Dissertation

DATABASE OF PODCASTS:
FOR TEACHING VISUAL
BASIC
How can a database of podcasts be used to teach users how
to use Visual Basic?
Daren Stratton, BSc HONS
cam01527@myport.ac.uk
Abstract
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Daren Stratton, BSc HONS Word Count: 1,553/12,000 Saturday, 27 August 2016
1Introduction: 605 Words (595 Remain)
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction: 605 Words (595 Remain) .............................................................. 3
Project Scope ............................................................................................... 3
Problem Areas .............................................................................................. 3
Aims and Objectives ...................................................................................... 3
Aims ......................................................................................................... 3
Objectives ................................................................................................. 3
Multimedia Platforms ..................................................................................... 3
Software Used for the Project......................................................................... 3
Microsoft Office .......................................................................................... 4
Other Programs Used.................................................................................. 4
Choice of Methodology: 311 Words.................................................................... 5
Why The Waterfall Methodology was Chosen.................................................... 5
Integration with WordPress ............................................................................ 5
Literature Review............................................................................................. 6
Podcasts in the eLearning Environment............................................................ 6
Learning a Programming Language ................................................................. 7
Online Learning VS Classroom Learning ........................................................... 8
Multiple Devices: Android vs iOS..................................................................... 9
YouTube as a Whole...................................................................................... 9
Design: 1,025 Words...................................................................................... 11
Website Design........................................................................................... 11
Interface Design ......................................................................................... 11
Database Design......................................................................................... 12
Discussions on Design ................................................................................. 13
Implementation: 1,683 Words......................................................................... 14
Relationships Between the Tables ................................................................. 14
Restrictions ................................................................................................ 14
Designing the Low Fidelity Prototype ............................................................. 15
Analysis of the Entity–Relationship Diagram................................................... 15
Database Keys............................................................................................ 15
Primary Keys ........................................................................................... 15

Foreign Keys............................................................................................ 16
Implementing the Web Pages ....................................................................... 16
Register User........................................................................................... 16
View Podcasts and Comments.................................................................... 16
Search for Podcasts.................................................................................. 17
Security Issues with Microsoft Access ............................................................ 18
Problems with the Implementation................................................................ 18
Testing and Evaluation: 732 Words.................................................................. 19
User Testing............................................................................................... 19
The Evaluation of Dreamweaver.................................................................... 19
WordPress: A Different Testing Solution......................................................... 20
Project Management: 87 Words....................................................................... 22
Conclusion: 0 Words (1,200 Remaining) ........................................................... 23
Table of Figures ............................................................................................. 24
References .................................................................................................... 26

INTRODUCTION: 605 WORDS (595
REMAIN)
Project Scope
Problem Areas
Aims and Objectives
AIMS
The aim of this project is to:
 Create an educational website that links to a database to teach users how to
program using Visual Basic
OBJECTIVES
The objectives that support the aim include:
1. Creating databases that contain the links to the podcasts on YouTube
2. The opportunity to search the databases on various fields
a. This allows for a better search analysis if this returns only the podcasts
relevant to the keyword search
3. Creating a website that offers full accessibility
a. The videos should include closed–captions for users who are deaf
4. Creating a website that is mobile friendly
a. And mobile friendly means it can be shown on a tablet or phone, as well
as a desktop computer or laptop
5. The website should give an opportunity for users to register
a. Thus allowing them to track the progress tailored to that particular user
6. The website should allow users to track progress
a. This allows them to track how well they are doing, the podcasts that
were watched and which ones are left to watch
Multimedia Platforms
There are different multimedia platforms and smart touch devices than can display
webpages for a user to interact. Because this is possible, it is important that this
webpage is not only viewable on the typical desktop computer, but is also viewable
on other devices, of which include laptops, tablets and smartphones. The choice of
features must be thought of carefully too, as although some of the features may work
on smartphones, others may not
Flash Player is one of the features that will not work on a smartphone or tablet, so the
use of Flash videos is to be avoided if the developer is to design a website designed
for the use of those devices. Additionally, should the developer wish to design a
website intended for use on smartphones and tablets, the features must be utilised
carefully, and therefore, a video in HTML5 would work better than a video in Flash
Player.
Software Used for the Project
This project requires a total of ten programs to ensure full running of the website and
the creation of the webpages to help search for the podcasts. Half of these are included
the in Microsoft Office package. The other software is used to either put the podcasts
together, or to film the different parts.

MICROSOFT OFFICE
Five of the programs used to put this project together are included in the Microsoft
Office package, and allows for the use of putting together the different material used
in making the podcasts or putting in the different material for the website. A mix of
Office Platforms was used here, as three of the programs were 2016 previews and the
other two were 2013 releases. The following five programs used were:
1. Access: This is required to create the databases
2. PowerPoint: This is required to create the presentations that go into the
podcasts
3. Project: This is useful when putting the Gantt Chart together
4. Visio: This is useful for creating the Entity–Relationship Diagram
5. Word: This is required for the write–up of this dissertation
OTHER PROGRAMS USED
The other programs required in this project includes:
6. Adobe Dreamweaver 2015: This is required for creating the webpages, but
this is limited to a 30-day trial
7. CyberLink YouCam 6: This is required for filming the parts of the podcasts
8. eJay Dance 5: This is needed for making the jingle for the opening titles
9. Microsoft Visual Studio 2013 Ultimate: This is required for developing the
artefact that helps teach Visual Basic
10.Windows Live Movie Maker 2012: This is required for putting the different
parts of the podcast together

