Large Scale Software Development - Research Paper Example

The Large Scale Software Development College: 265452 The Large Scale Software Development The project and methodology Education is one of the most important sectors of the Kenyan economy. The country is a third world country but rapidly developing. For the country to grow economically there great needs that its citizens being educated. Provision of this vital resource will help her citizens acquire skills required for exploiting her vast resources amicably well. In the Kenyan nation, the system of education is 8-4-4, in this system of education the student's first enroll for primary education for eight years, then the next 4 years, they enroll for secondary education, before joining various universities for the last four years. College diploma courses take three years and are offered by various colleges across the country. The majority of the people i.e. 80% live in abject poverty i.e. they cannot spend more than one dollar per day. Due to this most students cannot afford to pay for their education expenses which cover tuition, building and development expenses, food and catering, money to buy books and lastly the school uniform. Before free education was introduced most of the student dropped out of school due to lack of school fees. The government at that time was corrupt and very inefficient, these lend to massive deterioration of the country education sector, and international funds were also not available as donor funds were withheld due to the many corruption scandals. In January 2003, the national rainbow coalition government took power with the promise to bring free primary education to help the poor illiterate student to attain basic education. Free primary education was implemented. This saw a massive enrollment of student with classes which had 50 student now having more than 100 students. In Nairobi the student population tripled. Free primary education has been advantageous. Many unlearned Kenyan have benefited from it. It was surprising that even old men joined primary school. The limitations were however noticeable as the teachers workload became enormous such that they were not able to handle the number of students. This, in a way lend to a decline in the overall performance of public primary schools or. The classes are typically overcrowded. In 2008 the government implemented free secondary education, free secondary education has many setbacks as student are still required to pay some amount in terms of development fees. Education in private schools, unlike the public school is high tech with state of the art computers, swimming pools, well trained teachers, student boarding facilities among other facilities. The student are however required to pay a lot of money to join these schools, these school are dominated by the middle class and high class citizens who can afford the fees charged. Besides this, most of the private schools are located near urban towns or along the major highways and are inaccessible to the remote villages. The Rift valley province is the largest of the eight provinces of Kenya. Nakuru is the provisional headquarter of the rift valley province. The province is strategically located and has an ethnic mix of the kikuyu, Maasai, kalenjin, the Kisii, luo Turkana, Samburu and many more others who have moved into the province. Because of this mix, various tribes occasionally attack each other because they want to control the province vital resources. For example the kalenjin clash with the Maasai over grazing land, the kikuyu clash with the kalenjin over farming land in the agricultural rich land of Molo, Mau forest, Timboroa, Burnt Forest and Uasin Gishu district, the kikuyu migrated to the rift valley after being displaced by the white settlers who occupied the central province highlands. The kalenjin who are largely pastoralists moved from one part to another hence this dint have great value for the land and sold it to the kikuyu at cheap prices. Later the kalenjin were incited in 1990 to evict the kikuyu who were opposing the then president who was of the kalenjin origin. The fight escalated with the kalenjin attacking and driving away the Luo, Kisii, And the Maasai communities. The rift valley has ever since being used as a battlefield for politicians to archive their goals. Every time the elections are held, clashes erupt leading to disruption of education. Destruction of property and loss of lives among other effects. After the 2007 election majority of the voters in the rift valley were supporting the current prime minister who had companied with a promise for "Majimbo government" which the local people understood as a slogan that every tribe will return to the place of origin and be ruled by their own tribesman. Sporadic tribal fights also erupt due to competition over grazing land and also if a member of one tribe attacks a member of another tribe. Because of these fights many Kenyan investors fear investing in the province. Those who choose to invest don't allocate a lot of resources especially if you aren't of the Kalenjin origin. Many farmers prefer building mud houses thatched with grass so as to loose little incase their houses are burnt. Due to this ethnical problem, the rift valley province is highly undeveloped. Developments are only in the major towns such as Naivasha, Nakuru, Gilgil, Eldoret and Kericho. The development of Nakuru town has been because of the flamingoes of Lake Nakuru and also because Nakuru is the provincial headquarters of rift valley province. Naivasha town developed because of Lake Naivasha which is fresh water lake and supply water to numerous horticultural firms owned mostly by the white settlers. Kericho developed because of large scale tea farming in the area. Eldoret because it's located in the rich agricultural highlands of Uasin Gishu district and also harbors an airport. Provision of electricity is vital for development of the country's economy. Electricity is harnessed from hydroelectric dams i.e. the seven folk's dams. Because of desertification due to excessive deforestation of water catchments areas of Mt Kenya, the Aberdare Ranges and the rift valley Mau forest. Hydroelectric power is rationed at times, the countries needs to expand its geothermal power stations located in Naivasha. In the rift valley province, most homes don't