Online Courses on Engineering, Technology and Technical Sciences to Be Created in UrFU

13:52, June 25, 2020

Courses will allow students to adapt to the digital economy and maintain demand in the labor market

New online courses on engineering, technology and technical sciences are planned to be created at the Ural Federal University. For the implementation of the project, the university will receive 3 million rubles due to the won competition held by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.
It is planned to develop two online courses - “Probability Theory and Mathematical Statistics for Engineers” and “Basic Applications of Linear Algebra in Engineering Education: Vector Algebra and Analytical Geometry”. They are among the compulsory disciplines of the basic or variative parts of many educational programs of higher education (undergraduate level) related to engineering areas of training.

“The relevance for developing these online courses is dictated by the need to strengthen the mathematical training of future engineers, which is due to modern requirements for the general professional competencies of university graduates from employers,” says Andrei Sozykin, Vice-Rector for Educational Development at UrFU. “The use of educational technologies and special technical solutions in both courses, the variability of the formats for presenting content, and the visibility of graphic material will increase the effectiveness of training, the degree of students mastering the theoretical foundations of disciplines, and the level of formation of practical skills.”

The subjects of the courses were selected based on an analysis of the educational programs of Russian universities for the relevance of the courses and the mass audience of the potential audience. In addition, we conducted a marketing study of the open education market in order to identify analogues and compare their characteristics. In the course of the study, it was shown that similar courses presented on Russian platforms of open education are focused mainly on the natural-scientific and mathematical areas of training and do not cover the requirements of work programs of similar disciplines for engineering areas.

“Due to the fact that the preparation of highly qualified engineering personnel for the digital economy is a state priority and the acceptance numbers for engineering courses are quite large, the need to create two new online courses was assessed as high,” said the First Vice-Rector for Economics and strategic development of Daniel Sandler. “The created online courses will be included in the educational programs of Ural Federal University and partner universities within the framework of network agreements, including free of charge throughout the project implementation period.”

Since these online courses are among the most popular courses with a large target audience, it will be recommended for partner universities to use them to form a general professional “core” of undergraduate studies. In addition, these courses are planned to be used for the implementation of minors - disciplines of students' choice, as well as optional courses in solving real problems from the business as part of the implementation of project training.

According to Daniil Sandler, the interest on the part of employers in new online courses is due to the need to train young professionals who are able to use mathematical tools in their professional activities. They will also play an important role in improving the skills of middle managers and line managers who lack the mathematical tools for statistical analysis and decision making.

“The practical skills acquired by enterprise workers in mastering new courses will allow people to adapt to the new conditions of the digital economy and maintain their relevance in the labor market,” underlined First-Vice Rector Sandler.