Can Centralized Databases be Efficient?

Anuj Apte
Intern Mentor
March 6, 2017

Mentor: Mr. Donald Lauer

Dr. Melissa Kiehl

Abstract
School databases are databases that are usually overlooked and taken for granted by
many people who use them such as teach, administrators, and students. It is important to look at
school databases and research them because they play a huge role in the day to day function of a
school. Since school databases play such a huge role in a schools day to day function they need
to be improved and analyzed to deduce if they make school process more efficient. There are
currently many issues communication and efficiency problems associated with the databases that
need to be fixed. To study this issue the researcher had interviewed professionals in the
Information Department from companies such as Ciena Corporation and West Virginia
University. The interviews were the then transcribed and analyzed for similarities and
differences. After analysis, the researcher deduced that school databases do make school
processes quicker and more efficient even if there are some issues. Some issues about the school
databases can be fixed if the databases were formalized so that they could talk to each other and
share data. As a final product the researcher will create an interactive website to showcase the
years research in a way that will engage the audience.
Introduction

Humans have been using databases since the ancient times and even though the databases

were not computerized, they were extremely organized. Many civilizations developed elaborate

database systems to organize government, libraries, hospitals, and businesses. For example, the

Greeks and Romans built many libraries to contain scrolls and information for common people to

obtain. However, computerized databases did not emerge until the 1960s. During the 1960s many

companies started using the computerized databases because they seemed to be the most cost

effective. One of the most important and useful databases was called SABRE. The database was

created by Intel to help American Airlines manage their reservations system. After the 1960s-

database technology took off. Every decade there seemed to be a drastic change in the

technology available. The biggest jump came in the 1990s due to the explosion of the internet.

Due to this tremendous amount of information, databases do make school process more efficient

even though they are not perfect. This paper will discuss what is a centralized database is,

Review of Literature

A centralized database can be described as a collection of data and information in a

specific location that is widely accessible. A centralized database is the opposite of a distributed

database in which data and information is distributed over multiple locations. One of the main

and obvious advantages of using a centralized database is the fact that all information is stored in

a single area. This means that a user will not have to utilize multiple sites and applications to

obtain large amounts of information (What is a Centralized Database?). Another less obvious

advantage of using a centralized database is the data integrity that it brings. This means that no

piece of information will be needed to be changed twice or appear in more than once (Why

Should You Have a Centralized System?). For example, if there is a hotel business that keep
tracks of its clients records, each clients information will appear only one time in that

centralized database. If for some reason there is a change that needs to occur, then the databases

user will only need to look one place to make the change. A centralized database is also a type of

database that can be taught and learnt extremely quickly (Why Should You Have a Centralized

System?). This is because a company or organization that uses a centralized database will not

need to teach its employees multiple databases. The employee will only need to learn the

processes of the centralized database. One final but just as important advantage of using a

centralized database is its support. If an organization of company has multiple databases, then

each database will require its each unique support system. This will not be required in a

centralized database system since there will only be one database and therefore only one support

system (Why Should You Have a Centralized System?). These advantages eventually lead to

firms to save money in the long run of their operations.

Because there are multiple types of firms which provide many different services, there

are different types of centralized databases. A Personal Computer Database is a centralized

database that is commonly used by small businesses or organizations (Types of Databases).

This is true because it is a type of database that is created, organized, and maintained by one user

on his or her personal device. This allows the database to be portable and specific to the

individuals needs. The database can also be uploaded onto a local area network so that other

users can utilize and improve it (Types of Databases).

The second type of centralized databases are Client/Server Databases and this type of

centralized databases is usually used by small to medium sized organizations or businesses. A

Client/Server Database is usually used to distribute work on a computer network so that many

clients can share data and services(Types of Databases).

 The third type of a centralized database is a Central Computer Database and this type of

database is usually used in a large cooperation. The reason large corporations use Central

Computer Databases because users can access the database from extremely remote locations and

a large number of users can access the database at once(Types of Databases). The central

computer associated with the Central Computer Database can come on the form of a mainframe

or a minicomputer (Types of Databases).

