Abstract
Abstract This research aims to highlight the efficacy of the use of Information and Communication Technology as a didactic teaching, learning and evaluation method for improving the instructionaleducational process within the tourism high school. Our research, which took place in 12 high schools with classes in Tourism and Nutrition in the County of Constanta between 2013 and 2016, was based on two variables: the independent variable - represented by the continuous, systematic use of ICT methods in teaching and learning content at the disciplines included in the curriculum Tourism and Nutrition at different levels of study and the dependent variable - which depends and changes according to the independent variable: the specific skills, the degree of understanding and assimilation of the specialized contents. In this article we will present the experimental phase in which the actual research was carried out on two parallel groups of subjects: an experimental group (where ICT methods were used - the coordinating teachers created virtual classes on the educational platform www.easyclass.com) and a control group (in which classical didactic methods were used) and the postexperimental phase in which tests of knowledge assessment were applied to both the experimental classes and the control classes. The post-experimental step allowed the measurement of the dependent variable in the two samples of subjects, experimental and control, and the comparison of the initial data with the final ones. For this purpose, tests for assessing the knowledge acquired by the pupils in the experimental and control classes as a result of each unit of learning included in the content sample were applied. These tests were created depending on the specific and derived competences of each unit of learning, following the extent of their development at the pupils in the two samples.
Highlights
Analyzing the initial objectives arising from the research goal and the results obtained in the end, we can draw the following conclusions: O1: Developing the specific skills to the fullest extent by using Information and Communication Technology (ICT) methods The study results obtained by statistical interpretation show that the use of ICT methods and tools in the didactic activity has led to the formation and development of specific skills of pupils in the experimental sample to a greater extent than the use of classical methods in the instructional process with pupils in the control sample
O2: Expanding the knowledge assimilated by students within the hours of tourism Starting from an approximately equal level of knowledge, it can be noticed that all pupils who participated to the research have widened their area of specialized knowledge, but those in the experimental sample have assimilated new knowledge to a greater extent than those in the control sample, by using ICT methods and tools in their activities
O3: Improving school performance in specialized disciplines measured by the results to school contests The school performance refers to the scores obtained to the pedagogical tests applied in the posttest and retest phases of the research, and we observe that these increased comparing to the results obtained in the pretest stage, the pupils in the experimental sample having higher school performance than those in the control sample
Summary
The constant desire to discover new ways to attract young people to school subjects, to find ways to transfer knowledge as pleasantly as possible, or ways to design new tools to assess their evolution as a result of attending classes has led to the continuous diversification of the teaching-learning-evaluation methods used in the instructive-educational process. The lessons were of different types, aiming at achieving well-defined objectives and training specific skills in accordance with the Vocational Training Standards of each qualification in the field of Tourism and alimentation At this stage, 472 students from different levels of study, in four Constanta Technological Lyceums participated and for exemplification, we chose to present in the paper the activities carried out in the 9th A grade (experimental) and 9th B grade (control) of the Technological High School „CA Rosetti” Constanta. In order to measure these two dependent variables, teachers applied tests for assessing the knowledge acquired by pupils in the experimental and control classes as a result of each unit's learning included in the sample These tests included items of different types and were formulated according to the specific competencies and derived competences of each unit of learning, following the degree of their formation and development at the students of the two samples. - training and developing specific skills, asking students to inform tourists in writing, within a structured essay, on the elements of the touristic and natural potential in Constanta County
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