E-learning Course “Physical and Colloidal Chemistry” at the universities

Ira Dimitrova1, Ivan Dimov1

,MayaZhelyazkova 2

(1) Trakia University, Faculty of Technics and Technologies

38 Graf Ignatievstr., 8602, Yambol, Bulgaria, e-mail: ira_64[at]abv.bg

(2) Sofia University, Faculty of Mathematics and Informatics. 5 James Boucher str, Sofia, Bulgaria

Abstract: The report deals with the application of information, computer and communication technologies in the course “Physical and Colloid Chemistry”. A review was made of experience in the creation of such courses for this academic subject in Bulgarian universities. Presented is an electronic course, created in the system for e-learning of faculty “Technics and Technologies” – Yambol, Bulgaria. Considered are the requirements of the labor market in the creation of curriculum for this discipline.

Keywords:e-Learning, Physical Chemistry and Colloidal Chemistry 1 The goal of the training in “Physical and Colloidal Chemistry”

The main objective of the course "Physical and Colloid Chemistry" of the students in "Food Technology" is to make student’s knowledge of physicochemical foundations of real chemical processes involved in producing, purifying and fundamental kinetic, optical and electro kinetic properties of colloidal systems.

Students will learn about basic methods of obtaining colloidal systems, as well as some aerosols, suspensions, emulsions and foams.

The purpose of the paper is to present the specifics of developing a curriculum on "Physical and Colloid Chemistry", taking into account the requirement to provide an opportunity for lifelong learning and applying the European system of transfer and accumulation of credits (ECTS).

2 Preconditions for the effectiveness of training

The development of modern information technologies has led to the emergence of a new method of Studies "e-learning".The development of the modern computer, information and communication technologies contributes to the development of engineering and technology in various fields of science, education and production practices. In the field of education in the recent years have seen an increased interest in the use of remote sensing and electronic forms of learning (Pehlivanova and Ducheva, 2011). E-learning meets the needs of the modern student of flexible learning available anytime, from anywhere.

The most extensive definition of e-learningis "Learning facilitated by the use of information and communication technologies (http://www.elearning.ac.uk/res ources/modelsreview ).

To conduct e-learning we use modern information and communication technologies and the Internet.

E-learning can be achieved through attendance, remote or (most often) mixed form.

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Usually behind websites offering e-learning stand systems management software, because professors can not develop alone the necessary Web - environment for this purpose. For the universities it would be laborious and inefficient to maintain multiple separate sites for different training courses. In the interest of professors and administrators of websites is Resources For Web - based courses to be maintained in common database to be easy to use, update, manage and integrate. . For these reasons many schools are looking to use complete software management systems training courses or develop a comprehensive system for the university. (Ivanov, 2008).

Such platforms for creating e-content, e-learning and distance learning are Moodle, D2L (Desire2Learn), Sakai, Acatar, Blackboard, which can be open source and distributed free of charge or are commercial. In the future Europe, built on the basis of the knowledge society and economy, strategies for lifelong learning are necessary to meet the challenges of competitiveness and the use of technology to improve social cohesion, equal opportunities and quality of life (The Bologna Process, 2020).

One of the requirements of the European System of Transfer and Accumulation System (ESTA) credits is to describe clearly the characteristics of the curriculum as defined goals, purpose, competencies and cross-curricular way to organize classes(ECTS Users’ Guide, 2009).

Presented is created electronic course on "Physical and Colloid Chemistry", organized at the initiative of EU project (Project BG051PO001 - 3.1.07 - 0032) together with the faculty "Technics and Technology". His creation is a logical consequence of the rapid penetration of computers in all areas of life, the need for everyone to prepare in the scientific field with the funds offered by information and communication technologies (ICT). The application of these technologies create complex conditions for training and work (Nedeva at el., 2012).

ICT applications received avalanche development. In the universities are built e-learning systems on different platforms for learning.

The material on the subject "Physical and Colloid Chemistry" is codified in 45 hours of lectures and exercises in two semesters.

It is designed for students without prior special training in the field of physical chemistry. At the same time the developed course provides a good basic training, from which everyone can by your self continue improving their knowledge. The course can be beneficial for those who have already made their first steps in physical chemistry. Thehierarchy of the academic program was built based on the taxonomy of Marzano (Marzano, 2000) (Table 1).

The success of teaching depends on the proper construction of the content of the course. When creating a methodical units used approach from simple to complex in a combination of concrete to abstract (Shivacheva,at el., 2015), (Stoykova, 2015).