Databases can play an important part of an elementary, middle, high school, or college

students education and the reason all students should be using them is because they are simply

better than search engines. One of the most important services educational and literary databases

provide is reliable information from reliable sources (Why use Databases?). Literary databases

often contain scholarly books, articles, and reports that have been proofread, crosschecked for

accuracy, and verified by publishers. In contrast, content found through search engines such as

Google do not have the same credibility because search engines can search any type of published

material on the internet (Why use Databases?). This means that much of the content found

through search engines are not credible since they can be uploaded, published, and edited by

nearly anyone that has access to the internet. Literary databases also make it much easier for the

user to find information he or she is looking for since there are more types of metadata(Why use

Databases?). Metadata by dictionary terminology is a set of data that describes and gives

information about other data. In simpler terms metadata is data on data. For example, if you

search shoes into the Amazon.com search and you look on the left-hand column of the results

page you will see many options titled such as color, brand, and size. These options are

examples of metadata. The different types of metadata options provided to a user in a literary

database will allow the user to find and access information in a much quicker way. Search
engines such will not have as many types of metadata options and because the search engines

search is much broader than a literary database students will not be able to pinpoint the articles

and resources they need nearly as fast(Why use Databases?).

Two of the most popular databases that are used by elementary, middle, high school and

universities are Google Applications for Education and Blackboard. One of the reasons Google

Applications for Education has become so popular among the education community is because it

makes school processes infinitely easier. One of the most important features of Google

Applications for Education is that it allows teachers to post assignments online (Pappas). This

means that teachers can avoid printing, handing out, and collecting assignments. Also, teachers

will able to quickly check who has turned in their assignment, who is still working on it, and

even if someone has turned in the assignment in late. Google Applications for Education also

increases the speed of the assignment process (Pappas). With the help of the database a teacher

does not have to wait for students to enter a classroom to assign a project or assignment. This

will not only be beneficial to the teacher but to the student as well because this will allow

students to have more time to complete their assignments. The most important feature of the

database is its availability on the cloud. This is extremely helpful to students because students do

not need to carry a flash drive to save their work so that they can open their documents on

different computers. Students will be able to save their work on the database application online

and from there on can open their work on any other computer as long as they are logged into

their account. Lastly, the Google Applications for Education is a database that is great for giving

useful feedback (Pappas). Through its Google Documents application students are able to

proofread their peers works which will benefit all classmates and improve the overall quality of

their assignments.
 Although there are some great benefits to using school databases there have been some

cases of privacy and data issues. More than 1000 University of Wisconsin, Madison Law school

applicants could be in danger of identity theft because hackers hacked into the universitys

database in November 2016 (Hacked UW Law School Database). Information such as social

security numbers, home addresses, and telephone numbers were included in the database. The

databases were hacked on November 3 and the university found out about the hacking shortly

after it occurred. The hacker lives out of state and police forces are working on finding more

information about the suspect. After the hacking occurred, the university added another

protective firewall to the database. This is not the first time the universitys databases have been

hacked. In 2009, 40 computers were hacked over an 18-month period and in 2010 campus IDs

were hacked (Hacked UW Law School Database).

Another similar incident occurred in a grade school in Delaware.On October 21, 2016, a

teacher in the Delaware School Systems grabbed a student by the feet and dragged her for a

couple of feet in the hallway (Baker). This action was caught on camera by their surveillance

camera but due to a power surge the video was temporarily lost and is still lost. The databases

systems experienced a power surge which wiped out many videos and information in general.

Fortunately, there are chances that the video might be recovered but the video might also be lost

forever. The APC backup system the school uses is one of many standard backup systems the

school uses and the school should have installed it before the power surge occurred (Baker). If

this system had been in place, then the videos and the other lost information could have been

saved.

