Near Field Communication Interactive Learning System (NILES) for Blended Learning: A Pervasive Social Networking Services

Nowadays, e-learning has emerged as a prospective solution to the learning process. E-learning is known as a learning tool which based on technology to deliver learning material electronically through computer network. The involvement of the students and the lecturers in the existing learning system is not interactive as they use it as a medium to deliver notes and receive notes only. The traditional attendance system which passes the attendance sheet around the class or by calling names is also not productive and time consuming to process the data into attendance statistics. Therefore, an interactive learning system embedded with NFC attendance system using NFC enabled smartphone known as NFC Interactive LEarning System (NILES) is proposed to take attendances and lecturers can conduct their classes in a more interactive way in school, college or university through the usage of social media and blended learning tools. The proposed solution can provide a convenient and portable classroom learning system to the universities and colleges to improve the interaction learning process among students and reduce the workload of lecturers in processing the attendance statistics. This becomes the characteristics of Pervasive Social Networking (PSN).

I. Introduction

Educational technology has widely evolved globally in recent years with the advancement in computing technologies. Technology plays vital role in education context which has a wide range of favorable condition for teachers to integrate technology in designing valuable learning experiences [1]. Today, learning is not limited to classroom anymore. Modern teaching methods have been shifted the focus of teaching from teacher/lecturer to the students by encouraging student self-learning and learn independently. This instructional method is best described as an active learning as it involves students in the learning process [2]. This approach of the learning process will more concentrate on skills and practices instead of knowledge and thus make students have better problem solving skills. Therefore, collaborative learning tool is essential during the lesson which can help them to collaborate with their lecturers and peers for learning new things and sharing knowledge. On the other hand, lessons during class is the best opportunity for students to learn and acquire new knowledge. Skipping classes is the loss of the chance to gain knowledge and students' attendance rates are related to their academic results. Therefore, the implementation of automated attendance taking process is crucial. Besides, security issues are the main concern in attendance system to protect the integrity and confidentiality of data so that masquerade users cannot cheat.