5Choice of Methodology: 311 Words
CHOICE OF METHODOLOGY: 311 WORDS
This project uses The Waterfall Methodology as its main choice of methodology, as
this is the best way to analyse each feature as they are implemented into the artefact.
Additionally, this allows the user to iterate a loop more easily, thus allowing the
opportunity to design a program or website that requires multiple tests per feature
(Stratton, 2013). Furthermore, this allows the developer or designer to “back–phase”
should anything happen to the project tasks in progress (Stratton, 2013).
Why The Waterfall Methodology was Chosen
The artefact used to support this project has features that may require continual
testing and analysis. Therefore, this choice of methodology was used, as it can test
such features of this website, and allows for tweaking. Since this project requires the
utilisation of databases into its webpages, this may give a Social Network theme (e.g.
Facebook, YouTube), as it allows viewers to leave comments on the discussion board
of the feature podcast. However, The Waterfall Methodology used here, has a staircase
iterated into it, and thus creates a Spiral Method, especially as the websites has
previews when being debugged. This analyses the bugs in the system, and how they
are fixed. The idea behind this version of The Waterfall Methodology allows a branch
off from the designing phase (into Interface and System), and for them to merge into
the Evaluation phase. Additionally, if there are any further features to be designed
and tested into the artefact or website, this methodology goes back up the staircase
(thus giving it the Spiral Methodology twist), and allows for the new features to be
tested.
F igure 1: The Waterfall Methodology allows the develope r to te st fe ature s as the y are
implemented into their artefact. This version allows e ach feature to be te ste d one at a
time (Stratton, 2013)
Integration with WordPress
The Waterfall Methodology integrates with WordPress websites to allow for the testing
and analysis of different features that go into the different blogs available to the user.
It can help analyse the strength of the different tags and can potentially build a better
search engine within a Content Management System (CMS)

6Literature Review
LITERATURE REVIEW
A podcast is generally a “Portable On-Demand Broadcast” often in an audio format
and played on the radio. However, other organisations have taken the route of making
video podcasts, and this includes The Daren Stratton Podcast Show.
Podcasts in the eLearning Environment
Supanakorn-Davila is a Lecturer at The University of Wyoming, USA, and specialises
in the utilisation of a typical podcast. She explains about the integration and utilisation
of a podcast in the eLearning environment, analyses the benefits, and compares these
with the potential challenges (Supanakorn-Davila & Bolliger, 2014). She categorises
these potential benefits based on the views of the student, and their preferred learning
style. Benefits include having the ability to assist in more complex situations, for
example, teaching how to develop using a new programming language. Supanakorn-
Davila mentions that podcasts can also be used to, “increase students’ motivation in
online courses by providing students with feedback and perspectives of others in
different formats” (Supanakorn-Davila & Bolliger, 2014). On the other hand, podcasts
are proven to be challenging; examples include: technological challenges, where a
piece of software used for making the podcast crashes halfway through recording.
Other instructors may find utilising podcasts extra work, and therefore would avoid it
wherever possible (Supanakorn-Davila & Bolliger, 2014).
Minutes
Instructors
Number Percent
1 – 5 5 20%
6 – 15 14 56%
More than
15
6 24%
F igure 2: Re sults show that of the 25 Instructors, the majority of the m we nt for an
av erage length of between six and fifteen minutes pe r podcast (Supanakorn- Dav ila &
Bollige r, 2014)
When the figures were finalised in this paper, the results concluded that a majority of
56% of the instructors had an average podcast length between six and fifteen minutes
per podcast. These podcasts are then uploaded via the utilisation of Rich-Site
Summary (RSS) feeds onto stores that support them, with iTunes as the prime
example (Supanakorn-Davila & Bolliger, 2014). Therefore, this figure suggests that
an average length of between six and fifteen minutes is suitable for students in a
university, as it does not overwhelm them (Supanakorn-Davila & Bolliger, 2014).
Whilst a podcast is defined as “the process of capturing an audio event, song, speech,
or a mix of sounds and then posting them via an RSS feed”, there are several new
podcasting formats available (Fernandez, Simo, & Sallan, 2009). It was reported that
90 students agreed to participate in the research at the beginning of the course,
however at the end of the course, only 60 students participated in the whole
evaluation process (Lyke & Frank, 2012). It was emerged that 20 of the students
using these podcasts, apologised for not completing the last questionnaire, whilst the
other 10 gave up due to their preference to written material (Lyke & Frank, 2012).
Fernandez explores further through the results of podcasting, and how its increase
was observed in many universities in America. As previously mentioned, there are
several types of podcasting formats available to a podcaster, and these include: audio
podcasts (or in the case of The Daren Stratton Podcast Show in Series 1 – 3 and 16,
a soundcast), enhanced podcasts and video podcasts (Supanakorn-Davila & Bolliger,
2014). Supanakorn-Davila expands on the description of the three podcasting

7Literature Review
formats, and explains that “the audio-only podcast is an audio delivery format, the
enhanced podcast, or screencast, is a combination of audio and visuals, such as slides,
images or graphics, and a video podcast, or a vodcast is a video file that can require
a large amount of storage” (Supanakorn-Davila & Bolliger, 2014).
F igure 3: Of the three different podcast me thods (Supanakorn-Davila & Bollige r, 2014),
The Daren Stratton Podcast Show we nt audio from Series 1 – 3 and 16, and vodcasts after
that point
Learning a Programming Language
Two authors explore through the learnability of a new programming language, but
whilst Barr (2015) suggests how different attitudes can have an impact on the
effectiveness of teachers, Guzdial (2015) suggests the ultimate focus should be about
usability (Barr & Guzdial, 2015).
Guzdial confirms the lack of usability within a typical programming language, and
states that, “Programming languages are the most powerful and least usable and
learnable User Interfaces” (Barr & Guzdial, 2015). He analyses this situation even
further and finds a solution to help focus on the usability side of learning a new
programming language. Although the main focus of Guzdial’s analysis and solution
mainly centre around Fortran, the principality of this usability solution can be generally
applied to other programming languages, for example Visual Basic (Barr & Guzdial,
2015).
F igure 4: There is a range of programming languages available; the five listed he re is just
a small sample (Jordan, Botte r we ck, Noll, Butte rfie ld, & Collie r, 2015)
There is a steady number of programming languages available, and this number is
constantly on the increase. However, there is very little technical support available to
the programmer, especially if they are new to a programming language. Jordan et al.
(2015) extracts some answers from this question, and explains that his paper
presents, “a feature model constructed from the programmer’s prospective, which can
be used to precisely compare general-purpose programming languages” (Jordan,
Botterweck, Noll, Butterfield, & Collier, 2015).