The incidents at the University of Wisconsin, Madison and in the Delaware School

System portrays the fact that school databases need to be improved. Society and parents have
entrusted their childrens vital information such as health statistics to school systems, so it is their

responsibility that these scenarios do not happen often. Also, as shown in the Delaware School

System incident, stronger school databases should be mandatory for all schools that plan to

administer databases. This way, and wrong doing can be captured in the database with a strong

data integrity.

As of today, school databases are limited in the sense that they can only allow students

and teachers to upload assignments, grades, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and basic

student information. However, in the future virtual reality will be incorporated into school

databases. The integration of virtual reality into school databases will allow students to learn

through a completely different perspective (Peace). Students will be able to visualize and grasp

subjects such as geography and history since they will have the potential to be in the midst of

what they are learning. Even though this type of technology might seem to be too advanced for

todays age, this technology is only a couple of years away at its maximum. In the future, school

databases will also include vast sources of tutorials (Peace). Part of the school databases or a

completely new database will be created to showcase and store tutorials that will show students a

method or an idea that was taught during class. For example, if a student is struggling to take

derivatives in his or her Calculus class then the student will be able to access a tutorial form the

school database that will reteach the methods to the student. Lastly, one of the largest and most

important areas that is currently being researched is the data analytics of students performances

(Peace). Through this data analysis databases will be able to evaluate a students performance

and predict whether the student is in danger of failing and would need help.
Research Methods and Data Collection

In order to investigate this research question a series of interviews were conducted over

the phone with three database experts and two teachers: Dr. Graham Peace, Dr. Virginia Kleist,

Mr. Donald Lauer, Mr. Thomas Sankey, and Dr. Igor Grant. Each of the professionals was asked

five to eight questions and all the professionals answered the questions to the best of their

abilities. While the interview took place a voice recorder was used to record the interview and all

the interviews were later transcribed. After the interviews were transcribed the researcher

organized all the main ideas of the professionals into a chart. Refer to Figure A, Figure B, and

Figure C in the Appendix to see the questions the interviewees were asked.

Results and Data Analysis

Each table shows the question and the name of the professional interviewed. The chart

also contains the main ideas and points of the professionals. After each table, there will be a

thorough analysis of the main ideas.

Figure 1: Question One Summarized Responses

Dr. Graham Peace Used systems like eCampus, Banner, Oracle
databases, Blackboard
Dr. Virginia Kleist Mainframe based systems, Blackboard, SS number
system
Mr. Lauer A database does not necessarily have a fixed type
or template
A database is what you make of it, there are
infinite types of databases because it is made for a
specific need

Mr. Sankey Canvas, Synergy, Syms, Aspen

Dr. Igor Grant Google Applications for Education, Canvas,
Aspen, Teacher E
All the professionals interviewed have used similar school databases such as Google
Applications for Education, Blackboard, Aspen, and TeacherEase.
Figure 2: Question 2 Summarized Responses
Dr. Graham Peace System not very user-friendly, difficult
to set up your course and steep learning
curve
System is good because it is fast and
allows kids to see data immediately

Dr. Virginia Kleist Teachers can reach to students more

quickly and are able to receive
feedback immediately
Ex: student email system, change in
syllabi, online syllabi, instant grade
reports, etc.

Mr. Lauer The defacto operating system for

enterprise is Windows Microsoft
Microsoft was simply the better ones to
market and get their product out there
Mr. Sankey Over all user-friendliness, too many
buttons need to be pushed to get to
where you want to be
Dr. Igor Grant Overall user-friendliness of the system
was not good, there was not tutorial on
how to use it
teachers had to navigate it through their
own with so many new feature

The professors and teachers did not like the databases very much in the beginning because the
overall user-friendliness was not good at all. There was a huge learning curve in the beginning
and teachers and professors were not necessarily directed on how to use the systems. However,
the systems are good one they are learned because it lets students see grade immediately and
allows teachers to post assignments, grades, and announcements online.
Figure 3: Question Three Summarized Responses
Dr. Graham Peace virtual reality so that kids can interact
in a virtual setting instead of a
discussion board, more of a classroom
environment
Dr. Virginia Kleist Teachers should also be able to see
students virtually, currently only
students can watch of videos of the
teacher teach but teachers should be
able to look at students while they are
learning as well

