individualization of professional development in engineering-pedagogic workers by means of information technologies

Professional competence of the teachers and their professionalism have a significant influence on keeping and developing the potential of educational space, on the adaptation of educational institutions to constantly changing conditions, on innovative activities, on the maintenance of optimum functioning of educational process. It essentially lies with them to what extent and how the pupil’s possibilities and abilities will be revealed, what prospects of interaction and specific forms of cooperation between the pupil and the teacher are. The modern teacher must possess not only the system of professional knowledge and skills but also professionally important properties of the individuality and personality qualities.

The teacher’s professional development has become the subject matter of many researchers, namely: Ukrainian ones (I. Zyazun, V. Molyako, V. Palamarchuk, N. Tarasevich, V. Semichenko and others), Russian ones (M. Potashnik, L. Mitina, L. Smolova and others), foreign ones (L. Kremer-Hayon, R. Fessler, R. Stiefel, M. Verbek, A. Lange, F. Polak, A. Toffer and others). In their works, the essence of the concept of the teacher’s professional development is revealed; the ways and conditions for improving professional competence are highlighted.

The issues of improvement of professional development in the pedagogic staff during advanced training courses have been analyzed in the works by N. Nichkalo, I. Vorotnikova, I. Negovskiy, M. Voytsekhivskiy, O. Pekhota and others. These studies and those of other researchers have made efforts to disclose the essence of the concept “the teacher’s professional development” and define its components.

The literature analysis enables to state that the issue of individualization of the teacher’s professional development is quite topical and difficult to solve at the same time.

The necessity of the issue in question is also connected with differences in approaches to individualization of the educational process as a pedagogic phenomenon, with a variety of classification of forms and insufficient research into the content and methods of organization of individualized academic work under the conditions of advanced training, particularly when teaching the subjects of pedagogic cycle.

The aim of the article is to define the concept “the teacher’s professionalism” and factors that influence their development.

According to the aim, the following objects have been set: to define the concept “professional development of the teacher”; study out the role of information technologies in the individualization of the teacher’s professional development.

Professionalism is the skill to solve standard professional tasks. О.S. Anisimov distinguishes the following levels of professional activities [1, p. 54]: formation of activities; successful performance of a fixed norm; performance of the norm with adequate reflection; reflexive accompaniment of the action with problem fixation and norm correction; cooperation in problem statement or withdrawal; full reflexive self-organization.

According to B.N. Gerasimov, the teacher’s professionalism level is connected with three groups of factors: with existence of individual peculiarities and their correction in the process of vital activity; with introduction of the teacher into the socio-cultural environment; with demonstration of handling socio-cultural norms in the studies and educational process [2, p. 46].

Favourable conditions for consideration and development of individual qualities of the teacher, their inner potential are provided at the advanced training courses. Individualization of professional-pedagogic training is understood as an organization of the process of communication of relevant special knowledge to the listeners, and the formation of skills with regard to their individual peculiarities creates optimum conditions for implementation of potential possibilities of each student. Individualization of professional-pedagogic training does not allow leveling differences between pupils, promotes development of their unique capabilities by each listener, aims at highly-qualified training for professional activities.

Individualization of professional-pedagogic training means: providing conditions for development of all individuals of educational process; creating efficient stimuli of professional development in the individuals of educational process; introduction of modern pedagogic and psychological technologies for personality development into the professional-educational process; ensuring monitoring the professional development of all individuals of education, i.e. regular and prompt diagnostics which is a part of the feedback system in the process of individuality development; development of variative education aimed at extension of professional self-determination and at self-development of the teacher’s personality; correction of social and professional self-determination of the personality as well as professionally important characteristics of the teacher. [3, p. 184].

Thus, individualization of professional training can be implemented at different levels: methodical one, technologic one, common pedagogic one, social one. Different pedagogic conditions can promote individualization of professional-pedagogic training.

Fast development of computing equipment and expansion of its functional capabilities enables to widely use computers at all stages of the studies process: during lectures, practical or laboratory classes, when self-preparing and for checking and self-checking the level of mastering the educational material. At present, the electronic base of learning aids, textbooks, methodical packs, academic programmes with relevant methodical material necessary for the teacher is being expanded at a quick rate.

Electronic learning-methodical pack (ELMP) is understood as a information educational resource where instructions to the user are offered, the content of the course of studies is covered, an electronic textbook, a pack of testing and practical tasks, training exercises, laboratory works, tests and credit works, recommendations for self-assessment and self-development are offered.

