The benefits of using a web portal in high schools - Essay Example

? The benefits of using a web portal in high schools The benefits of using a web portal in high schools Research proposal1) Proposed title for the research proposal The benefits of using a web portal in high schools 2) The purpose of the study This study aims at providing the importance of a web portal within an education setting. A web portal is a very important tool used to develop scientific knowledge. People bond with one another to develop an education community using web portals. The portal serves as podiums where all the facts, resources, and professional in the field of science can be retrieved (Cappel and Huang, 2007). The portal is a full time available source of information that helps in the growth of the learning community as they engage in discussions, exchange views, and conduct activities that promote learning. Online document libraries available in the portal are constantly updated with latest research findings. Simulation of real life is also made available through the web portal (Cappel and Huang, 2007). 3) Brief relevant background literature A web portal gives information that is assorted in a combined manner. These are sites of information, which developed during 1990s and in 2000. A web portal operates just like an investigative or an explore mechanism (Becker, 2005; Luke, 2005). However, this portal as argued by Becker (2005) has several features or purpose than the search device itself (Becker, 2005). A web portal, provides information a researcher wants to discover or search, as well as certified web portal. Apart from this, it also provides email internet services, entertainment cites to the users (Cappel and Huang, 2007). This portal can be defined as a web site that presents reports together from different sources in an even manner (Tatnall, 2005). Normally, every information port acquires its dedicated part on for presenting information. Usually the researcher can figure out which presentation is important to search (Palmer, 2002). Web portals can be classified into group- horizontal and vertical web portals. The horizontal portal is usually used in several companies as a platform in economic issues or manufacturing issues. The vertical portal is a specific entry point for markets a given subject or a given interests. Therefore, the horizontal portal covers several areas, while the vertical portal covers specific areas (Pang et al., 2009). The web portal has the following major functions; search, navigate, provides information or manages content, personalization, push technology, management of tasks, conducts the integration of applications and organizes business infrastructure (Pearson and Pearson, 2008). The web portal aims at increasing student interaction (Preece, Rogers and Sharp, 2002). It provides students with an opportunity to interact with their lecturers and their fellow students, and be more engaged in their studying (Preece, Rogers and Sharp, 2002). It also tends to provide students with learning resources and campus sources from library subject to achieve curses offered online. Through it, the faculty members get accesses to teaching and learning resources. Lectures also use the web to assess their students, record their grades, and communicate the outcome to the students and their colleagues (Preece, Rogers, and Sharp, 2002). The students can use the site to register for their classes, get access to financial assistance, pay for their tuition, sign up for programs like lunch programs, and indicate any absences (Adonis, 2006). Through it, the school can create communities that interact online that include the students, administration, faculty members, and alumni to work together (Abdous, 2005). A web portal is an online opening where learners can log into a website to access significant information (Townsend, Schaffer & Deon, 2004). Portals are normally used in schools and universities where quick information and school bring up to date available information to a big number of learners within the institution. Education departments sometimes use portals to guide students to informative or learning resources for effective learning (Preece, Rogers and Sharp, 2002). In the event that the school uses portals as an alternative of printing resources for books, and other materials, the portal saves them production and lecture costs, and it benefits the school by using limited resources (Preece, Rogers and Sharp, 2002). The web makes it informal for students to get important facts from the web (Preece, Rogers and Sharp, 2002). A web portal usually serves as a school database, where the school administration uploads a lot of information concerning the school, which acts as an online cabinet instead of using the filing system (Cappel and Huang, 2007). Using search button the students can search and readily obtain the information uploaded in the school website. This web portal also adds the school credibility and create a positive image when it is updated frequently (Preece, Rogers and Sharp, 2002). 4) Research questions The study will be guided with the following research questions 1. How will the portal develop a flexible design of data management that is cost effective and time efficient? 2. How will the portal handle diverse, huge, and fast data outputs necessitated by advancement in technology? 3. How will the student conduct research on multiple sources presented on the web? 4. How will the students use the search engine to obtain information like references? 5. How does the school maintain its web portal after developing it? 6. What are some of the major benefits of a web portal? 5) A brief research methodology including ethical issues This study will use both qualitative and quantitative research designs. The study will focus on high school students. The high schools selected because it is most convenient for the research as he is from a high schools. Apart from this, most high school are currently developing web portal as a learning resource within the high school learning context. The initial stage of the research will adapt qualitative research design, where the researcher will explore the characteristics of web portal adapted in the schools and they work. Here the research will collect data using group discussion, observation, questionnaires, and use of structured interviews. During the second phase, the researcher will use quantitative designs to determine the correlation between the web portal and students achievement in high school. The researcher will consider all the ethical issues that concern the research process and seek for permission before embarking on the research process from the relevant authorities. 6) Significance of research The following are the significance of this research within a school setting; 1. The findings of this research will help in improving the different web portals used in high schools. 2. Through the findings, most educators will understand the importance of web portals as a source in the learning process. 3. The research will provide better understanding on the issues concerning web portals 4. Findings from this research will provide a validated record for improving web pages in the schools. 5. The findings will provide practical guidelines that can be implemented in the library to improve students’ academic achievement. 6. The study will provide recommendations for effective implementation of web portals in a high school. Conclusion The findings of this research will provide a guide line on the importance of a web portal, its significance, its uses and how to improve it within an education context. The findings will encourage a wide use of web portal within an education setting. The findings will make educationist understand that the portal creates new openings for learners’ scholarship and education. References Abdous, M. (2005). Designing a faculty portal framework and architecture. In 21st Annual Conference on Distance Teaching and Learning. Retrieved October 17, 2008, from http://www.uwex.edu/disted/conference. Adonis, L. A. (2006). Technology in schools. Manager: British Journal of Administrative Management, 52, 14–15. Becker, S.A. (2005). E-government usability for older adults. Communications of the ACM, 48(2), 102–104. Cappel, J., & Huang, Z. (2007). A usability analysis of company websites. The Journal of Computer Information Systems, 48(1), 117–123. Luke, R. (2005). The Hidden Curriculum of Web Portals: Shaping Participation in Online Networks. Toronto. University of Toronto (Canada). Palmer, J. W. (2002). Web site usability, design, and performance metrics. Information Systems Research, 13(2), 151–167. Pang, M.-S., Suh, W., Kim, J., & Lee, H. (2009). A benchmarking-based requirement analysis methodology for improving web sites. International journal of Electronic Commerce, 13(3), 119–162. Pearson, J. M., & Pearson, A. (2008). An exploratory study into determining the relative importance of key criteria in web usability: A multi-criteria approach. The Journal of Computer Information Systems, 48(4), 115–127. Preece, J., Rogers, Y., & Sharp M. (2002). Interaction design, beyond human – computer interaction. New York: John Wiley & Sons. Tatnall, A. (2005). Web Portals: The New Gateways to Internet Information and Services. NY: Idea Group Inc (IGI). Townsend, J., Schaffer, D. & Deon, R. (2004). Building Portals, Intranets, and Corporate Web Sites Using Microsoft Servers. NY: Addison-Wesley Professional. Read More