Abstract:

IT Software Project is a course conducted during the last two semesters of studies. Its goal is to get students to prepare a complete IT system on the basis of the knowledge and skills gained during studies. In the first semester students are designing the system. As part of the project, the system’s implementation takes place during the second semester. The whole process is finished with the solution tests. The project is usually a basis that leads to the preparation of a bachelor thesis. Because of COVID-19, the educational process is realised remotely. The situation forced an introduction of significant changes in the methods and tools used during the course.

In the paper we attempt to assess how the change of the teaching process from a stationary to a remote one has influenced the educational process. To do this, four working hypotheses were defined:
H1. Remote teaching of a Team IT Software Project course is as effective as stationary one.
H2. The software available to students allows them to realise their work effectively without personal meetings.
H3. Remote teaching has advantages over traditional classes.
H4. Results obtained by students and their work rate is similar to that of the traditional form of the course.

In order to verify the above hypotheses, an analysis of results obtained by students taking a remote course was compared to those obtained by students finishing the course in the traditional form. Additionally, a group of 30 students finishing the IT Software Project course were surveyed. These students have taken a part of the course in the traditional form before lockdown, and a part remotely. They were asked about their experiences of both forms of participation in the course.

The analysis carried out revealed that the results obtained by the two groups of students are similar. Both the work rate and the final project quality is similar. An interesting thing is the opinion of the students. They prefer remote participation in the course, because of its additional possibilities. Students also underline the fact of using various tools to support group work that enables them to keep a good pace of work without the necessity of personal meetings.

Keywords:

Team project, remote working, group work tools, lockdown.