Analysis of the Consistency of Prerequisites and Learning Outcomes of Educational Programme Courses by Using the Ontological Approach

Abstract

The article presents the results of the application of an ontological approach to the description of the structure and content of the educational programme, and its subsequent analysis for the consistency of prerequisites and learning outcomes of courses. The practical result of the work is an ontology approach implemented in the Protégé 5.5.0 editor, which reflects the studied disciplines in terms of the skills they form and the entrance requirements (prerequisites) for the qualification of the student. The curriculum model includes sequences of semesters and courses of study (academic year) related by time relationships. The developed ontology approach is filled with data from the educational programme “Software Engineering”. The authors have earned queries in DL Query and SPARQL languages, which, using logical inference procedures, make it possible to analyse an educational programme for consistency of disciplines in terms of input requirements and the skills of the learner formed during the training period. The developed ontology and rules of logical inference can be used as a part of the educational process management information systems and educational programme designers, for the intellectual analysis of programme integrity and the consistency of learning prerequisites and outcomes in disciplines.

Ontological approach for competency-based curriculum analysis

“…In pursuit of answers to the aforementioned research questions, the authors aimed to develop an efficient competency model that would harness the full advantages of the competency-based approach [ [46] , [47] , [48] , [49] , [50] , [51] , 52 ] in educational program design. While addressing this objective, the authors aspired to create a descriptive framework for educational program competencies that would be expressive, transparent, and amenable to computer-based processing and analysis.…”

“…The presented model applies to diverse higher education programs [ 28 , 53 , [46] , [47] , [48] ], encompassing both bachelor's and master's degrees, and it is intended to facilitate the practical realization of the benefits associated with the competency-based approach to educational program design. The model offers the following advantages:…”

“…The development of the ontological model of competencies for the educational program was carried out using the ontological editor Protégé 5.5.0 [ 46 ]. The foundation for this model was based on the educational program model developed by Refs.…”

“…The foundation for this model was based on the educational program model developed by Refs. [ 46 , 49 ]. A hierarchy of classes and a hierarchy of Object Properties were constructed (see Fig.…”