=Paper=
{{Paper
|id=Vol-2834/Paper47.pdf
|storemode=property
|title=Development of competences in Information Science and Information technologies among the Bachelors of Engineering sciences at classic University
|pdfUrl=https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2834/Paper47.pdf
|volume=Vol-2834
|authors=Ada A. Popova,Elena V. Chyornaya,Daria S. Benz
}}
==Development of competences in Information Science and Information technologies among the Bachelors of Engineering sciences at classic University==
https://ceur-ws.org/Vol-2834/Paper47.pdf
517
Development of competences in Information Science and
Information technologies among the Bachelors of
Engineering sciences at classic University*
Ada A. Popova1 [0000-0002-4283-0139], Elena V. Chyornaya2 [0000-0003-2966-2422] and
Daria S. Benz2[0000-0003-1257-248X]
1South Ural State Humanitarian and Pedagogical University, Chelyabinsk, Russia
2Chelyabinsk State University, Chelyabinsk, Russia
Abstract. Formation and development of IT-competences among the future
Bachelors of Engineering sciences on the “Quality management” course at clas-
sic University contribute to the creation of high-qualified specialists for the labor
market. “The capability to work with basic software, applications, and infor-
mation technologies within professional activity" is the foundation of IT-
competences formed through the process of studying. The authors into several
stages divide the process of IT-competences formation. The analysis of the basic
knowledge level, diagnostics of the competences and skills essential for the fu-
ture profession, and the assessment of the self-education readiness level. The ar-
ticle provides the analysis of proficiency level in mass-market software as well
as in highly specialized applications. The assessment is based on school
knowledge and skills in the field of information technology obtained after a com-
puter science course at the university. The research reveals bottlenecks in the
process of IT education for full-time and distance learning students. The authors
cover aspects that help to increase the efficiency of IT-competences formation at
the University.
Keywords: IT-competences, Bachelor, distance learning, groups of competen-
cies, Information Science, Information Technologies.
1 Introduction
The “Digital Economy” project, initiated by the Government, determines basic direc-
tions of the education system development in Russia; it is aimed to provide the country
with highly skilled and competent professionals prepared for digital future and eco-
nomic breakthroughs. The implementation of this goal demands essential changes in
classic University education, which concerns full-time students as well as distance ed-
ucation students. The theoretical part needs to be backed by practice because Russia
critically needs highly qualified specialists capable to work effectively using
* Copyright 2021 for this paper by its authors. Use permitted under Creative Commons License
Attribution 4.0 International (CC BY 4.0).
518
knowledge and skills from engineering sciences as well as from humanities. The eco-
nomic problems cannot be solved without active, progressive, and competent engineers,
interested in their profession, who would lead the country to technological progress.
The Vilnius University scientists identify five basic skills of today’s specialists: com-
plex solutions of problems, critical thinking, cognitive flexibility, mathematical think-
ing, and active learning. (2018).
The University graduates must use their creativity not only for the good of science
but also for constructive labor. In the 1990’s Russian Academician P. Atutov marked
the importance of students’ familiarization with basic production aspects (1999). He
considered polytechnic education as a part of the personality development process in
conditions of technics application in every sphere of human life all over the world,
fundamental for future professional training. Today’s polytechnic education relevance
could be seen even on the example of classic Universities which announce the opening
of Engineering specialties; therefore, the introduction of the “Quality management”
course for the Bachelors in Engineering Sciences in The Chelyabinsk State University
is a brand new direction as for entrants, as for the labor market of South Ural. The
modern vision of Bachelors’s training within this course demands to shift focus from
only using technologies, including the IT sector, to developing and managing them.
Thus, fundamental professional education at the classic University is aimed to train
competent specialists, capable to provide development, service, and assessment of the
quality management systems; capable to analyze business processes and increase their
technological, economic, and safety effectiveness. Besides, the quality management
system (ISO 9001 - 2015) is focused on constant training of specialists and the devel-
opment of new technologies (last accessed 2019/04/21).
The development of digital technologies gives opportunities to provide high-level
education regardless of its form, which reflects on the constant popularity growth of
distance education. The interactive area today is commonly used not only for basic ed-
ucation but also for additional education and professional development, to master pro-
fessional skills and achieve any competences required. In this connection, scientists
around the world develop and improve digital technologies as well as methods of their
implementation in the education sphere.
2 Literature review
The article by Ordov K., Madiyarova A., Ermilov V., Tovma N., Murzagulova M.