8Literature Review
Online Learning VS Classroom Learning
Results show how fast online learning has increased, particularly amongst the students
in the USA, from about 1.60 million in 2002 to about 6.71 million in 2011, thus
showing an increase of about 319% across these nine years (Stack, 2015).
F igure 5: Statistics show how the number of Ame rican stude nts study i ng at le ast one
online course has incre ase d by about 319% be twe e n 2002 – 2011 (Stack, 2015)
Lyke and Frank (2012) look at the two primary strengths that online learning can
offer, and entail that these are: the control of the most extraneous variables, and the
generalisability of the results (Lyke & Frank, 2012).
The obvious difference between these two environments is that one of them is in a
traditional classroom, whilst the other one is online. However, when analysing the
satisfaction of each environment, it was emerged that the students generally favoured
the in-class environment over the online environment (Lyke & Frank, 2012).
Student
Satisfaction
In
Class
Online
Course 4.7 4.0
Teacher 4.8 3.8
F igure 6: Re sults show that although both in -class and online e nv ironme nts hav e the ir
similarities, the students generally favour the in -class e nvironment (Lyke & F rank, 2012)
Another paper looks at the performance of students during online classes, and
concludes that 100% of the online students were comfortable using the computer and
learning new technologies (DeShea, Jackson, & Maxwell, 2013). However, other
results show that 82% of the students reported a preference of the Blackboard
environment, 86% of the participants report a liking to using Microsoft Office and
Windows Media, and that 95% were able to complete such tasks without any problems
(DeShea, Jackson, & Maxwell, 2013).
It is reported that 40% of the students who would retake the class online, and their
reasons include: fitting better into a hectic schedule, being able to do the work at own
pace, having extra time to study other courses, the information provided help
strengthen the quality of notes taken, and making sense since the homework is online.
One of the participants said that they had felt the same benefits online as they would
have done in class (DeShea, Jackson, & Maxwell, 2013). However, it is also reported
that 60% of the students would not retake the class online, and their reasons include:
lack of communication between the student and the teacher, not being able to ask
questions about the material as consistently as hoped, lack of real office hours, not
enough feedback, not being able to keep up, and the cases were not explained
properly. One of the participants reported finding the course material difficult to self-
teach, the assignments were not explained thoroughly, and not having a teacher made
it difficult to obtain feedback in a timely manner (DeShea, Jackson, & Maxwell, 2013).
2002
•1.60 million students
2011
•6.71 million students

9Literature Review
Multiple Devices: Android vs iOS
Two of the popular Operating Systems available to the users are iOS for Apple, and
Android for Google Users. The main similarities noted include both Operating Systems
having touchscreen technology, and the frequency of software updates (Lixandroiu &
Maican, 2014). However, it is also noted that one of the major differences is the home
screen itself. iOS only uses several lines (Before the iPhone 5: this was four, iPhone 5
or newer: this was five) of icons, whereas on the Android, you can even include
widgets on your home screen with the option of an Auto-Update (Lixandroiu & Maican,
2014). Based upon the stability of each Operating System; KitKat was developed for
the Android, and was therefore subject to the analysis. Apple’s Operating System that
was subject to the analysis was iOS 7.1 (Lixandroiu & Maican, 2014).
Result analysis show how there are over 700,000 applications available for Apple’s
iPhone, whilst the iPad has over 250,000. Android supports Google Wallet, which
allows for mobile payment, whereas Apple does not support this (Lixandroiu & Maican,
2014).
YouTube as a Whole
When YouTube launched its server to the public in 2005, it had become an advertising
platform for online organisations, for example, Google, the company who bought
YouTube in 2006 (Soukup, 2014). Furthermore, YouTube has also become big in the
social networking industry, as it allows users to socialise whilst uploading videos of up
to 15 minutes1
in length, and thus helping others with new material, or enhancing on
previous knowledge (Soukup, 2014).
In January 2015, YouTube made the move to switch its video player preference from
Adobe’s Flash Player standard to the fifth generation of HTML. Ever since the move to
HTML5, YouTube has been able to introduce new features available to the user
(Reinhardt, 2015). However, not all features are available globally (Fan Funding is
only available in USA, Mexico, Australia and Japan currently), and YouTube channels
require at least 1,000 subscribers to have Paid Content enabled.
1 If a user’s YouTube account is in a Good Standing, they can upload a video of up to 12
hours

10Literature Review
F igure 7: Taken from The Daren Stratton Podcast Show’s YouTube Channel, this indicate s
all the fe ature s av ailable to a channe l in a Good Standing
When videos are uploaded to YouTube by The Daren Stratton Podcast Show; YouTube
supports this channel by allowing users to view them. A new auto adding rule has
been added to playlists, so for example in Series 18: Master the Basics, when a video
gets added to this playlist, and the title matches either Episode 18: or Series 18, these
videos will automatically be added to the playlist, and thus ensures better organisation
for The Daren Stratton Podcast Show.

