Title

Author(s)

Secondary school administration assisted by a computer

system: problems & prospects

Fung, Chi-wah, Alexander;

Citation

Issued Date

URL

Rights

1983

http://hdl.handle.net/10722/65263

The author retains all proprietary rights, (such as patent rights)

and the right to use in future works.

SECONDARY SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

ASSISTED BY A COMPUTER SYSTEM: PROBLEMS $ PROSPECTS

FUNG CHI WAH, ALEXANDER

Dissertation presented in part fulfilment

of the requirements of the degree of
Master of Education

University of Hong Kong

August, 1983

ii

DECLARATION

I hereby declare that this

work and that

it

has

not

been

dissertation
previously

represents
submitted

University or any other institution in application

for

my
to

this

admission

to a degree, diploma or other qualification.

FUNG Chi-wah, Alexander

August, 1983

own

i ii

ABSTRACT

The purpose of

this

study

is

two-fold.

questionnaire, the first part of the

Using

simple

Postal

Survey

study

is

conducted to find out the extent and nature

of

current

use

in

Hong

Kong

secondary

schools

with

applications in school administration.

The

major

local

currently

to

using

administration.

computer
From

the

system
personal

Principals of these schools,

data

and institutionalization

computer

school administration are

of

obtained.

are interested in computer assisted

case reports of some practical use.

emphasis

second

study consists of three Case Studies of

computer

part

of

secondary
assist

regarding

the

management

school

with

the

implementation

application
School

the

schools

in

interviews

on

in

secondary

administrators
will

find

who
these

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

would

secondary

like

schools

questionnaire.

to

thank

who

have

My thanks are

the

Principals

kindly
due

of

responded

specially

to

th

and

have been interviewed.

My gratitude goes also to Dr. D.J.

Thom

Simpson for their supervision, advice and support.

Fung Chi-wah, Alexander

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Page
DECLARATION
ABSTRACT
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
LIST OF FIGURES
LIST OF TABLES

II

ii
iii
iv
V
vii
ix

INTRODUCTION

1.1

Background to the Study

1.2

Statement of the Problem

1.3

Organization of the Dissertation

THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

2.1

Some Basic Concepts of a System

2.2

Information Systems

2.3

Computer Systems in Education

2.4

Preliminary Considerations for the Study

III. THE SURVEY

14

16

3.1

The Method

16

3.2

The Questionnaire

16

3.3

Responses and Data Analysis

17

3.4

Results and Observations

18

3.5

Summary

24

vi

IV

CASE STUDIES OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION

COMPUTER SYSTEMS

25

4.1.1
4.1.2
4.1.3
4.1.4
4.2.1
4.2.2
4.2.3
4.3.1
4.3.2
4.3.3

School No. 1
The Administration Computer System
The Programs
Discussion
School No.2
The System and Programs
Discussion
School No.3
The Administration Computer System
Discussion

25
26
32
53
55
56
71
74
74
82

OVERVIEW AND CONCLUSIONS

5.1 Findings
5.2 Implications for School Administrators
5.3 Implications for Theory and Practice

84
84
85
86

BIBLIOGRAPHY
APPENDIX

88
91

LIST OF FIGURES

igure
2-1

Basic Components of a System

2-2

A System with Feedback

2-3

Transformation of Data

4-1

Student Report Pre-printed Form

4-2

Data in a Student Record

4-3

Sample of Academic Record

4-4

Printout of a Class-Timetable

4-5

Sample of a Class Report

4-6

Sample of a Class Final Report (Part II)

4-7

Sample of Roll-Call List

4-8

Daily Attendance Report

4-9

Monthly Attendance Record

4-10

Sample of Award/Penalty Record

4-11

Subject Score Statistics

4-12

Student Academic Record (For Filing)

4-13

Input Format for Entering Teacher List

4-14

Input Format for Allocating Teaching Duties

4-15

Sample Printout of Teaching Duties

4-16

Input Format to Define Constraints

4-17

Sample Printout of Class-Timetable

4-18

Sample Printout of Teacher Timetable

4-19

Printout of Student Conduct Listing

4-20

Printout of Yearly Result after Promotion

4-21

Extra-curricular Activities Reference Table

viii

Figure

Page

4-22

Yearly Remarks Reference Table

63

4-23

Printout of Subject Scores

64

4-24

Printout of Students' Scores of All Subjects

65

4-25

Sample of Student Term Report

66

4-26

Sample of Student Annual Report

67

4-27

Sample of Scores Statistics

68

4-28

Histogram of Subject Scores

69

4-29

Cumulative Histogram of Subject Scores

70

4-30

Sample of Student Personal Data Record

76

4-31

Sample of Student Discipline Data Record

77

4-32

Sample of Student Activities Record

78

4-33

Sample of Internal Examination Record

79

4-34

Sample of External Examination Record

80

4-35

Sample of a Student Transcript

81

iX

LIST OF TABLES

Table

Page

3-1

Responses to the Survey

17

3-2

Statistics of Computer Applications

18

3-3

Statistics of Computer Applications in

School Administration

3-4

Statistics of Different Make of Computer

used in Schools

3-5

20

21

Statistics of Principals' Perception about

Problem Areas in using Computer

22

1
CHAPTER I
INTRODUCTION

The major purpose of this study is to:

(1)

Assess the extent and nature

in

Hong

Kong

of

secondary

current

schools

computer

with

use

particular

emphasis on school administration applications.

(2)

Perform some
order

indepth

to

interviews

obtain

implementation

case

and

in

studies

identifying

encountered in

schools

in

regarding

institutionalization

applications in secondary schools.

helpful in

some

of

Such

the

computer

data

will

be

the

problems

which

might

be

implementing

computer

applications

in

secondary.school administration.
1.1

Background to the Study

Technological
initiated

developments

virtually

microcomputers.
capacity,

its

an

This
ease

different fields.
equipment
Personal

owned
and

reasonable

rapidly
secondary
Computer

these
in

in
in

H.K.

no

September

for

storage

flexibility

longer

many

priviledged

organizations.

schools

at

in

now

started

1982

in

of

quite

microcomputers

are

which

market

available

and

There

have

applications

are

secondary

years

vast

wealthy

days,

rate.

its

of

large

computers

increasing

Studies

by

its

and

potentials

appear

schools

access,

few
the

machine, with

only

home

past
of

Computers are now

prices

beginning to

the

explosion

of

programming has great

in

for

H.K.
some

the
their

are
at

fifty

course

of

Form

2
students.

Besides

instructional
promise

in

using

purposes,
the

administration.

microcomputers

there

application

is
of

also

the

various

considerable

machine

In this respect, however,

which still needs bridging as pointed

for

in

there

out

by

school

is

Marv

Westrom

in his article "Microcomputers in School

Administration"

the Canadian School Executive, May

--

1982

who develop their own microcomputer systems

the

problem

hardware

area

and

and

may

adequate

unlikely, however, to

have

have

had

computer systems

with

complex

individuals

have

adequate

who

will

understand

knowledge

skills.

experience
human

in

tasks.

hardware,

integrating
Among

One

that experienced system analysts work nearly

school administration with micros.

are

those

software,

administration.

large computers and have little reason to

of

They

system analysis capability, there are probably few

an understanding of school

in

"Administrators

sufficient

programming

gap

and

who

have

reason

is

exclusively

on

interested

in

be

For these

reasons, good

school administration software is difficult to find."

1.2

Statement of the Problem

In

small

place

like

H.K.,

where

secondary schools is only a few hundred, it

to

have

market

produce microcomputer
purposes.

attractive
softwares

Schools wishing

to

enough
for
use

the
is

for
school

even

to

administration

area probably have to develop their own programs.

to

of

harder

investment

microcomputers

be worthwhile, therefore, to make a study

number

find

in
It

this
would

out

the

extent

and

secondary

nature

of

schools.

current

In

computer

addition,

schools already using computer to

will

be

useful

to

use

some

in

case

assist

in

local

reports

of

administration

administrators

contemplating

computerization in their school office.

1.3

Organization of the Dissertation

In Chapter II, some

basic

concepts

discussed with specific reference

to

of

computer

information systems, and a review of the

system

are

systems

and

related

literature

about computers in education is presented.

The first, part of the study, which is a

Postal

is described in Chapter III together

with

the

observations.

Case

Studies

In Chapter IV,

three

Kong secondary schools using computer

administration are reported in
of in-depth interviews
second

part

of

the

with
study.

the

to

These

Principals

The

results

system

detail.

last

overview and conclusion to the whole study.

Survey,

of

and
Hong

assist
are

and

chapter

in

results
form

gives

the
an

CHAPTER II
THEORETICAL FRAMEWORK

2.1

Some Basic Concepts of a System

We often see the term 'system' used
contexts.

We talk about,

for

example,

in

many

the

solar

our digestive system, and molecular systems.

of our social system in which the school
as one of the many subsystems.
system carries the meaning of
or an order.

In

all

an

different

We

can

also

be

speak

identified

contexts,

assemblage

system,

the

of

word

components

Johnson et al. (1967) defines a system

as

"an

organized or complex whole, an assemblage or

combination

of

things or parts forming a complex or unitary

whole,

...

it

as

an

will be helpful
array of

to

define

components

systems

designed

to

more

precisely

accomplish

particular

objective according to plan."

The

systems

approach

is

planning and development in many

widely

used

different

system

as

"a

which are subject to a process, designed

outputs,

which

objectives."

are

Fig.

intended
2-1

shows

satisfy

the

basic

Coombs

development
set

to

to

project

fields.

(1971) uses it as a framework for curriculum

education and he defines

in

in

of

inputs,

attain

certain

the

system's

components

of

system.
To ensure that the outputs

satisfy

the system, an important element in

the

the

objectives

system's

of

operation

F i g . 2-1

B a s i c Components of a System

Fig.2-2

A System w i t h Feedback

Fig.2-3

T r a n s f o r m a t i o n o f Data

should be added and

this

is

the

component is responsible for the

deviations

of

performance.
alter the

the

function.

correction

performance

of

from

so

This

that

the

feeding

undesirable

back

of

This

undesirable
the

desired

Information on such deviations is fed

input

eliminated.

actual

control

back

deviations

information

is

to
are

called

feedback and is shown diagrammatically in Fig. 2-2.

If we examine a computer system we can
the system

components.

The

input

data and instructions to tell the

easily

component

computer

identify

consists

how

to

of

process

the data (the programs) . The commonest input device

is

terminal keyboard.

central

processing

unit

The

processor

(CPU) which

is

has

called

three

the

parts:

arithmetic and logic unit, (ii) the control unit,

the memory or storage.

This is where

all

or logical operations are done on the

to the programs.

often

used.

processed,

the

After

data

tapes, or.printed as reports

of

therefore input, output,

central processing unit.

or

is

on

system

storage

(iii)

according
tapes

the

with
usually

devices

and

necessary

generated.

magnetic

hardcopies

computer
and

all

output

outputs are often stored as new data

The configuration

input

and

the

computations

For off-line storage, magnetic

magnetic disks are

operations are

the

(i)

the

disks

The
or

printers.
includes

besides

the

2 .2

Information Systems
In

any

institution,

information

administrators in activities such

records, organization,
The

requirement

performance of
goals.

of
the

According

direction,

operation,
largely

organization

measured

to

Schoderbek
data

problem, user, time, place,

and

needed

planning,

information

concerns "selected data --

Directors and senior

as

is

in

example, require information about

and

(1968),

to

certain

respect

to

Board

of

The

organization,
overall

of

particular

areas

or

be

required

in

the

functions.

information may be required on a regular

monthly basis or it may

for

performance

whereas the junior management may be more interested

performance

the

information

with

any

its

control.

against

function."

the

maintaining

relates

selected

management

by

daily,

only

The

weekly, or

occasionally

as

the situation arises.

Concerning the relation between

data

and

information,

McDonough and Garrett (1967) has the following to

say:

transformation of information is the transmission

of

to relevant people in the organization,

thereby becoming 'information1.
stage in a
This

is

system,
illustrated

data

is

informing

Until it reaches

only

potential

diagrammatically

in

information system is thus an assemblage

things or

parts

forming

complex

or

or

"the
'data'

them
this

and
last

information."

Fig.

2-3.

combination

unitary

whole

produce information according to a plan (Hussain, 1973).

