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Philology and linguistics Филология и лингвистика
UDC 81.139 DOI: 10.29013/AJH-20-5.6-28-37
M. R. URAZOVA 1
1 Non-governmental educational organization "Leader", Almaty, Kazakhstan
INNOVATIVE TECHNOLOGIES IN TEACHING AND STUDYING ENGLISH
Abstract
Objective: The main goal of this article is the effective use of innovative technologies in teaching English. Using this innovative approach lies in the ability to effectively learn foreign communicative competence. A communicative approach involves learning to communicate and developing the ability to intercultural interaction, which is the basis for the functioning of the Internet. Outside of communication, the Internet does not make sense — it is an international, multinational, cross-cultural society whose livelihoods are based on electronic communication of millions of people around the world who speak at the same time — the most gigantic in terms of size and number of participants in a conversation that has ever occurred. By joining it in English lesson, we are creating a model of real communication that is relevant in the context of global self-isolation of people.
Methods: This article discusses active methods, among which the most common are didactic games, business games. The main goal of the didactic game is a collective, focused training activity, when each participant and the team as a whole are united by solving the main problem and orientates their behavior towards winning. Also, the goal of a business game is the formation and development of specific skills to act in clearly defined situations.
Results: The development of education today is associated with an increase in the level of its information potential. This characteristic largely determines both the direction of evolution of education itself and the future of the whole society. For the most successful orientation in the global information space, it is necessary for students to master the information culture, since the Internet is increasingly giving priority to the search for information. The teacher's task is to intensify the student's cognitive activity in the process of teaching foreign languages. Modern specialists need personal qualities based not only on logic, but also on intuition and creativity: rational and figurative-sensual thinking, reflection, quick response to a situation, determination, the ability to make decisions in the face of uncertainty and competitiveness.
Scientific novelty: A didactic model is theoretically grounded, characterized by innovative technology for teaching professional foreign language communication based on the Internet class. The didactic-psychological conditions for the implementation of this model of training in the conditions of work in the mode of direct access to the Internet are determined, the didactic properties of the computer information environment as a modern media and component of media education are disclosed.
Practical significance: Modern pedagogical technologies, such as training in collaboration, a project methodology, the use of new informative technologies, and Internet resources help to implement a personality-oriented approach to learning, provide individualization and differentiation of training, taking into account students' abilities, their level of training, inclinations, etc.
Key words: communication, communicative competence, innovation, modern technology, motivation.
For citation: Urazova M. R. Innovative technologies in teaching and studying English, Austrian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences, 2020. No.5-6. - P. 28-37. DOI: https://doi.org/10.29013/AJH-20-5.6-28-37
Introduction
The country has stepped into the third millennium, which puts forward fundamentally new requirements for the training of specialists. They should have market thinking, enterprise, the ability to make bold decisions, have a good knowledge of two languages — the state language (Kazakh) and a foreign one. The processes of globalization, the intensive development of communication, the Internet, and distance learning forms the basic requirement for modern workers to know languages. Therefore, teaching a foreign language is considered as a necessary link in the general program of humanitarian education.
Modern specialists need personality traits based not only on logic, but also on intuition and creativity: rational and figuratively-sensual thinking, reflection, prompt response to the situation, determination, the ability to make decisions in the face of uncertainty, and competitiveness. Competitiveness implies that a specialist has such qualities, abilities such as health, intelligence, high work capacity, organization, creativity, discipline, the presence of business connections, sociability and communication skills.
Mastering a foreign language is necessary both in everyday life and in the workplace: relations with foreign partners, abroad business trips, equipping the production with imported equipment, business correspondence. For whatever you take, everything requires knowledge, mainly English.
Language, whether native or foreign, serves as a means of communication, allowing people to interact with each other, to influence each other in the natural conditions of social life. The considerable success of the work depends on the teaching methods. A huge variety of types of activities of teachers and students — these are the teaching methods.
In recent years, the increasing attention of pedagogical science and practice has been attracted to teaching methods, which in their content and methods of implementation are impossible without a high level of external and internal activity of students. Usually they are called "active learning methods." Of these methods, the most common are didactic games. Didactic methods are a collective focused activity when each participant and the team as a whole are united by solving the main problem and orientate their behavior towards winning. A game organized for educational purposes can be called an educational game.
