The rapid development of new technologies requires a new set of skills from all users in operating, using, and maintaining digitised environments. Curriculum design in the field of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) undergoes a rapid change as technological achievements do influence education.
The aim of the article was to present research results on the mappings of learning outcomes to taxonomies to evolve from requirement-based assessment to competency-based assessment. The research was carried out on the problem-based learning (PBL) module. The article presents a novel PBL model design with activities and evaluation schema. The developed model could be used to guide the curricula design of information technologies for generic competencies, and to foster skills essential for the future ICT sector.
This paper considers the use of log data provided by learning management systems when studying whether students obey the problem-based learning (PBL) method. Log analysis turns out to be a valuable tool in measuring the use of the learning material of interest. It gives reliable figures concerning not only the number of use sessions but also the interlocking of various course activities. The longitudinal study based on log analysis makes use of a new software tool, SPY US. Our study concentrates on using log data analysis in improving the PBL method used in learning diagnostic skills with the help of Virtual Patients.
Contests are usually applied in the academic environment to simulate real professional situations that require from the participants a more pro-active attitude than the one shown in conventional coursework. Although they are commonly applied in the scope of a unique course, the contest described here was an extracurricular experience applied in an Information System undergraduate program. The evaluation of the contest is also presented; the objective was to assess the role of the contest as a tool to bring together interdisciplinary subjects, complementary to the traditional disciplinary structure of the program curriculum. The results indicate that a significant portion of the participants noticed increase in their knowledge after the contest, which is verified by statistical tests. However, students from the first stages received more benefits, probably because such students were more motivated and had more available time to be involved in the contest activities.
For the previous six years, under the auspices of the ``Stability Pact of South-Eastern Europe'' and DAAD, a joint project for developing a course in ``Software Engineering'' has been conducted. The intention of the project was to enable usage of shared materials for software engineering courses at a wide range of universities in participating countries. During school-year 2004/05, for the first time the same course, with the same case study, and the same assignments has been conducted at the Humboldt University Berlin, and the University of Novi Sad. In this paper, we share some of the experiences obtained through conducting the same course in the two school-years: 2004/05 and 2005/06.
We have applied Problem-Based Learning (PBL) on an introductory programming course for several years with positive results. In this paper we present the outcomes and discuss our experiences of applying a modified version of PBL such that needs less tutoring resources and could better be used in large-scale courses, too.
PBL has many positive effects on studying: Students report that they liked the social aspect of studying in a group. Generally students appreciated the possibility to be active participants in a course. On the other hand, group dynamic difficulties, tolerance of uncertainty and demanding studying skills caused problems that were too hard to overcome to some students. In this paper we introduce different versions of PBL, discuss efficiently and inefficiently working PBL groups and present their characters. We also discuss the possible reasons for differently working groups. Finally, we give some suggestions for interventions that might help the PBL groups to work better.