An
of
to

Information

systems

are

playing

an

important role in industry and commerce.

played

vital

ability to

role

produce

in

this

timely

The

expansion

and

are

students.

the

administrators,

information

system

maintain records, to

is

To the

needed

its

information.

In

of

an

plan,

to

be achieved: (1) accuracy and

school

record

concise

student

processing;
record

(4)

following

of

availability of administrators and

(5)

to

control.
may

information;
capacity
of

for

for

compact,

increased

teachers

such as individual student counselling.

or

advantages

availability

information;

parents

to

(2) better use of clerical time; (3) increased

student

the

purposes:

and

availability

and

administrator,

many

evaluate,

With a computer-based system, the

2.3

information

teachers,

for

has

of

There are also indirect users such as

management committee members.

an

the

computer

because

accurate

educational institutions, the main users

system

increasingly

time

activities

(Dupree, 1973)

Computer Systems in Education

Many people are now aware of the
large

and

medium-sized

use

organizations

applications such as payroll, personnel

inventory keeping, and many othets.
be

so

widely

known

is

the

computers also in education.

Naur

computers

for

in

commercial

records,

However,

rapidly

Peter

of

invoicing,

what

may

not

increasing

use

of

(1975)

the impact of computers on education comes in at

says

that

least

four

different ways: (1) as aids to administration

(2) as teaching devices in Computer
as

tools

for

various

Aided

educational

in

Instruction,

subjects,

mathematics, physics, biology, sociology, etc.,

objects of study

in

their

own

education,

right,

as

such

and

in

(3)
as

(4)

the

as

fields

denoted computer science, informatics, datalogy, etc.

In institutions for

higher

education,

computers

already been in use quite extensively in areas

have

like

student

scheduling

of

courses

and examinations, in financial control, and also

in

student

registration and record maintenance,

advising and counselling.

Dupree and

Kapp

(1973)

reported

the development of a computer-based information

system

in student counselling at the College

and

of

Pure

Sciences at Northeast Louisiana University.

concern to both students
by the

authors,

are

students' progress

and

administrators,

maintenance

toward

Two

of

and the proper use of this information

in

advising

which

and

counselling.

as

degree

Problems

the

consumption

of

large

amounts

records

monotonous work which increases

the

inability

to

attention

to

erroneous

data

provide

student
from

as

periodic

adequate

problems;
errors

student

prompted
to

clerical

the

(3)

system
time
the

generated

of

requirements,

the
manual

characteristics:
of

of

discussed

development of a computer-based system are common

information systems with the following

Applied

matters

accurate

satisfying

used

time

in

grows;

(2)

for

personal

compounding
during

(1)

of

clerical

10

processing; and
along

(4)

the

administrative

difficulty

channels

of

while

distributing

data

maintaining

data

integrity at all levels.

With

advantages
Sciences

computer-based

gained
at

at

the

Northeast

information

College

of

Louisiana

system,

Pure

and

University

Accuracy and availability of data; (2) better

students

on

more

clerical time; (4)

record

personal

increased

level;
growth

(5)

increased

administrators; and

(6)

availability

record

information.

which administrators of

any

time

All

(1)

contact

with

better
for

use

of

student

availability

of

of

Applied
are:

capacity

processing;

student

(3)

the

compact,

these

educational

are

of

concise
benefits

organization

hope

to achieve.
In

the

area

of

course

administration,

Benbasat

al.(1981) describes how a computer-based system can

to facilitate the
choice

preparation

examinations

ultimate aim
resources

of

for

which

the

of

high

permit

system

activities

is

such

as

used

quality, multiple-

machine
to

be

et

grading.

release

The

instructional

individual

counselling

which are considered more helpful to students.

Besides the use of large, university
systems,

the

use

of

micro-computer

academic program is also possible.

micro-computers

will

become

educational organizations as

the

Such

based
to

administer

applications

increasingly
machine

information

is

an
with

common

in

getting

more

11

powerful yet cheaper.

based information

An example of using

system

for

micro-computer

administering

Masters

Business Administration (MBA) Program is described

& Fowler (1981).

This MBA information

the

Business

College

of

system

Administration

memory.

The programming language

used

very common for micro-computers.

is

The

Texas

producing

hard-copies

(i.e.

three user terminals which can be used

cost

of

this

HK$70,000.

hardware

of

BASIC

which

is

includes

developed by

for

member

this

of

the

simultaneously.

The

was

staff.

system replaces a manual system operated in

to maintain student records and
This

automated

information
administer

system

with
the

produce

provides

which

to

program.

counsel

student

makes

data

the

MBA

university-wide,
provides

the

are

facilitated.

office
student

MBA

office

independent
information

office
reports.

and

accurate

students

This

with

MBA

new

and

to

system

is

and

retrieving

in-house
of

system

the

system;

greater

was

computer

different

the

than

system

the

automated, sorting, updating, manupulating,

of

less

The

timely

Because

printer
and

information

MBA

two

print-outs),

configuration

The software

A&M

bytes

system

paper

in

128K

single density floppy disks for off-line storage,

for

Buffa

developed

at

University uses an Alpha Micro Computer with

by

of

larger,
thus

control

it
over

satisfying its own information needs.

Hardware and

software

costs

are

relatively

low

for

12

micro-computers which now have the capacity

gaining access to

the

information system.

kind

Their

surely expanded not only

of

data

needed

applications
at

the

of

for

will

higher

storing

and

such

an

therefore

be

educational

level

but also in secondary schools.

At the secondary school
attempts

over

the

level,

past

there

twenty

years

computerized school timetabling but

met with little success.
very good review on the

history

of

Most of the work

the past has necessarily made

but

now

increasingly

Lim

using
done

use

of

these

have

give

aided

in

this

are

school

area

being

used

In

future, every secondary school

will

Dowsland

Lim suggest that

the

use

of

so.

in

computers

schools for both teaching and administration.

do

micro-computers

main-frame

micro-computers

many

introduce

(1982)

computer

of

been

to

general

and

timetabling and the current trend

for this purpose.

in

Dowsland

have

the

micro-computer

system

in
near
and
in

school timetabling would give the following advantages:1)

It

would

allow

the

timetabler

update the timetable in view of

to

continually

staff

changes

or

changes in educational policies.

2)

Many

different

problem could be

changes
tried,

to

enabling

to investigate other possible

school.

solve

timetabling

the

timetabler

timetables

for

the

13

3)

The

turn-round

(generally)

time

much

of

personal

faster.

there is no need

to

On

compete

system

micro-computer

with

other

schools

for computer time and the equipment could

at home (say during
There is, however,

vacations),
the

for

problem

is

be

used

timetabling.

of

conflicts

interest with equipment being needed

for

of

academic

and administrative tasks at the same time.

4)

The periodic modification of the

using micro facilities

may

school

partly

eliminate

need for a dramatic annual change.

schools

the

sixth

form

available

become
to

insufficient
facilities.
facilities

known.

complete
to

make
The

Also,

timetable

constructed until mid-August when

examination

the
use

of

the

in

the
many

cannot

be

results

of

The

time

job

is

then
usually

remote

school

might

timetable

computer

micro-computing

however

enable

computer

timetabling to be successfully carried out.

In the areas of computerizing school records
administrative problems, much can be done.
been done in such projects like

Computer

student records, word processing, and also

keeping.

Simair

(1982)

has

micro-computer system with 48K

drives,

printer,

and

reported
bytes

of

card-reader

and

Quite a
Managed
pupil

how

an

bit

has

Learning,
attendance
Apple

memory,
is

other

used

two

II
disk

in

14

pilot project by two

purposes.

The

administrator

secondary

schools

for

system

helps

micro-computer
to

produce

absentee

administrative
the

lists,

attendance totals, to generate letters

to

by

A scheduling

help

school

is

timetable.

The

also

used

usefulness

secondary school administration is

the success of

this

pilot

has

also

of

the

suggested

produce

the

micro-computers

of

in

supported

Westrom

use

reports

subject, etc.

positively

project.

holds a positive view about

schools and he

to

bi-monthly

parents,

to students, roster lists, text-book list

program

school

(1982)

by
also

micro-computer

several

in

guidelines

to

school administrators in the choice of application

sof twares.

2.4 Preliminary Considerations for the Study

Locally in

Hong

Kong,

introduced into secondary

micro-computers

schools

in

September

the Government started the Pilot Scheme of

in 30 schools at the F.4

level.

readily received as testified

by

this,

however,

own

was

the

fact

about

very

that

studies

--

little

has
is

i.e.

thus
known

computers in local secondary schools.

as

begun.
about

when

Studies

innovation

The impact of computers on

right

1982

The

secondary education in this respect -study in their

formally

Computer

other schools also started running computer

on their own budgets.

were

very
21

courses

Hong

Kong

objects

of

Excepting
the

use

of

15

In

this

study,

postal

survey

several secondary school Principals

were interviewed.

who

was

conducted

and

are

computer-users

The major objectives are to:

(1) Assess the extent and

secondary schools with

nature

particular

of

computer

emphasis

use

on

in

school

administrative applications.
(2) Perform some indepth interviews in
in

order

to

implementation

obtain
and

case

studies

useful

in

identifying

what

of

Such

problems

associated with the use of a computer system

in school administration.

schools

regarding

institutionalization

applications in school administration.

be

several

the

computer
data

will

might
to

be

assist

16

CHAPTER III
THE SURVEY

3.1

The Method
The data were collected
1983.

by

A questionnaire was mailed

postal

to

the

survey
whole

in

population

of Principals of secondary schools which participate

Secondary School

Places

Allocation

Scheme

The draft questionnaire was tested by a

June

in

in

Hong

the

Kong.

few

Principals

are using computers in their schools.

Their

opinions

sought on the clarity, relevance,

comprehensiveness

and

who
were
of

the questions asked.

3.2

The Questionnaire
A specimen of the questionnaire used in
shown in Appendix

1.

The

questionnaire

the

survey

consists

is

of

two

only

for

parts:
(a) Part I

Questions in this part are

schools which are computer-users.

to

supply

software

information

personnel,

The

concerning

computer

intended
schools

computer

configuration,

were

asked

applications,
budget,

and

also problem areas in using computers in secondary schools.

(b) Part II -- This
answered

by

all

part

of

the

respondents.

questionnaire
Besides

background information about the Principal

a

question

was

set

to

find

currently using computers will

months.

out
do

so

is

to

collecting
and

whether
within

the

some

school,

schools
the

be

next

not
12

17
3.3

Responses and Data Analysis

A total of 376 questionnaires was sent and

207

were obtained, giving a response rate of 55%. All

collected were reduced and analysed.

Table

3-1

returns

the

data

summarizes

the number of the different kinds of schools giving

response.

S c h o o l Type

No. of R e s p o n s e s

Aided

Computer-users

157

62

Government

25

Private

21

207

73

Caput G r a n t
Total =

Table 3-1

Responses to the Survey

Of the 134 schools which responded not

currently

computers, 10 replied that they have plans to

do

the next twelve months; 62 under consideration;

using

so

and

within
62

not

going to within a year.

Results

for

presented in the

schools
following

currently

using

paragraphs.

The

been categorised into 4 groups as shown belov/

computers

are

schools

have

to

facilitate

analysis and comparison:

Group I -- Aided schools not in the Pilot Scheme
Group II
Group III
Group IV

Government schools not in the Pilot Scheme

Schools in the Pilot Scheme
Private Schools

18

3.4

Results and Observations

The extent and

nature

of

computer

use

in

secondary

schools is shown in Table 3-2.

Group

II

III

IV

TOTAL

No. of Responses

47

18

73

100%

12

18

35

48%

36

12

52

71%

18

27

37%

Applications:
( a ) Teach

Computer

Studies
(b)

Interest

(c)

C.A.L.

Club

(d) Student Exam

Reporting
(e) Student Data
Record-keeping

7%

11

19

26%

(f) Statistics
Reporting

12

16%

(g) Accounting

10%

(h) Inventory

11%

(i) Payroll

3%

(j) Word Processing

12

16%

(k) Staff Records

11

15%

(1) Timetabling

11%

Table 3-2 Statistics of Computer Applications

19
From the figures shown in Table 3-2, we
most popular use of computers
interest clubs

for

in

secondary

extra-curricular

subject

in

activities.

their

still like to give their students

something about computers.

