Learn from Home Application of Politeknik Negeri Padang Students
during Covid 19 Pandemic
Hidra Amnur, Roni Putra, Andre Febrian Kasmar and Raemon Syaljumairi
Department of Information Technology, Politeknik Negeri Padang, Padang, Indonesia
Keywords
:
Covid-19, Android, Database, MySQL, Server, Moodle, Presence Information System, LMS, QR Code.
Abstract
:
The number of positive cases of the Corona or Covid-19 virus continues to grow. The existence of this
epidemic has an impact on society, ranging from social and economic impacts to education in Indonesia. This
was recognized by UNESCO on Thursday 5 March 2020, that the Corona virus outbreak had an impact on
the education sector. several campuses in Indonesia implement a distance learning policy, including the
Politeknik Negeri Padang. Before the pandemic, lecture attendance was carried out with the Presence
Information System. And lectures are carried out face-to-face in the class, laboratory or workshop. During
the pandemic, the information system was no longer used and lectures were redirected using Moodle. Online
lectures have several problems that arise, such as attendance, lecture schedules and the current student
condition. This research was conducted by combining the Presence Information System database with Moodle
which has similarities and adding several new fields to determine the condition of students with a
questionnaire. To make it easier to use, an Android-based Learning from Home application was created and
used by students.
1
INTRODUCTION
The Covid-19 pandemic has changed many things
in
the world of education. Access to online learning
(e-learning) is now more important than ever. This
change has been seen since the pandemic, due to
health protocols that must be followed to prevent the
spread of the virus.
Before Covid-19, one of the information systems
in Politeknik Negeri Padang (PNP) was the
Attendance Information System which aimed to
manage lecturers, students, courses, classes, and
attendance. This system is web-based with a MySQL
database and is integrated with an attendance device
using a card (RFID technology). This information
system is very helpful in the management and
reporting of lectures during normal conditions.
However, during the Covid 19 period the lecture
model was no longer face-to-face in class, replaced
by distance learning (eLearning). The Attendance
Information System that was usually used before the
Covid-19 is no longer used. The eLearning used by
PNP is Moodle (https://moodle.com). The advantages
of Moodle's LMS (Moodle, 2020) are:
1.
Opensource
2.
flexible learning
3.
Mobile Learning,
4.
Accessibility for All,
5.
Security and Privacy,
6.
Easy Integration.
PNP also uses JTSI (https://jitsi.org/) for video
conferencing as a complement to lectures if you want
face-to-face online.
The interesting thing about Moodle is Opensource
and Easy Integration. Moodle is open source with
advantages such as: Complete ownership, Give it
your own look & feel, customize the functionality.
At Moodle there are various external platforms
and services. Moodle can integrate with video
conferencing for in-person meetings; Student
Information System, plagiarism detection; portfolios,
popular document suites, content repositories and
thousands more. Moodle is a global learning
management platform that supports open standards,
and is interoperable by design to allow the integration
of external information and applications into a single
Moodle platform.
During student learning activities at home, there
are several obstacles faced, including students and
lecturers who are less disciplined with class
schedules, and there is no control for student
attendance during lectures. The lecturers' ignorance
1340
Amnur, H., Putra, R., Kasmar, A. and Syaljumairi, R.
Learn from Home Application of Politeknik Negeri Padang Students during Covid 19 Pandemic.
DOI: 10.5220/0010965100003260
In Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Applied Science and Technology on Engineering Science (iCAST-ES 2021), pages 1340-1344
ISBN: 978-989-758-615-6; ISSN: 2975-8246
Copyright
c
2023 by SCITEPRESS – Science and Technology Publications, Lda. Under CC license (CC BY-NC-ND 4.0)
of the student's condition, why students don't go to
college, don't do assignments. The lecturer only
guessed the condition of the students. In the
Attendance Information System, there are ways to
recap student attendance, class schedules, and lecture
journals. Attendance can be seen by the
administration department without the need for the
lecturer to recap the attendance and give it.
The information system that already exists in PNP
can certainly take advantage of this Moodle feature to
be able to adjust and expand existing functions. The
big question is how to integrate Moodle with the
existing system in PNP.
Each system has advantages and disadvantages. If
both are used, it will tend to be troublesome because
the data that is filled in are basically almost the same.
And it tends to cause input errors that result in data
being filled in at Moodle not the same as the
attendance information system. This error can result
in detrimental to students or lecturers later. So this
research contributes to finding how to integrate two
different systems in one application by engineering
the MySQL database
This Learning from Home application uses
database tables that already exist in the PNP’s
Presence Information System and Moodle. To
determine the condition of students, several
questionnaire tables are added. This research is based
on the Android and MySQL databases.
