Research About Differences in Grade Essay

Introduction The field of Information Technology is one of the most interesting courses of study. This is very evident in the growing number of students pursuing the field in our school, College of the Immaculate Conception (CIC). In our (the CIC community)commitment for excellence as stipulated in our vision and mission, the school administrators, faculty and staff are continuously seeking ways on how we can improve our programs, the content and delivery of instruction and most especially our students. We do such by attending fora, conducting various seminar/workshops/trainings, benchmarking with other schools, peer mentoring, pursuing graduate studies and eventually aspiring and working for a university status through an ongoing accreditation with PAASCU (Philippine Accrediting Association of Schools, Colleges and Universities). In the 4-year stint of offering the Bachelor of Science in Information Technology, often, we are able to have not less than three blocks every semester. As a private school competing with so many others within the province, we represent quite a volume in our enrolment. However, most often than not, most students do not earn impressive grades. Though they pass, their grades as evidences of their performance in their different subjects, are quite low. Despite of the effort and commitment of the faculty to adapt, implement, innovate strategies for facilitating learning, very few of our students make it to have high grades especially in major subjects. Among these subjects are Computer Organization, Database Management System and System Analysis and Design. This leads the researcher in making this term paper to seek an answer to the problem cited below. Statement of the Problem Considering the subjects mentioned above, this study aims to answer: Is there a significant difference on the performance of the students in these three major subjects? Significance of the Study This term paper is deemed important for the following groups of people in our academe: For the teachers. The result of this study will shed some light on different performance, if there is any, of our students in the subjects concerned thereby providing an opportunity for improvement. If there is such difference, the subject and the teacher handling it may provide some effective means that others may use. Moreover, this term paper may also bring forth some more ideas for us, teachers, to get to know more our students and therefore provide them with the necessary intervention for better scholastic achievement. For IT students in CIC. Students, whose grades are used in this paper, may be benefitted thru proper interventions that maybe drafted for them. For future takers of the subjects mentioned here, this may prepare them for the semester wherein they will take the subjects. For the researcher, herself. This term paper is the culmination of her struggle with Statistics. The success of this paper may lead to more papers where topics learned in this subject may be applied for the creation of new knowledge and for delivery of information. Quite an exciting future for the researcher, she believes. Scope and Delimitation This term paper entitled â€Å"Difference of Selected BSIT 3 Students’ Performance in Three Major Subjects: A Term Paper† is focused on finding the difference, if there is any, in three major subjects taken by BSIT 3 of the College of the Immaculate Conception last 1st Sem of School Year 2010-2011. The subjects concerned were Computer Organization, Database Management System and System Analysis and Design. Computer Organization, mostly theoretical in nature, deals with various hardware structures and their interaction with each other. Database Management System, on the other hand, aims to develop a skill in designing, creating and maintaining and/or manipulating a database using MySQL. Lastly, System Analysis and Design focuses on the rudiments of systems development through a feasibility study which is collaborative in nature. These are three different subjects taken by mostly the same students, inclusive of irregular students, under different teachers. This term paper is limited only for the three subjects. It is not concerned, in any way, how those subjects were delivered nor with each student’s intellectual capacity. Definition of Terms CIC. College of the Immaculate Conception CIC community. Refers to the CIC administration, faculty and staff. Programs. Refers to the different course offerings of CIC Blocks. Refers to each class of students consisting of, ideally, not more than 40 students. IT Subject. Refers to each subject offered in the Bachelor Science in Information Technology curriculum. Computer Organization. Refers to the IT subject that presents the various hardware structures (down to transistor level) that compose a computer, their individual functions, how they interact with each other, how they can be organized and controlled to perform the task assigned to the computer. Database Management System. Refers to an IT subject that tackles the following topics: the physical database design process (the last stage of database design), data administration functions, which encompass concurrency control, database security and recovery. System Analysis and Design. This It subject deals with the different phases of systems development focusing on analysis and design where students will learn the rudiments of systems development through a feasibility study. College. Refers to CIC. Methodology The methodology employed in this study is the simple analysis of variance (ANOVA) or one-way ANOVA. According to Prof Isidra Marcos (2011), a distinguished professor in the NEUST graduate school, ANOVA is used for testing that two or more independent samples were drawn from population as having the same mean or to test whether or not more than 2 samples (or groups) are significantly different from each other. Each column in this table refers in each subject. The first column is for Computer Organization, the second one is for Database Management System and lastly for the System Analysis and Design. The last row displays in each cell the number of grades in each column. For the first subject, 31 grades corresponding to 31 students were gathered. There were also 31 and 33 on the second and last columns respectively.