The

that

schools

quite natural since many schools, though not

Computer Studies as a

see

the
use

able

is

in

This

is

to

offer

curriculum,

would

opportunity

of

the

the

to

machine

know
as

learning aid in C.A.L., on the contrary, is very limited.

only

If we ignore

applications

applications

(d)

to

(a)

(1)

3-3.

As the

figures

secondary schools in

Hong

computer

in

to

assist

(c)

which

administration purposes, the results

Table

to

and

are

will

for

be

indicate, quite
Kong

school

has

already

is

student examination

major

reports.

The

application is to relieve teachers of

calculating examination scores.

for

the

shown

in

number

of

made

use
The

purpose

of

tedious

work

with

saved

the

of

most

preparation

Not only is time

the teachers but also accuracy is ensured

school

as

administration.

common use of computer in this area

consider

use

of
this
of
for
of

computer.
Among all
payroll
This

is

has

the

perhaps

the

computer

lowest
due

priority

to

Department in Hong Kong has

payrolls

for

teaching

administrative

the

fact

already

staffs

in

in

applications,

individual
that

the

centrally
the

schools have no need to do so themselves.

aided

schools.
Education

computerized
sector

and

20

Besides

applications

uses are reported by a few

these

include:

listed

in

Table

3-3,

schools

in

their

returns

(i)

Library

Allocating substitute

teachers

book
for

other
and

information;
absentees;

(ii)

and

(iii)

Streaming of students on promotion.

Group

II

III

IV

TOTAL

No. of Schools

31

46

100%

18

27

59%

11

4.

19

41%

(f) Statistics
Reporting

12

26%

(g) Accounting

15%

(h) Inventory

17%

(i) Payroll

4%

(j) Word Processing

12

26%

(k) Staff Records

11

24%

(1) Timetabling

17%

Applications:
(d) Student Exam
Reporting
(e) Student Data
Record-keeping

Table 3-3 Statistics of Computer Applications

in School Administration

21

For the 30
Scheme,
Atari-800

schools

the Hong

Kong

their

the

Pilot

Government

micro-computer

Schools using

in

as

the

own budgets,

Computer

has

selected

standard
however,

have

group

A number of schools in the Pilot Scheme has

TRS-80

of

purchased

Group

1_

II_

III

IX

No. of Responses

47

18

Number of schools possessing

Make of Computer
5
18

1
1

1
1
1
of Computer

much
is

schools.

micro-computers other than the offically supplied Atari.

TRS-80
12
Atari
6
1
NEC
8
Sharp
6
Commodore
2
4
APII
9
Apple II
5
Genie
5
Wang
2
Superbrain
1
HP
1
Panasonic
1
Sinclair
1
1
Komtek
1
TI
1
CESEC
1
EXO
AltOS
Gamma
Table 3-4 Statistics of Different Make
used in Schools

the

equipment.

wider range of choice as shown in Table 3-4; and

the most popular make and model in this

Studies

also

22

Concerning

the

problems

encountered

computers in school administration, school

in

Principals

asked to rank order the following areas according

perception
Finance,
Space.
valid

of

their

Computer

significance:

Personnel,

Staff

Technical

to

The

most

perceived by the Principals,

this innovation.
giving a

high

(It is interesting that

rank

order

to

staff

a
the

one.

few

58
as

Staff

problem

resistance

and

from

problem,

financial

resistance, on the contrary, is not much of

their

Support,

significant
is

were

Resistance,

Table 3-5 shows the statistics obtained

responses.

using

for

schools
use

the

computer to keep staff records).

Rank order number

(Most Significant) --] (Least Significant)

1
2
3
4
5
6
No. of Responses

Problem Area
Staff Resistance

12

30

Finance

38

Computer Personnel

18

18

Technical Support

13

27

11

Space

15

15

15

Table 3-5 Statistics of Principals' Perception

about Problem Areas in Using Computers

23

The more important results obtained

been

presented

in

Tables

3-1

from
to

the

survey

have

There

are,

3-5

however, a few other points which may be of interest:

(1)

9 Principals out of the 73

computer-users

in the preparation of

softwares.

the

depend on their teachers

in

take

part

Most

schools

the

computer

preparing

programs.
(2)

Out

of

the

73

computer-user,
academic

responses

only

24

background.

of

secondary

Principals
The

have

school

innovation

science

of

computer in secondary schools, thus it seems,

necessarily

result

of

the

head

being

using
is

not

science-

minded.
(3)

From the background

information

obtained

about

Principals using computer, factors such as

the

sex, age,

and experience do not show any direct linkage

to

the

reveal

any

innovation.
(4)

The school size and history also

do

particular relation to the

use

school.

quite

However,

it

is

of

percentage of government schools

Scheme) using

computer

that of aided schools.

is

not

computer
apparent

(not

rather

low

This is probably

fact that the latter kind

of

in

schools

financial flexibility than the former.

in

the

that

the

the

Pilot

compared
due

has

to
a

to
the

higher

24

3.5

Summary
The survey conducted has
some extent
secondary

the

current

schools.

From

use

succeeded
of

the

in

computer

results

reviewing
in

presented

previous section, it can be seen that besides

of computer studies, many schools also use
various applications to assist in

presented.

administrative

These reports will

the

give

idea

together

problems which might be encountered in using a

in

machine

systems

some

Kong
the

teaching

In

secondary

computer

design and structure of systems in use,

the school office.

the

administration.

following chapter, a few case reports of

currently using

Hong

to

in
the

schools
will

be

about

the

with

the

computer

in

25
CHAPTER IV
CASE STUDIES OF SCHOOL ADMINISTRATION COMPUTER SYSTEMS
In
schools

this

chapter,

currently

administration

three

using

will

be

case

reports

computers

described.

of

to
The

secondary
assist

schools

in

will

be

called No.l to No.3 for simplicity.

.1.1

School No.l
The school is a private Chinese
history of over

30

years.

It

middle

comprises

(HKU and HKCU) and Secondary Section as

and Kindergarten Section.

The

of

about

With a teaching staff of 40

is headed by a Vice-Principal who

the

day

to

computer system was

day

section of the school

for

in

and
1000,

over

of

1981

administrative

Primary

has

200

the

in

the

system

is

around

HK$20,000.

programs were developed by

the

this

Section

virtually

Section.

this

prepare

student

report

MB.

All

The

the

written

cards

cost

of

ago

examinations.

as

school timetabling.

years

for the keeping of

records

and

and

include

data

himself

Following that, the system was expanded to

student

with

application

two

after

secondary

purposes

Vice-Principal

the first application was a program

to

0.6

its

boarding

configuration of an EXO 64K microcomputer, a printer,

floppy disc-drives each of capacity

Secondary

responsible

management

installed

as

members,

is

with

Matriculation

well

own school building and it also provides

for all

Matriculation

Section, with a current enrolment

places.

school

well

programs
as

for

26

The Administrative Computer System

(1) The Student Data System

Basically the system uses 2

Density) 8" diskettes for

SSSD

(Single

Side

of

student

data.

storage

Single
Each

diskette has a storage capacity of about 0.6 Megabyte.

One diskette, referred
contains a
whole

file

school

of

to

student

enrolment

as

the

Academic

examination

for

one

320

information needed for the printing of a

stored within
forms

(see

examination

this
Fig.

record.

4-1)

marks

are

The

for

results

academic

student's academic record is allocated

calculated

the

year.

Student

Each
and

all

Report

uses

Reports
and

for

bytes,

school

Student

Diskette,

is

pre-printed

and

student

printed

by

the

computer after each term or session.

The second diskette, referred

to

as

the

Diskette, contains a file of student personal

guardian's

name

telephone number,

and

profession,

etc.

Again

diskette.

Each

information

length of 250 bytes for

student

data

data

such

residential

enrolment of about 1000 students is stored

magnetic

Registration

is

for

address,
the

within

allocated

storage.

Fig.

4-2

total

just
a

It can be

this sample that some of the data, such as

Guardian's Occupation, are
space on the diskette.

stored

in

Birth

coded

form

one

record

shows

sample print-out of the contents of the 22 data fields

particular student record in the file.

as

in a

seen

from

Place

and

to

save

27

STUDENT REPORT

SEE NOTES OVERLEAF

Fig. 4-1 Student Report Pre-Printed Form

28

Fig. 4-2

Data i n a Student 'Record

29

To cater for students leaving within an

each of the above-described diskette in

academic

fact

contains

a file for storing respective data of students who

during the year.

Whenever

student

leaves

data is transferred into this second file

so

that

the

original

storage

becomes free to accomodate data

space
for

on

also

drop

out

school, his
the

in

new

year,

diskette,

the

first

students

file

admitted

if necessary.

can

Each student record in the

files

be

referring

randomly

accessed

by

described
to

his

Code', such as the Code 811041 as shown in

Fig.

code number is unique to each student

is

and

Key'to be provided for searching a student's

this primary key, a 'Secondary Key' made up

be

student

the

student

flexibility makes it easier

of
for

data

This

'Primary

data.

Besides

in

also

instead

4-2.

from

for each academic year and can

'Student

the

and Class No. is also unique to each student

record

previously

used

the
the

to

Class
school

access

code.

entry,

This

for

example,

after

student

when marks for a class are to be entered.

At

the

end

of

each

academic

year,

reports are issued, an academic record is

student for record purpose.
Fig.

4-3.

It

Vice-Principal

is
said,

A sample of

planned,
that

these

printed
this

according
paper

future be replaced by disc storage of

the

performances on a 'Historical Diskette'.

is
to

records

for
shown
what

that

in
the

will

students'
In

each

in

yearly

case, a

student's transcript can be printed directly when needed.

30

761012

NAME: CHAN

SESSION 1
SESSION 2
SESSION 3
SESSION 4
INAL EXAM

YEAR:

CLN CLT ENG . MTH

8 5 * 43* 86* 100
4 4 * 80* 120
100

125
-

115

60

60* 110

113

157

59

PE
SESSION
SESSION
SESSION
SESSION
MARKS:

1
2
3
4

CDT
C+
C+
BB-

PHS

CHM
61
55
57

1982-83

BIO ADM
34* 53
40* -

53

54

CLASS: 5C
GEO
60
57
55

NO. 4

AVE
46.90*
50.90
50.70

61.22

PRD.ABS. PRD.LATE
10
1
42
3
49
2
0
0

MRT
O
O
O
O

DMRT
1
0
0
O

GRADUATED

Fig. 4-3

Sample of Academic Record

(2) The Timetabling System -This system uses only one SSSD diskette and
24 classes and 40
purely

the

teachers.

interactive

The

approach

scheduling
with

to the discretion of the scheduler.

The program

free periods and conflicts.

and

uses

choice

and

left

teacher

can be printed after the scheduling is completed.

shows a print-out sample of a class time-table.

for

program

the

allocation of all the periods on the timetable

Class

caters

totally

checks

for

timetables
Fig.

4-4

Fig.-4-4

Printout of a Class-Timetable

32
.3

The Programs
(A) Student Data Management Programs
The

following

list

programs

available

in

is

the

the

Main

student

Menu

data

of

the

management

system of the school:

1.

Student Registration

2.

Student Transfer/Discontinue

3.

Change Student Code/Name/Status

4.

Student Information Enquiry/Update

5.

Examination Result Capture

6.

Print Student Report

7.

Print Class Report

8.

Print Student Final Report

9.

Print Class Final Report

10.

Roll-Call List Enquiry

11.

Daily Attendance Entry

12.

Amend Attendance Record

13.

Attendance Update

14.

Print Attendance Report

15.

Absent Without Excuse

16.

Initialize Award/Penalty Record

17.

Award/Penalty Capture

18.

Amend Award/Penalty Record

19.

Award/Penalty Update

20.

Award/Penalty Report

21.

Print Score Statistics

22.

Print Student Academic Record (For Filing)

33

All the computer programs developed for the

written in CBASIC for the 64K EXO computer and
were designed to be operated by

the

clerks

system
the

of

are

programs

the

school

who do not have any programming knowledge.

The capabilities and usage of each program in
Menu are

briefly

described

in

the

following

the

Main

paragraphs,

together with an explanation of the printouts produced.

1.

