CC BY
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Section 5. Pedagogy
Toktarova Vera Ivanovna, Mari State University, Candidate of Pedagogics, Associate Professor, Head of the Research and Scientific Department E-mail: [email protected]
Korobeynikova Alexandra Andreevna, Mari State University, Student of Department of Applied Mathematics and Computer Science E-mail: [email protected]
Implementation of interdisciplinary connections in the university e-learning environment
This work is supported by the grant from the President of the Russian Federation
for young scientists, № МК-1634.2014.6
Abstract: The article deals with the problem of implementation of interdisciplinary connections in modern university e-learning environment. It explores the ways in which technology is used in higher education settings. The functions and types of interdisciplinary connection are considered, the results of the experimental work are given.
Keywords: e-learning, e-learning environment, interdisciplinary connections, educational process, higher education system, university.
The present stage of intensive computerization invariably leads to the renovation ofhigher education system in the context of e-learning. According to the Federal Law «On Education in the Russian Federation», while implementing basic curriculum e-learning can be also used along with traditional methods regardless of the forms of teaching, moreover all necessary conditions should be created to supply students with all teaching materials to allow them to complete education programs regardless of their locations. Signed this year Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the Russian Federation [1] establishes the rules for the application of e-learning and distance learning technologies while implementing basic curriculum, defines teaching load and procedure of providing training and guidance for students.
According to GOST R 53620-2009 certificate, e-learning environment (ELE) is a system of tools and resources to ensure the conditions for the implementation ofeducation-al activities with the use of information and communication technologies. According to the authors of the research study [2], e-learning environment is also a pedagogical structure, which aims to create conditions for the organization and development of innovative processes of interaction of active participants in educational environment.
Taking into account the specificity of time university e-learning environment should support implementation of the conceptual approaches and requirements of the federal and state educational standards of higher education. While carrying out research work on interdisciplinary connections within e-learning system it was found
out that students are often faced with the problem of fragmentation of knowledge because such educational resources are often reduced to a brief description of the course content. Thus, one of the important tasks in pedagogical designing of e-learning environment is the organization of interdisciplinary connections.
The concept of interdisciplinary connection is manysided and describes the connections that exist between the disciplines. Such scientists as I. D. Zverev, V. M. Monakhova, V. N. Maximova, G. I. Baturina, V. N. Fedorova, P. G. Kulagin have dedicated their research work to the problem of organization and implementation of interdisciplinary learning.
In the scientific literature, interdisciplinary connections are regarded as a didactic condition for the development of cognitive activity and independence that enhance scientific aspect and availability of learning. The effectiveness of the training depends directly on the number of required connections between concepts, phenomena, processes, examples which contribute to the restoration of knowledge gained before. The main functions of interdisciplinary connections are the following [3]:
- methodological, which is associated with the provision of scientific knowledge, the formation of a scientific outlook and the whole person;
- forming, which implies the solution of educational, developmental and educational problems;
- constructive, which contributes to the modernization of the educational process, including its contents, forms and methods;
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- dialectic, which controls the existence and nature of interdisciplinary connections;
- psychological, which is associated with the development of students’ thinking.
As research shows [4] interdisciplinary connections are classified according to time parameter into the following groups:
- previous — connections which occur in limited and successive periods of the academic year;
- related — connections which occur between a small number of related disciplines and act synchronously;
- perspective — connections which occur between a small number of related disciplines and act for a long period of time (two to three years).
As a rule, in higher education system interdisciplinary connections are implemented in a random way, unfocused. As a result of such organization, students receive professionally disorientated, disparate knowledge. Lack of conscious integration of professional subj ects reduces training level and simplifies the mechanism of storing material, and this in turn leads to the «gaps» in knowledge and skills, as well as uncertainty in their application in practice.
In the context of e-learning environment the working group of the Department of Applied Mathematics and Informatics ofMari State University has developed a system of interdisciplinary connections between professional subjects of the basic curriculum for the students who get a degree in 010400.62 «Applied Mathematics and Computer Science». They examined fourteen academic disciplines connected with languages, technologies and programming techniques. For the implementation of interdisciplinary connections both internal (links between components, limited by one discipline) and external (links between the concepts of the entire cycle of disciplines) relations were established.