(2019) «New trends in education as the aspect of digital technologies» underlines that
digitalization of the educational process is of particular importance since education can
be considered the basis for the development of the economy and the achievement of the
planned strategic goals [15].
Contreras-Mendieta J.A., Sarango-Lapo C.P., Jara-Roa D.I., Agila-Palacios M.V.
(2019) proposed to integrate a remote laboratory (LR), as a support resource in an ed-
ucation system at distance, that encourage students to practice and experiment thus con-
fronting theory with practice [4].
519
The Turkish model of distance learning was described by Turker Y.A., Baynal K.,
Turker T. (2019). Distance education has become an important educational model with
the development of information and communication technologies in the world and per-
formed by some special software called Learning Management System (LMS) [18].
Lebedev A. (2019) considers distance learning as an element of private technology
to support the learning process, for the control and implementation of students' inde-
pendent work system. In the work «Modernization of marketing conditions in the im-
plementation of remote education programs» (2019), the author proposes to position
the distance form of education on the market as a part of the information environment
of the university, which focuses on practical results [12, 13].
Li H. (2019) in the research «Construction of distance teaching platform based on
mobile communication technology» proves the expediency of mobile communication
technology in distance education describes specially developed platforms for distance
education [14].
Hong, B., Wei Z., Yang, Y. (2019) work on methods of elimination and forecasting
on Massive Open Online Course (MOOC) using studying activity [8].
Bentaib M., Talbi M., Touri B. (2019) expressed the necessity to decide on the meth-
odology of integrating transmission order size ergonomic, aesthetic, practical, time to
achieve skills in the concrete discipline [2].
Kaysi F. (2018) in the research «An analysis of capstone courses given through dis-
tance education in Turkey» raised a problem that the experiment participants, knowing
the time and space advantages of distance education but they do not use the system
because they are not given sufficient information and they do not know how to use it
[11].
3 The Issue
The process of competences development cannot be implemented without understand-
ing the tasks of future alumni. The constituent parts of IT competences, such as “to
know”, “to be capable”, and “to own” must be focused on practical activities of the
future specialist. To become effective professionals in the future, the Bachelors of the
course 270302, “Quality management”, during their studies need to master a large num-
ber of programs as well as principles on how to create and use automated systems [7].
Also, they must learn to find rational economic solutions and to analyze massive infor-
mation arrays using special software.
First, students must explore CALS-technology [3]. This software helps to form
united data space in the enterprise’s multi-functional system; it allows keeping all in-
formation in digital format, which increases the effectiveness of complex technologies
during their usage. “CALS-method determines information space (IS) for the whole
enterprise and accumulates all information about the production, which makes CALS-
method the only data source (direct data exchange between the participants of the prod-
uct’s life cycle is impossible), formed following international industrial standards.”
(last accessed 2019/04/21). While studying ISO 9001-2015, students master the process
approach, based on the chain “plan – do – check – act” [7]. Development of quality
520
management technologies is accompanied by the process quality analysis, used in mod-
eling of business-projects. FMEA-analysis represents contemporary technology in pro-
cess analyzing. It has standard result presentation forms and technology of conduction.
This analysis is based on the expert evaluation, given by a group of highly qualified
specialists. (Kaysi, 2018). The effectiveness of analysis depends on how well the stu-
dents manage “the quality control instruments”, which contain: control lists, Cause-
and-Effect-Diagram, Pareto, dispersion, affinity diagram, mind map, dendrogram, ma-
trix diagram, arrow diagram, process chart, priority matrix, etc. To form these charts
the Bachelors in Engineering Sciences need to master contemporary Information Tech-
nologies [15– 17].
The students of Engineering Sciences in the Chelyabinsk State University, within
the specified courses purposefully develop General Professional Competences during
lections and practical classes. The courses include “Contemporary information systems
and technologies”, “Information technologies in quality management”, “Database man-
agement systems”, “Engineering Graphics”, “Computer graphics”, “Packages of appli-
cation programs”. General Professional Competencies include [1, 5, 9, 10, 17]:
─ capability to use basic software and information technologies applied in professional
activity; (GPC-4);
─ capability to perform standard tasks of professional activity within information and
bibliographical culture, applying information and communication technologies fol-
lowing major requirements of information security. (GPC-3) (last accessed
2019/04/21).
