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VISUALIZATION TECHNIQUE FOR LEARNING COMPLEX TOPICS IN DATABASE

ADMINISTRATION COURSE

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VISUALIZATION TECHNIQUE FOR LEARNING COMPLEX TOPICS IN
DATABASE ADMINISTRATION COURSE
Shariq Ali Khan1
1
Middle East College (Oman)

Abstract
The advent of visualization techniques and their use by educators, offer increased potentialities for
supporting collaborative learning environments enriched with the development of deeper
understanding and problem solving skills. Researchers and teachers have long known that images,
diagrams or animations are more powerful than words to assist students to improve performance of
learning by adding visual imaginary to their learning activities. Due to the expeditious developments in
the computing discipline, both teachers and learners in universities and colleges have experienced
challenges in the teaching and learning of number of subjects in computer science major. These
include database administration, programming, operating system, network administration and web
application development. The contents of these modules demand a practical approach in learning and
teaching. This practical approach can include various techniques used not only for present module
contents and concepts, but learners also need to involve in various creative activities to learn the
complex concepts of the modules in a visual frame of reference. Creative activities in learning give
learners a scope for sovereign learning and the imagination of new ideas their own without direction
from a teacher. The goal of this paper was to report the teachers’ effort to accelerate students’
learning and enhancing their interest in database administration module through visualization
techniques.
Keywords: Visualization, class activities, power learning, computer science, education.

1 INTRODUCTION
There are number of text books, reference guides, vendor specific curriculum, lecture slides and many
more type of literature available for each computer science module; however, it is not feasible to cover
all the material within the time allocated for the module or overall material is hard to understand by
students. A typical database administration module should adequately addresses the topics data
abstraction layers, database architecture, database network model, database recovery mechanism,
transaction management and query processing. Learning concerns subjective world, whereas
knowledge building is concerned with the world of ideas, i.e. concepts, factual assertions, theories,
design and plan [1]. Higher education demands to combine both learning and knowledge building for
students to operate at higher level of critical thinking, creativity, problem solving and responsibility [2].
In this changing context of higher education the need for a more systematic and logical approaches to
supporting student learning becomes ever more important. Using different tools and techniques in
classroom for the purpose of achieving academic goals has been widely researched and suggested
throughout the teaching and learning literature. The proposed technique of visualization in database
administration module, includes teaching methodology, study support and examination preparation to
enhance the learning process in classes. These techniques potentially increase the pass rate for this
module and result in students obtaining in-depth knowledge and better grasp of the module. In this
paper, we present effective visualization techniques for computer science students in a manner that is
both simpler to teach by teachers simpler to understand by students. We found in our classes that
these student-centred learning activities during lecture sessions motivate students a lot to engage in
learning and focus on gaining knowledge and real-world skills.

2 VISUALIZATION
Visualization is a collection of cognitive functions that use to convert raw data in to a form which
provides opportunities to a human to understand and memorize complex data in an easy way.
Visualization is a process for creating images, diagrams or animations to communicate a message [3].
Visualization has been used in maps, monuments and explaining history for over hundreds of years.
The emergence of technological world has made visualization very advance and easy to adopt
technique. The use of visualization as a tool for learning environment is fast becoming a great
supportive component for the development of deeper understanding and problem solving skills. [5]
provided a through explanation of visualization in the learning process such as discover, comprehend,
collaborate, self-reflect and plan.
 Discover — visualization adds value when learners seek for profound knowledge about a
specific concept.
 Comprehend — visualization alleviates better perceptions of the complex topics or processes
in relevant subject.
 Collaborate — “visualization supports collaboration between learners.”
 Self-reflect — visualization support learners to gain the clarity of themselves.
 Plan — visualization facilitates motley in planning student learning experiences

Employees

PK Empno

Ename
Job
Salary
Manager#
Hiredate

An example of recursive relationship, a self-join

condition has required in a SELECT query
displaying records in hierarchal form.
SQL> SELECT A.EMP#, B.Name, B.Manager#
from Emp A, Emp B
where A.EMP# = B.Manager#;

Fig. 1: Visualization to learn relationships: Table data into Organizational hierarchy

The above diagram shows a table in an electron database system is the format in which computer
reads the data and shows list of records to us but the image produced from the same table or data
shows us some useful hierarchical picture of the organization. The image is helpful for students to
understand data organization of the table and relationship used to manipulate or retrieve data in
complex queries.
Active learning as an approach to instruction provides opportunities for interaction and involvement
through controlled activities and instructional interventions [4]. Some general characteristics of active
learning include the following:

• Students can remember concepts longer and enjoy learning process.

