=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2643/paper18
|storemode=property
|title=Peculiarities of using of the Moodle test tools in philosophy teaching
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2643/paper18.pdf
|volume=Vol-2643
|authors=Andrii I. Abdula,Halyna A. Baluta,Nadiia P. Kozachenko,Darja A. Kassim
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==Peculiarities of using of the Moodle test tools in philosophy teaching==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2643/paper18.pdf
306
Peculiarities of using of the Moodle test tools in
philosophy teaching
Andrii I. Abdula1[0000-0001-5484-1639], Halyna A. Baluta1[0000-0002-4772-9240],
Nadiia P. Kozachenko1[0000-0003-2358-9076] and Darja A. Kassim2[0000-0002-1750-1237]
1 Kryvyi Rih State Pedagogical University, 54 Gagarin Ave, Kryvyi Rih, 50086, Ukraine
{standrewne2, moment71164, N.P.Kozachenko}@gmail.com
2 State University of Economics and Technology,
5 Stepana Tilhy Str., Kryvyi Rih, 50006, Ukraine
kasik_78@ukr.net
Abstract. The paper considers the role of philosophy and philosophical
disciplines as the means of forming general cultural competences, in particular,
in the development of critical thinking. The article emphasizes that the process
of forming over-subject and soft skills, which, as a rule, include also critical
thinking, gets much more complicated under the conditions of the reduction in
the volume of philosophical courses. The paper grounds that one of the ways to
“return” philosophy to educational programmes can be the implementation of
training, using the e-learning environment, especially Moodle. In addition,
authors point to the expediency of using this system and, in general, e-learning
as an instrument for collaborating students to the world’s educational community
and for developing their lifelong learning skills. The article specifies the features
of providing electronic support in philosophy teaching, to which the following
belongs: the difficulty of parametrizing the learning outcomes; plurality of
approaches; communicative philosophy. The paper highlights the types of
activities that can be implemented by tools of Moodle. The use of the following
Moodle test tasks is considered as an example: test control in the flipped class,
control of work with primary sources, control of self-study, test implementation
of interim thematic control. The authors conclude that the Moodle system can be
used as a tools of online support for the philosophy course, but it is impossible to
transfer to the virtual space all the study of this discipline, because it has a
significant worldview load. Forms of training, directly related to communication,
are integral part of the methodology of teaching philosophy as philosophy itself
is discursive, dialogical, communicative and pluralistic. Nevertheless, taking into
account features of the discipline, it is possible to provide not only the evaluation
function of the test control, but also to realize a number of educational functions:
updating the basic knowledge, memorization, activating the cognitive interest,
developing the ability to reason and the simpler ones but not less important, – the
skill of getting information and familiarization with it.
Keywords: Philosophy, Critical Thinking, Soft Skills, Reflexive Learning, Test
Control, Moodle, E-Learning Environment.
___________________
Copyright © 2020 for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
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1 Introduction
Reforming of the education system should be provided for in response to public demand
and information standards of the world educational culture, which is focused on the
formation of key competences of participants in education [30]. In education, the
process of transformation requires revision and reassessment of the humanities,
especially philosophy, as it should be regarded as a powerful methodological platform,
which leads to successful solving of the tasks outlined in the national educational
strategy.
1.1 Outlining the problem
The modern times are characterized by such peculiarities as the accelerated dynamics
of socio-cultural development, the change of interpretative schemes of worldview, and
broadening of information horizons. The processes mentioned above require
understanding of the fact that Ukraine cannot collaborate with European countries as
far as it concerns education and cannot expect for mutual evaluation of academic
diplomas without the development philosophical disciplines as a methodological basis
of critical thinking as mental attribute of key competences. For it is necessary to
introduce e-learning tools in the educational process, the educators should take into
consideration the specificity of their implementation that allow to master the strategy
of teaching philosophy on the basis of the online learning environment. Thus, there is
a need to outline the educational perspectives of philosophy teaching with the
involvement of online learning environment and to identify the particularities of the use
of test tools in this process.