The absorption of new knowledge depends very much on the possibility of practical training - to experiment learned. Such a possibility is practical exercises that are described in the e-course and is conducted in the laboratory of the Department "Food Technologies" (FT).

The developed course on "Physical and Colloid Chemistry" has its drawbacks. For their removal are useful tests to evaluate students' knowledge and recommendations and comments from fellow teachers and students, which comply team developed an e-course.

Table 1 Hierarchy of the curriculum

Level Processes Obtaining of knowledge

Extract facts, sequences or procedures

Understanding of knowledge

Structuring the information by category; synthesis; Representation of information - organized by category.

Analysis of knowledge

Search for compliance; Classification;

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Analysis of errors; Summary; Specification.

Use of knowledge

Adoption of decisions Resolving problems Experimental work - conducting experiments; Research - requires the use of logical reasoning to analyze the results.

To match the needs of modern education, the basic tasks of teaching physical chemistry are: deepen, systematize and expand students' knowledge of physical and chemical processes

and phenomena;

developing cognitive interests, abstract and logical thinking in the process of forming concepts disclosure laws and causal relations;

formation of skills for analysis and expression of relationships and regularities with mathematical equations and symbols;

formation activity, accuracy and flexibility in the choice of parameter values for conducting technological processes;

forming habits and mentality to participate in process control; o Knowledge and skills to build competencies:

physicochemical characterization and selection of parameters for solving environmental problems and managing technological regime;

derive mathematical relationships and their transformation under the characterization of chemical processes;

Work with schemes, diagrams, tables and other sources of information for the analysis and prediction of physicochemical processes;

The development of e-learning courses using different platforms with open access, of which the most popular of them are Moodle ATutor, Claroline, Ilias, Sakai, dotLRN, Fle3.

The capabilities of Moodle, as a system for e-learning include the following components and features:

to enter and derecognized students;

publish any text and illustrative material;

seek feedback through surveys;

prepare examination papers;

give jobs exchange projects;

assessment tools;

forums;

messaging;

personal e-mail. Lectures "Physical and Colloid Chemistry" are illustrated with slides on given topics. After

each subject to check students' knowledge were drawn up control tests (Figure 1). The training materials are available for specific dates, in order to respect the sequence of the curriculum. Users of the course are free to control access to the system and how they navigate it.

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E-learning is available at any time when the consumer is willing to learn or find answers to specific questions. The time to absorb specific knowledge is not limited.

The course on "Physical and Colloid Chemistry" ensures effective integration between e-learning with traditional education. For example, the current assessment of lectures successfully combined with online tests, allowing early to detect shortcomings in the preparation of the student. The e-learning method, generates interest in students on the main issues of chemical thermodynamics and electrochemistry, including videos of some phenomena , which causes students in separate explanations of phenomena observed.

An important criterion for the effectiveness of the training is the correlation of classes on discipline studied in "Food Technology" with other Bulgarian universities.

In addition to faculty "Thecnics and Technology" at the University of Thrace, the course "Physical and Colloid Chemistry" is performed in the following universities in Bulgaria: University  of  Food  Technologies  (UFT)  –  Plovdiv,  University  "Prof.  Zlatarov  "Burgas,  Russe University" Angel Kanchev "affiliate - Razgrad.Workload of classes "Physical and Colloid Chemistry" for degree (ACS) "Bachelor" for the 2015/2016 year are given in

Table 2 Hours of classes "Physical and Colloid Chemistry" for degree "Bachelor"

University workload

lectures exercises Faculty "Technics and Technology" - Yambol 45 45 University of Food Technologies (UFT) – Plovdiv 45 60 University "Prof. Zlatarov " - Burgas 60 60 Russe University" Angel Kanchev "affiliate - Razgrad 45 60

The comparative analysis shows that there is a very big similarity in the classes of the

discipline with other universities. This is due to several factors such as the presence a few years ago a unified state requirements, close contacts and cooperation between teachers from different universities. 3 Conclusions

Practical use of established program "Physical and Colloid Chemistry" at the Faculty "Technics and Technology" - Yambol, allows to increase student motivation for learning, skills and enhancing professional competencies of graduates.

а) Main page b) page with tests

Fig.1. Website of the e-course on "Physical Chemistry»

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The comparative analysis with the experience of other universities in teaching this discipline showed that in this stage an important prerequisite for efficiency is the compliance of the material with the requirements of the labor market, which is priority direction in the EU. References Beetham,H. Review: developing e-learning models for the JISC Practitioner communities,

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