Petri Nets Android application as a mobile aid for students' mastering modelling

Abstract

Building models of various processes and their further investigation has been always in focus of different specialists’ training. There are some quite well known mechanisms and tools of modelling. However, Petri nets theory has found its wide application to the real-life parallel processes modelling. Petri nets give powerful facilities for dynamic models building and enable comprehensive learning of the process peculiarities. Hence, it is important to have relevant tools which allow to apply Petri nets potential to educational practice on purpose of earning by students skills of models building and investigation. The aim of the paper is to depict the functionality of the authors’ mobile Android application “Petri Nets Tool-Kit”, and to specify facilities and examples of its using for mastering modelling by students. Developed and represented in the paper mobile application provides students with the set of tools which enables to create, edit, save their own Petri nets as well as to change their parameters, visualize changing and play various scenarios of the modelled process. The “Petri Nets Tool-Kit” also contains relevant theoretical materials and the set of ready-made Petri nets examples, which makes the application attractive for mobile learning both in classroom activity and in students’ independent work in the context of their vocational training in terms of different specialties. The proper stages of learning activity for step-by-step mastering by students the basics of modelling and simulation are disclosed. It is shown that “Petri Nets Tool-Kit” is available exactly in its portable form for Android OS, which encourages students to mobile learning and arms them with a convenient simulation tool provoking them to improve their modelling and investigative skills anywhere during the day. The prospects of the work are outlined in terms of the empirical research as for validating the impact of modelling activity in the elaborated application on the trainees’ level of model-ling skills.