have electricity; this might have significant effect in the implementation of the project. Most families in the rift valley can't afford to pay for the money required to connect electricity to their homes. The country's Kenya Power and Lighting Company (KPLC) charges Ksh 32000 as connection fee. The cost increases if electrical posts have to be erected with each post having an extra cost, various NGO and self help groups are however working in the region to provide electrical solution to the local people. Solar power and micro hydroelectric power station can be used in small remote villages. To develop information and communication technology field there is need for appropriate telecommunication infrastructure. The internet heavily relies on telecommunication equipment, the internet voice or data may be conveyed through the use wire or wireless communication. Wire connections are provided by telecom Kenya. The land line/fixed telephone network coverage in Kenya is very poor and where it existed it has been severely vandalized by thugs who steal copper wires for sale. Part of the infrastructure was also destroyed during the violence that erupted during the post election. Wireless telecommunication is developing fast in the rift valley province, due to the competition in this field the telecommunication industry has greatly developed. The information technology field has however not developed so much; this is because most people are not enlightened on the power of the internet and information technology. Furthermore most IT facilities are only accessed and utilized by people living in towns. To fully exploit the ICT market a large awareness campaign is first necessary to help people understand the need for ICT especially in the rural area, this can be well archived through the use of the mass media, there are many different ethnic radio stations in the rift valley and a wide population listens to these station, they mostly broadcast in kalenjin, kikuyu, Maasai and Kiswahili. These radio stations are highly popular to the villagers (Clark, 2004). Most of the local people in the rift valley don't have personal computers, they rely on cyber cafes to get ICT services and ICT centers are usually located near large towns. With telecommunication advancement the mobile phone or a broadband modem can be used to access internet. This seams a promising future for Kenya, recently all the three major telecommunication firms, i.e. Safaricom, Zain and Telcom-Kenya launched different modems allowing wireless internet connectivity. Many people can now access internet from their homes, however it's only the well informed and the educated that know of these facilities. Majority of the Kenyans especially those in the rural areas don't even understand what those services entail (Kenya, 2008). The cost of accessing the internet is very high, not many people especially in the rural areas can afford to pay for internet services. Majority of the rift valley resident rely on agriculture and livestock keeping for their daily bread. The telecommunication infrastructure in the rural area not very elaborate, most telecommunication firms evaluate the income they will earn before installing telecommunication equipment at a given location. In rural areas the network services are limited hence this may hamper the ICT development. According to Education For The Future Foundation Inc (2009), the literacy levels are relatively low in the rift valley, most people don't know how to read especially the pastoral communities like the Maasai and the Kalenjin, who encourage their sibling to cattle grazing as an economic activity and force girls to circumcision and early marriages. Community based NGO are trying to educate the girls to resist female genital mutilation and early marriages. Other communities in the rift practice farming which leads to increased poverty in the region. The software need to address these problems by providing the locals with an opportunity to use Kiswahili, the national language of Kenya, which is at least understood by many. Basic English can be used. Making the software as basic as possible and very simple will lead to better results. A research by Kenya (2008), indicates that the Kenyan nation being a third world country is faced by sever lack of computer experts and ICT experts, the Kenyan country lacks developers of software and mostly depends on overseas countries for provision of IT services, implementing a large scale software maybe challenging in terms of the necessary manpower to run and maintain the software. The availability of broadband infrastructure in Kenya is limited, broadband services are only offered in towns. Broadband modems cost from Ksh 3000(2G modem) to Ksh 6000(3G modem).(1 US dollar equals 81 Ksh currently)The cost of computers is also very prohibitive, many local people don't have and cannot be able to raise the money required to buy a computer or a laptop computer, however second hand computers can be donated by developed nations. Computer notepads can be used instead of laptop computers. The people living in rural areas cannot afford such amount. A company providing such services must either provide computers and modems to the people or the government can assist in providing these equipments. Otherwise this might have a negative effect on the provision of online education services. The introduction of the optical fiber will help improve internet services though the rural areas may not benefit from it. During the project implementation there are several constrains such as time and the money required completing the project. Because the company is a well established firm, it can compare such a project with other similar installation implemented elsewhere like in Nigeria and Sarawak. However it must be noted that the rift valley region might pose different challenge that may lead to the change of the software or slight amendment to the current software that is being proposed. For example, Due to the high levels of illiteracy in the area it is necessary that the software be supplied in Kiswahili or if possible every community to have it in their native language. This might be hard to archive. Alternatively the training several local mentors might be of importance. Because these tutors can help to translate, explain and train the others on the use of the software. Due