Group Assignment Management System (GAMS) for University Students

Abstract

Within the university curriculum, students are required to fulfill group assignments as part of their assessments. There are many platforms available that students can use to organize group assignments, such as WhatsApp. Based on a survey conducted among students at a university in Malaysia, WhatsApp was the preferred platform for most students. However, many students encountered challenges and issues while using it during group work. 100% of the respondents identified an excessive volume of cluttered messages within WhatsApp groups as a noticeable issue encountered during group work. While 76% of the respondents became confused due to too many roles in multiple tasks, 64% overlooked assignment deadlines. Thus, a new system called the Group Assignment Management System (GAMS), which is a web-based system that assists a group of students in managing their group assignments was developed and proposed to university students to solve the problems found. The Waterfall model is applied in developing GAMS. There are three users in the GAMS: administrator, leader, and member. In a nutshell, GAMS allows group partners to review and track different tasks performed individually online, including assigning tasks, keeping track of teammates’ work progress, and getting SMS notifications regarding task deadlines. Hence, it is hoped that this system will improve the management process of group work by moving from manual practice to an online system as well as be beneficial to students and lecturers. The system's usability was also tested using the System Usability Scale (SUS) survey and obtained a good score of 70.44, which means that this system is acceptable to use.