The main purpose of the use of this innovative approach is the ability to effectively master students' foreign communicative competence. It includes the following concepts [6]:
• verbal competence is creating an opportunity of manifestation of communicative skills in all forms: listening, speaking, writing, reading, translation within a specific topic;
• socio-cultural competence is the formation of ideas about the social and cultural specificity of the target language;
• linguistic competence is students' acquisition of lexical units relating to the topic as a necessary basis for registration of speaking abilities;
• educational and cognitive competence is the improvement of educational activity on mastering of foreign languages;
• compensatory competence is formation of skills of overcoming difficult situations in a shortage of linguistic resources.
Also, this approach forms informational competence which manifests the ability to work independently with reference books, find necessary information in various sources, and see links with other branches of knowledge. Moreover, project-based learning contributes to enhancing students' personal confidence, developing a "team spirit" and communication skills; providing a mechanism for critical thinking, the ability to find ways to solve problems and developing students' research skills.
Due to the growth of person's potential, skills and innovations we can apply project technology from the second grade. In my experience, there are many brilliant students, who want to know much more information; and while little children are interested in learning foreign languages we must use all these approaches in order to raise the quality of teaching. In my work I mostly use projects, role-plays and communicate approaches. When we speak about young children the projects can be like "My Family", the creation of a family tree, the story about a weekend day. It should be noted that parents are often involved in creating projects, because collaboration on a joint project results in convergence and communication. Amidst a wide variety of topics for research, my students are working on the following topics: "My Toy" (the second grade); "Seasons", "Food and drinks", "Dress your doll" (the third grade); "My Motherland", "The place we live in" (the fourth grade); "British and Kazakh traditions", "Great Britain", "How to save our planet", "The
British way of life" (the sixth grade) and "Visiting Great Britain", tourist booklet "Astana" (the seventh grade) [8].
The forms of project can change and become more complex depending on students' age. For instance, in the 6th grade students create a guide to Great Britain. Each of them creates a single page, and then the pages are connected together. The cover of this brochure is trusted to students who can draw well. The teacher explains the purpose of the task to students. They have the right to propose their own project.
Research results
The work on the project can be carried out either individually or in groups. Working in groups, the participants of the joint project should distribute the roles and realize that success depends on the contribution of each participant. Project work begins in the classroom as a teacher-supervised activity. Projects may be short-term or long-term. Depending on the type, they can be presented at the next lesson, or at the final lesson. It is important to organize the work using project, creating the most favorable conditions for the disclosure and manifestation of the creative potential of the participants. In my experience, I organize post-project exhibition of the works, so that other students, parents and teachers should be able to see and appreciate the importance of this work.
Using project method in my work, I came to the conclusion that this method is very effective at generalization, consolidation and revision of educational material, especially in the organization of its practical application. For me there is a particularly appealing fact that project-based learning actively influences the motivation of student [2]. The work with the project — presentation encourages students to use computer technology. It should be noted that many students get their first experience in Power Point preparing for such kind of projects.
With the training of skilled workers and specialists, business games are widely used. Their goal is the formation and development of specific skills to act in clearly defined situations. Students learn to quickly analyze the given production conditions, make optimal decisions, and solve economic problems. Active methods include problem-based learning. Students are faced with educational, life and work situations. Extra-curricular activities include active methods: conducting contests, competitions, quizzes, press conferences, for example, conducting a week of natural sciences. The competition for the best translator-referent reveals the ability to understand a foreign language text while reading. Competition for
the best storyteller provides an opportunity to identify the ability to build a coherent statement. Competition for the best interlocutor reveals the ability to conduct a dialogue, exchange remarks.
The quiz can be held at any stage of learning a foreign language. The subject of the quiz may be regional knowledge. The group of colloquial speech is a huge field of activity of the teacher, where you can use various techniques inherent in intensive methods. This is the creation of an atmosphere conducive to communication.
The processes of updating in the field of teaching foreign languages in a modern school create a situation in which teachers are given opportunity to independently choose textbooks and other teaching aids. A modern teacher refuses ready-made teaching aids that strictly regulate activities within a specific methodological system, in favor of analyzing the current situation in teaching foreign languages, in favor of the effective use of new technologies in the educational process. The teacher's task is to create the conditions for practical mastery of the language for each student, to choose such teaching methods that would allow each student to show their activity, their creativity. The teacher's task is to intensify the student's cognitive activity in the process of teaching foreign languages. Modern pedagogical technologies, such as training in collaboration, a project methodology, the use of new informative technologies and Internet resources help to implement a personality-oriented approach to learning, provide individualization and differentiation of training, taking into account students' abilities, their level of training, inclinations, etc.
