Abstract:

Nowadays, in a connected and digital world IT tools are used widely in many areas of human activity. They are great supporters and accelerators of entertainment and business, but also play more and more significant role in education. Computer applications and platforms are successfully used at every stage of educational process in kindergarten, primary and secondary schools, colleges, also at the universities. They are also very helpful in education of adult, employed people and even the oldest members of the society. IT tools are also frequently used in lifelong learning programmes. In many cases IT solutions allow not only for acquiring new knowledge and skills but also for development of digital literacy and preventing both teachers and students from the digital exclusion. They are allowing also for integration of the learning community members of different age, with different physical abilities and coming from various regions or cultures. Computer science, the main driver of information technology development is one of the fastest changing field of science. Therefore, we can observe rapid development of newer and newer IT technologies and tools, that can be successfully implemented into educational process. IT solutions become more and more available (mostly as an internet services or mobile applications), free of charge (economic availability) and easy to use due to visual, intuitive user interfaces (availability of usage).

The aim of the article is to present how two IT platforms (Virtual Campus and Archive of Archive of Theses System) used by Faculty of Economics Maria Curie-Sklodowska University support the undergraduate and graduate thesis seminars. The paper contains the characteristic of the thesis seminar programme, presents the framework of e-learning course prepared for its attendants. The course consists of communication tools section, methodical section, work plan and provides all the materials and trainings necessary to prepare students for the final exam. The second part of the article contains the description and the analysis of the Archive of Theses System - workflow system that automates the process of work with final version of dissertation: reviewing, anti-plagiarism control and publishing the final work. At the end of the article the author presents the main benefits and problems related to supporting thesis seminar with analyzed IT platforms.

The author’s observations and participants’ opinions allow to conclude that business students want to and know how to use the e-learning platforms in educational process. The main benefits of their usage are: more systematized and effective work, greater flexibility, easier communication, avoiding many unnecessary or duplicated activities, easy monitoring and automatic archiving of the outcomes. Completed classes showed also some problems that have to be considered. At the beginning of the seminar students have to be strongly stimulated and moderated. Supervisor should explain precisely what tools should be used and in what way. For effective course realization the seminary classroom should be equipped with computers connected to the Internet that would enable the parallel work. Finally, using IT tools makes work easier but causes dependence on hardware, software and the internet connection. If one of these elements fails, it is quite difficult to conduct seminar classes effectively.

Keywords:

e-learning, graduate thesis, dissertation writing, thesis course, MOODLE, business students, seminar classes, workflow system, LMS, anti-plagiarism control.