
Xerox Palo Alto Research Center to accurately model tasks so that automation
of those tasks matches the function of the office [1].
Deliverable documentation for this project included Entity-Relationship and
Relation models. The prototype was implemented in MS FoxPro for its cross
platform transferability. Although there was no formal development process,
informal inspections and walkthroughs were held in the pre-implementation
phases in addition to usability testing and participatory design in the
prototype phase. Using a formal development process would have helped keep
the project on schedule. Fortunately, there is ample material on how to
monitor project development at the academic and professional levels [5, 10].
One method was presented in an article by Collofello, Kantipudi and Kanko;
the academic maturity questionaire allows project members to assess the
process maturity level of the project [5]. The questionaire would be useful
to both students and professors to devise a process that is appropriate for
the educational goals of the project. A journal is another tool that should
be used throughout a service project. Project documentation will be useful
for the advisor and the participants as an aid to prepare for other
projects, maintain the existing project, evaluate the project and act as a
portfollio in job interviews.
Conclusions
A community service computer science project can meet the needs of students,
faculty and industry. Students can work on a project of their own choosing
and therefore have more control over their education. Advisors can structure
the project to iterate foundations that are so important to professionalism
and successful products. Sponsors benefit from participants working
on D2real
world D3 problems, building skills and showing community members that the
organization is concerned about community issues.
Is this a win-win situation? It depends mostly on the advisor and the
participants. Community service projects have the potential of taking even
more time than a standard project class because the projects are so
individual and the instruction is student-centered. Because service projects
take more time to develop and complete, advisors should be allowed time to
advise two or three projects instead of teaching a class or as performing a
quarter of their usual duties. The preparation time is necessary for proper
documentation of the project and to insure that educational and
organizational goals are met.
References
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