Task-Based Mobile Learning ISC-System: Built-In Coronavirus Immunity Confirmed

摘要

The interruption of contact group work in universities due to coronavirus quarantine in the spring semester of 2020 posed serious problems for all courses that used traditional approaches to organization laboratories, control tests and examinations. In contrast to this, the mobile task-based learning ISC-system, characterized by flexible individual time schedule planning and application of mobile home lab kits for practical tasks, demonstrated almost complete immunity to emergency isolation requirements. ISC is a task-based e-learning system developed in Tallinn University of Technology since late 90s (abbreviation ISC comes from code of Chair of Circuits and Systems). In this system a learning process without teachers' continuous interference is implemented and the students can practice as much as needed to get the grade they desire. As an additional beneficial feature, system allows teacher to monitor the detailed activities of students related to solving the hundreds of theoretical and practical tasks associated with actual study course. In paper we formulate the key features of the newest 3~(rd) generation version of ISC-system, provide an assessment of immunity of ISC-system key features to quarantine conditions and present a study of student behavior changes due to the quarantine conditions on the basis of more than 216,000 task solving records from years 2019 and 2020.