Abstract:

One of the main components of a virtual learning environment, helping students in achieving their educational objectives, is a module that allows to evaluate students’ academic performance at different learning stages (ongoing and milestone evaluation). In today’s connected world, students’ progress evaluation is often done remotely using various tests. The authors of this article have conducted a study of different methods and procedures used for evaluating academic progress and educational process quality. Different types of tests are instrumental in both giving students the required knowledge in different subjects and evaluating the quality of acquired knowledge.

Moscow State University of Food Production (MSUFP) uses a virtual learning environment to assist students in achieving their curriculum goals. This article presents the analysis of results of different types of tests used for ongoing and interim milestone evaluation of academic progress of first, second and third-year intramural students in the age range of 18 to 28 years in general and vocational subjects. The statistical data for this study were collected from the results of interim and final tests conducted during an entire learning course of four years. The obtained statistical results were analyzed using the statistical survey method, with the evaluation of both absolute and relative result values. This method is universal and allows to obtain a quantitative description of statistical distribution. The MSUFP electronic educational environment was used as the platform for academic progress evaluation. This platform supports tests with the following types of questions: calculation questions, short-answer questions, multiple-choice questions, true-false questions and essay questions. The conducted experiment involved determining the correspondence between a certain type of test questions and the number of correct, partially correct and incorrect answers to determine the quality of the educational process based on test results for a certain discipline. Test results for the following disciplines were used as materials for this study: “Informatics”, “Electrical Engineering”, “Metrology, Standardization and Certification”, as well as the specialized disciplines “Automation Technology” and “Databases”. The conducted research and subsequent analysis revealed the following results: multiple-choice questions do not allow to determine the quality of knowledge in any disciplines, as they do not cause any difficulties for students, with the exception of questions with more than six options. Calculation and short-answer questions, on the other hand, are appropriate for interim evaluation tests (examinations). The conducted study allows to develop specialized education strategies for specific disciplines, learning stages and modes of attendance.

Keywords:

Virtual learning environment, educational objectives, ongoing and milestone evaluation, student curriculum goals, academic progress evaluation.