'Student Registration' program :A system with one SSSD 8" diskette

1000 student records.
bytes and

contains

including

student

Each

record

demographic
code

is

data

number,

can

allocated

of

name,

the

identity

card

no.,

address,

of

student,
number.

entry,
office,

guardian's

name,

occupation,

and

The input format of this

is exactly the

same

as

the

student
class

birth

place,

telephone

residential district, previous school,

class

250

class,

number, birth-date, sex, place of origin,

H.K.

accomodate

date

of

no.,
entry,

relationship
business

telephone

registration

student

with

program

record

printout

shown in Fig. 4-2.

In the assignment of a student code to
such as 811041, the

first

the year of entry, the

3rd

level or form admitted,

'041'

represent

code is unique and no

two

digits

digit

while

sequential
duplicate

point to note from the student

'81'

student,
represent

'1' represents

the

last

number.
is
record

three

digits

Each

student

allowed.
of

the

this

Another
school

34

is that the birth-date stored

and month and

not

the

contains

exact

date

however, will be inadequate should

only

of

the

year

birth.

statistics

This,

such

as

Age Distribution be required.

2.

'Student Transfer/Discontinue' program :This

program

is

used

when

transferred from one class to

student

another

for

is

being

one

reason

or another, or when he discontinues schooling.

case of

transfer,

the

program

simply

class allocated in the student record.

In

the

amends

the

When

withdraws, however, his data is retrieved and

another file specially

for

keeping

data

student

put

of

into

students

who have left.

3.

'Change Student Code/Name/Status' program :This program is used for amendment of the

student

or name stored in the registration record.

of a student in this school could
following
probation,
students

--

new

student,

repeater.
in

class-teacher.

class
A

be

is

change

often
is

on

one

the

promoted

on

the

on

status

of

by

the

student's

satisfactorily

period

of

status
of

requested

made

status, for example, when he has

through a probation or trial

any

promoted,

Information

The

code

passed

promotion

and

his status becomes promoted.

4.

'Student Information Enquiry/Update' program:As the name of this program suggests,

it

is

used

for

35

enquiry or amendment of a
Besides

enquiry

student's

directly

on

the

microcomputer, a hardcopy of a
printed out
5.

demographic
screen

student

data.

of

record

the

can

be

(Fig. 4-2).

'Examination Result Capture' program:This is the program for entry of

students'

marks.

marks

Before

computerization,

were

and computed by each class teacher, to

the manual preparation
marks are

submitted

secretary

is

in

of
to

student
the

charge

academic record using this

be

followed

their

office,
entry

program.

The

is divided into four terms or sessions in

and so there

are

four

busy

collected

reports.

school

of

examination

by

Now

the

and

the

into

the

school

year

this

school,

post-examination

periods

each year for the secretary.

6.

'Print Student Report' program:After all the marks

the

academic

program,

have

record

individual

concerned are

printed

been

properly

diskette
student

using

the

reports

with

this

pre-printed blank form of the

entered

for

previous
the

program.

student

into

report

term
sample

used

by

this school has already been shown in Fig. 4-1.

7.

'Print Class Report' program:This program

outputs

with the marks of

class

for

all

hardcopy

the

particular

for

students
term.

record
in

Fig.

a
4-5

purpose

particular
shows

the

37

format of the output.

printout

that

the

It can be seen from

program

not

only

this

calculates

average mark (AVE) of each student but

also

position (POS) in the class.

should

note

made about class numbers 8 and 44 on this

are

class

numbers

withdrawn.

for

two

Their academic records have

his

also

be

sample

which

who

have

therefore

file

the

ranks

students

retrieved and stored in a different

sample

on

been

the

same

diskette.
8.

'Print Student Final Report' program:This program is used only after the 4th session
year to print the

annual

report

pre-printed form shown in Fig.

of

4-1

in

student.

will

be

the
The

completed

then for all the sessions together with the averages.

9.

'Print Class Final Report' program:The output from this program is used for
purposes and its format is similar to the
for

session.

criteria

In

preset

by

addition,

the

school,

poor

performance

conduct;

(iii) Not

up

(ii)
to

class award for

for performance.

On

this

performance;

Class

Report

for

(See Fig. 4-6)

Second

also

according

Discontinued
poor

requirements;
(v)

certain

program

students

(i)

probation

promotion

record

following

identifies the following 5 types of

to their annual

school

for

conduct;

(iv)

First

class

award

38

1982-83

SESSION 4

UED FOR POOR CONDUCT:

ION FOR POOR CONDUCT:

PROMOTION REQUIREMENTS:

OR OUTSTANDING PERFORMANCE:
SS AWARD FOR PERFORMANCE :
15 KOO KIM WAH
18 LAM KA TAK 21 LEUNG BO YEE
25 LIM KA CHUN
26 L I U MAN KIN
SS AWARD FOR PERFORMANCE:

CLASS

5
-

(
<
(
(
(

AVE:80.31
AVE:82.15
AVE:78.08
AVE:82.62
AVE:82.77

PE:APE:A
PE:B+
PE:B+
PE:A-

CT:ACT:ACT:ACT:ACT:A-

F i g . 4-6 Sample of C l a s s F i n a l Report ( P a r t I I )

10.

'Roll-Call List Enquiry' program:This program prints out the name

class number order.

list

of a class in

Also included in the list

are the

respective student codes and the class attended

student in the previous year.

This

list

hard-copy reference for finding the student

student in a particular class.
list is shown in Fig. 4-7.

A sample

by the

serves

as a

code

of a

page

of this

1A

39

DATE

PROVISIONAL ROLL-CALL LIST

27 JUL 1983

CHAN FAI
CHAN KIT TUNG
CHAN SHUI KUEN
CHAN YING YEE
CHEUNG HEUNG YEUNG
CHEUNG PAK KEUNG
CHIN AH LAM
CHIU KANG YU
HO WAI LING
HO WAI MAY

(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)

(821088)
(821037)
(821014)
(821015)
(821045)
(821017)
(821024)
(821031)
(321016)
(821004)

31
32
33
34
35
36
37
3(3
39
40

LOOK CHUN FAI

MOK CHI YAN
SIE LIK KWAI-I
TAM YIN CHIMG
TANG YUE I.UN
TSANG ON LUNG
TSOT CHI KIN
ISO I WING H1HG
TUNG WAT YI
WONG YEE TING

(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
<1A)
(1A)
(1A>
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)

(821039)
(821018)
(821020)
(821026)
(821032)
(821013)
(821022)
(821021)
(821078)
(821012)

HSIN HSIAO LING

HUANG PO JEN
HUI KOK KEUNG
HUI KWAI FU
KOO KIM WAH
KOO YAT TUNG
KU FEI MING
KWOK PO KWAN
LAM KA TAK
LAM MUI

(1A)
(1C)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1C)

(821005)
(821112)
(821033)
(82.1011)
(821003)
(821044)
(821046)
(821019)
(821006)
(821092)

41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50

WONG YU FAT
WONG YUEN MONG
WU KWOK KIN
WUN KWOK BUN
YING H1U MAN
YU HIM FUNG
YU ME I
YUEN KIN YIP

(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1C)
(1C)
(1A)

(021002)
(821001)
(821008)
(821023)
(821043)
(821124)
(821104)
(821029)

LAM PING
LAM WAI
LEUNG BO YEE
LEUNG SZE MAN
LEUNG WAN CHELI CHUI CHUN
LIM KA CHUN
LIU MAN KIN
LO CHUI LING
LO HIU LAM

<1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)
(1A)

(821007)
(821139)
(821041)
(821009)
(821034)
(821010)
(821035)
(821027)
(821025)
(821040)

51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60

Fig. 4-7 Sanple of Roll-Call List

40

11 - 15.

Attendance Entry and Reporting programs:-

These several programs together serve

recording

students'

absences

and

the
late

The school secretary enters into the

the class

numbers

according

to

of

the

respective class-teachers.

and

shown in

Fig.

4-8

Attendance

A sample of

which

shows,

her

the

end

of

every

month,

an

F.7

shown in the sample

of

Attendance

the

each

(A)/ Excused Absence (E)/ Late

(L)

his class number under the

At the end of the

rows

the

showing

statistics

and

clearly

is
that

absent.

Attendance

Record

printed

for

class-teacher.

As

(Fig.

4-9)

student's
is

of

Absence

marked

against

date

column.

corresponding
columns

report

of

were

Record

class 3B for the month of May,

the

Report

instance,

showing the attendance of a whole class is

the checking and reference

by

reference

this

for

student No. 11 of F.5D and No. 11 of

At

late-comers

to

is then generated by the computer for the

the school administrator.

everyday

supplied
Daily

of

attendances.

computer

absentees

information

function

are

respectively

the

individual

attendance and that of the class in general.

ATTENDANCE

R E C O R D
3

1 9 8 3 . 5
42

P E K S U N A L

RENAL

TY

EAR : 1982-83
SESSION : 3
AME : CHEUNG MAN YEE

44

CLASS : 3B

Ml.).: :.

DATE

OFFENCE

NO.DMT.

83/03/28

101

TOTAL NO. OF DEMERITS FROM 83/03/28 TO 83/03/78 :

PERSONAL

PENALTY

RECORD

EAR : 1982-83
SESSION : 3
AME : HUI LEUNG HIM

CLASS : 3B

NO.: 13

DATE

OFFENCE

NO.DMT.

83/03/31

111

TOTAL NO. OF DEMERITS FROM 83/03/31 TO 83/03/31 :

P E R S O N A L .
EAR

IAME :

1982-83

SESSION

P E N A L T Y
:

R E C O R D

KWOK PO WAH

CLASS

3B

MO.:

DATE

OFFENCE

HO.DMT.

83/04/12

112

TOTAL MD.

'EAR : 1982-83
:LASS : 3B

OF DEMERITS FROM 8 3 / 0 4 / 1 2

TO 8 3 / 0 4 / 1 2

17

SESSION : 3
FROM 03/03/10 TO 83/04/12

101 102 103 104 105 111 112 113 114 115 121 122 123 124 125 126 127 128 DMT
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
o
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
O
O
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
O
0
0

0
1
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
1
0
0
1
0
O
0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
0
1
1
1
1
1
1
1 0

0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
O

0
0
0
0
0
o
0 . 0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
O
0
0
0
O

O
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
O
0

0
0
o
0
0
O
0
0
O
0

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

0
0
O
0
0
O
0
0
0
O

0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0
0

3
2
3
2
2
5
2
2
2
2

0>

25

PLg. 4-10 Sanple of Award/Penalty Record

45
SUBJECT
YEAR : 1982-83

SCORE STATTST

SESSION : 4

Fig. 4-12 Student Academic Record (For Filing)

SUBJECT : CLN

46

22.

'Print Student Academic Record' (For Filing):The printout from this

program

contains

data

exactly

the same as that on a student's final report, which

is

in fact his annual academic achievement.

of

it is shown in

Fig.

4-12

and

these

sample

hard-copies

printed annually and filed for each student

for

are

record

purpose.
(B)Timetabling Programs.
The following is a list showing the Scheduling

Menu

of

the timetabling system used in this school:

1.

Enter Teacher List

2.

Allocate Teaching Duties

3.

Print Teaching Duties

4.

Define Constraints

5.

Arrange Schedule

6.

Print Class Schedules

7.

Print Teacher Schedules

This timetabling system is purely

i.e. all

the

allocation

periods are done

by

the

and

an

scheduling

scheduler

and

interactive
of

the

Fig.

Fig. 4-14 shows respectively the input format for

two programs on the

menu.

After

teaching staffs and allocation of

completing
teaching

teaching

entered

computer when he is prompted for the inputs.

into

the

4-13

and

the

the

duties

the classes, the 'Print Teaching Duties' program is

give printouts as shown in Fig. 4-15

for

errors are found, the scheduler can proceed

Constraints' program.

checking.
to

one,

the

first

list

of

for

all

used

to

If

no

'Define

ENTER LIST OF TEACHER NAMES

(1)
(2)

Mr. Cheung

(21)
(22)

(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)

(23)
(24)

(41)
(42)
(43)
(44)

(25)
(26)

(45)
(46)

(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)

(27)
(28)
(29)
(30)

(47)
(48)

(11)
(12)

(31)
(32)

(51)
(52)

(13)
(14)

(33)
(34)

(53)
(54)

(15)
(16)
(17)
(18)

(35)
(36)
(37)
(38)

(19)
(20)

(39)
(40)

(55)
(56)
(57)
(58)
(59)
(60)

Fig. 4-13

(49)
(50)

Input Format for Entering Teacher List

48
ALLOCATION OF TEACHERS & TEACHING HOURS
Class :
Subject

No. Prds.

