Development of Research Progress Tracking System Based on Shneiderman’s Eight Golden Rules

Monitoring the progress of research is crucial to ensuring the timely completion of work for postgraduate students. However, the current practice of relying on a text editor tool to document research work sessions has its drawbacks, such as the risk of data loss and difficulties in accurately calculating the total duration of meetings. In order to tackle these concerns, the development of the E-Logbook System for Postgraduate Research Students (ESPRES) was undertaken with the aim of optimising and augmenting the procedure of documenting and reporting meetings held between postgraduate research students and their supervisors. ESPRES offers an efficient method of recording, reporting, and monitoring meetings by providing postgraduate research students with access to a centralised platform that records and stores meeting details, reducing the risk of record loss and improving the overall monitoring and evaluation process conducted by postgraduate studies management. ESPRES was developed using the Adapted Waterfall Model, which includes six stages: planning, requirement analysis, design, development, testing, and documentation. Five features from Shneiderman's Eight Golden Rules were adopted to design the user interface. To ensure quality, the system underwent expert evaluations, with feedback provided by two experts. In the future, various enhancements can be made to further improve ESPRES, such as adding a grading system with colour coding and integrating a chat box to facilitate communication within the system.