Adam Carter

The Instruction Management System (IMS) was one of the first web-based applications that I had created.  Developed between sophomore and junior years (Summer 2005) at CWU for the Bethel School District, the IMS was designed as a data mining tool for various tests and metrics that the district collected.  The accompanying picture is the “school view,” which shows various test averages for schools across the district.  From here, administrators could examine teachers and individual students.  All data is viewable in graph format using the JPGRAPH library.

Being the first large-scale program that I had ever created, the IMS had several flaws.  Probably the largest issue that I have with the software is its lack of distinct tiers.  Following the path of most PHP newbies, I entangled my data access with the presentation layer.  I later attempted to address this issue in early 2006 with mixed results.

Looking back, the IMS was a good learning experience.  It taught me proper XHTML and CSS, and also the importance of good software design.  The IMS was later redesigned by Scott Bailey (an excellent programmer) in the fall of 2006.  My version ran on a BSD system, utilizing Apache 1.3, MySQL 4.1 and PHP 4.4.