Knowledge Control during the Preparation of IT Specialists in Riga Technical University

Nowadays requirements for training of qualified IT specialists constantly increase. In Latvia these issues as well as possible solutions are discussed by both teachers and students on many seminars, forums and conferences. Different methods of Web-based teaching are used in Riga Technical University (RTU) for preparing of IT specialists. They are: acquisition of reference information, distance teaching, exercises and different kinds of knowledge control. In the department of Software Engineering different approaches to organizing the knowledge control of students in various IT-related subjects have been used. Knowledge control can be considered from methodical, technical, legal and psychological point of view. The methodical aspect includes control planning and organizing, question type assignment and exercise selection, quiz question and exercise composition, grading criteria specification for each task and the whole of the quiz etc. The technical aspects involve automatic composition of quiz exercises based on the selected approach, selection and implementation of parameters of control in the knowledge control system, selection of control algorithms etc. Legal aspects have to do with the official recognition of control results (e.g. of distance exams) and with issuing corresponding diplomas and certificates. This aspect of knowledge control is directly connected to the technical one, which assures the objectivity of knowledge evaluation. Psychological aspects involve solving the problems of individual personality features in the learning process, as well as psychological regularities of perception, memory, thinking, attention and age characteristics of the students. By using the adequate computer systems knowledge control of students on all the stages of the study process can be organized, making it possible to substantially reduce both the workload of teachers and the time spent to prepare the study materials, as well as to assure the objectivity of student knowledge control and evaluation. In the RTU twenty control programs have been developed and are successfully applied in both running and final control in study subjects “Data Structures”, “Programming Languages” and “Software Engineering” on different levels of higher education. The present paper discusses the organization and application of various methods of knowledge control in the preparation of IT specialists in Riga Technical University. It shows that computer based student knowledge control significantly affects the quality of learning