Studying scientific sources and experience of development and use of ELMP in the studies and educational process at the advanced pedagogic training courses have confirmed the rightness of the selected approaches to determination of its components:

1) annotation;

2) listing the modules and thematic plans;

3) school book (in the form of an interactive computer application; Internet-resource);

4) methodical guidelines and tasks to practicals;

5) questions to be discussed at seminar classes;

6) methodical guidelines and tasks for doing independent work of listeners;

7) visual aids;

8) tests for self-checking of knowledge;

9) glossary;

10) list of recommended literature, hyperlinks to Internet resources;

11) hyperlinks to the institute’s electronic library;

12) methodical guidelines as for using this pack;

13) help.

Didactic requirements to ELMP as a means of new information technologies lie in the following:

1. Capacity of ensuring the highest level of fulfilling the traditional requirements such as scientific character of education, problem character, visual aids, activity and consciousness of the advanced training course participants in the process of studies, systematic character and training sequence, high acquisition of knowledge, unity of studies, developmental and educational functions of learning.

2. ELMP must ensure fulfilling the requirements of individuality, interactivity and adaptability of learning.

3. Consistency and structural-functional coherence of teaching material presentation in the electronic textbook, which is a part of the ELMP structure.

4. Ensuring completeness (integrity) and continuity of a didactic cycle of teaching.

Designing pedagogically efficient electronic teaching materials is impossible without taking into account psychological aspects of interaction between the individual and the computer.

Development of structural chart for applying ELMP in the process of psychological-pedagogic training of the participants (engineering-pedagogic workers) at the advanced training courses has been performed on the basis of fundamental principles of the textbook theory, study of pedagogic experience in applying computer teaching aids, analysis of didactic possibilities of modern hypertext and network technologies,.

Applying ELMP in the process of psychological-pedagogic training of the participants at the advanced training courses is a system of organization of psychological-pedagogic training that contains the following components:

- the conceptual component that includes the constituents defined by the content of professional training (regulatory documents, educational-professional programmes that define curriculums, on which ELMP is based);

- the content component of psychological-pedagogic training has been modified taking into account the aims of improving the teaching process that define systematization and generalization of knowledge by means of ELMP;

- the technologic component of psychological-pedagogic training has been designed with regard to decomposition of the aims of improving the teaching process for objectives that define teaching forms and methods with the ELPM use;

- the evaluation component performs the function represented by test check, self-check with the use of information technologies and knowledge correction.

It has been suggested applying both common didactic methods and specific methodic techniques (of the precedent and information resource). Educational forms at the intramural stage of participants’ learning have been suggested keeping lectures, seminars and practical training sessions. Depending on a class subject, according to the classification on the interaction character, the teaching forms can be: collective, group, microgroup or individual ones.

The studies process is organized in such a way that 70% of teaching material is allocated to the independent handling (extramural stage) with the use ELPM on pedagogics and psychology of professional education, integrated learning, problem-based learning, and latest information technologies during independent learning activities of the engineering-pedagogic worker.

All the tasks are of one-off nature, contain elements of contradiction and novelty to increase the participants’ motivation, create positive psychological atmosphere, increase interest in the learning activities and activate creative potential.

Questions and testing tasks for knowledge self-check are given at the end of each topic with the purpose of self-assessment. The final check is conducted with the help of interactive testing tasks on the psychological-pedagogic course with automatic knowledge evaluation.

ELPM provides for the use of audio, video tools and availability of free access (on-line) to the resources of relevant departments, electronic-resource centre, electronic library stock.

The use of hypertext technology enables to meet conformity with the main requirements to ELPM: structuredness, circulation convenience, visual aids of the material taught.

The main didactic principles you must follow when creating ELPM for organization of the learning activity on the basis of modern information teaching technologies are: the principle of quantification, completeness, visual aids, branching-off, regulation, adaptability, computer support, and completability.

Appropriateness and efficiency of creating ELPM are stipulated for the tendency of increasing the extent of independent work in the participants at the advanced training courses with the simultaneous decrease in quantity of classroom-based hours, insufficient amount of literature in libraries. Besides, the offered ELPM is irreplaceable for extramural and online study mode of learning.

References

1. Анисимов О.С. Акмеологическая парадигма / О.С. Анисимов. М., 2007Ошибка! Ошибка связи.762 с.

2. Герасимов Б.Н. Управление качеством: Учебное пособие / Б.Н. Герасимов, Ю.В. Чуриков. // Изд-во: Вузовский учебник, ИНФРА-М, 2011. – 304 с.

3. Профессиональная педагогика: [Учебник]. М.: Ассоциация "Профессиональное образование", 1997. – 512 с.