1.2 Analysis of recent research and papers.
The issue of the placing philosophical disciplines in the educational space is considered
by scholars all over the world. The research paradigm is represented by Alan Crawford
[6], John Dewey [7], Diane F. Halpern [9], Jaakko Hintikka [12] Martha J. Kurtz [25],
Matthew Lipman [18], and others. The national tradition includes the publications of
Alina O. Karapetian [15], Igor M. Kopotun [16], Serhii O. Terno [32] etc. John Dewey
was one of the first educators who prioritized critical thinking in education. He believed
that the main drawback of traditional education was its focus on refined knowledge,
devoid of analytical processing. John Dewey outlined a new “reflexive” style of
education, as reflection makes it possible for a student to perceive the object from
different viewpoints. The philosopher notes that “knowledge” does not mean
understanding; certain information does not guarantee that the opinion can get the right
direction. Jaakko Hintikka describes critical thinking as an opportunity to combine
different perspectives, as a crucial resource, focused on the search for cognitive
distortions. He thinks that to teach how to think and analyze is a huge challenge from
education to philosophers [11]. The researcher substantiates the notion of Socratic
epistemology as a special cognitive strategy, which has a dialogical form [12].
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Standard educational programmes cannot achieve such progress in the development
of cognitive skills, as the programmes, including the development of critical thinking.
The author of an educational programme focused on reflective thinking Matthew
Limpan admits that teaching thinking skills is different from the ordinary acquisition
of academic knowledge. He substantiates the idea of higher order thinking, which
synthesizes creative, moral, ethical and critical thinking. Matthew Lipman considers
the ways of thinking as necessary modes of reflective educational practice [18].
Lipman’s approach was developed by Gerald A. Matthews [27], Joanne R. Reid [26]
and others. Therefore, the reflexive paradigm highlights reflective and dialogic
strategies as a development of personal autonomy embedded in a special space of
mutual open-mindedness for joint exploration and discovery.
The use of the potential of philosophy in the development of critical thinking and
other important competences is complicated due to several reasons. Firstly, the place
of philosophy in a number of general educational courses is uncertain. Secondly, it is
complicated to transfer the content of philosophical disciplines to e-learning platforms.
The practical implementation of this project is based on one of the most promising
online learning platforms, which is actively implemented in the educational process and
facilitates its modernization – Moodle. In the current educational discourse, the
potential of using e-learning platforms is considered in various aspects [2]. Serhii V.
Petrenko [23], Yurii M. Pienkin and Nataliia M. Yatsenko [24] consider Moodle as an
important component of the provision of distance education and blended learning. Elina
Yu. Zhelezniakova and Iryna V. Zmiivska [36] treat it as prerequisite for realization of
the students’ self-management capacity. Anton V. Myshchyshen [19] considers Moodle
as tools of information and communication support to the process of advanced training.
Oleksandr V. Avdieiev [3] and Gabriela Carmen Oproiu [21] draw attention to the fact
that Moodle is a way to optimize the educational process in higher educational
establishments. For Serhii M. Nedilko, Olean O. Chumak, and Tetiana S. Plachynda
Moodle is a key aspect of quality of professional training of future specialists [13].
Carmen Holotescu, Gabriela Grosseck, Vladimir Crețu, and Antoanela Naaji outline
that e-learning platforms provide students’ involvement in the global educational space
and the development of lifelong learning skills [13]. The use of e-learning platforms is
also considered in the context of globalization, changes in the institutional status of the
education system [33]. Hanna A. Horshkova [14], Andrii V. Semenets [28], and Halyna
A. Biletska [4] draw attention to the considerable practical experience of using Moodle
in the process of teaching exact mathematical sciences and natural sciences. Yevhen V.
Dolynskyi [8], Kateryna Yu. Akulenko [1], Hаnnа M. Shalatska, Olena Yu. Zotova-
Sadylo and Ivan O. Muzyka [29], Viktoriia O. Ustinova, Svitlana V. Shokaliuk, Iryna
S. Mintii and Andrey V. Pikilnyak [34] show that Moodle can be used by teaching
social science and humanities.