• Students are involved in more than listening [4].
• Students discover their own attitudes and values [5].

The purpose of using visualization techniques was not only to use diagrams to teach complex topics,
but also give an idea to students to make their own visualization to exhibit their understanding with
different complex topics in database administration or other database related modules. The use of
diagrams in classes allowed students to enhance the rate of learning process by utilizing more sense
than traditional teaching and learning methods. Visualization is one aspect of active learning. We use
visualization techniques to help database administration students to gain virtuosity in database
administration complex concepts and practices.
3 VISUALIZATION IN TEACHING DATABASE ADMINISTRATION
Fundamentals of relational database management system and database administration and
management are among the most popular courses in different degree programs in colleges and
universities worldwide. There are thousands of books that can be used as text or supplementary
material for these courses. Most of the books provide the concept of database design and
implementation techniques. However, “a very important aspect that is neglected in the curricula is that
the administration of databases” [6] and internal processes and mechanisms of a database
management system (DBMS) or a database systems. A database system is comprised of memory
structures, processes structures and storage structures, all interacting to produce data processing
mechanism as a back-end server. Database Administration is comprised of many activities performed
by a database administrator (DBA). A DBA is a key IT professional ensures that a database always
available as needed. A DBA is responsible for the configuration, security, performance and tuning,
monitoring, auditing and maintenance of a database system. To perform his job smoothly, it is
compulsory for a DBA to understand the mechanism of a database system for processing data in it
and utilizing the capabilities of a database system to run for large and complex applications [6][7]. One
of the goals in teaching database administration subject is to give the students an overall
understanding of these individual database structures that work together to form an available
database system. We call these structures as database system logical, physical and memory objects.
To help accomplish this goal, visualization can be used to present the entire concept. Fig. 2 is an
illustration of this idea.

Fig. 2: Visualization to understand database structures

When a database system first start-up its instance as shown in Fig. 2 many background processes are
started and shared global area initialized in a computer main memory. A detailed explanation of how
these processes are managed during the database server start-up sequence and the existence of
objects in computer memory would require more than one full page of text. A single visual
presentation can be used for the overall process and conceptual illustrations of the various parts of
database architecture, in addition to the sequence in which data processed in the database engine.
Diagrams or illustrations may be used either as a demonstration the basic idea or as a tool for learning
the in-depth concept of complex topics. In the first case the lecturer draw the diagrams during a
lecture, and in the second case the students draw the diagrams themselves for study, demonstrating
their in-depth learning experience, or understanding complex topics.

3.1.1 Complex topics in Database Administration and diagram visualization

A common issue in Database Administration classes is that the few students consider this course as a
necessary evil. However, that is one that finishes, appreciatively, with new set of skills and knowledge.
To make the Database Administration module interesting and easy to understand, a unique diagram
has used for each complex topic during the lectures.
Here is the list of few complex topics in Database Administration taught using diagram visualization:

Topic #1:
The mechanism of a database system to store data in a database file
 Data can be inserted, deleted or updated through any client machine. It is called a user process
 Data receives by the server process at the server side
 User instructions or commands compile at shared pool area of the instance
 Data temporarily stores into the database buffer cache area
 If user wants to store data permanently, database writer (DBW) process writes data from data
buffer cache to a data file

Data
Dictionaries
Compilers DBW
User Process Server Process
Shared Pool Data Buffer
Cache

Data Files

Fig. 3: How does data store in a database system

The concept showed in Fig. 3 shows that how does data store in a data file of a database system. It
also shows the overall mechanism of storing data and the function of different processes and memory
areas of a database instance.

Topic #2:
Distinct views of data for multiple users while storing the underlying data only once
 Creating table structures in an application schema
 Creating database login IDs for application users
 Creating a view for each table structure as data requirement per role
 Grant permissions on views only

View Tables

Application Database
View Tables
Schema

View Tables

External Logical Physical

Layer Layer Layer

Fig. 4: Multi user access in a database system

Fig. 4 represents the database configuration concept for a large application environment where
multiple numbers of users can share data with the help of distinct views as per their job roles. This
concept has designed based on database abstraction layers.