The competences considered above form basis for mastering the following profes-
sional disciplines, necessary for the specialists in quality control sphere; for example,
“Quality and means of quality management”, “Statistical methods in quality manage-
ment”, “Documentary providing for quality management systems”, “Mathematical
methods of modeling in economics”, “Project management”, etc. Process of studying
these disciplines is directly connected with the necessity to use data processing tech-
nologies in various applications such as text editors, tabular processors, database man-
agement systems, mathematical editors, graphic editors, and other applications with
necessary functions; for instance, management of the project, stock, and product’s life
cycle.
The authors into several stages divide the development of information competences.
The first stage starts at school when fundamental knowledge, which is used and devel-
oped later at the University, is received. In this connection, the quality of school edu-
cation influences the effectiveness of mastering information at the University. Taking
into account the necessity of life-long education, the authors pay special attention to the
motivation aspect of the studying process. The low productivity of students in the pro-
cess of mastering disciplines mentioned above can be explained by a low level of mo-
tivation, insufficient basic Computer Science knowledge, discrepancies between edu-
cational programs and forms of education, and other reasons.
521
In this connection, the article is aimed to study the formation of IT-competences
within all forms of education. To this end, the authors conduct pedagogical research,
involving future Bachelors of Engineering Sciences with different forms of education.
The survey includes surveillance and questioning; the participants are divided into two
groups: the first group consists of 66 first-year students and represents distance educa-
tion, while the second group includes 12 first-year students representing full-time edu-
cation.
In the beginning, the research is oriented towards students’ motivation level in the
process of studying the following disciplines: “Contemporary information systems”,
and “Information technologies in quality management”. The results of the monitoring
show that extrinsic motivation prevails. The majority of students involved in research
have full access to computer equipment that is why the number of hours spent at com-
puters can be considered sufficient. The Internet is commonly used among students.
More than 25% of students spend time on Internet playing games, almost 50% work in
different applications and do homework. 90 % of research participants use the Internet
to find information for studies and everyday information; 60% read news, magazines,
books; 40% visit online stores.
The next stage of the research discovers that after school graduation, many students
have no idea of how many useful programs and utilities for their studies exist. These
applications work with all types of information processing and make studies much eas-
ier and more interesting. Students master some programs for studies in school (without
taking into consideration MS Office), but only by initiative of their teacher and under
teacher’s surveillance they study programs’ interface and functionality. However, the
experience of such type cannot be considered as significant. It is demonstrated in Table
1, formed based on first-year students questioning.
According to Table 1, during the period of school education students master no extra
software. Therefore, they have to do it during their studies at the University.
To form competences in IT disciplines (GPC-4, GPC-3), full-time students’ educa-
tional plan includes lections, laboratory practice with step-by-step instructions and tu-
tor’s comments, self-education tasks, participation in conferences, writing works or es-
says on scientific issues. All the tasks are performed with the tutor’s feedback. Students,
taking correspondence courses or preferring distance education, generally study disci-
plines themselves, according to their educational plan. Modern technologies, for in-
stance, real-time remote consultations (with the application of Tanberg system, used in
the University); lections, recorded on digital media; e-mail exchange between students
and professors (using e-mail services); knowledge check via studying management sys-
tem (Moodle) are supposed to make Internet-based learning as effective as full-time
education.
522
Table 1. Level of proficiency in software and utilities at school
Distance education Full-time education
Programs and utilities Quantity of Quantity of
% %
respondents respondents
Systems of machine translation, and automated anal-
ysis of unstructured text in Russian or a foreign lan- 4 6% 1 8,3%
guage
Social science training program 1 1,5% 0 0,%
Algebra and geometry training program 1 1,5% 1 8,3%
Software for mathematical diagrams 1 1,5% 0 0%
Foreign language simulator 2 3% 0 0%
Programs for Computer Science studying 1 1,5% 2 16,7%
MS Word 52 78,8% 7 58,3%
MS Excel 38 57,6% 5 41,7%
MS Power Point 31 47% 6 50%
On-line software for mathematical calculation 3 4,6% 0 0%
MS Access 1 1,5% 1 8,3%
Photomath – mobile application, “calculating cam-
era” uses a smartphone’s camera to recognize math-
3 4,6% 2 16,7%
ematical equations and demonstrate systematic solu-
tions on the smartphone’s display.