11Design: 1,025 Words
DESIGN: 1,025 WORDS
Website Design
Whilst there are many hosting sites that offer users the opportunity to put their
webpages online, they can prove to be quite pricey, depending on the project and the
content they wish to upload. In the nature of The Daren Stratton Podcast Show, the
website itself consists of 40 podcasts from across two series: 20 from Series 11:
Visualise the Basics and 20 from Series 18: Master the Basics.
F igure 8: These two series on their own have packed in 4 0 e pisodes which ce ntre on the
usability of Visual Basic, and analy se d the ir fe ature s and pe rformance s
Whilst analysing the different web hosting sites and their costs, there are some
blogging tools to help the users with their ideas, these do not exactly allow for linking
Access databases to their blog posts. Therefore, the decision was made to create a
website using a web hosting site. 000 Web Host is the hosting site in the USA; the
000 stands for $0.00, whilst Hostinger is the British equivalent. The final choice made
was to use Hostinger as it gives you more with their free package than 000 Web Host.
Interface Design
The design of the interface which supports the databases was built in the style of
forms in Microsoft Access, a program of The Microsoft Office Suite that deals with
databases and the analysis of the data contained in them. The decision to design the
interface in Microsoft Access was taken so that it allowed for easier data input into the
form and automatically transferred onto the database itself.
F igure 9: The Podcast F orm shows the ID, the title and the URL of the podcasts
the mse lv e s
Since the design of the database was developed by hand and scanned into the
computer, it helped give some general idea as to what features were going onto the
form, and where they were going. With Microsoft Access, it automatically put each
field in a neat order, organised by the way they were entered into the database design.

F igure 10: The design of the other databases as hand–drawn onto paper and scanned into
the compute r
Other principles are essential to ensure the application or website are running to
optimal standards and that they are as user–friendly as possible. In order for this to
be possible, the following guidelines must be taken into account:
1. Consistency: When developing an application or a website, the developer
must ensure that the same layout or theme is used throughout. If a developer
has an “EXIT” button on one page and a “CLOSE” button on another, it will
likely confuse the end–user. Additionally, it will confuse the user if you put an
“EXIT” button on the bottom right of one screen, and put the same button on
the top left of another screen.
2. Ease of Use: The application or website must be accessible to those with
disabilities, for example, websites must give opportunity for those with eye
problems to zoom in, thus allowing them to read the content more clearly.
YouTube videos offer closed captions to help deaf users to understand what is
being said in the video.
3. Good Error Message: These need to be clear, informative and easy for all
users to understand. Technical codes do not often work here, as they often
leave the users baffled and searching online for the different error codes and
their meanings.
4. Colour, Sizes and Fonts: The colour part is an important aspect of a website,
particularly if a user has colour-blindness. The size is also important as it help
the users to determine the comfortable size before they read the content of a
webpage. The font needs to be easily read, so therefore the use of Serif fonts,
such as Times New Roman and Garamond are the ones developers try to avoid,
as they not always clear to read.
5. Navigation: It is important to have a clear site map, as this generally helps
the user should they wish to find their way around the site in a non–
chronological order. This also improves the chances of the user finding the
content they would like to view.
Database Design
Whilst developing the design for the database; it was decided that although the text
name should have flexibility in the length, it is highly unlikely that a user’s first name
will ever go over it. Therefore, as a result, the length for the First Name was set to 15
characters, whilst the Last Name of a user may be double-barrelled, and has a
maximum length of 25 characters to allow for this.
F igure 11: The User Table, whe n designed in Microsoft Access, allows for users to e nter in
the ir first name and last name, and keeps a record of the comme nts made on podcasts
It was originally discussed that the Podcast ID’s used in The Daren Stratton Podcast
Show consists of ten characters, and therefore cannot be used as a number. This is

because the Podcast ID’s consist of a colon to separate the series number from the
episode number, and a forward slash to separate the episode number in the series
from the episode number overall (e.g. Episode 18:026/510). Additionally, it was
originally agreed that the maximum length for the podcast title was fifty characters,
however, should The Daren Stratton Podcast Show have longer titles, this also needs
to be facilitated for. Therefore, the maximum length of this entity was raised from the
fifty to seventy-five.
F igure 12: The Podcast Table is produce d he re using Micros oft Acce ss
It was decided to develop the Entity–Relationship Diagram in Microsoft Visio, as
attempts were made to complete this in Microsoft Access, but were unsuccessful. This
came to the realisation that these could not be completed in Microsoft Access, and
therefore this was completed in Microsoft Visio instead. The relationships were
established as follows: there can be many users watching one podcast, and can also
write many comments. However, whilst a forum generally accepts many comments,
these only link to the one specific podcast.
User Podcast
Forum
User ID (Number 3)PK
First Name (Text 15)
Last Name (Text 25)
Podcast ID (Text 10)PK
Podcast URL (Hyperlink)
Forum ID (Number 3)PK
User ID (FK) (Number 3)
Podcast ID (FK) (Text 10)
Comments (Text 250)
Podcast Title (Text 75)
F igure 13: The Entity–Relationship Diagram as comple te d in Microsoft Visio shows the
different relationships between the three tables in Access and analyses their conn ections
Discussions on Design
Following discussions with the client, it was agreed that when the designs were shown
in paper form, that it looked clear enough to display on both mobile and desktop
environments. Additionally, it was mentioned at this point that Adobe Dreamweaver
was a good piece of software to use as this allows for integrating the designs.
However, based upon the design phases, it was noted that users may have a different
preference as to how they would search for a different podcast. Following this point,
the design was integrated into Adobe Dreamweaver, so that it allows the user to select
from a playlist if they knew which series of podcasts they wish to view, and a separate
search engine to allow them to search for specific podcasts based on their search.
Designs with WordPress
Designing a webpage with WordPress allows for better organisation of the content, as
it automatically manages the content on the page and allows for the developer to add
featured posts on top of the page. This procedure is called sticky notes; this means
that regardless of the level of content added onto the website in general, the sticky
notes will always stay at the top of the page. Additionally, WordPress allows the
developer to choose from a wide range of themes in which they can organise the
different layouts, and can choose from the different theme colours and fonts available
in that particular theme.

