Level differentiation of education by means of the discipline «IT Project Management» in a higher technical educational institution

Abstract

This article discusses the issue of level differentiation of education within the framework of teaching the discipline «IT Project Management» at a technical university. The relevance of the topic is due to the need to adapt the educational process to the individual characteristics and needs of students in order to increase the effectiveness of learning. The purpose of the study is to develop methodological foundations and practical recommendations for the implementation of level differentiation in the teaching of this discipline. The research materials and methods include the analysis of existing theoretical approaches to differentiated learning, the study of advanced pedagogical experience, as well as conducting a pedagogical experiment in real conditions of a technical university. The experiment was attended by 120 students of 3-4 courses studying in the fields of «Information Systems and Technologies» and «Software Engineering». Experimental and control groups of 60 people each were formed. The experimental group used the method of level differentiation developed by the author, while the control group was taught using traditional methods. Testing, questionnaires, and analysis of students' project activities were used to evaluate the results. The results of the experiment showed that the use of level differentiation makes it possible to improve the quality of learning and motivation of students. In the experimental group, the average score according to the results of the final test was 4.35 on a five-point scale compared to 3.92 in the control group. 78% of the students in the experimental group noted an increase in interest in the discipline and satisfaction with the learning process. The quality of project execution in the experimental group was on average 23% higher compared to the control group according to criteria such as completeness of requirements implementation, optimality of architectural solutions, and efficiency of using project management tools. The results obtained confirm the expediency of introducing level differentiation into the practice of teaching the discipline «IT Project Management» in technical universities.