Abstract:

Today, the sphere of education is beginning to shift focus on the customer’s needs, therefore, educational programs are aimed at the formation of competitive personnel. Our team from the Ural Federal University has been updating and improving the educational process of IT students for more than 10 years. During this time, we managed to introduce a project-based learning, within the framework of which a student's self-determination takes place to build an individual educational trajectory. Thus, students develop a whole set of soft and hard skills to become valuable employees in the labor market.

In the 2020 academic year, the COVID-19 pandemic has changed the organization of the educational process, including realization and management of project-based learning. Team meetings with tutors and customers went online. An information network was created in the popular social networks Vkontakte, Telegram, where the organizers communicated online: conducted streams, made announcements and gave students feedback.

The aim of the presented study is to analyze the impact of the transition of project-based learning to distance learning on the effectiveness of project education, based on student assessments for project workshops during the COVID-19 pandemic.

The objectives of the study were: analysis of the methodology for the project defense in distance learning; analysis of the experience of using messengers (Telegram, WhatsApp), social networks (Vkontakte) and platforms (Trello, Airtable, miro, ПроКомпетенции.рф service) in working on projects; comparing the effectiveness of project-based learning before and during COVID-19 through an independent competency assessment technology developed and applied at the University.

The article discusses the results of project-based learning conducted during the 2020 spring and autumn semesters for undergraduate students of the 2nd, 3rd year in the field of study "Informatics and Computer Technology" of one of the largest Russian universities, Ural Federal University (Yekaterinburg).

Keywords:

Project-based learning, distance learning, COVID-19.