14Implementation: 1,786 Words
IMPLEMENTATION: 1,786 WORDS
When the tables were created, they were given maximum lengths to ensure that whilst
flexibility is available for all fields, they need to be set at a realistic limit. This, however,
is not possible for attributes including hyperlinks, but the format on the Date/Time
attribute is set to the preferences of the developer. Therefore, the limits of each field
were set as follows:
1. User: First Name – Set as a text field with a maximum length of 15 characters
2. User: Last Name – Set as a text field with a maximum length of 25 characters
3. User: Date of Birth – Set as a Date/Time field
4. Podcast: Podcast ID – Set as a text field with a maximum length of 10 characters
5. Podcast: Podcast Title – Set as a text field with a maximum length of 75
characters. Originally, the maximum length here was set to 50 characters, but this
was increased to 75 to improve flexibility of the title.
6. Podcast: Podcast URL – Set as a hyperlink field
7. Forum: Comments – Set as a text field with a maximum of 250 characters
Relationships Between the Tables
There are certain relationships between the three tables created in Microsoft Access.
A user can write more than one post on a podcast’s forum, but these will only
correspond to the one particular podcast, and thus creates a many to one relationship
between the user and the forum. The same relationship applies between the podcast
and the forum; a podcast may have more than one comment on its post, but these
apply to just that specific forum. Therefore, another many to one relationship ensues
between these two tables.
F igure 14: The relationships in these three tables are indicated by an arrow and differe nt
sy mbols to de te rmine how the is analy se d be twe e n the table s
Restrictions
The User Table has a Date/Time attribute to define a users’ date of birth, but since
Series 18: Master the Basics is to receive a BBFC Rating of 15, the database was set
up to restrict the users from registering onto the system if they were after the year
2000. Additionally, the comments text was restricted to 250 characters, so that it
allows for better analysis of the comments on the podcast (i.e. allowing easier analysis
to improve the quality of the podcasts, and not trying to find a way to understand a
load of waffle).

F igure 15: Originally set to receive an 18 rating for “very strong computer jargon”, Series
18: Master the Basics was reduced to 15 after careful conside rations of the disclaime r
Other restrictions were updated during the implementation phase of the database that
holds the podcasts from Series 11: Visualise the Basics and Series 18: Master the
Basics. The original limit for the field here was originally set to 50 characters following
a suggestion from a discussion. However, when analysing the length of the titles from
both series, realisation occurred, and it was later decided to change this maximum
value from 50 characters to 75.
Designing the Low Fidelity Prototype
After several discussions and whilst the ideas and focus were turned to the
development of the website and database, some ideas were sketched as to how the
forms would look like when developed using Microsoft Access. Three tables were
created using Access using the attributes as listed above. The three tables developed
were: User, Podcast and Forum (see Figure 9 Figure 10).
An idea for creating a middle fidelity prototype was thought about during this process,
and these would have been made using Microsoft Paint and saved as JPG files.
However, following the realisation about the lack of resources, budget and time
(although Microsoft Paint is preinstalled into the computer), these middle fidelity ideas
were later abandoned.
Analysis of the Entity–Relationship Diagram
When the Entity–Relationship Diagram was created (see Figure 13), attempts were
made to create this in Microsoft Access. However, these attempts were unsuccessful,
and therefore Microsoft Visio was used. Microsoft Visio allows for the organising the
content within each entity included in this project, and that it established the
relationships between the three tables.
When compiling the Entity–Relationship Diagram for the three databases, it became
noticeable that there were two different types of “one to many (1: *)” relationships;
the one between the user and podcasts, and the one between the forum board and
podcasts. Microsoft Access established these connections when analysing the three
tables and made them foreign keys.
Database Keys
PRIMARY KEYS
Since there are three database tables in this project; there are three different Primary
Keys, one assigned to each table. The Primary Keys assigned to each table relate to
the identification of each user, podcast and forum post. The primary key is
automatically assigned to entities with a numerical value, but must be entered
manually if the entity holds a text value. Additionally, when a value is entered into an

entity that holds a Primary Key, it must be unique and cannot be duplicated. The three
Primary Keys assigned in the three tables are:
 USER TABLE: The User ID is set as the Primary Key here as it is almost always
unique to a specific person
 PODCAST TABLE: The Podcast ID is set as the Primary Key here, as every podcast
has a different ID from the others. The more complex ID system used for
identifying the podcasts help strengthen their values, thus minimising the chance
of errors occurring
 FORUM TABLE: The Forum ID is set as the Primary Key here as it is unique to a
specific user comment and podcast
FOREIGN KEYS
When two tables share an entity that can be linked together, the entity on the other
table can be listed as a Foreign Key. A Foreign Key is based on data linked to another
table. The Forum Table has two Foreign Keys; one linked up to the User Table and the
other linked to the Podcast Table.
 USER ID: This is linked from the User Table; when the user writes a comment on
a podcast, the website should register the User ID automatically.
 PODCAST ID: This is linked from the Podcast Table; when the user clicks on the
button to write a comment, the website should register the ID of the podcast
automatically.
Implementing the Web Pages
REGISTER USER
The process of the user signing up to view the podcasts would have them entering
their First Name, their Last Name, their Date of Birth and their email address. They
then are either presented with either a screen that says the registration was
successful, or an unsuccessful screen should they attempt to register with a Date of
Birth after the day’s date in the year 2000. This should be taken into account due to
both series getting a “15” age rating.
F igure 16: The User Re gistration p rocess as sketched out on paper shows the scre e ns in
the orde r it should appe ar on the we bsite .
VIEW PODCASTS AND COMMENTS
When a user watches a podcast (screen 1), they are presented with a YouTube video
and two buttons. The first button allows them to leave a comment on the video (screen
2), which gets added to the forum (screen 3), and the second button allows them to
see all of the comments already posted on the forum of that specific podcast (screen
4). Since the user has already registered at this stage, the User ID should

