Abstract:

After years of providing an introductory web development course for our undergraduate bachelor students in electrical engineering, we had to offer the same course as a remote e-learning course during the part of the Covid-19 crisis. Our intention was to cover all or at least most of the topics included in the standard course. It was quite important for us to carry out both the lectures and practical computer labs. The online lectures can be mostly performed as one-way, less-interactive remote learning, but for computer labs, we had to choose a solution allowing two-way interaction, including the procedure allowing students to interactively present their current work. Additionally, the exams were also organized remotely.

This paper describes the approach we used during a remote e-learning form of the course. As obligated by our university, all the lectures were scheduled and performed live, as synchronous lessons. Additionally, asynchronous recordings of those lectures were offered to students via YouTube video services. Computer labs were organized similarly, but with some specifics - basically, introduction lessons for each lab were presented as synchronous events being offline available as video recordings. But, the most important part of the labs - interactive, two-way sessions had to be organized differently. That is where we point out all the benefits of using freely available tools and technologies on student premises. Two-way interaction and its importance for remotely performed labs, as well as exams, is additionally stressed.

As part of the paper, the student results are commented and our subjective opinion on student activities and interests, and overall course performances are given. In our opinion, we can conclude that remote learning can be used for these kinds of practical, skill-oriented, courses.

Keywords:

Web programming, web app, remote learning, course, Covid-19, experience.