**2. Distance learning technologies and maintaining process**

#### **2.1 Model of educational system based on the Internet**

The principal participants of distance learning process are students, teachers-tutors and managers of an educational process. Using the Internet-technologies students can be in any corner of the Earth and have access to information resources of the university via a global network. Also teachers are not obliged to work with students, being in the university building. Nowadays one may have an access to the Internet from one's home, a car, while on board a plane etc. The necessary condition for organization of the Internet-training is availability of a Web-server, a database and a management system of training at university. In order to organize the network training activity via the Internet three conditions should be met: creation of information-educational environment, organization of feedback between students and teachers and management of training process (Day & Foley, 2006; Sakkopoulos et al., 2006; Spoelder, 1999).

Fig. 1 shows the model of the network educational system in the form of a cube with network technologies, based on the Internet channels, incorporated into its foundation. The second layer of this cubic model presents information technologies implemented in the Internet. At last, the third layer of the cube and its top presents to the educational technologies incorporated in the triune educational system that includes electronic educational environment, means for information interaction and means for management of training process.

Internet channels and such tools of information technologies as hypertext, multimedia, Webservers; transmission facilities in the form of e-mail, teleconferences, file transfers; software for PCs stand for basic elements of a distance educational system in the cubic model on fig. 1. Basic elements of the educational system such as electronic teaching materials forming the educational environment; communication means used for contact and control of knowledge; management facilities of training process including database management system, automated workplace of the teacher, electronic dean's office are created on the basis of didactic properties and functions of initial elements.

pedagogical usefulness of electronic educational environment. It also requires alterations in information interaction between students and teachers in new educational environment.

This chapter presents some important aspects of modern approaches to engineering education. The Section 2 describes the model of the network educational system, based on the Internet technologies, and learning process maintenance system with its support by automated subsystems. The Sections 3.1 and 3.2 describe issues of management of students' learning-cognitive activity by means of introduction of self-directed learning (SDL), specify the cognition process as an iterative process of obtaining new knowledge and introduce dynamic training elements (DTE) designed on the principle of the cybernetic model of cognitive process. The Sections 3.3 and 3.4 demonstrate the usage of remote access laboratories and analyze issues of pedagogic value and pedagogical usefulness of electronic educational environment. The Section 3.5 discusses issues of information interaction between students and teachers in new educational environment. The section 4 suggests the new method of quality evaluation of distance learning process. The section 5 contains conclusions and discussions. In the Appendix the best practice of applications of modern

The principal participants of distance learning process are students, teachers-tutors and managers of an educational process. Using the Internet-technologies students can be in any corner of the Earth and have access to information resources of the university via a global network. Also teachers are not obliged to work with students, being in the university building. Nowadays one may have an access to the Internet from one's home, a car, while on board a plane etc. The necessary condition for organization of the Internet-training is availability of a Web-server, a database and a management system of training at university. In order to organize the network training activity via the Internet three conditions should be met: creation of information-educational environment, organization of feedback between students and teachers and management of training process (Day & Foley, 2006; Sakkopoulos

Fig. 1 shows the model of the network educational system in the form of a cube with network technologies, based on the Internet channels, incorporated into its foundation. The second layer of this cubic model presents information technologies implemented in the Internet. At last, the third layer of the cube and its top presents to the educational technologies incorporated in the triune educational system that includes electronic educational environment, means for information interaction and means for management of

Internet channels and such tools of information technologies as hypertext, multimedia, Webservers; transmission facilities in the form of e-mail, teleconferences, file transfers; software for PCs stand for basic elements of a distance educational system in the cubic model on fig. 1. Basic elements of the educational system such as electronic teaching materials forming the educational environment; communication means used for contact and control of knowledge; management facilities of training process including database management system, automated workplace of the teacher, electronic dean's office are created on the basis of

approaches to engineering education is described.

et al., 2006; Spoelder, 1999).

training process.

**2.1 Model of educational system based on the Internet** 

didactic properties and functions of initial elements.

**2. Distance learning technologies and maintaining process** 

Fig. 1. The model of the network educational system based on network information technologies.

