Optimisation of Selection of Electronic Learning Resources According to Student Group Composition

Abstract

The technology of integration of learning methods, forms and means of information and communication technologies is described with due regards for psychological and pedagogical characteristics of student groups. The results of theoretical and experimental research conducted on the basis of two Ukrainian universities with the participation of 341 students in the "Chemistry" training area and 18 lecturers of basic chemical disciplines are highlighted. Both students and lecturers were polled in a specially designed questionnaire to show their attitude to the use of various electronic learning resources in learning and teaching basic chemical disciplines. Students’ preferences in learning styles were estimated on the basis of a self-scoring questionnaire for assessing preferences on four complementary dimensions, such as perception (sensitive or intuitive), input (visual or verbal), processing (active or reflective) and understanding (sequential or global) of chemical information. Such an approach is known as the method of Felder-Soloman, and it allows one to calculate Indices of Learning Style which assess qualitatively available preferences of all respondents in each of the four available directions. The developed technology allows lecturers to qualify an optimal set of electronic learning resources for the teaching of individual sections of chemistry, taking into account preferences in their use of students with different learning styles. The technology under development is based on the calculation of average resource scores as assessed by all students in the group, as well as on the expert evaluation of the feasibility of their application in the teaching of basic chemical disciplines. The taxonomy of the optimal selection of electronic learning resources and teaching methods is developed for each type of students’ learning preferences. Advantages and disadvantages of all available variants of the application of the developed technology are discussed for student groups of different compositions. An example of the application is given for studying the discipline "Inorganic Chemistry".