Dagmar El-Hmoudova

Educational Program BigData EduCloud at the Faculty of Informatics and Management

The current trend of rapid development in the field of BigData brings a new educational direction in teaching Database Servers. Due to our students´ demand in this area the need has arisen to implement teaching NoSQL databases, which are closely connected with BigData. To ensure a highly professional training program the faculty cooperation agreement with IBM started in the summer semester 2015. The aim of the joint training program BigData EduCloud is to provide students with practical professional skills and prepare them for new positions that have recently been created in the labour market. The program consists of lectures, workshops and intensive consultations. Since the face-to-face teaching is organized in blocks, we have created teaching materials for self-study in the Blackboard LMS to support the quality level of the learning environment. The first part of the program is supplemented by multimedia teaching materials, interactive lectures, tests to verify knowledge and by the learning environment created at IBM. Our paper introduces the various parts of the program and their connectivity within an e-learning environment.

Assessment for Learning as a Teaching Approach Enabling Personalization of Learning on Tertiary Level

Assessment is an essential component of educational environment. Assessment for Learning is a teaching approach which enables personalization of learning, sets targets for individual learners and thus helps our bachelor students progress to desired outcomes. Introducing technology as a mediational tool in the process of assessment was an essential step that we have taken in an effort to improve the on-line course of Professional English Language in the university Blackboard LMS. Computer-based formative self-assessment of English language was taken by bachelor students of Tourism Management to periodically test the development of language competencies, to know what skills have been learned and how far have the students progressed in achieving their targets in mastering English as a second language. In evaluating our students’ responses regarding the course quality we found out that targeting test questions at ability level in the on-line course is very motivating for the students. Moreover, for teachers is computer-adaptive testing really useful tool for getting precise, individual information about students’ ability level, whilst providing the added benefits of keeping them engaged and motivated by assessment activity.