#### **2.2 Learning process maintenance**

To provide of the Internet-training process organization and its management, a corresponding environment should be created: organizational-administrative maintenance; technical maintenance; methodical maintenance; marketing maintenance; legal maintenance; financial-accounting and economic maintenance (fig. 2).

The important elements of training process organization are preparation and constant updating of an educational material on a Web-site. It should meet the requirements of selfsufficiency (i.e. to contain all necessary for independent studying), interactivities (i.e. to provide the maximal information interaction between a trainee and an educational institution), availability (i.e. to give an opportunity of access to any available resources), motivation (i.e. to interest a trainee to work with a material), multimedia (i.e. to use the text, figures, sound, animation, video, etc.). All this demands greater time inputs for performing functions of the control over preparation and updating of an educational material.

Development and administrative support of a database plays a significant role because the number of trainees can reach several thousand persons, the number of disciplines can change from several tens up to several hundreds. The duty of the personnel, engaged in training process planning, includes drawing up curricula of courses, schedules of study, timetables of tests and examinations, i.e. preparation of all planning documentation without which a training process is impossible. Preparation of curricula, schedules, timetables can be

Distance Learning: Modern Approaches to Engineering Education 153

Educational services in the Internet-training system are chargeable, as a rule. Thereby educational institutions put their production on the market of educational services. These are the basic steps of marketing activity aimed at a the final goal: to admit students, course participants, named afterwards trainees, to the educational institution and sign study

The educational institutions with a wide network of branches, and as result, a great number of students, faced serious problems at early stages of distance learning introduction. It was necessary to cope with processing of plenty of documents by limited staff effort. It was not easy to monitor the training process on a regular basis and to track the fulfillment tasks done by each student who followed individual schedules of training. Thus, the process of distance learning administrating required automation. The characteristic of a program

*Subsystem of user authorization* identifies the process of the users work with the Internettraining system. It checks the entered name and the password of a user and allows viewing the information. The block of authorization forms only that information which is needed for a particular user (administrator, student, teacher). It is aimed at facilitating user's work.

*Subsystem of user access rights' assignment* is meant for the system administrator. It allows the administrator to adjust the level of access to information resources for each particular user. Access to the given block is provided only for the exclusive users having the rights of the administrator. To get an access to the closed parts of the Web-site the passwords are needed. They are assigned automatically by means of *the subsystem of users' passwords assignment*. To create passwords special algorithms similar to encoding ones are used. It is done to get

*Subsystem of input and editing information about students* has the name "Student". Using this system, the administrator can enter and edit all necessary information about students: personal data (First, middle and last names, date of a birth, address, phone, E-mail), education background (the name of the educational institution one graduated from), place

*Subsystem of input and editing of teachers' data* has the name "Teacher". Besides a surname, the first name and patronymics of a teacher, his/her contact data (phone, E-mail, etc.), the list of the disciplines supervised by the teacher and codes of student's groups are placed in

*Using the subsystem of the students' progress' record,* the administrator can enter and edit the data: about current and final progress of students; deadlines for submitting the tasks to the teacher to be check; timetables of tests and examination; examination and tests results, and also terms and results of final tests and examinations. This subsystem has the name

*Subsystem of teaching load's record* is used to count the amount of tasks done by students the teacher has checked , their the group code, names and disciplines. A similar subsystem demands storage of files with students' works and files with teachers' reviews. It is worth mentioning, that not all institutes of higher education dare adopt the automated teaching

load account. The administrator and the teachers are the users of this subsystem.

complex "the electronic dean's office" is availability of various subsystems.

reliable means of the information protection.

of employment (name of an enterprise, address, contacts).

the database. The administrator is the user of this subsystem.

contracts with them.

"Progress".

Fig. 2. Organization of the Internet-training process.

done manually by the personnel or by means of various automated tools. In any case all necessary documents should be placed on a Web-server available to various categories of users.