Teacher

(1)
(2)
(3)
(4)
(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)
(9)
(10)
(11)
(12)

Fig. 4-14

Input Format for Allocating Teaching Duties

49

TEACHING

1)

TEACHER

DUTIES

MR CHEUNG

1A-GEO(2)
2C-GE0<2)
6C-CLT<6)

TOTAL : 31 PRD PFR WEEK

1B-GEO(2)
5A-CLN(5>

2)

TEACHING DUTIES

TEACHER : MR CHEUNG
5A-CHS<3>

FROM 1 SEP 1982

10-GE0(2)
5A-CLT<4>

2B-GE0(2)
6A-CLT<6>

FROM 1 SEP 1982

TOTAL : 12 PRD PER WEEK

5D-CHS(3>

Fig. A-15

6B-CLT<6)

Sample Printout of Teaching Duties

50

The 'Define Constraints' program is in

for entering the "unavailable

periods"

his personal timetable

preset

as

arrangement of the schedule.

of

of

teacher

A sample of

unavailable with the

No.

2.

symbol

program

teacher

the

into

before
input

which

This

for

condition

of this program is shown in Fig. 4-16,

constraints

fact

the

format

indicates

teacher

is

the

marked

all

the

last

periods

constraints

are

entered,

the

help

prepare

the

throughout the week.

After all

the

teacher

'Arrange Schedule'

program

is

timetables of the

different

used

to

classes.

The

this program is to allow the scheduler to

timetable period by period,

with

corresponding teachers' individual

for any conflict.
already been

When a teacher

allocated

another

the

chief

fill

up

computer

timetables
is

he

has

computer

prompt the scheduler for acceptance of change

up

checking

where

the

in

class

filling
and

wanted

class,

idea

or

will

not.

The

decision, however, is left entirely to the scheduler.

With this computer aided timetabling system,
Principal of this school can now schedule
timetable within a day.
six days to

complete

Formerly it

the

completed, the 'Print Class

job.

teacher

would

After

Schedules'

Schedules' programs are used to print

and the individual

the

and
the

timetables.

whole

take

the

the Viceschool

him

scheduling
'Print

class

timetables

Samples

time

timetables.

saved

in

typing

these

of

of

A lot

thus

is

Teacher

outputs are shown in Fig. 4-17 and 4-18.

is

about

these

clerical
Since

51
DEFINE CONSTRAINTS
Teacher : 2 MR. CHEUNG
M
(1)

....

(2)
(3)
(A)

....

(5)
(6)
(7)
(8)

Fig. 4-16

Input Format to Define Constraints

CLASS

1A

T I M E T A B L E ;
EFFECTIVE FROM : 83/05/01
TEACHER

MR CHEUNG

T I M E T A B L E
E F F E C T I V E FROM :

83/05/01

53

the school is a Chinese middle school, the

subjects

timetable are printed in Chinese

characters

Vice-Principal has

some

spent

quite

as

effort

on

the

well.
in

The

producing

these Chinese characters with computer graphics.

1.4

Discussion
The

overall

reaction

of

teachers,

administrators to the

administrative

in the school is very

positive.

examination
teachers

report

and

programs,

secretaries

Before computerization,
marks calculation
secretaries

were

and

prepare

then

particular,

teachers
the

student

responsible
and

to

for

individual

These are no longer needed

to

entry

into

saved

the

of

do

all

the
The

copying

and

the

the

time.

reports.

done

new system although they still have to face

the rush periods for marks

and

student
be

used

record

amount

had

and

system

academic

significant

the

maintaining class reports

records.

computer

The

in

secretaries

academic
with

the

problem

of

computer

after

each examination.
To the Vice-Principal, who is
the

design,

programming,

and

computerization does not save him

totally

responsible

running

of

time.

On

the
the

system,
contrary,

he is now spending much more of his time than before

implementation and development of the new
he is greatly satisfied with the
He pointed out

yet

another

system.

achievement

benefit

to

result of computerization, and this is the

the

he

for

in

the

However,
has

school

improvement

made.
as

made

54

on

the

decision

administrative
to

system

computerize,

reviewed and analysed.

the

A number

itself.

Because

old

system

of

changes

the procedures and records kept and

the

of

was

critically

were

present

the

made

in

system

is

more effective and efficient.

Since in this school the whole system
the

programs

written

by

the

is

designed

and

administrator

himself,

the

major problem in computerization is

the

burden

and

of time on the Vice-Principal to produce the softwares.

demand

55

.2.1

School No.2
The second school

interviewed

school established in
classes

from

classes

in

F.l
the

1978.

to

F.5

coming

is

The
and

an

school
will

academic

aided
operates

start

year.

It

Since September 1982, the school

Computer Studies as a subject to its

TRS-80 microcomputers.
same year the
applications

The

following
in

microcomputers

school

computer

has

each

with

staff

for

in

the

specially

for

floppy

Superbrain

disc-drives

system,

keeping

producing student reports.

is

64K

and

350

KB

consisting

student

The

offering

purchased

identical stand-alone microcomputers, has been in

mainly

46

also

diskettes.

82

of

using

5"

July

total

students

The capacity of each disc-drive

This

30

F.4

printer.
DSDD

started

equipment

administration

now

matriculation

student enrolment of about 1200 and a teaching

members.

secondary

using

of

three

use

since

data

records

and

application

programs

were

tailor-made by a software house specially for this school.

The initiation to

use

computers

administration came from the

principal

in

assisting

of

the

has a science background.

The budget spent on

was about

that

HK$70,000

around HK$10,000.

and

As the

on

software

the year, programs were added and

payroll and school accounting.

software
system

school

the
was

now

who

hardware
initially

expanded

applications

school

during
include

56

The System and Programs

The design of the system is based on a disc
only 350 KB per diskette.
of

students

belonging

The
to

academic

the

stored on two different 5" DSDD

data diskettes is thus
forms of F.l

to

used

F.5.

same

form

the

are

system

system

following

programs on the Menu of the

personal

diskettes.

by

The

and

storage

is

data

separately

set
for

of

of

ten

the

list

together

with

Form"

program

five

of
a

the
brief

description of each function.

1.

"Define Common Data for

function

of

diskette

for

this

program

storing

is

to

student

of

entered

and

records.

classes

the form, class names, and the number of

are

The

initialize
data

General information such as number

the school year

--

in

terms

in

on

the

stored

diskette through this program.

2.

"Subject
also an

Data

Maintenance"

initialization

program

program

define the subjects offered

form, the subject code

to

This

is

is

used

to

and

students

numbers,

and

in

the

each

maximum

mark of each subject.

3.

"Student
After a

Personal
diskette

Data
is

the previous programs,

Maintenance"

properly
this

in the same form

onto

the

initialized

program

enter and store the demographic

program

data

diskette.

student data records for each form

are

using

is

used

to

of

students
About

270

stored

on

57

a DSDD 5"

diskette

of

capacity

350

KB.

Since

each record needs only around 400. bytes, a

lot

of

spare empty storage space is available when

needed.
4.

"Student Score Data Maintenance"

program is used after each
of marks.

program

examination

Entries are done

either

number

if

all

subject

individual student are to be

program

is

used

for

for

by

the class and subject, or by means of

code

--

entry

specifying

the

student

scores

of

entered.

amendments

This

an

This

of

same

any

wrong

entries as well.
5.

"Student

Conduct

program

&

X-Activities

Fig. 4-19 shows

the student

conduct

this program.

data

The conduct

Maintenance"

sample

listing
data

each term for computer entry.

each

at

The

data

extra-curricular activities, number of

major

and

GP

for

demerits (MJ for major

number of absence and
for

the

remarks

and

good
and

conduct

for

of

each

codes

for

merits

(MJ

number

black

grade.

X-activities

end
for

point),

BM

with

student

the

student includes 3 codes for remarks, 3

for

of

obtained

of

is submitted to the school office

printout

mark),

The

are

of

codes

defined

using another program.

6.

"Calculate Scores & Determine Position" program

This program is run after all the

scores

for

the

59

classes in the same form have

total

and

calculated

average
and

student's

scores

his

determined. This

been
of

each

position

is

record

for

The

student

is

the

form

is

stored

in

in

information

academic

entered.

printing

each

student

report and future reference.

7.

"Promotion" program A t the end of

year, after the
been

annual

calculated

and

scores
the

each

for

promotion

form using this program.

Criteria

qualified

to

new

students

sorted

shows the result of promotion

to

for

higher

promotion

entered

out.

of

have

determined,

classes . are

are

form

positions

students are selected for

and allocation

academic

and

Fig.

students

4-20
in

2A

to different classes in F.3.

8.

"Define X-Activities and Remarks" program

is the program used
for the

different

student

takes

Class-teachers'

to

define

clubs

or

part

in

yearly

the

the

remarks

about

with this program

After

respective codes

and

contents,

. for teachers' use.

numbers
a

year.

student

and

defined

defining

reference

as shown in Fig. 4-21 and 4-22 can be

This

which

academic

school

well.

code

activities

are also standardized in this

as

--

the

tables

printed

out

60

9.

"Print Student Score

&

-- A sample of the kind

this

program

is

Conduct
of

shown

Listing"

output

in

program

obtained

Fig.

4-23

from

which

is

program

--

name-list

of

self-explanatory.
10.

"Print Student
This is used

to

members for
activities

X-Activities

produce
certain

group

with

Listing"

simply

club

or

extra-curricular

each

student's

admission

number.
11.

"Print

Score

Reports"

program, students
Fig. 4-24)
class

can

printed.

scores
be

of

listed

After1

teacher.

amendments,

program

individual

-all

for

Samples of a student's

this

subjects

checking

making
student

With

any

(see

by

the

necessary

reports
term

can

be

report

and

annual report are shown in Fig. 4-25 and 4-26.

12.

"Statistics & Histograms" program

This

gives a statistical analysis of

scores

subject for a form.

Fig. 4-27 shows a

Form 1 English in Term 2.

Form 1 A - F,

together with

other

mean

scores,

percentages.

the

score

useful

standard

is

deviations,

be printed (Fig. 4-28 and 4-29).

for

classes

information

Histograms for the

of a

sample

For the six

distribution

program

scores

of

produced
such

and
can

as

pass
also

61

COLLEGE
STUDENT'S YEARLY RESULT ( CONDUCT
Date :

62
DATE :

18/07/83

EXTRA

ACTIVITIES

REFERENCE
REF.CODE

1
2
3
4
5
6
7.
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
36
,7
;a
39
0
1
2
3
4h
5
1
2
3
4
5
6

REFERENCE CONTENT

ART CLUB
BOY SCOUT
CHESS CLUB
CHINESE CLUB
CHINESE CALLIGRAPHY CLUB
CHINESE MUSIC CLUB
CHINESE PAINTING CLUB
CHRISTIAN FELLOWSHIP
DANCE CLUB
DESIGN AND TECHNOLOGY CLUB
DRAMA CLUB
THE DUKE OF EDINBURGH'S AWARD
E. P. A. CLUB
ELECTRONIC CLUB
ENGLISH CLUB
FENCING CLUB
GEOGRAPHY CLUB
HISTORY CLUB
HOME ECONOMICS CLUB
MATHEMATICS CLUB
MELODION CLUB
PHOTOGRAPHY CLUB
SCHOOL CHOIR
SCIENCE CLUB
SOCIAL SERVICE CLUB
SPEECH TRAINING CLUB
TECHNICAL DRAWING CLUB
TRAMPOLINE CLUB
TYPING CLASS
COMPUTER COURSE
BADMINTON CLUB
SCHOOL ATHLETIC TEAM
SCHOOL BADMINTON TEAM
SCHOOL BASKETBALL TEAM
SCHOOL X-COUNTRY TEAM
SCHOOL SWIMMING TEAM
SCHOOL TABLE TENNIS TEAM
SCHOOL VOLLEYBALL TEAM
SCHOOL GYMNASTIC TEAM
SCHOOL FOOTBALL TEAM
SCHOOL HANDBALL TEAM
INT-SCH ATH.MEET MEDAL WINNER
INT-SCH BB COMP. MEDAL WINNER
INT-SCH DANC COMP. PRIZE WINNE
INT-SCH SWIM.GALA MEDAL WINNER
INT-SCH TT COMP. MEDAL WINNER
INT-SCH VB COMP. MEDAL WINNER

