TCBTP 2003- Guideline for Computing and Informatics Programs

Background
Jimma University is one of the higher institutions in Ethiopia. This university is well known by
an innovative strategy called Community based education (CBE). CBE allows the students and
also the teachers to address the community problems and benefit from real life experiences
within the community as part of their preparation for future living activities. Community
experiences give the students the opportunity to see the necessity for learning certain skills and
allow them to apply their knowledge in a practical way. Community based education also
enables students to better understand what will be expected from them when they become part or
member of the community.
The objective of this program is for students to gain real time practical experience of working on
a development project in a team environment. The students will develop useful skills such as the
ability to work effectively as part of a development team, the ability to
Work/communicate with community, and the ability to identified and analysis problems
Generally, CBE
• enhances general functioning in non-school environments (community, recreational,
workplace)
• increases the number of integrated environments available to students
• enhances social contacts and relationships
• increases skill acquisition
• provides access to meaningful choices and opportunities
Community based education has three phases: Demographic Survey and Community problem
identification phase, Appropriate Technology and Action plan development and Intervention
phase.

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Phase one: Demographic survey and Community Problem Identification
(TCBTP 2003)
Demographic Surveys and Community Problem identification focuses on problem identification
and analysis. Here the site selection, transportation, and other related issues are facilitated by
CBE coordinator.
For this program students form a group each group have a supervisor (a teacher). Students should
go to their assigned kebele with their supervisor. They should keep their materials in the kebele
and collect data about available organization in the kebele giving more focus on Publicservice
provider organizations like health centers, public libraries, schools, police stations, enterprises,
the kebele itself …
In the organization, the students should collect basic statistical data about the organization like,
the number of users/customers that the organization serves, types of services that the
organization provides, number of employees… all this information leads you to identify the
problems of the organization well.

 Student’s responsibilities
In this phase the students have to do the following
• demographic analysis of the area;
• List community-prioritized problems, gaps and barriers, here collect a data about the
actual problem of the organization that can be solved using ICT.
• Take important pictures if possible
• List potential materials, methodologies/techniques, funding sources
• During prioritization of problems consider the following three key things o If the
problem occurs too frequently. (frequency) o If the problem has lasted for a while.
(duration) o If the problem affects many people. (scope, or range)

 Teacher’s Responsibilities
The teacher has a role to coordinate the students, facilitate their communication, monitoring their
progress and advise them on problem identification and analysis.
Advisor is part of the project therefore he/she should act as if he/she is supervising his/her own
project. Advisors should

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 • Make sure that the group achieves the aim of the project.
• Motivate the group to work together effectively as a team.
• Evaluate the document very carefully and if there is any mistakeit should be given back
to the students for correction.
• Make sure that Reports & project outcomes are archived after correction.

Documentation Report Outline

1. Introduction
(Describe the organization and your project?)
Describe the kebele you are assigned with, List of organizations and brief description of
each organization problems identified, if you visit more than one organization. Detail
description of organization selected which includes.
a. Establishment, Location
b. Function, Vision and Mission
c. Organization Structure and Human Resource Chart
d. Map of the areas (the Kebele’s) that you were collecting data and show your
organization clearly.

2. Statement of the Problem

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 3. Objective and scope
(What is the objective and scope of your project on this phase?)
3.1. General objective
3.2. Specific objective
Write the objective of your project i.e. what you want to achieve at the end of this phase. This is
written as general objective and specific objective that help to achieve the general objective.
3.3. Scope
(What is the scope of the problem that you are trying to solve?)
Write the scope of your project. The organization that you select may have a lot of departments,
may provide a lot of services, and may have a lot of problems. Even though the organization
needs a solution to all problems but, you have to select one area which affects the organization
operation/ limits its productivity. To what extent your system solves the problem of the
organization.

4. Methodology
(What methods and tools have you used to identify the problem?)
  Requirement gathering methods, Tools used
Under methodology, you discuss how you gather user requirements (interview, observation,
questionnaires, document analysis, etc.). Here observing the actual working environment of the
organization and interview the employee and also the customer of the organization helps you to
identify the real problem. You can list out the tools you use for the project especially software
tools.
5. Future Phase (What are you going to do on phase two?)

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 Report writing Style Guideline
Paper
• Standard A4 size
Fonts, Type Styles
• Font Size = 12 (Normal Text)
• Font = Times New Roman
• Title= 18 bold (Times New Roman)
• Sub-title=16 bold (Times New Roman)
• Heading 1 (Font Size) = 16 (Bold), Font = Times New Roman, UPPERCASE
• Heading 2 (Font Size) = 14(Bold), Font = Times New Roman
• Heading 3 (Font Size) = 13 (Bold, Italics), Font = Times New Roman
Margins
• Top= 1”
• Bottom = 1.0”
• Left= 1.0”
• Right= 1.0”
Spacing
• Line Spacing = 1.5
• Paragraph Spacing = 2 pts
Page Numbers
• Except for the title page, number all pages that come before the first page of the
body chapters consecutively with lower case roman numerals (i, ii, iii, iv…).
• The first page with Arabic numeral (1, 2, 3, and so on) starts from the page of the
introduction but it is mentioned on page 2 onwards. Mention page numbers on the
bottom right of the page. The first page of each section or chapter will not carry
the page number; however, the page number will be counted for the proceeding
page.
Headers
• The header will comprise the title of the Project report. On every odd page will
appear the title of the report while on the even pages the title of the chapter or

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 section will be mentioned. The first page of every section or chapter shall not
carry the header.

Presentation
• Use the above-mentioned phase report outlines for your presentations
• Students will prepare a PowerPoint presentation and present their work:
• Slides must be numbered
• Do not overcrowd the slides
• Choose a background that is simple and makes the text readable
• Do not include new material that was not covered in the report - diagrams, illustrations
and examples are ok
• Don not use unnecessary effects
• Use Pictures and diagrams. “A picture is worth a thousand words!".