Primarily, ELE of the department realizes educational function, so it is represented by a set of interconnected computer systems and electronic learning resources for teaching disciplines. Efficiency in learning will be higher if the contents of each component of educational resources are chosen carefully and the relationship between them as well as possible ways of learning are determined accurately. Connection between disciplines allows students to evaluate the same phenomenon from different perspectives, to find and establish relationships between disparate facts. This is typical for any kind of training, but is particularly important while implementing e-learning.
The factor that improves the quality of vocational education and training of students is the process of connecting and combining scientific knowledge, its synthesis, which is formed by establishing the connections between disciplines. The more links between old concepts, processes and phenomena and the new ones, the higher the quality of the educational process. Thus, the formation of new associations and connections based on previous knowledge occurs.
The system of interdisciplinary connections can be represented in the following ways:
- as a graph, which identifies the main connections between different educational topics of related courses and represents nodal threads with the highest number of links;
- as matrices of logical connections of educational components and their sequencing in the learning process.
All this allows us to see which concepts or themes should be used to achieve a particular cognitive objective, whether a base for the introduction of new concepts is created, whether the cause-and-effect relationships in the studied phenomena are determined, whether the general ideas are specified or new hypothesis are proved, etc. Therefore it is better to combine different approaches to planning interdisciplinary connections in the construction of the training course.
Determination of a set of interdisciplinary connections allows to fix the values of dominant training components in the structure of the discipline. According to the theory of structural analysis, the rank is a number that characterizes the current connections. There are several ways to calculate them. Comparison of the values allows to draw a conclusion about the importance of each unit. When developing modules of disciplines with high rank, a careful didactic design is required. For example, the graphic illustration (Figure 1) represents a complete graph of the structure of teaching materials for the discipline B.3.12 «Java». In this case, modules № 1 «The syntax of the programming language» and № 2 «Object-oriented principles of Java» have the highest rank value, that is why a lot of attention has been paid on these components while designing the training course while implementing e-learning.
During the 2013-2014 academic year, an experimental study with students who were getting a degree in 010400.62 «Applied Mathematics and Computer Science» was carried out in the e-learning environment. We have got the following results of the survey and interviews. The vast majority of respondents
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(96.8 %) stated that e-learning is the current form of education, 94.4 % of respondents stated that it is necessary to develop and organize learning activities in the e-learning environment. According to the students, an important advantage of ELE is the opportunity to study under conditions of constant free access, regardless
of time and place. 84.7 % of the students responded positively to the question «Do you think interdisciplinary connections influence the quality of education?», but 36.8 % of the students admitted that they could hardly apply the knowledge of other sciences to the process of studying the discipline.
Fig.1. Graph structure of teaching materials for discipline «Java» that illustrates interdisciplinary connections of educational components and ranking-dominance values
The results of the experimental work suggest about the effectiveness of the technology. Training in the e-learning environment that engages interdisciplinary connections helped students to organize, develop and deepen their knowledge, apply it in practice correctly
and confidently, including the study of other disciplines. Overcoming the focus on only one discipline contributed to the removal of the unbalanced learning, cognitive and professional activities of future professionals, to the development of their independence.
References:
1. Prikaz Ministerstva obrazovaniya i nauki RF ot 09.01.2014 g. N 2 “Ob utverzhdenii Poryadka primeneniya orga-nizatsiyami, osushchestvlyayushchimi obrazovatel’nuyu deyatel’nost’, elektronnogo obucheniya, distantsionnykh obrazovatel’nykh tekhnologiy pri realizatsii obrazovatel’nykh programm" [Order of the Ministry of Education and Science of the RF N 2 from 09.01.2014].
2. Lebedeva M. B. Distantsionnye obrazovatel’nye tekhnologii: proektirovanie i realizatsiya uchebnykh kursov [Distance education technologies: design and implementation of the training courses]. - St. Petersburg, -2010. - 336 p.
3. Medvedev V. E. Didakticheskie osnovy mezhpredmetnykh svyazey v professional’noy podgotovke uchitelya [Didactic principles of interdisciplinary connections in the professional training of teachers]. - Moscow, -2000. - 380 p.
4. Fedorova V. N., Kiryushkin D. M. Mezhpredmetnye svyazi [Interdisciplinary connections]. - Moscow, -1972. - 152 p.
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