automatically be filled in at the top. Similarly, since the podcast title is on the previous
screen, the Podcast ID should automatically be filled in.
The Forum ID is the Primary Key on the database, and therefore should automatically
increment with each new comment made on the podcast. When the user enters the
new comment form, they should have the opportunity to cancel the comment should
their mind change. Clearing the form should also be allowed at this point too, should
the user realise any mistakes made in their comment. The counter on the comment
box should go down too; this is due to the maximum length of the comment being
250 characters. The user is then presented with a confirmation saying that their
comment has been saved to the forum board.
F igure 17: The process the user would go through when v iewing podcasts and/or writing
comme nts and v ie wing the F orum Board of a particular podcast
SEARCH FOR PODCASTS
When the user searches for a specific podcast, they give information in two steps. The
first step presents them with two radio buttons (screen 1), and this allows them to
choose a podcast from either Series 11: Visualise the Basics or Series 18: Master the
Basics. When they have made their choice, they click the next button, which takes
them to the next step (screen 2). Since both series have 20 podcasts listed, the user
can then select the podcast number from a drop–down box (from 001 to 020, since
the episode number in the ID uses trailing zeros). They are then presented with the
link of the podcast they chose, for example: Episode 18:016/500: The Special 500
Timer (screen 3). They can either click this link to view the podcast, or click back to
reselect.
F igure 18: The process the user would go through when searching for a podcast across
the two ste ps, whilst the se rv e r bre aks up the Podcast ID into the se ste ps.

Security Issues with Microsoft Access
Microsoft Access is also known for its security issues; one of which gives the user all
the privileges that are generally exclusive to the administrator. These are set
automatically by default, and so allows the typical user to perform the tasks that they
should not normally be allowed to perform. These tasks, usually exclusive to the
administrator, include modifying and deleting data in a table. This can prove risky,
especially if they start deleting data essential for the website to run properly and
efficiently. Other tasks include: setting the permissions and modifying the definitions
of the tables.
F igure 19: The main issue with Microsoft Access, is that the databases give the use rs the
same pe rmissions as the admin. This can cause some proble ms to the data
Whilst it may be possible to change the permissions of the database permissions
obtained by the user, this may have to be done through the settings of the database
in Microsoft Access itself. It may not always be possible to learn this straightaway,
especially if the developer of a project similar to this nature is new to databases. They
would need the help of either a tutor to help with the setting of such permissions
(especially given the knowledge that a typical user should not have the same
permissions as the administrator, other erroneous results may occur within the
website containing the databases).
Problems with the Implementation
There were problems when attempting to implement the website and the organisation
of the websites. Adobe Dreamweaver encountered some problems with committing
changes to the live view, and therefore, the changes had to take place in the code.
Other problems have occurred during the implementation of this website, including
the non-response of some programs, and Windows 10 automatically updating itself in
the middle of debugging. These procedures took around 90 minutes a time, and
previously failed to respond through the second phase. Attempts were also made to
link databases made in Microsoft Access (with the .accdb file extension), but all
attempts were unsuccessful. In the same way, the databases were restructured using
Structured Query Language (SQL), but the best thing Adobe Dreamweaver could do
was to show the tables and their records, and still not link the tables to the webpages
produced in that program. As a whole, a discussion took place with an IT Advisor, and
it was realised that Adobe Dreamweaver cannot link databases created in either
Access or SQL. To solve this problem, a PHP server is required (the better solution is
to test the webpages on a separate computer with a server).

19Testing and Evaluation: 732 Words
TESTING AND EVALUATION: 732 WORDS
There were two different user tests that had taken place during the three month run
of this project; the first of which used Adobe Dreamweaver, and the second of which
used WordPress Version 4.3. The tables below illustrate which of the tests worked,
and which of the tests did not. Unfortunately, major problems had occurred during
the testing of the webpages in Adobe Dreamweaver, and because it would not allow
the integrating of Access databases (nor would it integrate MySQL databases until the
very last minute), this had severely affected half of the tests in the way that the results
were inconclusive. On the other hand, the more basic tests were successful, because
the user would then follow the links to get to YouTube (this would cause problems if
the policies of an organisation do not allow this). More details are listed in the first
test analysis below.
User Testing
Name of Test Expected Results Actual Results Did it Work? Comments
Select a podcast
Series 11
Upon clicking the Series 11
link, the podcasts are
listed
The podcasts were
listed
YES
This test was
successful
Select a podcast
Series 18
Upon clicking the Series 18
link, the podcasts are
listed
The podcasts were
listed
YES
This test was
successful
Register a new
user
The user should be able to
successfully register a new
account
- -
The results were
inconclusive
Search for a
specific podcast
The podcasts are listed
after the relevant words
are typed
- -
The results were
inconclusive
Click on YouTube
link to Series 11
podcast
The relevant podcast is
shown on YouTube
The relevant podcast
was shown
YES
This test was
successful
Click on YouTube
link to Series 18
podcast
The relevant podcast is
shown on YouTube
The relevant podcast
was shown
YES
This test was
successful
Leave comment on
discussion board
The comment is displayed
on the discussion board
- -
The results were
inconclusive
View comments on
discussion board
The comments are
displayed on the
discussion board
- -
The results were
inconclusive
Error Handling
Produce a message box
when wrong data is
entered
- -
The results were
inconclusive
F igure 20: The User Te st table shows the e xpe cte d re sults, the actual re sults, and
whe ther they worked or not. However, due to major proble ms, half of the te sts we re
inconclusiv e
The Evaluation of Dreamweaver
It was initially decisive that Microsoft Access was that best program to handle
databases. This program can: analyse your data, organise the forum keys, and
establish the relationships across different tables, thus giving the link required to
ensure a fully working table. When data was entered into one table, it would show up
in the other. However, it was suggested Adobe Dreamweaver was used for managing
the website, as you can put the data onto a live server, and organise your content
seamlessly without the hassle of finding the files separately. Since the University of
Portsmouth uses Plesk, it allows you to upload whole folders from Adobe Dreamweaver
with ease.
Unfortunately, major problems occurred when Adobe Dreamweaver was used. It does
not have the ability to manage databases created using Microsoft Access (.accdb) or
Structured Query Language (SQL). Additionally, since the product was on a 30–day