Modern technologies are undoubtedly computer technologies, which have a number of advantages over traditional methods. Computer training carries a huge motivational potential. One of the most revolutionary achievements in recent decades, which have significantly influenced the educational process worldwide, has been the creation of a global computer network called the Internet, which literally means "international network". The use of cybernetic space for educational purposes is a completely new area of general didactics and private methodology, as the changes that occur affect all aspects of the educational process, from the choice of techniques and work style to the change in requirements to the academic level of students [4].
The substantial basis of the mass computerization of education is, of course, connected with the fact that a modern computer is an effective means of optimizing
Philology and linguistics ' ^E.M!ER Austrian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 5 — 6 (2020) - ISSN 2310-5593 (Print) / ISSN 2519-1209 (Online) -
the condition of mental labor in general, in any manifestation of it. R. Williams and C. Mackley in their article "Computers at school" write: "There is one feature of a computer that is revealed when it is used as a device for teaching others, and as an assistant in acquiring knowledge, it is its inanimate state. The machine can "friendly" communicate with the user and at some points "support", however, it will never show signs of irritability and will not make you feel bored. In this sense, the use of computers is perhaps most useful in individualizing certain aspects of teaching" [9].
The main goal of learning a foreign language is the formation of communicative competence; all other goals (educational, educational, and developing) are realized in the implementation of this main goal. A communicative approach involves learning to communicate and building the capacity for intercultural interaction, which is the basis for the functioning of the Internet. At the lessons of the introduction of new material, one can use the following educational programs: great help in teaching phonetics, articulation, rhythmic intonation pronunciation skills, to increase the motivation of students to learn English is provided by the program "Professor Higgins. English without an accent" The interactive course" Round-up (publisher Pearson Education Limited, Longman), consisting of several disks of different levels, is a great help in studying and fixing grammar. Exercises are arranged according to grammatical themes. Advantages of the course are the ability to check their answers and summarizing the results of the tasks with computers. Interactive course "Way Ahead" (Macmillan publishing house) — there are six levels of this course including games, crosswords, fascinating exercises for fixing grammatical and lexical material in a game form. Interesting and exciting is a sound and graphic design of the program.
In the language laboratory there are disks with various type of educational programs. This is an important and extensive addition to the training process. The educational programs provide a large number of exercises for grammar and vocabulary. These programs are very easy to use, you need minimal computer skills, which is very important when working with a group of students. There are materials for all classes that are divided into modules, but their content is very simple and not very clear.
Now let's move on to the issue of using the Internet for teaching English. Today, new methods of using Internet resources are opposed to traditional teaching
foreign languages. To teach communication in a foreign language, you need to create real life situations that will stimulate the study of the material and develop adequate behavior. Now everyone understand that the Internet has tremendous information capabilities and no less impressive services. Whichever way we relate to the Internet, we have to recognize the fact that the worldwide network has become an integral part of modern reality. Many students have long appreciated all the advantages of the Internet and use its services actively in their educational process, while for teachers the space of this world web remains mostly unknown, unfamiliar and to some extent frightening. What kind of help the Internet can provide depends on how we use it for solving didactic tasks.
These days every modern teacher uses widely the resources of the global Internet. Preparing messages, students filter a lot of information, if they need to listen to music, and most often view photos. Such tasks for students can use the preparatory stage for the lesson, for example, in combination with the project method, allowing students to apply practically for their knowledge and skills. This is one of the forms of research organization and cognitive activity, in which group activity is successfully realized that allows increasing the motivation for learning a foreign language. In the center of such a work process stands the student himself, with the opportunity to freely express his opinion and practical usage of foreign speech [12].
Thus, without the use of ICT in the teaching process, it is difficult to imagine modern English lessons. Their use expands the scope of the educational process, increases its practical focus. The use of ICT and Internet resources in the English lesson allows me to more fully implement a whole range of methodological, pedagogical and psychological principles. The usage of computers in English educational programs increases the effectiveness of solving communicative problems, develops different types of speech activity of students, and forms a stable motivation for students to learn foreign language activities in class [7].