Mr. Lauer Companies build huge data centers that

house the databases
Many companies are also turning
towards cloud databases made from
other companies as it may be cheaper
Mr. Sankey Synergy and Canvas should be able to
talk to each other, if a data is inputted
into Synergy the same data should
automatically appear in Canvas, vice
versa
Dr. Igor Grant Synergy and Canvas should be able to
talk to each other, if a data is inputted
into Synergy the same data should
automatically appear in Canvas, vice
versa

In the future, school databases will incorporate virtual reality as one of their features. This will
allow students to see each other and collaborate as if they are together in person. This could also
be used in a teaching environment where students that are not present in the classroom could be
present virtually. One of the biggest issues with databases such as Google Applications for
Education is that the applications in the database do not talk to each other. What needs to
happen is that the applications need to share data without the teachers having to input the data
twice.
Figure Four: Question Four Summarized Responses
Dr. Graham Peace Most databases are relational databases
(different excel type of spreadsheets
linked together)
Object-oriented databases are becoming
more popular in which objects are used
instead of tables

Dr. Virginia Kleist The university database is organized by

a unique student ID that is somehow
related to their SS number. Only a few
people have direct access to the link
between the SS numbers and student ID
Mr. Lauer Database developers (DBA) are
responsible for the databases that are
created
DBAs make sure the databases run
smoothly and the code works

Mr. Sankey It is easier to find student information

online rather than going to guidance
Database is secure because of password
requirements and confidentiality
Dr. Igor Grant Databases are secure, there are
passwords that are confidential and
there are appropriate consequences

There are several types of school databases that are used. Many of them fall under the category
of relational databases. A relational database includes many different spreadsheets linked
together. Object-oriented databases are also becoming more popular now and these databases are
like relational databases but objects are used instead of tables. School databases also do not
reveal too much information about the students. There are limits to what the database can hold
and there are also appropriate password check and confidentiality.
Figure Five: Question Five Summarized Responses
Dr. Graham Peace Getting databases to talk can be
difficult
Currently big data and data analytics is
a big field that allows you to use data
from different databases
Dr. Virginia Kleist No, there is no initiative out there to
formalize or standardize school
databases so they can talk to each other

Mr. Lauer If you want to go into database field

computer science would be a good
major and as you go through your
education the courses become more
focused on a specific subject and
databases can be one of those specific
subjects

Mr. Sankey Databases are better than pen and paper

Dr. Igor Grant Databases are better than pen and
pencil because they are much quicker,
faster, and make things easier overall

Currently there is no initiative to formalize school databases to get them to talk to each other. It
is very difficult to get databases to talk to each other. However, big data and data analytics is a
growing field in which you can grab data from different databases. Databases in general are
better than using an analog system such as pencil and paper. This is because entering grades
online might be a little bit tedious but it is much faster. Also this allows students to see their
grades online instantly.
Figure Six: Question Six Summarized Responses
Dr. Graham Peace School databases contain lots of
sensitive information such as medical
information
Top security risks include someone
hacking and obtaining sensitive student
information and changing their grades
Dr. Virginia Kleist Student identity and security is a top
priority at universities, WVU has a
Chief Security Officer whose main job
is to make sure that student information
is secure
Mr. Lauer Companies use thousands of different
types of databases, because a company
has so many different needs they have
many different databases to get those
jobs done
Mr. Sankey N/A
Dr. Igor Grant N/A

There is a lot of sensitive information about students in a school databse such as social security
numbers. One of the top risks of using a database is someone hacking into the system and
stealing this sensitive information. However, there are appropriate firewalls that making hacking
very difficult and therefore unlikely. Some universities also have Chief Security Officers whose
main job is to make sure that information is secure.

