DOROFEYEV, Vladimir & SHEVTSOV, Leonid
16 Lenin Avenue Alchevsk, 349104 Lugansk region, Ukraine, rector@dgmi.al.lg.ua
Abstract: in this article is given an account to conception of educational system in technical higher educational establishment of Ukraine during the period of transition to market relations.
Developed educational plans are calculated on two-stepped form of education - Bachelors and Masters.
It is considered the questions for organizing the independent work of students and possibilities of its objective estimation. It is given the results of researches of complex quantity estimation of students' activity at the three main directions: determination of IQ, studying rating and physical training of students.
Received data about student help in managing the educational process and forecasting the quality of graduated specialists.
Solving the question about quality of graduated specialists is closely linked not only with the organization of independent students' work and its estimation, but also with the person of student himself, his potential opportunities. To estimate the quality of students' work the parameters (indexes) were introduced, which characterize the person: intellectual level and studying rating. This complex kvalimetrial estimation of students' activity in the higher educational establishment is carrying out in Donbass Mining and Metallurgical Institute for nearly 10 years.
Every of the pointed out parameters are estimated in marks, and its sum is the index of quality students work during all period of studying.
To estimate the educational work the 100-points mark system was introduced. The student is considered the advanced when he gets 60 and more points on every subject. In enclosure to diploma it is showed the general sum taken by student for the all period of studying at all subjects. This method determine the studying rating.
Psychological testing is carrying out according to world famous methods for the 1-st year and 4-th year students (on the "entrance" and "exit").
Offered method allow managing of teaching process, to forecast the quality of teaching, to activate the independent students work, to estimate the work of concrete teacher and chair in whole.
Keywords: rating, IQ, index of progress, testing
The transition of Ukraine to market economy put the range of complex problems to all educational system especially to engineers. Solving of these problems was complicated by insufficient state financial supply, by reorientation some part of entrants to most popular non-engineering directions, necessity of Ukraine to achieve self-providing in training specialists and in this case lower the achieved level of engineering training in our technical higher educational establishment.
The experience of our teachers worked in universities and institutes of other countries showed that although the engineer's training scheme was different from ours and sometimes had narrow specialization, but the quality training level of the most of our graduates was in accordance with the technical level achieved in developed countries. But the experience of teaching in two-stage scheme of higher educational showed that, using it, one can improve the training of elite part of students and to decrease the common expenses for training the necessary quantity of specialists for industry.
Having analyzed the duties which are fulfilled by our graduates-engineers we paid attention that the main mass of them are engaged in routine work on the level of executors of technical decisions developed by others and do not have duties in searching and designing of new decisions. Conditionally we named them "the line specialists". These are foremen, shift-heads and district-heads and similar specialists. Their main obligation, as for our opinion, is the literate realization of existing technologies and exploitation of machines and devices of corresponding productions.
The second category of our graduates concludes those who as a matter of fact fulfil the role of engineer: work out new constructions, technologies, methods of work. It is just these people are the carriers of new ideas. It is just they improve old elaborations, propose new technical ideas. They are the mere elite of industry. Formerly there were said that 1% of engineers give 99% of new decisions. This category we have named "the innovator".
There is some more the third category which is engaged in systematization of new decisions, searching of experimental data, allowing to formulate the demands to modern technologies, devices, machines and to select the materials and processing methods suitable for creating new machines and technologies. With another words they create scientific base for new future technologies. We have named this category "the workers of science".
Different tasks laying down to representatives of these three categories of industrial workers, naturally, require various methods of approach and training them as on educational level as regards maintenance of studying disciplines.
Having analyzed the level of giving marks on the exams and tests we make a conclusion that index of absolute progress without resitting the "unsatisfactory" marks is the index determining maximum number of possible graduates. It is fluctuate near 85%. Among them there is a group of students, having good and excellent success in all subjects on the two first courses. This is our "elite", to our mind, who deserved to get the maximum volume of knowledge. This figure is nearly 35-38%.
Proceeding from turning out experience at our institute we can say that among all entering to the 1-st course, nearly 15% of them leave the institute, and others in accordance with legislation of Ukraine get the Bachelor's diploma in corresponding direction. It is worth while 40-50% of them to transfer on the second stage of education. During last years according to the resolution of government the training term of engineer was determined no more the 5 years, and for Master - 5-6 years. Although these shortenings of training terms of engineers have complicated the forming of educational plans but ordering terms still allow provide the normal level of training. Competitive transfer of bachelors to the next stage of training also assisted for that.