We need to understand and accept that the "map" of teaching and learning processes is not exactly the real "territory" of the classroom or of each pupil. First and foremost, teachers should have an open (which is not to say naive) attitude. They should be prepared to "explore" the possibilities provided by technological tools for renewing their teaching and learning environments, i. e. they should allow themselves to be surprised and
should not have any pre-judgements when meeting the challenges posed by technology [13].
Secondly, rather than working alone, teachers should work in teams, sharing their classwork with other teachers. Online technology-supported collaborative work can help enormously in this area.
Thirdly, teachers should document what they do and share their innovations. We have excellent professionals who innovate every day but who do not write down what they do.
Fourthly, we need to bear in mind and understand the contexts and the "mental maps" of our teachers regarding innovation and change. Change management has more to do with fear and emotion than with rational concerns.
And finally, we need a vision of innovation that gives us the opportunity to experiment and make mistakes without becoming "paralyzed" or immobile. Learning from mistakes enables us to learn and to progress.
Innovations in English Language Teaching:
1) Digital platforms
When we discuss Innovations in English Language Teaching, These digital platforms come to our minds: Facebook, Edmodo, Moodle Cloud, Schoology, Google Classroom. Digital Platforms help teachers and students to create a space in which teachers and learners can connect, ask questions to enhance learning, host your classes on the cloud and create different types of assessments.
2) Online corpora
A corpus is a collection of texts. Corpora, plural term of a 'corpus' refers to electronic authentic language databases that can be available via internet or as software installed in desktops. Now Corpora has been made available for studying linguistic structures, frequencies, etc. Some of the tools that are available thanks to the analysis of texts are: Linguee, Vocabulary Profilers, TOEIC Word Lists, New General Service List and Academic Word List.
3) Online Continuous Professional Development
The Internet has made possible that teachers connect
with other teachers to seek knowledge that will make a difference in their lives and in the lives of those they teach. Professional Development Courses are available online, some of them charge a fee to enroll and some of them are offered for free. If you are interested in taking online course, have a look at the classes offered by Future Learn.
4) Mobile Learning
The development of mobile technology and the proliferation of smartphones has enabled many of us to
access the internet and a huge variety of apps on the go. Have you ever considered using cellphone in the classroom? Consider some of these ideas: How to Use Mobile Phones to Teach English, 15 Awesome Youtube Channels for Teaching and Learning English, 7 Best Pronunciation Apps, 10 Great Apps that Every English Language Learner Should Have.
5) Communicating with People Online
There are numerous ways to communicate online with people outside the classroom; these are some of the most used tools to communicate. Skype is for doing things together, whenever you're apart. Skype's text, voice and video make it simple to share experiences with the people that matter to you, wherever they are. Zoom offers you HD video, HD Voice with dynamic voice detection, full screen and gallery view, dual stream for dual screen and feature-rich mobile apps for iOS and Android
6) Online Authentic Materials
There is a variety of digital resources for authentic material, these are some of the digital resources that you should check out: Voice of America English News, Youtube, Facebook. You can download any video from Youtube using Pickvideo.net and any video from Facebook using this online Facebook Video Downloader.
7) Video Conferencing
Video conferencing (VC) continues to be a highly efficient way of inviting visitors into classrooms and for enabling learners to collaborate with each other at distance. Video Conference helps to: Expose learners to native English speakers and for facilitating cultural exchanges, bring specialist English teachers into classrooms for direct teaching, there are many free solutions available, such as Skype, ooVoo, iChat and FaceTime or Flash Meeting which are free from advertising and free of charge.
Activity
Research a little bit about those tools and tell us which one you would use in the classroom in case that you need to have a video conference. What Criteria would you use to make that choice?
8) Digital Game-Based Learning
Game-based learning today involves the use of computer and video games specifically aimed to produce learning outcomes. It is designed to balance subject matter and gameplay, and later assesses the ability of the learner to retain and apply the acquired knowledge to real-world scenarios. Digital Game-Based Learning is appealing to students if they have the following elements:
Philology and linguistics
Austrian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 5 - 6 (2020)
Competition that provides motivation for students to start and finish the game, engagement means that students want to play and have fun, Immediate Rewards help learners comeback for more, Immediate Reinforcement and Feedback must be instantaneous.
Most children in many parts of the world who have grown up with computers and gaming consoles and increasingly 'smart' mobile phones are highly conversant with the notion of using them for 'digital play'. Some educators are capitalising on their children's involvement with this type of technology by integrating video games into their lessons. Activity
Go to the web and find some appealing games that you would use in an English classroom to reinforce any topic that you have in mind. What Criteria did you use to choose that game?