1.3 Unsolved aspects of the problem
Unfortunately, there is a dangerous tendency in the national education to curtail the
humanities, especially philosophy, ethics, aesthetics, cultural studies, etc. They are
losing their positions, undermined by the tendencies of educational instrumentalism and
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vital pragmatism. The reasons of such situation are as follows: the relativization of the
educational culture, the lack of definition of standards of quality of education, as well
as rigidity, the firm rootedness of the “monopolized” post-Soviet educational tradition.
After a few decades, philosophical subjects focused on Marxism lost their relevance,
as they reproduced the structures of crowd psychology, the realized ideological function
and function of identity formation. As a result, philosophy focused on Marxism created
a false stereotype about its uncertainty or even its uselessness. Thus, a hidden paradox
has emerged: the minimization of the humanities in education contradicts current
educational strategies, outlined in the Law on Education.
Among the educational competences defined by the Law on Education, there are a
number of extra-curricular competences, which, in our opinion, provide for an in-depth
mastery of a philosophical resource. According to the Law on Education, “common for
all competences are the following skills: reading with understanding, a skill to express
one’s opinion orally and in writing, critical and systemic thinking, ability to logically
justify one’s position, creativity, leadership, ability to manage emotions in a
constructive way, assess risks, make decisions, solve problems, ability to cooperate
with other people” [35]. Thorough analysis of the subject field, included in the scenario
of achieving the stated goal, implies a direct mastery of the information product of
philosophical genesis. Instrumental competence, which means performing technical
procedures and operations, ways of determining information adequacy, criteria for trust
in an information source, etc., is also particularly relevant.
Therefore, the main unsolved aspect of the problem is the question of whether the
information, purified from philosophy, is sufficiently efficient in competitiveness of
education if it is considered as a complex product, formed by long-term research
selection by historical trial and error and as the result of successful, balanced, and
projected educational programmes, focused on education and society, theory and
practice. The implementation of electronic support in the teaching of philosophy is also
important. However, the specific nature of philosophy as a subject should be taken into
consideration. Using e-learning platforms is a definite challenge of the modern times,
so the educators need to respond to it adequately. Nevertheless, the following question
arises: how and to what extent can we trust e-learning, in training philosophy and other
humanities?
Thus, the objective of the paper is to reveal the peculiarities of electronic support of
teaching philosophy, highlighting its subject specificity on the basis of methodically
substantiated forms of test control.
2 Theoretical basis of the research
If philosophy is considered as a source of critical thinking, the method of its formation
appears as a combination of different models of learning. It is clear that “rigid models”
are typically suitable for individual tasks, while “soft models” dominate when there are
atypical problematic situations with uncertainty potential. Such models play a special
role in the process of personality formation. “The development of critical thinking is
just such a task that can be solved with the help of a soft learning model,” says Serhii
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O. Terno [32, p. 18]. Methods of the critical thinking development require a set of
conditions that include problematic situations, knowledge of critical thinking strategies,
creating choice situations, making a dialogue, giving students’ opinions in writing, the
right to correct mistakes, etc. This system of learning implies its openness, plasticity,
the presence of variations and feedback. Individual-oriented project methods and
dialogue play a special role, as they are focused on reconstructing the educational
participants’ individual experience. The methodology is based on the following
principles: identifying and denying assumptions, verifying accuracy of facts and logical
consistency, examining context and exploring alternatives [32, p. 18]. In our opinion,
this is the way in which the monologic “banking” or fixed teaching is reoriented to
qualitatively developing innovative model.
Such a guideline was taken into account by the community of lecturers of the
Philosophy Department in Kryvyi Rih State Pedagogical University in the process of
teaching the course “Philosophy” with its positive consequences. Firstly, the
philosophical resource was preserved as a source of formation of different types, styles
of thinking, a methodological platform for learning the variety of the best examples of
world philosophical culture. Secondly, the structure of the course, the logic of its
presentation, demonstrated the effective implementation of a number of tasks of
informative and constructive content, as it successfully combined the traditional
informative or lecture-seminar system of education and the modern pedagogical
approaches, which necessarily include person-oriented techniques.
