Challenges of Digitalization of Small Credit Point Courses for Large Classes

Abstract

The paper is devoted to the development of digital competences of second year bachelor students at the Faculty of Computer Science and Information Technology of the Riga Technical University for the course in numerical methods. The structure of the course is described in detail. The key component in the organization of the lectures and lab sessions is interactivity. Many interactive components (presentations, tests) in H5P format are available for students. The digital proficiency Levels 7 and 8 in accordance with DigComp 2.1 framework is expected to be achieved by carefully selecting topics and practical tasks to be solved during the course. The e-book written for the course and published by the Publishing house of the Riga Technical University is one of the teaching resources available to students. The course is fully digitalized so that it can be given in any of the three formats: (a) classroom and lab instruction, (b) fully online course or (c) mixed mode (blended learning). The preference is given to option (c). Both synchronous and asynchronous teaching methods are used. The organization of tests and exams (in the form of online tests) allows instructors to organize the grading effectively without spending too much time on it but at the same time effectively testing students’ knowledge.