None 5 7,6% 0 0%
The Table lists applied software and utilities from students’ questionnaire
The development of IT-competences focused on mastering software and information
technologies are performed within several disciplines. So, text, numeric, graphic data
editing technologies, realized in software, such as MS Word, MS Excel, MS Power-
Point, COMPASS-3D, Mathcad, etc., are studied during laboratory practice within such
disciplines as: “Contemporary information systems and technologies”, “Information
technologies in quality management”, “Engineering Graphics”, “Computer graphics”,
“Packages of application programs”. Technologies of data storage and processing using
relational databases, realized in DBMS MS Access, are studied within “Database man-
agement systems”. Mastering other applications and utilities, that could be useful for
studying or for future professional activity (AutoCAD, FreeCAD, MS InfoPath, MS
Publisher, Scilab, Lightroom, ABBYY FineReader, SNOSKA.INFO, the virtual voice
assistant for foreign language learning), is supposed to be done within self-education
work. The results of software mastering are reflected in full-time students’ reports pre-
sented during conferences, where they give examples of programs and utility applica-
tion during their studies within other disciplines, and during their future professional
activity. Distance learning students perform their tasks via standard MS Office pro-
grams; they are provided with methodological instructions and a list of research direc-
tions for independent study.
The results of questioning help to reveal actual proficiency levels in data processing
applications, programs, and utilities among students (Table 2). A quality indicator is
523
not critical in this case; the fact itself of using applications and software during studies
has much more meaning for the research.
Table 2. Students’ proficiency level in software and utilities at the University
Distance education Full-time education
Quantity
Programs and utilities Quantity of
% of re- %
respondents
spondents
MS Word 66 100 11 91,7
MS Excel 56 84,9 10 83,3
MS Power Point 60 90,9 10 83,3
MS Access 8 12 3 25
COMPASS-3D 0 0 1 8,3
Mathcad 0 0 1 8,3
Skilab 0 0 1 8,3
AutoCAD 5 7,6 3 25
MS InfoPath 1 1,5 0 0
MS Publisher 1 1,5 1 8,3
Lightroom 11 16,7 0 0
FreeCAD 8 12 1 8,3
PhotoMath (Android, IOS) 23 34,9 1 8,3
ABBYY FineReader 5 7,6 2 16,7
WinDjView 0 0 1 8,33
Multitran 6 9 0 0
SMath Studio 1 1,5 0 0
Virtual voice assistant for foreign
9 13,6 2 16,7
language learning
SNOSKA.INFO 1 1,5 0 0
BPsimulator 0 0 0 0
None 6 9 0 0
As we see in Table 2, during studies at the University students generally master
widespread software, for instance, MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint, and other
useful assistants, for example, PhotoMath which helps in laboratory practice. It should
be noted, that these programs also have the highest proficiency level indicator in the
school period (Table 1).
Creative tasks, connected with mastering different software, are considered as diffi-
cult and do not cause much interest among students. It turns out that a new interface
along with the necessity to translate manual written in English creates serious obstacles
in the process of mastering the functionality of new software. During independent stud-
ies, full-time students regularly consult with professors. As for distance education stu-
dents, for the majority such consultations are difficult to receive, because online lec-
tions are limited in time, and e-mail exchange cannot replace real communication and
cover all the aspects of questions. We cannot disagree with distance education re-
searcher F. Kyasi, who points out the importance of sufficient information in the pro-
cess of distance courses realization, and interaction with tutors or lecturers (2018).
524
4 Results and recommendations
According to the authors, despite all the advantages of distance education (individual
schedule, availability, mobility, social equality, etc.), this education form is restricted
by at least three main factors:
1. Lack of motivation along with insufficient stimulus to study;
2. Low responsibility, the inability of students to organize their work properly;
3. Insufficient communication between tutors and students.
Studying the results of students questioning, we agree with K. Shapiro (2016). “Com-
petences don’t form momentarily; it’s a lifelong process, which depends on student’s
educational capabilities”. “Self-education can be productive only as a part of...the triad:
collective education for everyone – education in groups – self-education”. In this con-
nection, according to the authors, the most preferable form of education for Russian
students would be a mixed one. It combines distance communication via the Internet
with real-life communication between students and tutors, especially during the first
years of education. In this case, on certain stage students and tutors have the opportunity
to adapt to distance form of education demanding from student's capabilities to study.
At the same time, tutors have time to prepare specific content for students using the
interactive mobile area (tutor’s site or education management system Moodle), which
contains training and methodical materials, links to digital resources, essential for stud-
ying disciplines, links to extra material (if necessary), tests, instruments to attach files
with homework or creative tasks. The combined form of education has the potential to
decrease the negative influence of the factors mentioned above. Tutors can form mo-
tives and find stimulus for students, teach them to organize studying activity, and es-
tablish feedback mechanisms with students. Besides, we recommend verifying compe-
tences proficiency level with system tests of actualizing binary models through the ed-
ucation management system (Moodle in our case). These tests are developed by one of
the authors, A. Popova (2000). Tests are individual and contain the next features: equifi-
nality, fixation of difficulties through the process of content mastering, determination
of strategies to overcome the difficulties. Using the iterative process with feedback cy-
cles, we observe positive dynamics in the process of IT-competences mastering with
the application of this instrument.