9) Mobile Technologies
Mobile Technology is everywhere and you can argue that mobile phones and what they offer are by far more entertaining than the average class. Do you restrict or encourage their use in the classroom? Activity
Go to the playstore or appstore which are two of the most used platforms to download apps and search for the most useful apps that you would recommend to learners to improve the linguistic skills. What criteria do you use to choose those apps over the hundreds available online?
10) Blended Learning
Blended learning is an education program (formal or non-formal) that combines online digital media with traditional classroom methods. It requires the physical presence of both teacher and student, with some elements of student control over time, place, path, or pace.
Activities
What are some advantages and disadvantages of blended learning?
11) Technology in Assessment
The range of skills, that modern assessments attempt to evaluate is quite broad and reflect our current views on teaching and learning. It might for example include assessing the students' ability: to participate in a pair work oral activity, to skim a text and quickly look for key information, to tell a story, to follow instructions, to plan and organise an article, to write for a specific group or genre.
Activity
Choose one of the previous abilities, what online tool would you use to assess that ability?
12) Virtual Learning Environment A virtual learning environment (VLE) in educational technology is a Web-based platform for the digital aspects of courses of study, usually within educational institutions. VLEs typically advertisements: allow participants to be organized into cohorts, groups and roles, present resources, activities and interactions within a course structure, provide for the different stages of assessment, report on participation; and have some level of integration with other institutional systems. Activity
Take a look at Edmodo, Schoology, Google Classroom and Free Moodle Cloud, ifyou had to choose one of them to implement in the classroom, which one would you choose? Why would you pick that one over the others? [6] The emphasis in current curriculums on the acquisition of competences requires further interaction between pupils and teachers. Attending to a diverse range of pupils and meeting a range of different needs leads to the individualization oflearning experiences. Promoting skills for collaboration and teamwork means that teachers have to organize, observe and support teambuilding. Enabling students to reflect explain and contribute actively means that teachers have to organize, observe and monitor student discussions, demonstrations and presentations. Bringing teaching activities closer to real external situations means that teachers have to propose activities that incorporate examples and real-world applications.
Incorporating digital technologies as a resource for teachers and an instrument that enables students' intellectual work is another of these important changes. This means that teaching can definitely not be considered a static role that is "learned" once and for all. The predisposition to lifelong learning that is today required of any educated person begins with the exercise of the teaching function [14].
Expressions such as "digital natives" and "the Facebook generation" express a generational fact that is associated with the familiarity young people have with technology. Many schoolchildren have a large background of knowledge, experiences and digital skills, which are extensive but rather unstructured and cannot be equated with digital competence because they do not guarantee that children and adolescents will learn and gain added value in their academic work by using technology. As teachers observe every day, being born in a socio-technologically rich context does not automatically imply that one is capable of working and studying in digital environments profitably
and efficiently. Frequently using messaging systems and participating in social networks is not synonymous with mastering communication, while searching for information and using office automation tools (often little more than simply copying and pasting) is not the same as producing or managing knowledge[l5].
For this reason, a leading and integral objective of promoting digital competence in schoolchildren should be to enable them to moderately, judiciously and productively use Internet resources and their available devices to manage their online identity and protect themselves from security risks.
Digital competence can be understood as the set of knowledge, strategies and skills that enable an individual to solve typical and emerging problems (i.e. those related to the future and to the new situations being produced) associated with the digital world in relation to communicating, selecting information and writing, etc., using a digital support.
Digital competence has an additional dimension that relates to the nature of the technological systems and instruments as the object of knowledge. The intellectual activity associated with programming teaches one to think in an abstract, logical and structured way, fosters
the development of an autonomous and innovative mentality, and helps to develop "computational thinking", i.e. the reasoning and intuition that helps learners to develop problem-solving strategies. In some countries, "computational thinking" is gaining importance in compulsory education [12].
In the 21st century, the society makes ever higher demands on the practical knowledge of English in everyday communication and in the professional sphere. The volumes of information are growing, and often routine ways of its transfer, storage and processing are ineffective. The use of information technology reveals the enormous capabilities of the computer as a means of learning. But we must not forget that the use of multimedia technologies can't provide a significant pedagogical effect without a teacher, since these technologies are only ways of teaching. The computer in the educational process is not a mechanical teacher, a tool that enhances and expands the possibilities of its teaching activity.
