Abstract:

The paper addresses the issue of using electronic resources when delivering engineering disciplines in English for Russian and international students. With a view to modernize teaching methods and improve the University efficiency as a whole, we propose introducing educational blogs into traditional learning environment as an element of blended learning. In this paper, we outline the advantages of organizing the teaching process by means of blended learning and using the flipped classroom pedagogical model, in particular, to stimulate motivation in students exploring the discipline of Mineralogy and Petrography in English. When delivering this discipline, we combine traditional methods of teaching and electronic media, especially blogs. This helps us solve some of the most pressing problems facing both teachers and students. The aim of blogging for educational purposes is to attract students to the system of independent work outside the classroom. In other words, educational blogs are regarded as an independent educational environment that will absorb a willing student with some time to spare. We cover various classifications of blogs and analyze their didactic qualities that enable them to work as an element of the learning process. Finally, we present our own algorithm of applying blogs for organizing a controlled independent work of students. This algorithm consists of three stages and 20 steps and is proposed for both independent and classroom work of students to increase their motivation to study engineering disciplines in English for Russian and international students. The algorithm has been tested in the 2015/2016 academic year on third-year undergraduate students as part of the discipline of Mineralogy and Petrography. Statistics show the effectiveness of our algorithm of applying blogs.

Keywords:

Blended learning, student motivation, original algorithm, educational blogs.