trial, it did not allow you to import tabular data either (and where it did allow you, the
results were garbled and were not readable). Given the nature of this project, the
databases are the vital part of the artefact, and was therefore crucial to link them to
the pages. These tests had a total duration of three weeks, and all with no success.
Therefore, given the nature of the severity of these problems (and that time was also
running short at this stage), and that the project has a basic, and not a fully functional
website, the results for registering the user, searching for a specific podcast, leaving
comments on the discussion board, viewing comments on the discussion board, and
error trapping were inconclusive.
WordPress: A Different Testing Solution
Based upon the inconclusive results encountered during the tests using Adobe
Dreamweaver, a decision was taken to switch to WordPress, which allows for a better
control and management of the system which calls for the conducting of new tests,
the error trapping no longer being applicable and better results than Adobe
Dreamweaver. The newer user tests were conducted based on the searching for
specific podcasts using both categories and tags, registering the user, adding and
viewing comments, viewing the videos on the screen and clicking specific links to both
videos and pictures. The results were as follows:
Name of Test Expected
Results
Actual
Results
Did it Work? Comments
Click on Video
Post
The YouTube video
plays
Click on Picture
The picture is
shown
Register a New
User
The user
successfully
registers a new
account
Search for a
Specific Podcast
The results show
podcasts relevant
to the search term
entered
Click on YouTube
Link (Series 11)
The user is taken
to a YouTube video
Click on YouTube
Link (Series 18)
The user is taken
to a YouTube video
Leave comment
on Discussion
Board
The viewer’s
comment is shown
on the Discussion
Board
View comment
on Discussion
Board
The viewer can see
all other comments
on Discussion
Board
F igure 21: The “new and improved” User Test proves to be more successful in WordPre ss
than Adobe Dre amwe av e r
These results show which tests worked in WordPress and which ones did not. They
also give specific comments as to what happened during the test and how these can
be improved. These results show more of a positive reading than the tests gave in
Adobe Dreamweaver. However, it was also noted that this version of WordPress would
only work in the University of Portsmouth, as too many WordPress installations on the
Plesk system caused the Information Service to block them. Therefore, whilst the
databases were accessible in the Plesk server, the WordPress installations were not
(despite still being able to upgrade them to Version 4.3). Additionally, the error
trapping and Date of Birth tests were not applicable, as WordPress does not offer the
opportunity to trap errors, the only error thought of here is if the user enters a word

into the search box, and nothing appears. This would be because of the podcasts not
containing this word in either its category or tags. The Date of Birth was not applicable
either, as WordPress does not offer the opportunity to apply an age restriction to the
website. Therefore, whilst the material is now viewable by everyone, it is unlikely that
the material covered would be understood by any persons of below 15 years of age.

22Project Management: 209 Words
PROJECT MANAGEMENT: 209 WORDS
At the start of the project, there was discussions with the supervisor as to how this
project was organised. There was a Gantt chart to be produced at this stage to help
track the progress as to how the project went, and whether it was on track or not.
Although the project went off to a fair start, major problems occurred and the failed
test analysis using Adobe Dreamweaver meant that the dissertation and the
organising the material for the presentation was behind by about three weeks.
July 2015
At this point of the project, a draft Gantt chart was in production with the different
headings put in place with a numerical system. This was implicated with an estimated
10-day completion for each heading. However, this was not met because the
dissertation was late in getting started and the research was not fully completed yet.
Additionally, this fell even further behind schedule as the Literature Review contained
material which was not always relevant to the project in hand. After the Literature
Review was approved, the design took place with the databases being compiled in
Microsoft Access, the Entity–Relationship Diagram was put together using Microsoft
Visio, and the relationships between the three tables were established using Microsoft
Access (See Figure 14)

23Conclusion: 0 Words (1,200 Remaining)
CONCLUSION: 0 WORDS (1,200
REMAINING)

