Collaborative trails in e-learning environments

This deliverable focuses on collaboration within groups of learners, and hence collaborative trails. We begin by reviewing the theoretical background to collaborative learning and looking at the kinds of support that computers can give to groups of learners working collaboratively, and then look more deeply at some of the issues in designing environments to support collaborative learning trails and at tools and techniques, including collaborative filtering, that can be used for analysing collaborative trails. We then review the state-of-the-art in supporting collaborative learning in three different areas – experimental academic systems, systems using mobile technology (which are also generally academic), and commercially available systems. The final part of the deliverable presents three scenarios that show where technology that supports groups working collaboratively and producing collaborative trails may be heading in the near future

CoCalc as a Learning Tool for Neural Network Simulation in the Special Course "Foundations of Mathematic Informatics"

The role of neural network modeling in the learning content of the special course "Foundations of Mathematical Informatics" was discussed. The course was developed for the students of technical universities - future IT-specialists and directed to breaking the gap between theoretic computer science and it's applied applications: software, system and computing engineering. CoCalc was justified as a learning tool of mathematical informatics in general and neural network modeling in particular. The elements of technique of using CoCalc at studying topic "Neural network and pattern recognition" of the special course "Foundations of Mathematic Informatics" are shown. The program code was presented in a CoffeeScript language, which implements the basic components of artificial neural network: neurons, synaptic connections, functions of activations (tangential, sigmoid, stepped) and their derivatives, methods of calculating the network's weights, etc. The features of the Kolmogorov-Arnold representation theorem application were discussed for determination the architecture of multilayer neural networks. The implementation of the disjunctive logical element and approximation of an arbitrary function using a three-layer neural network were given as an examples. According to the simulation results, a conclusion was made as for the limits of the use of constructed networks, in which they retain their adequacy. The framework topics of individual research of the artificial neural networks is proposed.Comment: 16 pages, 3 figures, Proceedings of the 13th International Conference on ICT in Education, Research and Industrial Applications. Integration, Harmonization and Knowledge Transfer (ICTERI, 2018

The Education Quality Measuring: American Experience

The US Higher Education Reform is due to certain processes of competitiveness, market orientation, the tendency to form a single space for education. The American system of Higher Education has integrated the best in the education of other countries and thus helped the country overcome crises, to some extent solve the problems of racial discrimination, unemployment, poverty, improved the situation of women, people with disabilities, national minorities. The historical events, socio-economic transformations, aspiration to be a leader in the world market respectively have influenced the development of Higher Education. Due to reforms in American society, education has become more open, various, versatile. The Americans highly value the Higher Education and believe that education is necessary for a conscious political life, the functioning of a democratic government, the development of economic and political International relations. The American education serving the dynamic and global economy is effective and capable of developing in the conditions of limited public resources. This article focuses on the measurement of education quality and accreditation of Higher Learning Institutions in the USA; the analysis of educational activities of American universities; the coverage of accreditation and education performance of Higher Learning Institutions in the United States; these indicators usage in the process of education quality assessing in American universities; the essence disclosure of measurement the education quality with helping "added value" on the basis by American scientists research; the borrowing American experience into the Higher Learning Institutions in Ukraine

Features of Technological Approaches to Teaching

У статті розглянуто поняття «технології» та «навчання», описано технологічні підходи закордонних науковців до навчання у вищій освіті, проаналізовано історичний аспект. Представлено характеристику технологічних підходів закордонних науковців до навчання. Встановлено, що до основних ознак технології відносять проектованість, керованість, коректованість, результативність, діагностичну доцільність, аналіз діючих факторів, ефективність методів, системність і цілісність. Зазначено, що до провідних чинників технологічного підходу відноситься мотивація самостійної роботи з придбання знань, джерела якої знаходяться як у контексті практичної, так і в навчальній діяльності.The article deals with the concepts of technology and teaching, technological approaches of foreign scholars to the teaching in higher education; the historical aspect is also analyzed. The article highlights the main features of the technology: projecting, performance, manageability, results, diagnostic expediency, analysis of existing factors, effectiveness of methods, consistency and integrity. It is indicated that the leading factors of technological approach include motivation of individual work for gaining knowledge; the sources of this work are in the context of practical activity and studying. In Ukraine the increase of necessity in highly qualified specialists is caused by technological progress in the society. Modern experts must be efficiently and professionally prepared. The problem of teaching efficiency has always been important. Pedagogical technology gives a description, project of the process of student’s individuality formation and it must include diagnostic purposes and content of education, didactic processes and organizational forms of teaching. The components of the didactic process are: motivation as a forming of stable student’s interest to studying activity and transformation of external purposes into internal needs; cognitive activity of the student, the result of which is knowledge comprehension; teacher management depending on the purpose of study. Educational technologies should contain conceptuality – didactic, psychological, philosophical and social pedagogical argumentation of educational purposes; consistency – logics and interconnection of all parts and aspects of the process, the integrity of the designing and implementation of the educational process; the management – variation of teaching methods and tools for correction of results which are revealed in the process of diagnostics; the effectiveness of results and economic parameters; reproducibility by other teachers and departments. One of the leading factors of technological approach is motivation of individual work with the obtaining of knowledge. Its sources are in the context of practice and lerning activity. The other important factor is flexibility of the technology and its ability to adapt quickly and flexibly to the learning environment, to the students, to time budget and to other circumstances. The cognitive teaching technology is also effective, it is based on the subjective quality of erudition and problem-modular studying and activity-based approach