The primary means of public communication is a forum. Unlike the electronic bulletin board, which is an unidirectional means of communications, a forum, as well as an e-mail, make it possible to organize public communication. A trainee can ask any question and receive appropriate explanations. Distance learning based on telecommunication and information technologies needs serious technical support. Availability of a local network and several servers in leads to the necessity to administrate of a network and servers. It means that it is necessary to exercise the complex of technical and organizational activities on support of viability of a network and servers and maintenance of their normal operation. It is well known that the main carrier of the educational information is the Web-server. Webpages containing a teaching material and information needed to organize a training process should be created and function on the Web-server. Lest the information become outdated on the Web-pages, it should to be updated constantly.

To organize an electronic testing, it is necessary to develop the program shell which would make possible to enter and change the contents of tests easily must be developed, in which it is possible to put. Such program shell make it possible to check tests by means of automated supervising programs located on a server, and handled without participation of teachers in this process. The main concern of teaches is to follow up-to-date information technologies. However, in real life the situation is warring: a great number of teachers has never used the e-mail and never or very seldom worked in the Internet. Some of the teachers do not know how to use a computer. It is a rather serious program and it can be solved only by teachers' practical training. The keystone to success in the organization the Internet-training is a constant methodical support of training process, permanent training of teachers' and exchange of experience between teachers.

done manually by the personnel or by means of various automated tools. In any case all necessary documents should be placed on a Web-server available to various categories of

The primary means of public communication is a forum. Unlike the electronic bulletin board, which is an unidirectional means of communications, a forum, as well as an e-mail, make it possible to organize public communication. A trainee can ask any question and receive appropriate explanations. Distance learning based on telecommunication and information technologies needs serious technical support. Availability of a local network and several servers in leads to the necessity to administrate of a network and servers. It means that it is necessary to exercise the complex of technical and organizational activities on support of viability of a network and servers and maintenance of their normal operation. It is well known that the main carrier of the educational information is the Web-server. Webpages containing a teaching material and information needed to organize a training process should be created and function on the Web-server. Lest the information become outdated on

To organize an electronic testing, it is necessary to develop the program shell which would make possible to enter and change the contents of tests easily must be developed, in which it is possible to put. Such program shell make it possible to check tests by means of automated supervising programs located on a server, and handled without participation of teachers in this process. The main concern of teaches is to follow up-to-date information technologies. However, in real life the situation is warring: a great number of teachers has never used the e-mail and never or very seldom worked in the Internet. Some of the teachers do not know how to use a computer. It is a rather serious program and it can be solved only by teachers' practical training. The keystone to success in the organization the Internet-training is a constant methodical support of training process, permanent training of teachers' and

Fig. 2. Organization of the Internet-training process.

the Web-pages, it should to be updated constantly.

exchange of experience between teachers.

users.

Educational services in the Internet-training system are chargeable, as a rule. Thereby educational institutions put their production on the market of educational services. These are the basic steps of marketing activity aimed at a the final goal: to admit students, course participants, named afterwards trainees, to the educational institution and sign study contracts with them.

The educational institutions with a wide network of branches, and as result, a great number of students, faced serious problems at early stages of distance learning introduction. It was necessary to cope with processing of plenty of documents by limited staff effort. It was not easy to monitor the training process on a regular basis and to track the fulfillment tasks done by each student who followed individual schedules of training. Thus, the process of distance learning administrating required automation. The characteristic of a program complex "the electronic dean's office" is availability of various subsystems.

*Subsystem of user authorization* identifies the process of the users work with the Internettraining system. It checks the entered name and the password of a user and allows viewing the information. The block of authorization forms only that information which is needed for a particular user (administrator, student, teacher). It is aimed at facilitating user's work.

*Subsystem of user access rights' assignment* is meant for the system administrator. It allows the administrator to adjust the level of access to information resources for each particular user. Access to the given block is provided only for the exclusive users having the rights of the administrator. To get an access to the closed parts of the Web-site the passwords are needed. They are assigned automatically by means of *the subsystem of users' passwords assignment*. To create passwords special algorithms similar to encoding ones are used. It is done to get reliable means of the information protection.

*Subsystem of input and editing information about students* has the name "Student". Using this system, the administrator can enter and edit all necessary information about students: personal data (First, middle and last names, date of a birth, address, phone, E-mail), education background (the name of the educational institution one graduated from), place of employment (name of an enterprise, address, contacts).