References
1. Atutov P. (1999). Polytechnic education: encyclopedia of professional education: in 2 v., –
V. 2. Russian joint-stock company: association "Professional education", Moscow. Т. 2.8,
p. 284
2. Bentaib M., Talbi M., Touri B. (2019). Integration of a computer device for learning and
training situations: The case of Faculty of Sciences Ben M'sik (FBSM). International Journal
of Emerging Technologies in Learning. 14(3), p. 243-249
3. CALS – technologies. Information and Education. Available at: http://info-
tehnologii.ru/cals/index.html (Accessed 2019/04/21).
525
4. Contreras-Mendieta J.A., Sarango-Lapo C.P., Jara-Roa D.I., Agila-Palacios M.V. (2019).
Implementación de un laboratorio remoto (LR), como recurso de apoyo en un sistema de
educación a distancia [Implementation of a remote laboratory (LR), as a support resource
in an education system at distance]. RISTI - Revista Iberica de Sistemas e Tecnologias de
Informacao (E17), p. 923-935
5. Encyclopedia of Economics. Available at: http://economy-ru.info/info/16276.pdf (Accessed
2019/04/19).
6. Federal state educational standard of higher education/training direction 27.03.02. Quality
control. Available at: http://fgosvo.ru/270302.pdf (Accessed 2019/04/21).
7. GOST P ISO 9001-2015 (ISO 9001:2015), Quality management systems - Fundamentals
and vocabulary. Available at: https://catalogue.normdocs.ru/?Type=searchre-
sult&devs=com.normdocs.dict.developer.record.iso& actual=true&
yclid=3158559795889055240.Pdf (Accessed 2019/04/21).
8. Hong B., Wei Z., Yang Y. (2019). A two-layer cascading method for dropout prediction in
MOOC. Mechatronic Systems and Control 47(2), p. 91-97.
9. Informatika v obrazovanii [Computer Science in education]. (2018). Vol. 17, № 1, p. 21-44.
Available at: http://infojournal.ru/journals/info/info_01-2018/ (Accessed 2019/04/20).
10. Internet-project Korporativnyy menedzhment [Corporate management] Available at:
https://www.cfin.ru/management/iso9000/iso9000_tech.shtml, last accessed 2019/04/21.
(Accessed 2019/04/20).
11. Kaysi F. (2018). An analysis of capstone courses given through distance education in Tur-
key. International Journal of Distance Education Technologies. 16(3), p. 1-17. DOI:
10.4018/ijdet.2018070101
12. Lebedev A.A. (2019). Distance education as a driver of the new technologies implementa-
tion. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology. 10(1), p. 1597-1611.
13. Lebedev A.A. (2019). Modernization of marketing conditions in the implementation of re-
mote education programs. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology. 10(1),
p. 1612-1630.
14. Li H. (2019). Construction of distance teaching platform based on mobile communication
technology. International Journal of Civil Engineering and Technology 10(1), p. 1597-1611.
DOI: 10.1504/IJNVO.2019.096612
15. Ordov K., Madiyarova A., Ermilov V., Tovma N., Murzagulova M. (2019). New trends in
education as the aspect of digital technologies. International Journal of Mechanical Engi-
neering and Technology. 10(2), p. 1319-1330.
16. Popova A.A. (2000). Teoreticheskiye osnovy podgotovki uchitelya k diagnosticheskoy
deyatel'nosti [Fundamental theory for teacher’s diagnostic activity]. Ph D. thesis: 13.00.01
p. 181.
17. Shapiro K.V. (2016). Setevyye tekhnologii dlya organizatsii obrazovatel'nogo protsessa s
ispol'zovaniyem distantsionnykh obrazovatel'nykh tekhnologiy [Network technologies for
educational process organization using distance education technologies]. Molodoy uchenyy
- Young Scientist, pp. 42-45. Available at: https://moluch.ru/archive/123/32613/ (Accessed
2019/04/24).
18. Turker Y.A., Baynal K., Turker T. (2019). The evaluation of learning management systems
by using Fuzzy AHP, fuzzy topsis and an integrated method: A case study. Turkish Online
Journal of Distance Education. 20(2), p. 195-218. DOI:10.17718/tojde.557864