to the time issue several methods can be used to plan the project. The use of gnat charts, critical path method could be adapted to aid in the implementation of the project. However any changes in the software and hardware or any obstacles met will lead to a delay in the project implementation and consequently alter the project time. UNESCO (2000) claims that Kenya has a goal for education for all and hence will support and greatly benefit form any method that will enhance learning for most students. Currently most student graduating from primary school don't proceed to secondary school and with the aid of the E learning centers these students can greatly benefit. There is also the need for accreditation of E- learning institutions in the country that will help student graduating from open learning be accepted to join various colleges and universities (UNESCO, 1999). Some institution of higher learning in the country have adapted and implemented E learning centers, most of the campuses provide such distance learning through African virtual university. The project is not very popular though because most people aren't enlightened of such existing opportunities. The merits of distance learning include: 1) It possible to study near your home hence minimizes transport expenses and allows you to supervise your home. 2) Quality education services can be received at any part of the globe provided there is internet connectivity. 3) Greater attention to student is possible 4) Expansion of learning institutions without great investment in capital resources e.g. buildings. One institution can handle many students but the students don't necessary have to assemble at any given location to be taught. 5) The E-learning facilities can be utilized by all, even students with physical disabilities The limitation of E-learning includes: 1) Lack of motivation to study 2) The learner may not get enough time to perform a given assignment since he has other household duties to perform 3) Challenging courses need teamwork and consultancy with the other student, a face book can be launched to allow students to chart and exchange ideas and difficulty experienced 4) Every student may require a computer and the internet in order to use open learning facilities 5) The student may not get answers from the tutor immediately The ICT product must be easy to learn and understand, it must be easy to use and can be relied to perform critical tasks. The software must also incorporate a space for future development and advancement. The software must also be secure and can perform critical tasks of training. The introduction of the telocon conferencing software will bring such features as desktop sharing video conferencing, multiparty audio voice over internet (voIP), secure business communication among others. Among the facilities be provided include; 1) WebEx conferencing; which allows information sharing from the desktop, it allows a person to hold meeting with several people hence reduce travel and accommodation facilities, it also help people work together. 2) Flash audio video chat and video conferencing, which offers video chat solutions. It is faster and reliable than other browser languages. It also allows the addition of other features and design, it easy to use and works well with Linux, MAC and widows operating systems. it also gives superior video/audio streaming 3) E/pop web and video conferencing: Provides superior document and PowerPoint application. It can be used for conferences with multiple presenters The members The technical team that is working on the project need to be provided with the adequate resources for the development of this software, these include full operation video-conferencing systems. Due to human problems, the members may at one time not attend meetings. This can result if some members of the group are sick or their families members are sick, time adjustment are necessary due to these factors. Furthermore, the rift valley residents are mostly attacked by malaria and the rift valley fever. Non attendance by the group members can lead to serious delays, members need to stay in pace with the different phases of the project implementation, delay will definitely affect the time schedule. Previous phases must be completed before going to the next phase. Delay at one stage will lead to further delays in the overall time the project will take. The teams need to be motivated in order to perform well, the members of the group need to know each other so that they can work as team. Work must be scheduled using gnat charts and critically reviewed to note the progress and delays. When delays occur the members can allocate more time in order to beat the set strict deadlines. The major form of communication among the team members is via email which most people forget to check on regular basis this will lead to lack of information flow among the team members, the team needs to be advised and encouraged to regularly check their mails. Individual members of the group must also be ready to work together as teamwork, there should be free to ask question and consult with one another in difficult situations or when one member doesn't understand a given concept. In conclusion the adoption E-learning will benefit the rift valley province and lead to better provision of education to the secondary school students in Kenya. Bibliography Clark, D. (2004). Big dog, little dog. Retrieved April 4, 2009, from The Growth of e- Learning: http://bdld.blogspot.com/2004/11/growth-of-elearning.html > Education For The Future Foundation Inc (2009), Education for the future, retrieved April 4, 2009 from Education For The Future Foundation Inc: http://www.educationforthefuture.org/students/current_riftvalley.htm Kenya. (2008). ICTs and higher education in Africa. (Cape Town South Africa: Centre of Educational Technology). Kenya. (2008). Internet usage and marketing report. Retrieved April 4, 2009, from . UNESCO (2000), brief early childhood and inclusive education, retrieved April 4, 2009 from brief Early Childhood and Inclusive Education, UNESCO: http://www.unesco.org/education/earlychildhood/ UNESCO (1999), The EFA 2000 Assessment: Education for all(EFA 2000) assessment of progress, Kenya country report, retrieved April 2009, from http://www.unesco.org/education/wef/countryreports/kenya/contents.html Read More