Maximizing and personalizing e-learning support for students with different backgrounds and preferences

The present paper introduces some strategies used in teaching an Informatics course for non-IT first year university students. The strategies were developed during several years, using the main principles of flexible and blended learning. The methodology has been based on the results of experiments with students from social sciences, economics and technical faculties. Numerous tests were carried out to find out the level of prior knowledge and the preferred learning styles of each student. According to the results, students were divided into separate groups within an e-learning environment. The authors considered three main aspects: student’s background, the level of knowledge and the most suitable style of learning. The success of the experiment presented in this paper is demonstrated by comparing the academic results of the test group who was taught using the new strategy with the reference group, taught in a common way.