*Subsystem of input and editing of teachers' data* has the name "Teacher". Besides a surname, the first name and patronymics of a teacher, his/her contact data (phone, E-mail, etc.), the list of the disciplines supervised by the teacher and codes of student's groups are placed in the database. The administrator is the user of this subsystem.

*Using the subsystem of the students' progress' record,* the administrator can enter and edit the data: about current and final progress of students; deadlines for submitting the tasks to the teacher to be check; timetables of tests and examination; examination and tests results, and also terms and results of final tests and examinations. This subsystem has the name "Progress".

*Subsystem of teaching load's record* is used to count the amount of tasks done by students the teacher has checked , their the group code, names and disciplines. A similar subsystem demands storage of files with students' works and files with teachers' reviews. It is worth mentioning, that not all institutes of higher education dare adopt the automated teaching load account. The administrator and the teachers are the users of this subsystem.

Distance Learning: Modern Approaches to Engineering Education 155

student's initiative is demonstrated, the student's need in obtaining learning information will not be satisfied, if there is no source of information or no bearer of information, i.e. the teacher. Since the organizer of a learning process is a teacher, the teacher may be considered as the subject of a learning process. In this case the student acts as the object of a learning

The term "interaction" implies counter activity: actions like "object-subject". The moment of interaction happens when the subject, who conveys information, receives information about the object's state via feedback channels and, what is most important, the subject learns of the changes, which occur in the object at the end of interaction. The feedback allows the teacher

Learning and education mean control of human knowledge. Mechanism of learning and education is subject-object relations in info-interaction. The goal of learning and education is to teach an individual to solve nonstandard problems, which require unconventional approach. In turn, students are supposed to have high level of intelligence and abilities to think independently. The main objective of any learning is to form student's intelligence and prepare the student to a certain intellectual (professional) activity. Intelligence cannot develop out of info-interaction. The analysis of subject-object relations shows that this activity is based on the following circumstances. Cognition process occurs due to specific mechanism which is termed information interaction. Info-interaction rests on subject-object relations established between the subject (teacher) and the object (student). An object's activity depends on a subject's activity: a teacher may reduce student's cognitive interest or on the contrary, develop a student's interest to the level on which high intellectual abilities are formed. If there is a feedback channel from an object to a subject, the subject can improve

When the conditions needed for SDL are created, the most essential thing for an object is his/her ability for self-direction, self-control, self-education and self-development. In this case, the student is transformed into a true subject of learning-cognitive activity; furthermore activity of the student's information interaction is considerably increasing. Only an active person proving to be an individual in learning and influencing the whole learning process and progress in learning may act as the subject of learning-cognitive

One of the major problems for teachers is to create an educational environment that allows students to direct their own learning-cognitive activity (Garofalakis et.al., 2002; Gick & Holyoak, 1987; Glaserfeld, 1989). Self-directed learning assumed particular importance at the time when on-line learning came into existence (Evans & Sabry, 2003; Dearholf et al., 2004). According to the theory of self-directed learning, a student builds his/her own learning and cognitive activity within the framework of the model developed by the

As an example one of facilities to implement the self-directed learning process in the on-line course using dynamic training elements (DTE) have been designed on the principle of the cybernetic model of cognitive process management (Bannan-Ritland, 2002; Krouk & Zhuravleva 2009). With DTE introduced into the learning process students can direct their

process, for his/her sake the subject starts producing information.

the object's learning-cognitive activity and create conditions for SDL.

**3.2 A cybernetic approach to cognitive evolution: the DTE model** 

to improve methods and means of teaching.

instructor (Petridis et al., 2003; Spoelder, 1999).

activity.

*Subsystem of curricula's revision* gives an opportunity to edit the list of disciplines studied in every semester on all specialties of distance learning, to establish all kinds of studies on each discipline, to connect each studied discipline with certain teachers. For users' convenience the search engines and filtrations of the information are built in the subsystem. The administrator is the user of this subsystem.

*Subsystem of reports' generation* serve to get such reports as: lists of students in groups, the information showing progress of each student in group and in subject and etc. This subsystem include a search engine and filtrations of the information which help to find and filter an information about particular student progress easily and quickly. The administraror and the teachers are the users of this subsystem.