Thus, there was a need to combine the critical resource of philosophy and the tools,
provided by the e-learning environment. Obviously, such a combination could not have
been a perfunctory transfer of the course to an online learning platform. However, it
also requires both the peculiarities of the course and the specifics of the chosen
platform. We used Moodle as such e-learning platform.
In our opinion, we should consider the particularities of using Moodle, taking into
account the global challenges, tasks and problems that cause the reform of the education
system in Ukraine. Moreover, it is necessary to pay attention to features of use of the
platform in comparison with similar systems. Thirdly, it is necessary to demonstrate the
expediency of appealing to Moodle, in the context of teaching the social sciences and
humanities, especially philosophy.
As for the first aspect, we should admit that the implementation of Moodle is
increasingly correlated with the prospect of implementing the principles of blended and
distance learning, taking into account that the latter is a relatively new phenomenon in
the educational space of Ukraine [5]. Serhii V. Petrenko says: “The use of modern
information and communication, electronic technologies in combination with
pedagogical experience will allow to raise higher education in Ukraine to a higher
level” [23, p. 140]. This problem is also considered in the context of globalization,
changes in the institutional status of the education system and the integration of the
national education system into the European educational space [20, p. 116]. In response
to these challenges, the scholars draw attention to the following benefits of distance
learning: the ability to save considerable amount of time while displaying significant
amounts of information; focusing on the specific achievements of each student;
ensuring the relative independence of the process of communication between the
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student and the teacher from the place and time, organization of control and planning
of students’ independent work in the conditions of reduction of class hours and
transition to the credit-modular system, etc. [17, p. 102; 36, p. 34]. In general, these
characteristics have economic, operational, informational and pedagogical dimensions
[19, p. 98]. Unlike distance learning that requires using ICT, blended learning
presupposes a combination of different forms of activities (traditional, distance,
electronic, etc.), at the same time it takes advantage of distance learning and eliminates
its disadvantages [23, p. 141]. An important tendency of recent years is the increasing
level of integration of distance and traditional learning [3, p. 6].
As for the second aspect, we should mention that there are several groups of e-
learning organization software: copyright software, learning management systems,
content management systems, and educational content management systems [24,
p. 105]. Among these tools, one of the most suitable for higher education institutions is
the open source distance learning platforms, to which the Moodle belongs (in general,
there are a great number of such systems: ATutor, Claroline, Dokeos, Sakai,
Prometheus, etc.) [24, p. 106]. A considerable number of scholars think that Moodle
has certain advantages over other similar systems. The evidence is the considerable
number of users who have chosen this system (about 90 million people [23, p. 140]),
as well as the fact that it is used by educational institutions in more than 100 countries
[24, p. 106], demonstrating positive statistics of students’ involvement [21, p. 428–
430]. The basis for the functioning of this system is based on the principles of social
constructivism, according to which, the teacher is regarded as an assistant and mentor;
training is carried out in activity; self-presentation and self-realization of students are
provided; the learning environment is flexible, able to adapt to specific needs; the
student can observe and respond to the activity of participants in the educational process
[31]. Accordingly, Moodle allows to organize distance learning in such a way that it
meets the today’s didactic requirements: regularity, systematic character, objectivity of
control, individuality, economic efficiency, that is, it is fully capable of completing the
tasks assigned to it [3, p. 7].
Other advantages include: openness of the system, ability to adapt to specific tasks
and types of activities; providing ample opportunities for communication and data
exchange; the availability of a flexible evaluation system and opportunities for
statistical analysis of performance; versatility and simplicity in using [24, p. 106]. An
important argument in favour of Moodle is that as an open source system, it can be
freely distributed, applied and modified [23, p. 141].
Moodle is quite capable of providing the distance learning functions assigned to it,
but it should be admitted that the use of a virtual learning environment has its
peculiarities when it supports training courses in philosophical disciplines.