TABLE

63

DATE

18/07/83
YEARLY

REMARKS

REFERENCE

REF.CODE

1
2
3
4
5
6
7
6
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
51
52
61
62
63
64

TABLE

REFERENCE CONTENT

NEEDS TO GIVE MORE TIME AND EFFORT TO CHINESE

NEEDS TO GIVE MORE TIME AND EFFORT TO ENGLISH
NEEDS TO GIVE MORE TIME AND EFFORT TO MATHEMATICS
NEEDS TO GIVE MORE TIME AND EFFORT TO SOCIAL SUBJECTS
NEEDS TO GIVE MORE TIME AND EFFORT TO SCIENCE SUBJECTS
HARD WORK IS NEEDDED IN ENGLISH
HARD WORK IS NEEDED IN CHINESE
HARD WORK IS NEEDED IN MATHEMATICS
HARD WORK IS NEEDED IN SOCIAL SUBJECTS
HARD WORK IS NEEDED IN SCIENCE SUBJECTS
RESULTS ARE ERRATIC
NOT GOOD ENOUGH
A VERY DISAPPOINTING RESULT
DOESN'T TRY AND DOESN'T CARE
HAS LOST GROUND
WRITTEN WORK IS VERY UNTIDY
WORSE AND WORSE
ATTITUDE TO WORK IS UNSATISFACTORY
TOO QUIET IN CLASS
TOO TALKATIVE IN CLASS
A NUISANCE IN CLASS
VERY INATTENTIVE IN CLASS
LAZY AND INATTENTIVE
IS LOSING GROUND
GREATER EFFORT IS NEEDED
NEEDS TO TAKE HIS WORK MORE SERIOUSLY
NOT WORKING IN CAPACITY
THESE RESULTS ARE BELOW STANDARD
IS NOT GIVING OF HIS BEST
DOES NOT PARTICIPATE IN ORAL WORK
LACKS SELF-CONFIDENCE
I HOPE THESE RESULTS WILL IMPROVE
COULD DO BETTER
STUDV METHODS MUST BE IMPROVED
THERE IS ROOM FOR IMPROVEMENT
GREATER EFFORT IS NEEDED
NEEDS TO PAY GREATER ATTENTION TO WRITTEN WORK
NEEDS TO PAY GREATER ATTENTION TO HOMEWORK
NEEDS TO PAY GREATER ATTENTION TO NEATNESS
LAZY AND INATTENTIVE
RESULTS SATISFACTORY BUT ATTITUDE TO WORK MUST BE IMPROVED
A PLEASANT STUDENT, BUT RESULTS ARE BELOW STANDARD
A CO-OPERATIVE STUDENT
IS MAKING STEADY PROGRESS
CONTINUES TO IMPROVE
A RELIABLE AND HELPFUL STUDENT

64
LIST OF STUDENTS' SCORE
=======================
(TERM EXOM.)
SUBJ : ENGLISH
No. NOME
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
3.
10.
11.
12.
13.
14.
15.
16.
17.
16.
19.
20.
21.
22.
23.
24.
25.
26.
27.
28.
29.
30.
31.
32.
33.
34.
35.
36.
37.
38.
39.
40.
41.
42.
43.
44.
45.

SCORE

CHAN CHRISTINA
CHAN YUK LIN
CHEUNG KWEI YING
CHUNG PUI KWON
CHUNG WAI YEE
FUNG LOI FONG
HO CHING HON
HO HOU YEE
HO YUEN MING
KWON KO PIK
LOM CHOR LING
LOM SOU LOI
LOU MIU WOH
LEE KIT YEE
LEE WOI YIN
LEUNG MOY WO
LI SOU NGOR
LI YUK CHUN
SIN SUI WOH
SIT LUK PINGTONG PUI FUN
TONG SIU FON.
YU WING PING
OU YEUNG CHI KIN
CHON CHI WO
CHON KOM CHUEN
CHOU POT YOU
CHIN HOK MO
CHIU WOI CHUEN
CHOW KOM WING
HO CUI WOI
LOM SIU FU
LOU CHI CHUNG
LOU CHI MON
LEE CHI HONG
LEUNG KIN KEE
LEUNG WOI LUN
LO CHOK SHING
NG CHI HO
SZETO WUI MING
TAI CHEUK KWON
TSUI SIU LUNG
YOU WOI CHING
YIM LOK MING
YIM YON FOI
* * *

248
291
276
241
305
278
277
246
267
299
265
251
301
245
276
245
231
268
246
272'
292
230
307
224
241
239
224
313
215
251
209
262
312
200
297
244
261
268
260
211
271
257
230
188
255
E N D

**

Fig. 4-23 Printout of Subject Scores

FORM : 2 0
TERM : 1

DATE :
STUDENTS' SCORES OF ALL SUBJECTS

FORM : 2 A

(TERM EXAM.)
NO. STUDENT NAME
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
18
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45

(SUBJECTS ENGL CHIN MATH INT. CHI. E.P. GEOG HIST D&T/ MUSI ART P.E. )

CHAN CHRISTINA
CHAN YUX LIN
CHEUNG KWEI YING
CHUNG PUI KWAN
CHUNG WAI YEE
FUNG LAI FONG
HO CHING HAN
HO HAU YEE
HO YUEN MING
KUAN KA PIK
LAM CHOR LING
LAM SAU LAI
LOU MIU WAH
LEE KIT YEE
LEE WAI YIN
LEUNG MAY WA
LI SAU NGOR
LI YUK CHUN
SIN SUI UAH
SIT LUK PING
TANG PUI FUN
T0N3 SIU FAN
YU WING PING
AU YEUNG CHI KIN
CHAN CHI WO
CHAN KAM CH'JEN
CHAU PAT YAU
CHIN HOK MO
CHIU WAI CHUEN
CHCW KAM WING
.HO CUI WAI
LAM SIU FU
LAU CHI CHUNG
LAU CHI KAN
LEE CHI HANG
LEUNG KIN KEE
LEUNG WAI LUN
LO CHAK SHING
NG CHI HO
SZETO WUI MING
TAI CHEUK KWAN
TSUI SIU LUNG
YAU wAI CHING
YIM LOK MING
YIM YAN FAI

248
291
276
241
305
278
277
246
267
299
265
251
301
245
276
245
231
268
246
272
292
230
307
224
241
239
224
313
215
251
209
262
312
200
297
244
261
268
260
211
271
257
230
188
255

159
216
189
176
201
213
174
206
224
186
1B3
195
213
200
201
201
186
200
185
189
177
201
194
195
176
168
201
228
177
200
189
183
216
183
224
189
225
192
192
186
195
204
186
165
171

160
166
188
92
156
132
126
180
138
150
126
126
180
140
100
122
148
154
152
150
114
152
172
176
120
146
162
194
190
164
104
166
132
134
180
176
162
106
160
168
114
168
160
146
150

128
156
134
74
152
130
114
124
160
128
118
120
136
116
116
104
106
120
116
134
134
106
140
120
124
140
116
160
108
158
132
136
176
104
166
126
132
128
152
108
102
116
104
133
108

68 54
86 90
76 86
58 56
82 95
84 84
60 76
68 68
74 69
48 83
54 58
66 64
74 78
70 64
62 68
74 75
40 51
78 69
64 80
72 52
66 80
76 72
78 86
74 67
72 64
78 89
68 68
80 95
44 70
76 85
48 78
66 71
70 90
52 63
66 '73
76 47
78 81
66 62
71 92
63 40
86 66
48 53
50 51
70 65
62 56
***

Fig. 4-24

81
72
43
79
68
62
57
74
67
58
62
70
49
56
69
57
57
60
43
62
53
76
68
38
80
69
89
62
75
60
63
84
60
71
63
74
56
77
37
64
34
60
72
62

79
99
99
60
99
92
95
89
85
67
75
90
%
83
92
80
50
84
68
72
98
88
97
87
87
97
86
99
58
99
73
91
99
47
82
74
83
71
95
48
89
JO

55
64
46
END

67
79
70
57
70
55
52
65
73
65
63
67
79
61
70
57
54
70
56
73
68
70
68
58
62
72
65
70
68
61
57
59
70
68
62
67
64
52
50
59
45
cc
JJ

54
65
61

57
55
63
68
65
68
66
60
63
68
67
65
63
63
55
66
53
63
69
73
63
60
66
63
56
59
68
65
60
54
56
63
64
58
60
67
54
55
63
52
64
60
55
^J

50

60
72
62
60
68
56
62
72
63
65
70
67
60
59
63
63
62
66
63
66
60
65
66
56
66
43
63
59
59
58
60
63
67
53
67
63
63
40
54
63
55
66
64
53
57

63
65
62
60
58
62
63
60
62
60
62
62
62
63
63
65
58
62
62
62
57
63
63
65
53
60
55
60
55
63
57
58
55
55
53
57
60
62
62
60
50
53
60
63
63

***

Printout of Students' Scores of All Subjects

66

T E R M
i
1982

R E P O R T
1983

Date of issue : 18/07/83

Form/Cias5 : 2ft
Class. Mo. : 1

tudent Name : CHAN CHRISTINft

dmission No. : 81301
Max.
marks

ubject
1.
2.
4.
7.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.

ENGLISH
CHINESE
MOTHS.
INT.SCI.
CHI.HIST.
E. P.
GEOG
HISTORY
D&T/H. E.
MUSIC
ART & DES.
P. E.

onduct Grade
erits
emerits
ttendance

600
300
200
200
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100

248
159
180
123
88
54
55
79
67
57
60
63

Grand Total : 1900

1198

ft.

:
:
!
:

Term. Total
Exam.
100%

B0 major O good ooints.

0 major 0 black marks.
65 / 65

Overage % obtained : 63.1%

Highest '/ in form : 84. O%
oosit1 on/No. in form : 83/259

emarks :

ATTITUDE TO WORK IS UNSATISFACTORY

GREftTER EFFORT IS NEEDED
xtra-curricular activities : NIL

Form t e a c h e r ' s

sianature

Princioal's

signature

NOTES : l . (F) means FAILURE.

2. Classification of Conduct

Guardian's

: a=Excellent. REGood.
C=Sat isfactory. D=sail.
3. 9 good ooints = 1 major merit.
9 black marks = 1 major demerit.

F i g / 4-25

Sample of Student Term Report

sionature

1 9 8 2 t u d e n t Name
d m i s s i o n No.

Date of issue : 10/07/83

Form/Class : 2A
Class No. : 1
Max.
Marks

I. ENGLISH
2. CHINESE
4. MATHS.
7. INT.SCI.
L. CHI.HIST.
E.P. A.
3. GEOG
4.
HISTORY
5.
D&T/H.E.
6.
MUSIC
7. ART & DES
8. P.E.

400
300
200
200
100
100
100
100
100
100
100
100

Grand Total
induct Grade
erits
emerits
:tendance

1983

CHAN CHRISTINA
81301

ubject

67

R E P O R T

ANNUAL

Term
1
30*
248
159
160
128
68
54
55
79
67
57
60
63

Term

Term

30%

40%

287
184
114
122
50
62
80
82
56
57
62
63

271
182
126
104
74
72
76
54
66
45<F)
61
60

1900

: B: 0 M a j o r 1 good ooints.
: 0 m a j o r 1 black marks.
: 179 / 180

Total
100%
269
176
133
117
65
64
72
70
63
52
6:
62

1204
Oversee '/ obtained
Highest % in form
position/No. in form
Promoted to

: 63.4"/.
: 63.5%/.
: 93/259
:

marks :

NEEDS TO GIVE MORE TIME AND EFFORT TO CHINESZ

COULD DO BETTER
tra-curricular activities :

Form teacher's sionature

Princioal's sianature

NOTES : 1 . (F) means FAILURE.

2 . C l a s s i f i c a t i o n o f Conduct

s A = E x c e l l e n t . I?-Good.
C=Satisfactorv. D=Fail.

3. 9 qood ooints = 1 major merit,

9 black marks = 1 major demerit.