Figure Seven: Question Seven Summarized Responses

Dr. Graham Peace Legal department and lawyers on
campus that checks if databases abide
by law
must adhere to federal laws as well
Dr. Virginia Kleist the FERPA makes sure that universities
keep students data secure, universities
also run scans to see if there is any data
related to SS numbers or ID
information
Mr. Lauer N/A
Mr. Sankey N/A
Dr. Igor Grant N/A

There are many legal departments on universities that protect the students and make sure that the
university is following the law. There is also a federal organization called the FERPA that audits
the universities and makes sure they are abiding by the law.

Figure Eight: Question Eight Summarized Responses

Dr. Graham Peace in the future databases
will be able to see how
students are doing and
will be able to alert
professors if a student
needs help
online tutorials might be
available in the future as
well

Dr. Virginia Kleist databases will become more secure in

the future, faculty access to student
information will become more
restricted as well
Mr. Lauer N/A
Mr. Sankey N/A
Dr. Igor Grant N/A

In the future, the professors and teachers will not have as much access to student data in the
databases as the databases will become more secure. Also in the future, the database will alert the
teacher to tell him or her if there is a student that is struggling and at risk of failing. There will
also be specific online tutorials for students to learn from if they need extra help.
Conclusion and Discussion
Databases have been around since the times of the ancient Romans and they have helped

humanity a great deal since then. Databases allow people to quickly obtain information so that

they do not waste time trying finding material that they would not even use. Databases have been

a great addition to school systems and it is a system that makes school processes much more

efficient. From the data I have gathered from my interviews and reading reports, I have come to

the conclusion that school databases do make school processes more efficient. The school

databases do have reoccurring problems, but that is not so say they cannot be fixed.

My finding will contribute to the greater research audience for the school database topic.

My research will allow future and current researchers to look at what the teachers want in new

and improved databases. If researchers do not know the teachers pain-points then they will not

be able to create more efficient databases that will work for the teachers. This is not to say that

my research does not have its limitations. The teachers and professors that I interviewed were

only from two different schools therefore I was only able to really understand the drawbacks of

the databases the two schools used. In reality there are hundreds of school databases, so my

research will only be most accurate for the databases in which my professors and teachers

utilized. In the future, researchers might use the data I have collected to reach the ultimate goal

of creating a standardized school database for all schools and universities to use. This will create

higher efficiency levels in schools and this will also allow school and universities to share

interschool data extremely quickly.

Appendix
A. Questions asked to Dr. Graham Peace, Dr. Virginia Kleist:
1. How are most school databases generally organized? Do they fall under some
type of category or is there a general template for them?
2. Is there an initiative to formalize or standardize school databases so that they can
talk to each other?
3. What are some of the top security risks associated with school databases and do
they contain information about students that should not be included?
4. Is there an organization that ensures that databases are being used in a legal way
and do not contain illegal information about people or students?
5. Where do you think school databases or databases in general are headed in the
future? What is new and upcoming and what problems will be solved?
B. Questions asked to Mr. Thomas Sankey and Mr. Igor Grant:
1. What systems, computer or analog, have you used over your career?
2. What are your likes and dislikes about the current applications you are using
(Canvas, synergy, etc.)?
3. What new features or function would you like to see? What are you pain points?
4. Do you believe the applications or databases reveal too much information about
students?
5. In the end, would you go back to pen and paper or online databases for day to day
processes like grading? Was there anything specific you preferred?
C. Questions asked to Mr. Donald Lauer:
1. What are the different types of centralized databases and how do their functions
differ?
2. What makes Microsoft Active directory so successful and
popular?
3. Where are databases stored? Do companies have specific
building filled with storage units and CPUs or are they integrated
with offices?
4. What are the different hierarchical roles are needed in order to
run a database?
5. What types of education or knowledge is required for those
roles?
6. Other than the active directory, what other databases do Ciena
use and for what purpose?
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