(1) The complication of parameterization of learning outcomes. This is due to the
fact that all philosophical disciplines and, first of all, philosophy involve the teaching
of thinking, and not just memorizing the biographies of a number of philosophers and
difficult obscure terms. Obviously, this peculiarity is inherent in other courses, but the
main difference is that the results of teaching philosophy are very difficult to calculate
and quantify. This problem is typical, in general, for determining the level of
competence formation, which does not reduce to specific knowledge, abilities and
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skills. We have discussed above the competences, which include, inter alia,
environmental competence and information and communication competence, lifelong
learning, civic and social competences related to the ideas of democracy, justice,
equality, human rights, well-being and a healthy lifestyle, with an awareness of equal
rights and opportunities; cultural competence. For this type of competence there is a
problem of verification, parameterization, quantification, the solution of which would
make it possible to simply revision of the level of their formation by tools of e-learning,
where testing is particularly convenient and widespread.
(2) The plurality of approaches. The second problem is related to the specificity of
philosophy, namely its pluralistic nature. Philosophy cannot be represented as a single
holistic entity, the conventional result of a study of the existing philosophic community.
Philosophy is a constant development of thought, which consists in asking questions,
finding answers and constantly rethinking them. Thus, any reference or educational
material in philosophy bears a significant imprint of the philosophical position of its
author, which cannot be considered universally acceptable to all participants in
philosophical discourse.
(3) Communicative nature of philosophy. There was an experiment when the android
Bina48 gave a lecture on philosophy [22]. Its results show the achievements of robotics,
but they do not mean a breakthrough in the teaching of philosophy. The main results of
the teaching of philosophy are formed in the course of communication; they are
argumentative and critical skills, values and socio-cultural competences.
For the use of e-learning courses is an up-to-date challenge that can greatly enhance
students’ cognitive activity through interesting activities, the philosophy teacher must
find ways to integrate these activities into the learning process and use them in a way
that does not deteriorate, but rather improve the quality of philosophy teaching.
Obviously, it is simply impossible to fully implement a philosophy course on an e-
learning platform without communicating with a teacher. It is not only about teacher’s
support in forums, chats, ongoing consultations and other forms of feedback, but it is
also about full-fledged group seminars, involving pluralism of thoughts, discussions,
and critical, philosophic reasoning in real-time.
3 Results of the research
In teaching philosophy, not all activities are reduced to face-to-face communication.
The student has to develop skills of individual work, be able to work with primary
sources, to carry out relations and systematization, to draw conclusions, to reason the
opinion and to express it and so on. Thus, in the process of philosophy teaching, it
makes sense to use e-learning courses as a support of full-time study, which allows to
cover other activities of the student and to evaluate his or her individual work. Let us
consider some of the techniques of using a Moodle-based e-learning course and their
peculiarities in philosophy teaching, using the Moodle controlling tools in the
philosophy course.
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3.1 Test control in the flipped classroom model
Firstly, the thing that makes Moodle convenient is to provide theoretical material. This
approach makes it possible to use the flipped classroom model when students are
introduced to the lecture material before the lecture begins. Then, the lecture itself is
based on explaining the most interesting points of the topic, discussing problematic and
incomprehensible parts of the material (Fig. 1).
Fig. 1. Test control in flipped classroom model
It is advisable to combine the flipped classroom model with the simplest test to check
whether the students have read the material to the lecture. Test tasks most often involve
the literal reproduction of text and they perform two functions: checking for content
understanding and activating memorization.
We should admit that the test assessment of the quality of the philosophy study is
quite complicated and, when provided formally, it usually has a negative result. Firstly,
ordinary tests are mainly focused on checking the memorization of certain
characteristics, terms and names, which is quite possible without understanding the
essence of the philosophical concept. Secondly, tests without any material, given in
advance, provide students with a choice of a textbook or other reference sources. In the
case of philosophy, it cannot be guaranteed that the opinion of the author of the test
coincides with the way the relevant material is presented in the textbook chosen by the
student. Thus, it is advisable to limit the use of simple verification tests as a control
measure in the virtual accompaniment of philosophy training to the following
parameters:
(1) tests can only serve as a tool of the simplest control of familiarization with
the material before the lecture;
(2) tests should be directly bound to, and limited to, the material provided.