Systematicity of students' independent work in operating systems classes

The research investigates the systematicity of students' learning activity as a parameter of the student's model, as well as the influence of systematicity on learning outcomes in the course "Operating Systems." As a theoretical framework, the importance of equipping the student himself as the subject of the educational process with the abilities and proper pedagogical forecasting tools for independent choice of the right variation of educational activity is demonstrated. Model parameters in such a pedagogical diagnostics system are proposed and analyzed. Empirical work has been completed on the basis of the learning management system Moodle and allows for the analysis of the association between students' timeliness in completing learning tasks and their educational achievements, as well as the structure of students' time planning at homework. Recommendations to improve the educational process have been suggested.The research investigates the systematicity of students' learning activity as a parameter of the student's model, as well as the influence of systematicity on learning outcomes in the course "Operating Systems." As a theoretical framework, the importance of equipping the student himself as the subject of the educational process with the abilities and proper pedagogical forecasting tools for independent choice of the right variation of educational activity is demonstrated. Model parameters in such a pedagogical diagnostics system are proposed and analyzed. Empirical work has been completed on the basis of the learning management system Moodle and allows for the analysis of the association between students' timeliness in completing learning tasks and their educational achievements, as well as the structure of students' time planning at homework. Recommendations to improve the educational process have been suggested

Pedagogical Diagnostics as a Part of Management of Students’ Independent Work

Розглянуто сутність педагогічної діагностики та її функцій у навчальному процесі. Проаналізовано використання педагогічної діагностики в дистанційному навчанні, щоб допомогти студенту підібрати для нього підходящий варіант самостійної роботи, що сприяє особистій орієнтації навчального процесу. Запропоновано структуру системи педагогічної діагностики, обговорюються вимоги до системи, етапи та порядок її проектування.The essence of pedagogical diagnostics and its functions in the learning process is considered. The use of pedagogical diagnostics in distance learning to help the student in choosing the expedient for him variant of independent work that contributes to personal orientation of the educational process is analysed. Structure of the pedagogical diagnostics system is proposed, requirements to the system, the stages and procedure of its design are discussed

Diagnostics of the formation of the graphic competence of future engineers-educators in the field of digital technologies

The article analyses the scientific literature on the study of the problem of diagnosing the formation of graphic competence of future engineers-teachers in the field of digital technologies. Based on the analysis, the criteria for the formation of components of graphic competence (value-motivational, activity criteria, personal-creative and communicative-organizational criteria) are determined. An important aspect of the study is to determine the levels of graphic competence of future engineers-educators in the field of digital technologies, which we defined as: intuitive, reproductive, exploratory and creative, determined by the criteria and indicators of certain component

MANAGEMENT OF PROFESSIONALLY-ORIENTED STUDIES OF INFORMATIVE SUBJECTS FUTURE TEACHERS OF TECHNOLOGY

The article deals with the problem of management of professionally-oriented teaching of Information technology disciplines of future technology teachers. The criteria for the formation of information competence of future technology teachers are identified. Levels of formation of information competence of future technology teachers are characterized: high, medium and low. The methodology of professionally-oriented teaching of Information technology disciplines of future technology teachers is grounded, which includes: content design, integration of traditional and innovative organizational forms and methods, application of active and interactive teaching technologies; their functions, tasks, a set of necessary and sufficient, special professional knowledge and skills that are formed in logically-based process of studying Information technology disciplines. Research-experimental work on the determination of the effectiveness of the method of professionally-oriented teaching information disciplines to future technology teachers was conducted. Quantitative and qualitative analysis of the experimental work to confirm effectiveness of the methodology of professionally-oriented teaching information disciplines to future technology teachers was investigated. The results of the experiment revealed positive dynamics of formation of information competence of future technology teachers (in the experimental groups a high level of formation of information competence increased compared to the establishing stage by 23.85%; medium – by 11.95%, and low one decreased by 35.8%. In the control groups dynamics is insignificant)

A model for the education of a student of a vocational pedagogical educational institution through the gaming simulation

The relevance of the problem subject to the research is conditioned by the discrepancy between (a) the orientation of the modern vocational-pedagogical education on the result of the future teacher training that is based on the subject matter and contents, and (b) the need to develop pedagogical skills. The application of the gaming simulation within the process of pedagogical skills development takes such skills to a completely new level. A study of the process of pedagogical skills development at students of a vocational-pedagogical education by way of the gaming simulation is the purpose of the article. Experiment and research activities were carried out during four years. A pedagogical experiment using the specially developed programme allowing discovering the level of pedagogical skills development at the trainees is the leading method for the research of this problem. Research results: The article provides for a model for the education of a student of a vocational-pedagogical educational institution through the gaming simulation; a scheme for this model implementation has been developed. Article contents may be useful for lecturers and students of pedagogical higher education institutions at the monitoring of the education quality. © 2016 Fominykh et al