24Table of Figures
TABLE OF FIGURES
FIGURE 1: THE WATERFALL METHODOLOGY ALLOWS THE DEVELOPER TO TEST FEATURES AS THEY ARE
IMPLEMENTED INTO THEIR ARTEFACT. THIS VERSION ALLOWS EACH FEATURE TO BE TESTED ONE AT A
TIME (STRATTON, 2013) ................................................................................... 5
FIGURE 2: RESULTS SHOW THAT OF THE 25 INSTRUCTORS, THE MAJORITY OF THEM WENT FOR AN AVERAGE
LENGTH OF BETWEEN SIX AND FIFTEEN MINUTES PER PODCAST (SUPANAKORN-DAVILA & BOLLIGER,
2014) ........................................................................................................ 6
FIGURE 3: OF THE THREE DIFFERENT PODCAST METHODS (SUPANAKORN-DAVILA & BOLLIGER, 2014),
THE DAREN STRATTON PODCAST SHOW WENT AUDIO FROM SERIES 1 – 3 AND 16, AND VODCASTS
AFTER THAT POINT........................................................................................... 7
FIGURE 4: THERE IS A RANGE OF PROGRAMMING LANGUAGES AVAILABLE; THE FIVE LISTED HERE IS JUST A
SMALL SAMPLE (JORDAN, BOTTERWECK, NOLL, BUTTERFIELD, & COLLIER, 2015) ................... 7
FIGURE 5: STATISTICS SHOW HOW THE NUMBER OF AMERICAN STUDENTS STUDYING AT LEAST ONE ONLINE
COURSE HAS INCREASED BY ABOUT 319% BETWEEN 2002 – 2011 (STACK, 2015)................ 8
FIGURE 6: RESULTS SHOW THAT ALTHOUGH BOTH IN-CLASS AND ONLINE ENVIRONMENTS HAVE THEIR
SIMILARITIES, THE STUDENTS GENERALLY FAVOUR THE IN-CLASS ENVIRONMENT (LYKE & FRANK,
2012) ........................................................................................................ 8
FIGURE 7: TAKEN FROM THE DAREN STRATTON PODCAST SHOW’S YOUTUBE CHANNEL, THIS INDICATES
ALL THE FEATURES AVAILABLE TO A CHANNEL IN A GOOD STANDING ..................................10
FIGURE 8: THESE TWO SERIES ON THEIR OWN HAVE PACKED IN 40 EPISODES WHICH CENTRE ON THE
USABILITY OF VISUAL BASIC, AND ANALYSED THEIR FEATURES AND PERFORMANCES.................11
FIGURE 9: THE PODCAST FORM SHOWS THE ID, THE TITLE AND THE URL OF THE PODCASTS THEMSELVES
...............................................................................................................11
FIGURE 10: THE DESIGN OF THE OTHER DATABASES AS HAND–DRAWN ONTO PAPER AND SCANNED INTO
THE COMPUTER..............................................................................................12
FIGURE 11: THE USER TABLE, WHEN DESIGNED IN MICROSOFT ACCESS, ALLOWS FOR USERS TO ENTER IN
THEIR FIRST NAME AND LAST NAME, AND KEEPS A RECORD OF THE COMMENTS MADE ON PODCASTS12
FIGURE 12: THE PODCAST TABLE IS PRODUCED HERE USING MICROSOFT ACCESS .......................13
FIGURE 13: THE ENTITY–RELATIONSHIP DIAGRAM AS COMPLETED IN MICROSOFT VISIO SHOWS THE
DIFFERENT RELATIONSHIPS BETWEEN THE THREE TABLES IN ACCESS AND ANALYSES THEIR
CONNECTIONS...............................................................................................13
FIGURE 14: THE RELATIONSHIPS IN THESE THREE TABLES ARE INDICATED BY AN ARROW AND DIFFERENT
SYMBOLS TO DETERMINE HOW THE IS ANALYSED BETWEEN THE TABLES ...............................14
FIGURE 15: ORIGINALLY SET TO RECEIVE AN 18 RATING FOR “VERY STRONG COMPUTER JARGON”, SERIES
18: MASTER THE BASICS WAS REDUCED TO 15 AFTER CAREFUL CONSIDERATIONS OF THE DISCLAIMER
...............................................................................................................15
FIGURE 16: THE USER REGISTRATION PROCESS AS SKETCHED OUT ON PAPER SHOWS THE SCREENS IN THE
ORDER IT SHOULD APPEAR ON THE WEBSITE..............................................................16
FIGURE 17: THE PROCESS THE USER WOULD GO THROUGH WHEN VIEWING PODCASTS AND/OR WRITING
COMMENTS AND VIEWING THE FORUM BOARD OF A PARTICULAR PODCAST ............................17
FIGURE 18: THE PROCESS THE USER WOULD GO THROUGH WHEN SEARCHING FOR A PODCAST ACROSS THE
TWO STEPS, WHILST THE SERVER BREAKS UP THE PODCAST ID INTO THESE STEPS. .................17

25Table of Figures
FIGURE 19: THE MAIN ISSUE WITH MICROSOFT ACCESS, IS THAT THE DATABASES GIVE THE USERS THE
SAME PERMISSIONS AS THE ADMIN. THIS CAN CAUSE SOME PROBLEMS TO THE DATA ................18
FIGURE 20: THE USER TEST TABLE SHOWS THE EXPECTED RESULTS, THE ACTUAL RESULTS, AND WHETHER
THEY WORKED OR NOT. HOWEVER, DUE TO MAJOR PROBLEMS, SOME OF THE TESTS WERE
INCONCLUSIVE ..............................................................................................19
FIGURE 21: THE “NEW AND IMPROVED” USER TEST PROVES TO BE MORE SUCCESSFUL IN WORDPRESS
THAN ADOBE DREAMWEAVER..............................................................................20

26References
REFERENCES
Barr, V., & Guzdial, M. (2015, March 1). Advice on Teaching CS and the Learnability
of Programming Languages. Communications of The ACM, 58(3), 8-9.
doi:10.1145/2716345
DeShea, S., Jackson, K., & Maxwell, K. (2013, January 1). Traditional Versus Online
Instruction: Faculty Resources Impact Strategies for Course Delivery. Business
Education & Accreditation, 5(1), 107-116. Retrieved July 8, 2015
Fernandez, V., Simo, P., & Sallan, J. M. (2009, September). Podcasting: A New
Technological Tool to Facilitate Good Practice in Higher Education. Computers
& Education, 53(2), 385-392. Retrieved July 8, 2015
Jordan, H., Botterweck, G., Noll, J., Butterfield, A., & Collier, R. (2015, February 1).
A Feature Model of Actor, Agent, Functional, Oblect and Procedural
Programming Languages. Science of Computer Programming, 98(2), 120-139.
doi:10.1016/j.scico.2014.02.009
Lixandroiu, R., & Maican, C. (2014, September 1). A Model for Comparative Analysis
of the Similarity Between Android and iOS Operating Systems. Buletin of the
Transilvania University of Brasov, 7(2), 313-318. Retrieved July 8, 2015
Lyke, J., & Frank, M. (2012, September 1). Comparison of Student Learning Outcomes
in Online and Traditional Classroom Environments in a Psychology Course.
Journal of Instructional Psychology, 39(3/4), 245-250. Retrieved July 8, 2015
Reinhardt, R. (2015, April 1). YouTube: HTML5 First, Flash Second. Streaming Media,
12(3), 8. Retrieved June 1, 2015
Soukup, P. A. (2014, September 1). Looking At, With, and Through YouTube.
Communication Research Trends, 33(3), 3-34. Retrieved July 8, 2015
Stack, S. (2015, January). Learning Outcomes in an Online vs Traditional Course.
International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, 9(1), 1-20.
Retrieved June 18, 2015
Stratton, D. J. (2013). The Human Computer Interaction Approach to Designing a
Maths Program. Dissertation, University of Portsmouth, Computing and
Mathematics, Portsmouth.
Supanakorn-Davila, S., & Bolliger, D. U. (2014, September). Instructor Utilization of
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10(3), 389-404. Retrieved July 6, 2015

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