EFFECTIVENESS OF E-LEARNING RESOURCES IN PHYSICAL CHEMISTRY TEACHING

Abstract

Implementation of electronic learning resources into the teaching of chemical disciplines in higher school does not always lead to an improvement in students' mastery of the material. Therefore, the optimal choice of effective electronic resources for the teaching of basic chemical disciplines is an urgent task. The purpose of the work was to identify the resources that are relevant to the teaching of physical chemistry from the point of view of both teachers and students. Specific questionnaires were developed to achieve the goal, and a survey of pedagogical process participants (students and faculty members) was conducted, followed by statistical processing of the survey results. The expediency of usage of 41 e-resources was investigated, and 21 resources were identified as suitable for the study of a university course in physical chemistry. Among them, eight e-resources were found to be important for teaching most topics of the discipline, and so are attributed to universal resources. Another thirteen resources are important for teaching some topics and ineffective for others (specific resources). At the same time, only five universal and eight specific resources are currently used in the practice of the Faculty of Chemistry of Olesj Honchar Dnipropetrovsk National University. Some discrepancies have been identified between teachers and students concerning resource preferences that create the preconditions for the loss of effectiveness of the use of such resources. Since the use of some electronic resources is sensitive to learning styles, existing styles for faculties and students were analysed. The main differences consist in the explicit preferences of the faculty for reflective and global styles, while students are characterised by predominantly active and sequential learning styles. The results obtained regarding the effectiveness of e-resource usage are discussed from the viewpoint of preferences in learning styles characteristic of students and teachers of natural sciences