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It is necessary to mention some technical points. Moodle allows you to create various
types of tests. For this purpose, it is quite convenient to use several test types: multiple
choice tests, tasks with short answer, matching tasks, built-in answers, gap texts, true
or false statements. The most problematic types of tasks are multiple choice tests and
gap texts, where a student has to fill in the missing words. In Moodle multiple choice
tests are implemented very well, if you do not take into account the following feature:
if the student selects all the answers, he or she will be assessed as having chosen all the
right answers. Therefore, while creating the test, it is advisable to use the penalty for
incorrect answers, which is realized by negative indicators.
Missed word assignments or the gap texts differ from short answers in that regular
“*” expressions to substitute any character sequence cannot be used. Missing words
should be filled in, so there is a serious spelling problem. If we do not consider the cases
of the students’ illiteracy or carelessness, we deal with the instability of Ukrainian-
speaking philosophical terminology and the lack of a stable tradition of Ukrainian
transliteration of the philosophers’ names. For example, “Leibniz” can be spelled in
Ukrainian as ‘Лейбніц’ – ‘Лейбниц’ – ‘Лейбніць’ – ‘Ляйбниць’ – ‘Ляйбніц’ and etc.
There are several ways out of the situation. For example, it is possible to provide
students with accurate spelling, to familiarize them with the terms to be used in the
tests, and to provide clear instructions for completing this type of assignment.
3.2 Test control of work with primary sources
The skill to work with primary sources, analyze them and correlate with the theoretical
material described in the textbook is an important type of students’ activity while
studying philosophy. The primary sources are often discussed at the seminar, but this
kind of work can be successfully implemented through the online support of the Moodle
training course. In addition to widespread multiple-choice tasks and built-in answers, it
is appropriate to use gap texts and true or false statements. Moreover, it is necessary to
focus not on the literal reproduction of the text of the primary source, but on realizing
the author’s opinion and on correlating it with the philosophical direction or tradition
to which the author of the text belongs. The re-writing tasks showed good results in
“true or false statements”, when the opinion presented in the source text is formulated
in other words (Fig. 2).
3.3 Test control of independent (out-of-class) learning
The university course in philosophy provides much of the material that the student
studies out of the classroom. It is necessary to state that making notes and writing
assignments are irreversibly out-of-date, but this should not be considered as a negative
trend. Rewriting and reproduction is rapidly inferior to speculating and evaluation,
which should be reflected as a change in teaching methods, especially in philosophical
courses that have a world-view forming task. Independent study in a philosophy course
means that the student works on certain themes for which the student has been provided
with the relevant list of references. However, no one can guarantee that the student will
not use Google search engine as the primary source of answers instead of reading
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recommended textbooks and sources. In such situation, one can find some positive
aspects, as independent work involves familiarity with fairly standard concepts,
definitions and personalities. Thus, doing simple tests for choosing names, book titles,
philosophical directions will not be superfluous, and it will allow the out-of-class study
with the online learning environment should also include tasks that do not provide
obvious answers that pop up in the first search engine rows. So, it is advisable to
develop tasks that help the student to master the material submitted for self-study. It is
appropriate give the student a task to analyze the text where the student is offered to
choose a statement that most fully reflects the main idea of the text, or a statement that
contradicts the text, a statement that may or may not a conclusion (Fig. 3).
Fig. 2. Test control of work with primary sources
Fig. 3. Test control of out-of-class study
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The specificity of test verification of out-of-class study is the need to set a deadline
clearly. This is due to the fact that most of these tasks are woven into the canvas of the
classroom material and their untimely fulfillment breaks the logic of teaching. On the
other hand, the student should understand that out-of-class study is as chronologically
regulated as activities in the classroom, which are carried out on schedule. The method
of self-study is not regulated. It is focused on checking the results; thus the student
develops skills of self-study, self-control and planning.
3.4 Test implementation of interim thematic control
The possibility to make full use of test tasks for interim control is also limited. Firstly,
it does not justify setting a high score for these types of control, so it stimulates some
manifestations of students’ plagiarism, because it exists in a form of distance learning.