F i g . 4-26

Guardian's sianature

Sample of Student Annual Report

68
STATISTICS ON TERM 2
FORM
SUBJECT
DOTE

ENGLISH
20
Aoril

SCORE RANGE

0 -

MP

0
0
0
0
0
0
5
28
7
0

No of Students
No of Passes

40
80
120
160
200
240
280
320
360

39
79
119
159
199
239
279
319
359
400

1983

Mean Score
Std Dev
Pass *tage
Teachers Code
Lowest

Score

20
60
100
140
180
220
260
300
340
380

Number of S t u d e n t s
C
D
E
F

0
0
0

1
15
14
4
4
0

1
2>
14
17
7
0
0

0
0
0
0
2
15
12
10
0
0

0
0
0
2
14
14
8
0
0
0

0
0
0
^'
15
15
8
0
0
0

40

40

41

39

38

40

238

40

37

39

37

22

23

197

298

246

246

250

206

208

242

22

46

32

35

30

30

45

100

93

93

95

58

58

S3

23

4.

49

0
0

TOTAL

27

23

. 21

124

Highest Score

Fig. 4-27

Sample of Scores Statistics

34*
73
64
49
1 1
0

% TOTAL
0. 0 0 *
0. 0 0 *
0. 00 *
2. 9 4 *
14.29*
30.67*
26.89*
20. 5 9 *
4. 6 2 *
0. 0 0 *

69

Fig. 4-28

Histogram of Subject Scores

:
1
ECT : ENGLISH
: 2

F i g . 4-29

70

Curmulative Histogram of Subject Scores

71

4.2.3

Discussion
All the application programs prepared

by

the

software

house were protected and could not be listed or

modified

by

the school.

be

by

Any change or development

has

the software house at a charge depending

of the job.

This could

be

using tailor-made softwares.

common

to

on

the

complexity

problem

for

Usually, however,

will be given a copy of the file-structures

of

data records on the diskettes.

can

The

school

done

schools

the

school

the

various

thus

write

new programs on their own to handle the data if necessary.

The school is not using pre-printed
reports.
is

The output from the Print

printed

Principal

on
of

plain
the

sheets

school

Scores

of

used

for

student

Reports

program

computer

said

pre-printed forms will be

forms

in

the

when

the

paper.

The

interview

that

system

has

been

transcripts

has

been

fully tested to his satisfaction.

The program for printing student
prepared but there are some bugs

which

the

software

house

are correcting at present.

Teacher reaction is

positive

because

relieved of the tedious work involved

reports and academic records.
to

enter

the

examination

Last year,

marks

The reasqn

for

too many teachers were involved in

diskette for each Form) and some

of

job
this

using
them

have

preparing
the

into" the

themselves. Now even this part of the

school secretaries.

in

they

is

were

student

teachers

had

computer

by

done

change
the

been

by

was

the
that

diskettes

(1

mishandled.

72

The procedure now adopted is for

teachers

to

to the school office within 3 days after the

a subject and
computers.
class report

the

enter

After all the marks for a

is

printed

subject teachers.
Direct

secretaries

for

submit

marks

examination

the

marks

class

are

stored, a

the

respective

checking

by

with

of
the

Students reports are then printed.

screen

enquiry

of

computer is possible but this

student's

function

because the system needs 5 different

is

data

not

diskettes

on

used
for

the
often

storing

student data from F.l to F.5.

The principal of

the

school

load was increased during the

remarked

implementation

computer system but he expected some

system runs smoothly.

He

that

was

the

his

stage

compensation
only

person

of

the

when

the

in

during the design and implementation stages, but now

delegated the responsibility

partially

to

the

work

charge
he

prefect

has
of

studies of the school.

The school did not enter into any
both for the hardware and software of
In the past year, there were
problems

which

computer

company

basis.

caused
was

The principal

called
of

the

about the reliability of the

the

few

breakdown
for

maintenance
computer

occasions

of

the

repair

school

is

diskettes.

system.
hardware

system

and

on

per-call

not
Some

have been lost and the source of error, whether

or software, has not yet been identified.

of

contract

a
too

certain

stored
of

the

data

hardware

73

Accuracy of data is a definite benefit, in

of

the

principal,

of

the

computerization.

calculation errors of student marks were

opinion

Copying

quite

often

and
found

formerly but now these have been minimized.

Training of the school

secretaries

or

clerks

to

the computer system is quite easy because the

programs

designed

any

for

operation

by

people

without

use
were

computer

knowledge.
The system on the whole is
still

in

development.

The

principal is the software

software

house

continuity

of

have
the

written by

satisfactory

major

problem

support.

caused

Staff

some

development

application programs.

quite

facing

changes

house,

in

the
the

maintenance

of

the

programs

were

principal

involved in the designing stage because

did not have any previous experience

the

in

and

the

is

difficulties

Moreover, although the

software

and

the

in

was

heavily

software

the

house

production

of

systems for educational administration.

The school intends to use its computer system
keeping the school accounts.
charge of
system.

accounts

She is more

accounting and finds

troublesome.

finds

However, the

difficulty

accustomed
the

to

computer

school

in

her

fully

debugged.

for

clerk

in

adapting
manual

accounting

The computer accounting system is

development and not

also

This

main reason of her loss of confidence in it.

is

to

method
system
still

the
of
more

under

perhaps

the

74

.3.1

School No.3
The

school

is

an

aided

secondary

school

with

religious background and a history of five years.

It

has

of

45

1982,

student enrolment of around 1200 and a teaching staff

members.

In

the

beginning

microcomputer system was

with

budget

consists of a

of

of

the

purchased

about

Commodore

for

4032

Side

Single

Density)

Application softwares

were

house mainly for keeping

The

170K

diskettes,

then

system

microcomputer

memory, 2 disc drives each of capacity

(Single

administrative

HK$20,000.
CBM

year

data

use

simply
with

32K

5"

SSSD

using
and

printer.

by

software

developed

student

records

and

school

1982,

the

school

accounting.
Later in September of the same

year

purchased a larger computer system with a 256K

CTC

Computer

and 2 floppy disc drives each of 1 MB capacity linked

9 terminals for teaching Computer Studies in Form
the development of the administrative
has

been

started

for

the

there is no intention of using this

4.

application

Commodore

up

Since

softwares

microcomputer

second

to

computer

only,
system

for school administration.

3.2

The Administration Computer System

In the Student Data Record System of this
the Commodore micro, a
parts:

1)

External
Examination

Personal

Examination
Results

student's
Record,

2)

Results
Record.

data

is

divided

Discipline
Record,

The

first

school

into

Record,
4)

two

using
4
3)

Internal

parts

of

75

student's data records are stored in

one

rest in another.

Each 5" SSSD diskette

only 170 KB

accomodates

and

data

diskette

has

for

50

Classification of

done according to

the

student

diskettes

which

P/D

of 24 diskettes (the I/E diskettes) is

Records.

Master Student Data File and

one of the three following

to

keys

can

and

be

the

Number, 2) Student Name & Birthdate, 3)

is

for

thus
set

Internal
form

student's

H.K.

of

another

used:

also

enrolment

together

access

of

is

is

needed

These

of

records

diskettes)

required for Personal & Discipline Records

& External Examination

maximum

For a student

(the

capacity

student

number

primary key for data retrieval.

1200, a set of 24

the

the

students, with

enough storage space for each student up to a

academic years.

and

the

data,

1) Student

Identity

Card

Number.
The kind of data stored in the
in Fig. 4-30 to 4-32 which are
test

data.

These

data

Details, (2) Religious

Student

Discipline

P/D

diskette

printouts

include

with

(1)

some

Student

Status,, (3) Guardian

Details,

(5)

is

shown
sample

Personal

Details,

Conduct,

and

(4)
(6)

Participation in School Activities.

The academic achievement of a student is
I/E diskette and the two output formats for
examination results

and

external

illustrated in Fig. 4-33 and 4-34.

stored

internal

examination
Using the

a transcript with all the yearly results

of

an

yearly

results
I/E

be printed as shown in the sample in Fig. 4-35.

in

are

diskette,

student

can

76

ENT PERSONAL DETRILS

30

ENT HO. :
E
:
HO.
:
PUPIL NO.
E OF BIRTH
ESS
:

790098
NAME
: KUOK
SEX : F
ST. MATTHEW
CURRENT CLASS : 3C
FEE TYPE : HALF FREE
H
P.6 I.O. FORM MO. : 21
BAUD CODE
: 3
: K2
DATE OF BIRTH
: 12/12/66
: HK
BIRTH CERT. NO. : M693
BK
LEI MUK SHUE EST
KMAI CHUNG
NT
UNALITV
: CHINESE
TEL : 0IOUS SCHOOL
: LEI MUK SHUE RHENISH CHUR.SCH
OF LEAVING
: 31/93/36
REASON FOR LEAVING
: GRADUATED
/>E CODE
: INACTIVE

SIOUS

1(

,,
44

STATUS
so

NT NO.
ION

: 79OO03
NAME
: NO RELIGION

: KWOK

IAN DETAILSBO

^T NO. : 730008
NAME : KWOK
IAN'S NAME: KWOK PING HUNG
=ITI0N
: WORKER
OFF. TEL :
3S
:
BK
LEI MUK SHUE EST
KWAI CHUNG

Fig. 4-30

RELATIONSHIP : FATHER
RES. TEL : 0 - C

Sample of Student Personal Data Record

<".
f<

Fig. 4-31

Sample of Student Discipline Data Record

78

:TICIPATIOH IN SCHOOL ACTIVITIES

C.TC

IDOL VERR
79
79
79
79
88
81
82
83
84
85
86

CLASS
1R
lA
1A
1A
2R
3R
4A
5A
5A
6R
7R

ACTIVITIES
ART AND CRRFT CLUECHI. LANG CLUB'
RED CROSS
SCI. & MRTH. CLUB
ART AND CRAFT CLUB
CROSS-COUNTRY CLUB
CROSS-COUHTRY CLUB
ART AND CRAFT CLUB
ART AND CRAFT CLUB
ART AND CRAFT CLUB
ART AND CRAFT CLUB

'
10
1?
14

VICE
OOL VERR
79
79
79
79
30
81
82
84
85
86

CLRSS
1A
1A
1R
1R
2R
3A
4R
5R
6A
7fl

SERVICES
CLRSS CLUB STRFF
PREFECT
STUDENT ASS.STRFF
STUDENT LIBRARIAN
CLASS CLUB STAFF
CLASS CLUB STAFF
CLRSS CLUB STAFF
CLRSS CLUB STAFF
CLRSS CLUB STAFF
HOUSE STAFF

IB
18
70

22

?4

26

30

32

Fig. 4-32 Sample of Student Activities Record

34

36,

38

40

Fig. 4-33

Sample of I n t e r n a l Examination Record

80
TERHRL EXRM. RESULT
JDENT HO.

: 790008

HOME

SUBJECTS

HKCEE

ENG.
ENG.'LXT.
CHIN. LANG.
CHIN. LIT.
RELIGION
P./G./MATHS.
R/P/H MATHS.
PHVSICS
CHEMISTRY
BIO./H.BIO.
COMP.STUD.
PR I. OF A/CS
BUS. STUD.
E.P.fl.
ECON.
UORLD HIST.
CHIN. HIST.
GEOG.
RRT
METRL WORK
WOOO WORK
TECH. DRAWING

>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

: KWOK KR HRI
HKU

CU

D10
O1l
012
D10
Oil
012
010
Oil
012
010
Oil
012
O10
Oil
012
010
Oil
012

A01
/
/

10

,,

,
,,,
j,
J4

,,;
?u

,n
-

,..
34

VERR O B T A I N E D

<19//>

Fig. 4-34

<lS"//>

Sample of External Examination Record

<1980>

1f)

82

4.3.3

Discussion
The

system

has

been

developed,

up

to

stage, only for maintenance of and storage

as

just

described.

conversion

and

computer.

The

storing

There is not

examination marks

school

of

has

past

student

yet

any

computer

or

present

student

data

begun

the

in

the

just

of

calculation

the

data

application

student

report

for

printing

but there are plans to do so in the near future.

The

initiation

assisting

school

in

this

school

administration

who, although not of a science

sees

it

as

computerization,

trend.

came

biased

However,

there

is

to

use

from

practically

the
no

school's administrative and student

record

computer softwares are designed

fit

structure.