2
LITERATURE REVIEW
2.1 eLearning, LMS and Moodle
e-Learning is a distance learning that utilizes
computer technology, computer networks and the
internet. E-Learning makes it possible for learners to
learn via computers in their places without having to
physically leave follow lessons / lectures in class.
Software applications for managing
documentation, reporting, automation, delivery of
learning or educational materials, training programs
are known as learning management systems (LMS).
It acts as a centralized training platform that serves as
the center of any learning ecosystem. LMS can
manage learning content, audience and assess the
performance of the audience
The first introduction of LMS occurred in the late
1990s. LMS is more focused on delivering online
learning that can support a variety of users. LMS acts
as an online content platform that can do classroom
management, training, instructors, or vice versa
which is usually done by schools or colleges. over
time, e-learning tools and features continue to evolve.
The e-learning industry keeps abreast of trends, such
as implementing VR, AI or other types of new
technologies. It aims to bring flexibility, accessibility
and convenience to its customers at a low cost, which
will not have a drastic impact. Research shows that
the LMS market is expected to pick up with a
compound annual growth rate of 24% between 2016
and 2020. In 2020 the growth will continue to
increase due to Covid-19 (Pappas, 2019).
Moodle is a learning platform designed to provide
educators, administrators and learners with a single
robust, secure and integrated system to create
personalized learning environments. To be integrated
with external systems, Moodle provides
1.
External database authentication
This method uses an external database table to
check if the username (which must be varchar)
and password are valid. If a user is not currently
on
Moodle, a new account is created and their
information copied from an external database.
Activating the External Database Authentication
feature, can be done by logging into the Moodle
administrator and accessing the site
administration
> Plugins > Authentication >
External database.
And check the external
database authentication
plugin.
There are 2 ways to use the External Database
Authentication feature
a.
Field Mappings
-
Update Local - Specifies that the
external
data will be entered into the
local field in
question
-
Update External - Specifies just the
opposite,
meaning changes in the local
Moodle field in
question will update the
corresponding field
in the external
database
-
Lock Value - Only determines whether
the
local user can make a change in the
Moodle
field and does not affect the two
settings
above.
b.
Automatic Synchronization
A typical cron entry will be as follows:
0
*
*
*
*
/usr/bin/php
/path/to/moodle/auth/db/cli/sync_us
ers.php >dev/null
2.
External database enrolment
External databases (of almost any type) can
control registration. It is assumed that the external
database contains a field that contains course IDs,
a
field that contains user IDs, and optionally a
field
that contains roles. It is compared with the
fields
Learn from Home Application of Politeknik Negeri Padang Students during Covid 19 Pandemic
1341
selected in the local course, the users table,
and the
roles table.
This script is meant to be called from a system
cronjob to sync moodle enrolments with enrolments
in the external database.
Example cron entry
# 5 minutes past 4am
5 4 * * * /usr/bin/php -c
/path/to/php.ini
/path/to/moodle/enrol/database/cli/sync.p
h
p
MySQL is a database based on the client-server
model. At the heart of MySQL is the MySQL server,
which handles all database instructions (or
commands). MySQL server is available as a separate
program for use in a client-server network
environment and as a library that can be embedded
(or linked) into separate applications.
2.2 Android
Android is an open source platform software
package that is based on the Linux operating system
for mobile devices and allows anyone to download,
customize, innovate and distribute so that people
around the world can enjoy greater access to more
information and opportunities.
The Learn from Home application uses the
Android platform, because most lecturers and
students use Android-based smartphones (Afdal and
Hidra, 2020).
2.3 QR Code
External database for integration of academic
information systems (SIA) with Moodle by preparing
the SIA data structure as required by the External
Database feature in Moodle. For external database
authentication, the integration process is carried out
every time a user logs in to Moodle, so that data can
be integrated in real time. External database
enrollment poses the integration is done by executing
the file that has been prepared in the doodle on PHP
CLI and it also takes a long time (so as not to overload
the server, it is done once a day) (Bunyamin and
Syazili, 2019).
2.4 Information System
An information system (IS) is a system designed
to
collect, process, store, and distribute information.
One example of an information system is a presence
information system, a presence information system
aims to manage the presence of an institution or
company. The system is designed to collect a person's
attendance data at any time which will be processed
automatically according to the wishes or needs of the
institution / company. The results will be distributed
in the form of reports that have been processed from
data that are related to the presence in the database.