The integration of ICTs into education systems brings with it a series of challenges and barriers that institutions need to tackle as a whole (Zhao, 2002, Yung-Jo, 2012). These challenges and barriers are summarized in the following table [15].
Table 1. - Challenge or barrier
1st Order
The institution Institutional practices, available ICT structures, flexibility to make changes to the curriculum.
The student Digital culture and personal ICT infrastructure.
2nd Order
The teacher Self-efficacy, attitudes towards ICTs, personal ICT infrastructure, perceived incentives.
3rd Order
The discipline Knowledge of the contribution of ICTs to enrichment of learning environments and resolution of learning or teaching nodes in the teacher's specific topic areas or subjects; the type of ICT to use (hardware and software) and how to use them both inside and outside the classroom.
First-order barrier: the institution and the student. Like all institutions, schools and universities have rules and traditions, a certain level of technological infrastructure, and support services to enable it to be used. The challenge of integrating ICTs into their students' education means that institutions must introduce changes in their curricular structures, update their technological infrastructure, and take other decisions that will directly affect their teachers and students. These challenges, which are called "Firstorder barriers", comprise the following dimensions:
The "digital culture" of the institution, which is associated with its practices, regulations, and the leader-
ship displayed by its authorities. The recommended way to overcome this barrier is to create an ICT integration project that incorporates objectives, ICT resources, indicators of integration, monitoring of progress, instruments for assessing students' ICT skills, and recognition of teachers' time commitment and is supported within a significant theoretical framework such as TPACK (Mishra and Koehler, 2009)[13].
The technological infrastructure is an essential barrier to tackle when integrating ICTs into an educational establishment. One of the first barriers identified (NCES, 2000), it is associated with quality, quantity and avail-
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Austrian Journal of Humanities and Social Sciences 5 - 6 (2020)
ability of ICT resources at an institution, particular for use in the classroom. Other barriers are the speed and efficiency with which problems are prevented or corrected by the institution's technical support staff.
Students' "digital culture" has changed fundamentally in the last decade. The so-called "Digital Natives" or "Learners of the New Millennium" (Pedro, 2006 and 2011; Prensky, 2009) have acquired a basic layer of technological skills. However, recent studies have shown that although students can operate mobile devices, social networks and videogames efficiently, this does not necessarily mean that they are automatically able to use software for educational purposes [14].
Pedro suggests that when these technologies began to enter people's homes, the ICT-related competences of pupils started to outperform those of their teachers. This author also suggests that we can expect a demand for greater variety and quality in the use of ICTs in schools and universities, particularly with regard to the kind of ICT devices and services available at schools, the frequency of their use, the range of possible teaching activities, the opportunities for collaborative work and networking, and the standards of digital quality in terms of interactivity and use of multimedia resources.
Second-order barrier: the teacher. This barrier is associated with the teachers themselves. It refers to teachers' attitudes towards using technologies in their teaching activities, their sense of self-efficacy when using them in their classrooms, their perception of the effort needed to prepare and teach a class using technology, and their opinion of how efficient this effort is for achieving more or better learning and increasing motivation [11].
Third-order barrier: the discipline. Even when the institution has overcome the first two barriers, it is still not certain that teachers will introduce ICTs into their teaching strategies because each discipline presents its own specific challenges because of the role, advantages and obstacles inherent in learning resources. The difficulty lies in how to justify the use of technologies in a particular subject and how to respond clearly to the following questions: What do these technologies contribute? Do they help to improve learning? Do they enrich the teaching and learning environments? Do they need special support? Which software should be used? How can we evaluate learning when using technologies? Will the pupils be able to transfer these practices and technologies to their future work environments?
Overcoming this disciplinary barrier is a long-term endeavor that requires institutional support. Key elements in this endeavor are peer networks to identify practices by other teachers of similar subjects who have successfully tested the use of technologies and can provide models for their use in those subjects (OECD, 2011).
Expressions such as "digital natives" and "the Face-book generation" express a generational fact that is associated with the familiarity young people have with technology. Many schoolchildren have a large background of knowledge, experiences and digital skills, which are extensive but rather unstructured and cannot be equated with digital competence because they do not guarantee that children and adolescents will learn and gain added value in their academic work by using technology. As teachers observe every day, being born in a socio-tech-nologically rich context does not automatically imply that one is capable of working and studying in digital environments profitably and efficiently. Frequently using messaging systems and participating in social networks is not synonymous with mastering communication, while searching for information and using office automation tools (often little more than simply copying and pasting) is not the same as producing or managing knowledge.