Secondly, thematic control does not imply the availability of ready-made material, as
in the case of preparation for an “flipped classroom” or an activity for checking
understanding of primary sources. Thirdly, thematic control should be designed not
only to check what students have memorized, but also to presuppose tasks that require
speculation and reasoning. Thus, it is appropriate to use such tasks as matching,
multiple choice tests, but with a slightly more complicated formulations. The
challenges of finding a mismatch, finding an error, or finding the wrong answer are
considered to be fruitful. The task of matching statements with authors has also shown
good results as well as the tasks for chronological ordering. In addition to testing
knowledge, the matching tasks also have a cognitive load: it is convenient to offer
students a number of characteristics of philosophical directions or doctrines, which are
usually opposed, in order to relate them to these areas (here it is appropriate to create
the task in such a way that the characteristics are distributed evenly and not more than
three parameters, optimally two). It is appropriate to offer students assignments for
reasons that involve establishing a pattern, continuing a logical chain, choosing the
causes or effects of a particular position.
We should draw attention to the task of drawing conclusions in which students are
asked to select all the correct conclusions (or one) from the text proposed. In the simpler
version, it is a reformulation of the thought, in a more complex one, the logical or
substantive consequences generated by the idea demonstrated in the text. Test for
matching is convenient to use as an extension of the test for true or false statements,
because it allows you to evaluate a number of statements at once by correlating them
with the choice of true/false (Fig. 4).
The result of thematic control in this form is not only the score expressed in points,
but also a certain broadening of the student’s horizons. Obviously, in the development
of in-class and out-of-class activities, the student does not focus on reading the works
of the philosophers mentioned above, but focuses primarily on short theoretical
information that can provide a clear answer to the questions of the seminar or the
assignment for out-of-class study. Philosophy does not provide such answers. The
teaching of philosophy involves the formation of the skills of contextual, discursive
analysis, aimed at clarifying the course of reasoning of a particular philosopher, which
leads him to certain conclusions. The mentioned test organization achieves at least two
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goals: firstly, it familiarizes students with the aphorisms and important quotations of
the classics of philosophy, shows their depth, and secondly it develops the skills of
philosophical analysis and intensifies educational interest. An indirect, but pleasant,
consequence is that students remember the names of philosophers and basic
philosophical terms.
Fig. 4. Test implementation of interim thematic control
4 Conclusions and prospects of further research
Trends in modern education are linked, on the one hand, to the desire to develop cultural
competences and, on the other, to take into account the informational influence, using
its opportunities. The philosophical courses, especially philosophy, are directly meant
for the formation of beliefs and convictions, values, systemic and scientific worldview.
Therefore, the significant reduction or even the complete exclusion of philosophy from
higher education in favour of majors jeopardizes the realization of the stated
educational priorities. The creation an e-learning environment will help to simplify and
universalize a significant number of types of activities dealt with memorizing
information and providing control, so lectures have more time for other activities. First
of all, these are activities directly related to communication, which is an integral part
of the philosophy training. Moodle can be used as a tool of the online support of the
philosophy course, but it is not possible to transfer a full amount of discipline into the
virtual space, as this course has a considerable ideological load. This is due to the
dialogic, discursive, communicative and pluralistic nature of philosophy. However,
taking into account the peculiarities of the discipline, it is possible to provide not only
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the evaluative function of test control, but also to realize a number of educational
functions: the updating of basic knowledge, memorization, activation of cognitive
interest, the development of ability to reason and more simple, but not less important,
– the skill to familiarize oneself with information.
We should note that the use of e-learning environment on the one hand imposes
certain restrictions on the educators and creates a risk of “mechanical” passage of the
course by the students. At the same time, it encourages the teacher to develop new and
rethink existing forms of learning in order to fully implement them in e-learning support
systems [10].
The peculiarities of the use of Moodle as a tool in the philosophy teaching can be
extended to other courses, not just the humanities. They open the prospect of using test
tools not only as a control but also as an effective learning tool. Moodle tools such as
essays and seminars are promising to assess the level of idea formation, the ability to
express and reason students’ own opinions, but they also have their own
implementation specifics, which we will highlight in future research.
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