Information Society Research Institute

1111, Hungary, Budapest, Stoczek u. 2-4. St 108. • tel: 06-1 463-2526 • fax: 06-1 463-2547 • web: www.ittk.hu

Robert Pinter

NETIS test teaching in HungaryNETIS 4th project meeting, London, Middlesex University

04 March 2008.

First course in Autumn

An experiment to work in traditional class and

teaching the whole book for students in

sociology.

Administrative information 1.

- Semester started at September 2007, ended in January 2008 (with the

exam period).

- Participants were students in sociology (3-5th years).

- 32 students have started the course two of them left the group in the

first weeks, and students have been graded.

- Classes were held by Robert Pinter, except the class on technology

(held by the author of the chapter, Attila Kincsei), and culture (held

by Bence Kollanyi, a PhD student, also an author of the book).

Administrative information 2.

- Full semester focused on NETIS, with 13 classes. First class was an

introduction to the NETIS project and made known the basic

conditions of the course, structure of class, exam etc.

- Whole Course book were taught except the last chapter (there was

not enough time to finish the book).

- Students could have a free copy of the printed Course book in

Hungarian, or could use the NETIS Moodle. Approximately half of

the students asked for the printed version. Faculty library also

received several volumes of the book.

Administrative information 3.

- Registration in Moodle was obligatory, but using of Moodle was

elective. With these conditions, only one student made comments

in the system, students mainly did not use Moodle, or used it only

as the source of texts (passive usage).

- Students can have a grade based on their class work and

presentation. Students without presentation needed to prepare 3

short essays (no longer than one page each ones), based on

elective questions of NETIS Moodle. These students used Moodle,

but mainly sent the essays in e-mail to the teacher.

Structure of classes 1.

- The course was a “classical”, traditional seminar with student

presentations (two presentations at each topic, one introduction and

one opposition with the critic of the given chapter). Student

presentations were mainly recorded in mp3 (only in that cases when

students have permitted the recording). Records will be available later.

- First two classes were taught by the teacher as an introduction to the

course (chapters of Karvalics and Pinter).

- After presentations of students there were short teacher comments in each

class.

Structure of classes 2.

- Conversation took part in the last 30-50 minutes of the classes, based on questions of

presenters, teacher and students, ranked by group voting. Memos of classes

contain the questions and the number of votes (will be available in Moodle soon).

- In some cases (e.g. in topics of e-government and e-learning) group work was

organized, students were divided into 4 sub-groups, and had joint work then

presentations, joint debate.

- Finally, students filled out the same questionnaire at the end of all classes: what was

the most exciting/boring, helpful/obstructing, surprising in the class, and they have

evaluated the given class with a grade between 1-10 with an explanation.

Opinion on the course 1.

- Students mostly liked the course, and regularly visited the classes (more often than

usually in other cases).

- Bigger part of the class disliked the students introductory presentations, as these

presentations served only as summary introductions and did not have added

value. But some students stated that they did not read the chapter in advance

because these summaries were enough for them.

- However students liked the critic presentations in that cases where mates formed

independent opinions.

- Some students stated that they would have preferred teacher lectures and would have

eliminated all students’ presentations.

Opinion on the course 2.

- Conversation was an important part for everybody, they liked to participate

in debates, hear new arguments and share personal experiences.

- But students most enjoyed the group work – however as they noticed, the

first case was more exciting than the second one, maybe because it

lost its uniqueness.

In the next semester we plan to have an entirely e-learning course with

students in sociology and then compare the differences between the

two methods and groups.

New course in Spring

An experiment to work in e-learning focused

blended learning and teaching the whole

book for students in sociology.

Administrative information 1.

- Semester started at February 2008, will be ended in June 2008 (with the exam period).

- Participants are students in sociology (3-5th years).

- 18 students have taken the course, but only 9 of them appeared at the first class, and

7 at the second class.

- The two classes were held by Robert Pinter, and the whole course will be guided also

by him.

- Whole Course book is planned to be educated in blended learning (personal contacts

at the first two classes, once at mid-term, and once at the final class).

Administrative information 2.

- Full semester focuses on NETIS. First class (traditional ”offline”

class) was an introduction to the NETIS project and made known

the basic conditions of the course, structure of class, exam etc.

- Students must use the NETIS Moodle, a class-blog (see: http://

netiselte.edublogs.org), and participate in a course e-mail list

netiselteATgooglegroups.com). Second class was a ”technical

helpdesk” to create an account in Moodle, account in Edublogs.

Administrative information 3.

- Registration and use of Moodle and class-blog are obligatory. In the

first two weeks app. half of the students craeted blogposts (e.g.

”competence portfolio”), filled the tests, and started to make

comments on others’ blogposts (active usage).

- Students will be graded based on their regular work in Moodle and

class-blog. Students without active participation cannot have a

grade.

Structure of ”classes” 1.

- The course is a blended learning seminar with student essays, tests in Moodle, and

comments-debates on essays.

- After reading the materials in Moodle, every students need to fill the test in Moodle.

- Then they must choose essay questions from a list on class-blog, and prepare a

blogpost from week-to-week.

- Students have a debate on essay blogposts, they must comment one topic choosen

by the teacher in every week.

- Finally, students need to fill the same evaluation questionnaire at the end of all week

activities in Moodle (deadline is Tuesday midnight).

Thank you for your attention!

Robert Pinter

BME-ITTK scientific and strategic director

pinter.robert@ittk.hu

http://www.ittk.hu

http://netisproject.eu

Skype: probesz

Mobile: +36-30-9996595

BME – Information Society Research Institute (ITTK)

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Telephone: +36-1-4632526

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