2.5 Database
and MySQL
A database is an organized collection of
structured
information, or data, typically stored
electronically
in a computer system. A database is
usually
controlled by a database management system
(DBMS).
A QR code (abbreviated from Quick Response
code) is a type of matrix barcode (or two-dimensional
barcode) first designed in 1994 for the automotive
industry in Japan. A QR code consists of black
squares arranged in a square grid on a white
background, which can be read by an imaging device
such as a camera, and processed using Reed–
Solomon error correction until the image can be
appropriately interpreted. The required data is then
extracted from patterns that are present in both
horizontal and vertical components of the image
(Denso, 2011).
3
MATERIALS AND METHODS
The material used includes existing databases in
the presence information system and Moodle.
From
the two databases, find the equation that
intersects the
two databases. Merge records from
two relational
databases and create a new
database which will be
created for the Moodle
External Database and will be
used for the API in
application.
Figure 1: Database Relational.
In addition to the table above, it is added to
determine the current condition of students. and
for
an overview of the application as follows:
iCAST-ES 2021 - International Conference on Applied Science and Technology on Engineering Science
1342
Figure 2: Overview of the application.
In Figure 2, it can be seen that there are 2 servers,
one server for presence information systems and the
second server for Moodle. The database and API of
the Learn From Home Application are on the same
server as the presence information system. The main
users of the system and applications are
Administrators, Lecturers and Students. They can
directly access the Presence Information System or
directly access Moodle. And they can also access it
via the Learn from Home Application. Whatever they
access the information and the data received will be
the same. information from the operating system and
applications used on the server can be seen in table 1
Table 1: The operating system and applications used
on
the server.
Serve
r
1 Serve
r
2
CentOS 7.6 x64 CentOS 7.6 x64
CWP7Pro,
Apache
CWP7Pro,
Apache
2.4.39, PHP
5.3, 2.4.39, PHP 7.2.19,
M
y
S
Q
L 10.1.43- M
y
S
Q
L 10.3.23-
MariaDB, Attendance
MariaDB,
Moodle
Information System 3.9.1
4
RESULT
To implement the External Database, several
steps are carried out such as:
1.
Setting up a view in the database that
provides student and lecturer data that can log
in
to Moodle, along with the profiles required
by
Moodle
2.
Enabling the External Database feature
3.
Setting the external database on the plugin
4.
Mapping the Moodle system. This process
aims to map the previously prepared fields to
the table in Moodle
If external database enrollment has been
configured, the administrator may choose to use
those
settings. This setting can be seen in the
following
figure:
Figure 3: External Database Configure.
Figure 4 is an additional table in the database
related to the questionnaire to determine the
student's
condition.
Figure 4: Additional tables in the database
.
Distance learning difficult to know the real state
of the
student. This additional table is needed as data
or
information to find out their situation in order to
make it easier for lecturers or leaders to make the best
decisions for them during this pandemic.
Learn from Home Application of Politeknik Negeri Padang Students during Covid 19 Pandemic
1343
5
CONCLUSION
Integration of Moodle and Attendance
Information
Systems can be done by utilizing the
External
Database feature in Moodle. Similar tables
are
configured to sync. It is recommended to
synchronize database contents with the main data on
the Presence Information System, because the
External Database feature is in Moodle. for further
research, it can be developed in other tables in the
Presence Information System and other information
systems can also be carried out in the Padang State
Polytechnic environment.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks to Politeknik Negeri Padang and Information
Technology Department for their support in this
research. This research was sourced from the
Politeknik Negeri Padang’s DIPA funds for the 2020
fiscal year
REFERENCES
Moodle. (2020). Key features of Moodle LMS. [Online].
Available: https://moodle.com/lms/features/.
C. Pappas (2019). Top Learning Management System
(LMS) Statistics For 2020 You Need Tto Know.
Available:
https://elearningindustry.com/top-learning-
management-system-lms-statistics-for-2020-
infographic. [Accessed: 01-Oct-2020].
M. Bunyamin and A. Syazili. (2019). External Database
Sebagai Media Integrasi Sistem Informasi Akademik
dengan E-Learning. J. Bina Komput., vol. 1, no. 1, pp.
73–81.
Afdal and Hidra Amnur. (2020). MRAPAT Untuk Sistem
Manajemen Ruanga Rapat , Absensi , dan Notulen di
PT PLN Unit Wilayah Sumbar. J. Ilm. Teknol. Sist.
Inf., vol. 1, no. 2.
Denso. (2011). QR Code ® Essentials. Denso ADC.
.
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