Topic #3
Database recovery mechanism through archive log files
 Convert database into archive log mode
 Start up the database services with ARCH (archive process)
 Setup the destination for generating archive log files
 Use these files for the database recovery in case of any failure

ARCH

Data
Dictionaries
LGW
Compilers

Shared Pool Data Buffer Log buffer

Cache
Archive Log
Log files files

Fig. 5: Database recovery mechanism through archive log files

Relational Database Management Systems provide a complete recover mechanism using log files.
The mechanism in the Fig. 5 shows the concept of log files archive files.

Topic #4
Storing data into the specific storage area of a database system
 Creating database physical structure using a tablespace object
 Assigning storage quota of the physical structure to a user
 Grant create session and create database objects privilege to the user
 Connect to the user and create database objects

30 MB 30 MB

Database Tablespace Table

10MB Quota
One to many One to many to the user
Data File

Fig. 6: A user uses specific storage area in a database system

A database contains many tablespaces and one tablespace may have more than one data file. The
Fig. 6 describes how a single piece of data stores in multiple data files and how user can access a
particular data file of a database system.

4 RESULT AND DISCUSSION

The process of producing illustrations does not follow any artistic standard or art design process. The
illustration shows a technical process in a way which is easier to understand by learners and easier to
teach by teachers. Topics are usually chosen from the course outline, students most of the time have
difficulty grasping the concept. Normally, teacher draws an illustration step by step on the white board
and explains the complex process. Illustration are also provided as hand-outs and supplementing the
lecture. Lecturers of database administration module have noted an overall improvement of
assessments score after the use of diagrams for each complex topic. We have collected data from
survey and class discussions. Survey, we have done before the end of the fall 2013, while the class
discussion was conducted time to time during the semester. Feedback from students has very
positive. Every student liked illustrations. Conversations with both instructors teaching different
computing modules and students taking Database Administration module indicated that the use of
visualization techniques enhanced the learning experience. The following question was asked: How
diagram visualization helps understanding complex topics? The responses were based on 68 students
of two different sessions from various specializations. In the survey, 91.4% of students considered that
the diagram visualization technique is the most helpful for understanding complex topics of the
module. The main finding so far suggests that the active learning activities via visualization are
welcomed by students and they have a sense of being involved in their learning experience.

Diagram Visualization helps Did these activities assist you

understaning complex topics enhancing your learning
experience
Very Helpful

Yes
Somewhat
Helpful No
Not helpful Not sure
Unanswered
Unanswered

5 CONCLUSION

In this paper we have presented diagram visualization techniques to enhance teaching and learning
database administration course in undergraduate program. The use diagram visualization to teach
complex topics in the course gives lecturers another tool to present the course contents to the student.
The study shows that these techniques in the classes enhanced students’ learning, motivation and
interest in learning while support teachers to teach complicated topics in the course

REFERENCES
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[2] Fry, H., Ketteridge, S., & Marshall, S. (2008) A Handbook for Teaching and
Learning in Higher Education (3rd Edition) London, Routledge, pp.124-135.
[3] Hongmei, C., & Harsh, J., (2008) Teaching Computing to STEM Students via
Visualization Tools, International Conference on Computational Science, ICCS
2011, Vol 4, pp. 1937-1947.
[4] Smart, Karl, L., & Nancy, C. (2007) Learning By Doing: Engaging Students
Through Learner-Centered Activities. Business Communication Quarterly 70.4
(2007): Business Source Complete, pp. 451-457.
[5] Klerkx, J., Verbert, K., & Duval, E. (2014), Handbook of Research on
Educational Communications and Technology, Springer New York, pp. 791-
807.
[6] Ramon, A., Mata-Toledo, Carlos, A. & Reyes-Garcia. (2002). A model course
for teaching database administration with personal oracle 8i. J. Comput. Sci.
Coll. 17, 3, pp. 125-130.
 [7] Craig, S. Mullins.(2002) Database Administration: The Complete Guide to
Practices and Procedures, Addison Wesley, pp. 20-21.

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