For this reason, a leading and integral objective of promoting digital competence in schoolchildren should be to enable them to moderately, judiciously and productively use Internet resources and their available devices to manage their online identity and protect themselves from security risks.
Digital competence can be understood as the set of knowledge, strategies and skills that enable an individual to solve typical and emerging problems (i.e. those related to the future and to the new situations being produced) associated with the digital world in relation to communicating, selecting information and writing, etc., using a digital support.
Digital competence has an additional dimension that relates to the nature of the technological systems and instruments as the object of knowledge. The intellectual activity associated with programming teaches one to think in an abstract, logical and structured way, fosters the development of an autonomous and innovative mentality, and helps to develop "computational thinking", i.e. the reasoning and intuition that helps learners to develop problem-solving strategies. In some countries, "computational thinking" is gaining importance in compulsory education [7].
Project technology allowed students to integrate a variety of activities, making learning enthralling, more interesting and therefore, efficient. Students with different abilities became successful and felt they were needed in the project activities. Educational, social and communication skills were developed during the implementation of projects [5]. At the preparatory stage, students learned how to work with dictionaries, reference books for posts, thought through the way of presentation, and of course learnt to sort out their work. Project-based learning has changed students' attitude to the computer: computer has been transformed into a source of information and one of the ways of presentation the material.
ICTs provide an opportunity for changing and transforming education, improving teacher digital competence, updating methodologies, and improving student learning. They should therefore be viewed as an opportunity rather than a threat.
We need to draw up a map of educational innovation and create a research agency or institute for pedagogical innovation that provides ITC support to schools.
The technological and pedagogical maturity of schools should be evaluated and both teachers and pupils should be provided with accreditation for their ITC competences.
Dialogue should be promoted between the business technology world and the educational environment. The creation of an international event and meeting point for technological innovation applied to education would also be interesting.
The idea is not so much to install technology in the classrooms but to create a new model for schools that incorporates the presence of technology. School management should be empowered with digital competences and teachers should be given the opportunity to develop more efficient teaching and learning processes with the aid of technology while ensuring that the processes work better than when technology is not used.
School autonomy, integrated functioning, decentralized management, flexibility to adapt to the changing needs of society, and the involvement of the school community is the organizational principles that should govern the education system. School governance and educational leadership should respond to these prin-
ciples, to whose development digital technologies are inherent. The actions of schoolteachers in both public and private teaching institutions should be coherent with these principles.
A technological and pedagogical handbook (for What?, Who?, and How?) should collect and systematize the various education-related technological solutions, identify technology sector suppliers and companies that can offer these services, and outline emerging methodologies and pedagogies related to the use of technology.
A systematic and comprehensive analysis of the most suitable teaching methods for working with technology in the classroom should be drawn up.
An ICT Integration Plan should be drawn up from a pedagogical rather than a technological perspective. While infrastructure should be considered in the development of this plan, the focus should be on the quality and relevance of the use of technology for pedagogical purposes. The plan should include progress indicators to monitor the effectiveness and impact of the strategies adopted.
Conclusions
Diagnoses of the ICT culture prevailing at teaching centers should be made periodically. The quality of the center's infrastructure and services perceived by users should also be assessed, with special regard to their pedagogical uses both inside and outside the classroom. Other aims of these diagnoses would be to identify the challenges or barriers prevailing at the institution, determine what strategies should be used to overcome them, and apply these strategies
Summing up, I would like to say that in contrast with traditional ways, the usage of innovative forms of learning devotes a major role to a student towards gaining knowledge.
Furthermore, the teacher should not solve only educational tasks, but also he or she must create the conditions for students' independent research, encouraging them to develop orientation skills and independent decision-making. The implementation of innovative methods in teaching is an essential prerequisite in solving educational problems. Constantly evolving system of information management in combination with technical support provides the highest quality of educational process.
- ISSN 2310-5593 (Print) / ISSN 2519-1209 (Online) -
References
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Information about the author
Malika R. Urazova, master of pedagogical sciences at Non-governmental educational organization "Leader",
Almaty, Kazakhstan.
Address: Orbita-4, 25b, 050043, Almaty, Kazakhstan.
E-mail: [email protected]; tel.: +7 (727) 254-70-99
ORCID : https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9824-3681