Using of this competition has been the powerful factor of motivation of students in fight for the best marks, and under the remaining of demands on the hand of teachers to increasing the student's knowledge. So, for the last five years the number of the excited marks (more then 71points) under 100-point mark system increased from 47-51% to 71-77% without any additional measures.
Now we are working on the organization of competitive transition from the learning of general scientific and general technical subjects to the stage of learning the specialty - the second part of Bachelor's training.
Here we hope for the intensification of educational work on the hand of students.
For the most impartial estimation of students training in our institute it is used information not only about current progress but also about intellectual potential of the student, about his success and failures in study.
During the eight years of testing students in our institute there was drawing out the system allowed to help student in developing of his strong sides with maximum efficiency and increasing his knowledge in those directions, where he has bad training.
By this there was appeared the opportunity to give the quantitative estimation of teaching quality as for separate teachers as for chairs, faculties and institute in whole. This system is based on the using of data about intellectual potentiality of students and about current progress.
Changing the 5-points mark system to the 100-points mark system allowed us to pass from subjective to objective estimation of teachers work quality. When average students contingent on the course is nearly 950 people, the average progress (fig. 1) keep within normal curve of distribution.
Analogous form is suitable for the curve reflecting the intellectual potential of students (fig.2) what it is impossible to say about the results of checking-up knowledge on separate subjects (fig 3-4). Here the deflection from the normality can be explained by non-adequate demand of teachers or by absence of mutual understanding with students during the teaching.
Having the initial statistical data about intellectual potential of students group or flow and data about average point on every educational discipline one can ascertain the objectivity of marks and efficiency of teaching.
It is considered that the main task instead of volume of special knowledge in educational process is as raising of whole intellect as its structure.
Using the adopted test which are applied in USA and Israel we made a conclusion, that with their help one can estimate the work of chairs. So, during the repeated testing of students in the end of fourth course it was established that owing to the course descriptive geometry and graphics the space imagination become better.
The same picture we can see when students answer the mathematical subtests. But the remembering ability remains on the same level. It enables to find the weak link in teaching and make more active the work of students and teachers.
Comparison of the results of testing first-year students and results of testing fourth-year students shows the stable growth of IQ (table 1).
Table 1. Comparative data of intellectual level for the 1-st and 4-th year students
| Entering year |
1991 |
1992 |
1993 |
1994 |
1995 |
|||||
| Course |
1 |
4 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
4 |
1 |
4 |
| I Q index |
98 |
114 |
111 |
121 |
112 |
120 |
99 |
113 |
103 |
108 |
However difference between IQ of the 1-st-year and 4-th-year students on different faculties is not the same, that prompts about existing failures in organizing the educational plans. According to this results we carried out the analysis of work of every faculty and decided the questions concerning as the staff of dean's office as the organization of work of corresponding chairs.
When having the stable initial index IQ, its changing can serve as the model of effective work of educational establishment. Our institute has the highest level of accreditation according to adopted system in Ukraine, but even we have to prove that presence of great quantity of teachers with degrees of Doctors and Candidates of Sciences is the condition promoting increasing of educational level guarantees, but not sufficient. The pursuit for the number of teachers with science degrees has it negative outline - we forget that teachers not the scientist, but teacher, and you being sitting in the hall understand that sometimes brilliant scientist isn't the brilliant lector. I shall not trouble you with the examples, but I should like to insert into the decision of conference the question concerning the conducting of the experiments on estimation of changing IQ in the teaching process in technical universities and institutes as the exponent of quality of educational process.
Our institute is ready for collaboration in this direction with any higher educational establishment. To our opinion this approach can become one of the main in the quality estimation of work of higher educational establishment.
It's suggested the conception of higher engineering education on the basis of two-stepped form of studying - the Bachelors and the Masters. As a result of our work it was developed and is applying now the complex quantity estimation methods of student's activity in higher educational establishment at the main directions: studying rating and intellect
Figure 1. Distribution of the average points during the session for the first year students
Figure 2. Histogram of intellectual index for the first year students
Figure 3. History of Ukraine. Winter session. The first course.
Figure 4. Engineering graphics. Winter session. The first course.