Now, a year

after

the

purchased, the school is still at

the

academic

during

to

computer

background,

change
system

computer

the

principal

process

into

the

It

seems

difficulty encountered is in the

production

in

the

and

the

equipment
stage

that
of

of

existing

conversion

student data input and storage.

in

the
the

was
of

major
proper

softwares needed in school administration.

The person in charge of the
school
Athough
prepared

is
the
by

the

teacher

who

programs
a

for

software

computer
teaches

house,

this

protected.

At

in

Computer

administrative

involved in the design, testing, and even

programs which are not

systems

Studies.

purpose

teacher

is

debugging
the

time

this

are

heavily
of

the

when

the

83

computer equipment was

sold

an

"Administration

purchased,
Package"

to

package was found to be too simple and

and the

school

asked

the

software

package at an additional cost.

package is put

into

the

software

house

the

school.

This

suitable

enough

not
house

However,

to

when

use,

the

teacher

still has a lot of changes

and

additions

modify

the

discovers
to

make

the

modified
that
in

he
the

programs.
The

administration

package

also programs for keeping the

the accounting clerk is not
computer can do for her.

of

school's
very

She is

this

school

accounts.

satisfied
now

in

with

fact

sets of accounts, one manually as before, and

computer.

She finds that

the

accounting

However,
what

the

keeping

two

one

software

comprehensive enough to meet her requirements.

includes

with

the

is

not

84

CHAPTER V
OVERVIEW AND CONCLUSIONS
5.1

Findings
From the results

obtained

in

the

postal

could be estimated that at least 20% of Hong

schools

are

already

using

computers.
is

to the teaching of the machine in its

own

using

administration.

computer

as

Instruction or Computer
various

educational

devices

Aided

subjects,

limited

only

but

the

fields

in

Learning,

of

right,
in

also

Computer
or

as

development

is

it

secondary
impact

not

However,

teaching

Kong

The

computer on local secondary education

as an aid to

survey,

of

Aided

tools

for

relatively

little.
In the area

of

school

administration,

focus of the present

study,

the

computer

in

Hong

Kong

commonest

secondary

reporting
schools.

are

Student
also

data

Other uses that

common

will

is

sufficient.

wish to keep all the student records of

(with

1000

to

1200

students

cards

and

say)

with

microcomputer, the system will have its

of
the

after

statistics

computer-user

develop

and

the

for

are

This kind of jobs

require much computer storage capacity

drives

report

among

likely

accounting and inventory control.

with two diskette

is

record-keeping

fairly

is

application

schools

calculation of marks and preparation of

examinations.

which

do

not

microcomputer

However,
secondary
the

school

aid

limitations.

then the student records will have to be distributed

if

we

school
of

Since
over

85

number of data diskettes and the records cannot

at the same
mainframe

time.

In

computers

efficient

this

can

system

respect, mini

provide

to

the

be

computers

more

effective

school

bear

of a mini computer system on their own although

to

and
and

administrator.

Unfortunately not many schools can afford to

administrators would very much like

accessed

have

the

many
an

cost
school

integrated

computerized information system within their organisations.

5.2

Implications for School Administrators

The

biggest

impact

in

the

future

of

computers will occur in small organizations

do not have
continue

to

their
make

own

computers.

computer

use

which

New

equipment

the

currently

technologies

cheaper

every school's budget. Vincent E. Giuliano

and

(1982)

colleagues estimated that by 1990 between 40 and 50%

American workers will
terminal equipment.

be

making

Some

38

daily

use

million

of

likely

will

within
and

his

of

all

electronic

terminal-based

stations of various kinds will by then

of

be

work

installed

in American offices, factories, and schools.

School administrators need

an

many purposes: to maintain records,

and to control.

information
to

A computer system can

plan,
help

system
to

to

evaluate,
supply

administrator with timely and accurate information

assist him in making

better

decisions.

The

of what information to be generated by the

is the responsibility of the

administrator.

for

and

the
thus

determination

system,
He

however,

must

also

86

specify when, where, and to whom the

sent.

In the event of designing

package for his school,

"Systems Approach".

His

specifying clearly the

computer.

How

this

the

computer

administrator

task

input
is

information

can

and

done

be

can

follow
simply

formats

(i.e.

the

the

be

administration

limited

output

transforming inputs into outputs) is

should

the
to

for

the

process

of

responsibility

of

the software house or systems analyst and programmer.

5.3 Implications for Theory & Practice

A plausible extension of

the

made to look into the feasibility

service

bureaus

administration.

in

Hong

The idea

present
of

Kong
is

to

study

establishing
for

allow

schools

bureau.

The

be

computer

secondary

service to have access, through telephone line

the mainframe computers in the

could

school

using

link-ups,
bureau

the
to

should

provide to the user schools softwares specially

designed

assist them in administrative work, which might

include

to
the

following:
On-line

Information

Retrieval

Systems

for

student

personal data;
Student marks and report cards;
Past Student personal and examination records;
Statistics and reports for administrative purposes;
School Accounting and Inventory Control;
Timetabling

87

Before the

actual

design

administration package, a

of

Needs

made on a sample of schools.

this

integrated

Assessment

It

is

survey

anticipated

service bureaus can justify their existence on

basis

if

their

service

can

attract

participate in the scheme and pay

using the service.

enough

reasonable

school
can

that

be

such

commercial

schools

to

charge

for

88
BIBLIOGRAPHY

1.

Atherton

A.,

"Microcomputers,

Teacher

Training",

Secondary

British

Education

Journal

of

and

Educational

Technology No. 3 Vol 10 October 1979.

2.

Bazewicz

M. ,

"Computer

Application

Systems

At

The

University", Computer Education Vol 3, pp.69 to 80, 1979.

3.

Benbasat I.,

Goldstein

System For Course

R.C.

& Mantha

Administration",

R.W.,

Computer

"A

Database

Education

Vol

6, pp. 333 to 339, 1982.

4.

Bentley T.J., "Making Information Systems Work", 1981.

5.

Brooksbank K., "Education Administration", 1980.

6.

Buffa

F.P.

and

Fowler

G.C.,

"A

Micro

Information System For Administering

an

Computer

Academic

Based

Program",

Computer Education Vol 6, pp. 349 to 359, 1982.

7.

Coombs, P.H., "Systems Analysis: A

and

Strategy".

In

R.

Hooper

Framework
(Ed.),

for

"The

Diagnosis
Curriculum:

Context, design and development", Edinburgh: Oliver

&

Boyd,

1971.
8.

Cowie F.P., "Some Experiences in the Use

of

Computer

in

School Administration", Computer Education, Feb. 1976.

9.

Dowsland

W.B.

Timetabling

and

Part

Lim
1:

S.,
The

"Computer

History

of

Aided

School

Computerised

Timetabling", Computer Education, Nov 1982.

10.

Dowsland

W.B.

Timetabling

and

Part

Lim
2:

S.,
The

"Computer

Micro-computer

Timetabling", Computer Education, Feb 1983.

Aided

School

for

School

89

11.

Dupree

D.E.

and

Kapp

J.P.,

"A

Student

Counseling

and

Information Management System", AEDS Monitor, Nov 1973.

12.

Giuliano

V.E.,

"The

Mechanization

of

Office

Work",

Scientific American, Sept 1982.

13.

Goodlad,

O'Toole

and

Tyler,

"Computers

&

Information

Systems in Education", 1966.

14.

Helmersson

H.,

"Computerized

Scheduling

In

Conditions and Possibilities", Computers in

Schools

Education, IFIP

1975.
15.

Howard

A.W.,

"management

Information

Systems",

Computer

Education",

Computer

Education, June 1979.

16.

Hussain

K.M.,

"Privacy

of

Data

in

Education, Vol 3 pp. 63 to 68, 1979.

17.

Hussain K.M.,

"Management

Information" Systems

For

Higher

Education", OECD 1977.

18.

Hussain

K.M.,

"Development

of

Information

Systems

For

Education", Prentice-Hall 1973.

19.

Johnson R.A., Kast F.E., and

Rosenzweig

J.E.,

"The

Theory

and Management of Systems", McGraw-Hill Book Co., Inc.,1967.

20.

Joyner

W.D.,

"Pupil

Records

By

Computer",

Computer

Education, Nov 1978.

21.

Korotkin A.L. and Bukoski

W.J.,

"Computer

Applications

in

Secondary Education", Computers in Education, IFIP 1975.

22.

Latta

R.F.,

Dunn

R.C.,

and

Stevenson

Literacy for School Administrators

School Executive, May 1982.

J.W.,

A Must",

The

"Computer
Canadian

90

23.

McDonough

A.M.

and

Garrett

L.J.,

"Management

Systems

Working Concepts and Practices", Richard Irwin Inc.m 1967.

24.

Morrish I., "Aspects of Educational Change", George

Allen

&

Unwin Ltd. 1976.

25.

Naur P., "The Impact on Society of Computers

in

Education",

Computers in Education, IFIP 1975.

26.

Schoderbek P.P., "Management Systems: A

Book

of

Readings",

University

John Wiley & Sons Inc., 1968.

27.

Selim S.M.,

"An

Algorithm

for

Constructing

Faculty Timetable", Computer Education,

Vol

pp.

323

to

332, 1982.
28.

Simair D.J.,

"Computer

pilot project", British

Uses

in

Journal

School
of

Administration: a

Educational

Technology

No.2 Vol 13 May 1982.

29.

Westrom M., "Microcomputers in

School

Canadian School Executive, May 1982.

Administration",

The

91
APPENDIX I
SURVEY QUESTIONNAIRE
PART I
1.

Do you use computers in your school?

*If your answer to Question
continue.*

2. w h a t are
a. ( )
b. ( )
c. ( )
d. ( )
e. ( )
f. ( )
g. ( )
h. ( )
i. ( )
j. ( )
k. ( )
1. ( )
m. ( )
3.

is

'No', please

skip

Yes / No
to PART

II, else

the applications of the computers in your school? (Please tick)

Teach Computer Studies
Interest club
C.A.L. Computer Assisted Learning
Assist in Student Exam Reports
Keep Student Data Records
Statistics Reporting, such as age distribution, etc.
Assist in School Accounting
Inventory
Payroll
Word Processing
Keeping Staff Records
Time-tabling
Other Applications (Please Specify:

Who prepared the softwares for the above applications?

3.1 ( ) yourself

3.2
3.3
3.4
4.

(Please encircle)

(
(
(

) your teachers / s t a f f
) software house
) others

Computer equipment/installations:
a.

Quantity

Memory Size

Make & Model of Computer

KB
KB
KB
b.

No. of Hard Disk Drives :

c.

No. of Floppy Disk Drives :

d.

Total cost approximately: HK$

e.

The above
(i)
(
(ii) (
(iii) (

of total Storage Capacity :

MB

each of Storage Capacity :

KB

equipment is purchased
) totally using school fund
) totally by government
) partially using school fund (HK$
the rest obtained by

approx.) and

92

5.

Please rank order the following problem areas according to your feeling of
their significance in using computers to assist in school administration.
Indicate their significance using numbers 1 to 6:
1
2
3
4
5
6
(most significant)
(least significant)
(
(
(
(
(
(

)
)
)
)
)
)

Staff resistance
Financial
Computer personnel
Technical support
Space
Others (please specify)

PART II
1.

Do you have any future plans in the next 12 months of using computers
your school? (or expanding if you are already using computers?)
( ) No
( ) Under c o n s i d e r a t i o n
( ) Yes, and the plans a r e :

2.

Personal and School.Data:

2.1 Your age:
( )Under 30
( )30-35
(

)36-40

)41-45

2.2

Your sex: (

2.3

Your academic bias:

2.4

Number of years as principal:

2.5

Your school:
( )Aided
( )Government
( )Private
( )Caput
( ) P i l o t school chosen by E.D. in Computer Studies

2.6

Number of c l a s s e s in your school a t present?

( )Under 18
( )18-23
( )24-30
(

2.7

)Male

)Above 45

)Female

)Science
(

History of your s c h o o l : ( i n years)

( )Under 5
( )5-10
( )10-15

)Arts

)Others

) years

)Over 30

)Over 15

2.8 Other useful information

*** END OF QUESTIONNAIRE, MANY THANKS1.! ***

in