Dean Vukčević: On the Faculty of Metallurgy and Technology Tests Conducted Via Online Examinations
In accordance with the Decision of the Senate of the University of Montenegro on the organization of final examinations and pre-examinations of students, teachers and associate staff of the Faculty of Metallurgy and Technology have been advised to organize, due to the nature of teaching content, an online examination at the level of pre-requisites, but in such a way that students' attitudes and their abilities are respected in this specific situation, Dean of this Faculty, Mira Vukčević, PhD, said.
Dean Vukcevic says that almost all teachers take classes using Moodle and Zoom platforms, whether it is online communication or the placement of passive content that students download, so they can also organize knowledge tests tailored to distance testing.
"Examination will be organized where the course content allows. The options are online oral examination, multiple choice tests, meaning that the student must complete the assignment so to complete the answer, as well as development of various smaller projects, papers, etc. All these forms imply working independently for students, because that's how they are conceptualized, "she said.
The Dean says that nature of all three study programs at MTF is such that the courses are largely oriented towards practical teaching, which, she adds, limits the pre-examination, until students independently complete intended practical part of teaching.
"In accordance with the ECTS catalogs in our study programs, pre-requisites, together with regular student attendance, make up 50% of the student's total score. The other part is a success in the final exam. Depending on the type of course content, where you can do pre-requisites online, they can be slightly modified in their form or content so as to give a possibility of quality assessment of the student's knowledge, even in conditions when they are allowed to use literature, " Vukcevic said.
Dean says that both teachers and students have gradually adapted to online teaching process, but that the "live word" of teachers is extremely important. "Beside the impression that online communication slows down students' initiative at certain times, it is observed that the presence of students in this type of teaching does not decline in comparison to conventional teaching, even though many of them have problems with Internet connection," she added. As students follow online classes and keep up to date on their classes, Vukcevic expressed her hope that, with great effort and dedication by teachers, they will be able to master the materials and access the knowledge tests at the final exam, in regular time and conditions."However, once again, we must emphasize the fact that the Faculty of Metallurgy and Technology has a large number of practical exercises in which students work independently, so this part of the teaching, in some condensed form, will have to be compensated before the final exams begin," she says. "Some of the solutions offered so far for mastering practical exercises are to place links to recorded platforms or websites from other universities or to record exercises at the Faculty, observing all measures of prescribed distance and hygiene and health requirements," she said and said that this form of practical training could only be used for a small part of the course."These are subjects where students are introduced to a method or instrument that otherwise precludes students' independent work. Other exercises will have to be done when the conditions are met," Vukcevic concludes.