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NEW INFORMATION TECHNOLOGIES OF LIFELONG EDUCATION
А. B. Voznyak
We all need to understand that in today’s postindustrial world of information technologies, a person meets an avalanche-type flow of information. He simply “eats” it, by reading publications, using electronic devices, first of all the internet, and also other mass media. The new generation more and more seriously faces the problem of lifelong education. This problem has stopped being simply theoretical, and is becoming more and more practical: how can a person during their lifetime have free access to education, receive professional qualifications, and improve their qualifications at any time he or she likes? The State National «OcBiTa» (Украша XXI стол^тя) focuses attention on solving the priority task of education - “the creation of viable system of lifelong education and training in order to achieve a high level of education, create conditions for the continuous selfimprovement of a person, and the development of the intellectual and cultural potential as the highest value of the nation”. This global problem shall be solved by means of pedagogical and information technologies.
Thus, the practical issue, i.e. the technological processing of the lifelong education system, may be considered the second largest issue in the strategic and tactical aspects. This problem is closely related to the priorities in the field of didactics. The thing is that in the case of such consideration of the prospects of education, it is insufficient to be focused on the needs of transferring and assimilation of the experience gathered by mankind, as is stated in didactics. What is really important is an ability to get knowledge independently, to be able to work with the information, to analyze it, and to see and solve problems, which arise in different areas. In other words, it means not just getting knowledge, but the ability to use and multiply it in a creative way. Personality-oriented pedagogy and personality-oriented pedagogy techniques should be priority number one. Such an approach to the system of education means that the paradigm of education should be changed. Formerly, our system of education was based on the paradigm “teacher-textbook-student”, where the priority was obvious - the activity of a teacher. Nowadays, it does not meet today’s requirements - the focus on a personality-oriented approach to education, which is being developed within the framework of the humanistic tradition in philosophy, psychology and pedagogy. This paradigm is replaced by the new paradigm of education “student - textbook -teacher”, in which the independent research activity of a student is a priority. However, the role of a teacher in such an approach does not become less important.
Everybody understands that nowadays Ukraine needs advanced technologies, which would support the large-scale preparation of specialists with use of the advanced communication and information technologies. Use of new information technologies is focused on the improvement of the efficiency and quality of preparation of specialists by means of the creation of conditions for continuous education, “lifelong education”.
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In order to solve the above-mentioned educational problems, it is useful to determine means that would facilitate their successful handling. If we are talking about pedagogical technologies, we should chose those technologies that in terms of their functions would correspond to the specific character of a personality-oriented, humanistic approach (for example, such technologies as cooperative learning, method of projects, split-level education, and module-based education). It does not mean that methods and techniques of traditional education should be absolutely neglected. In pedagogy and didactics, first of all it is necessary to be particularly careful and use the principle of relevance, and to look for the most productive means of achievement of the set goals. We would like to draw your attention to the fact that there is a considerable difference between the project including educational projects, and the method of projects, i.e. means of achievement of the result, which predefines the technological processing of the whole way. The method of projects foresees the availability of a problem, which the students solve in the course of joint creative research, and search and game playing activities depending of the type of project. Any practically important result received in the course of such and such developments may be called a project (for example, a marathon, the Olympics, business week or English language week, etc.).
Advanced information technologies play special role. Here we would like to consider the opportunities associated with telecommunication technologies. We mean global telecommunications that help to open the way to the global world, and to organize dialogue between different cultures. When conditions for a true integration and information environment (using the global Internet network, Microsoft, Netscape technologies) are created, this problem becomes clear. Distant training based on computer telecommunications improves the opportunities for integration. A person receives a chance to receive new a profession by distance learning, to upgrade the level of his/her qualifications, and to expand his/her world view, practically at any scientific or educational center of the world. With the help of global networks, barriers can be overcome. A person enters the integrated information network. Lifelong education is one of the main elements of the European environment of higher education. In the future, Europe-wide study of strategies of lifelong learning is a necessary precondition in order to meet the challenges of economic competition and the advanced technologies. During joint distant education project work, there is a strong motivation for independent cognitive activities of students in groups and individually. Such joint work encourages students to study different viewpoints regarding the relevant problem, look for additional information, and evaluate one’s own achieved results. A teacher becomes a manager, coordinator, consultant, to whom students refer not due to a teacher’s position, but as a reliable source of information, as an expert. Discussion of intermediary results, discussions, brain storms, reports, and theses receive other qualities, because they contain materials taken not only from textbooks and official reference books, but also opinions of partners from different regions of the world, data, interpreted data, facts, etc.
The current dynamics of the development of science, technologies and economics is such that professional knowledge becomes outdated every 3 - 4 years. In order to successfully prevent the dominant influence of poorly qualified
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specialists, it is necessary to reconsider the attitude to education and professional training. There is a need to organize the new technological system, making it possible to transfer a large amount of information and specialist knowledge. Implementation of distance training based on computer and telecommunication facilities becomes one of the most prospective trends. Only distance forms of training based on internet technologies will be able to solve this problem - to provide access to education to those categories of consumers that due to different limitations cannot receive educational services in their traditional forms.
Translated from Russian by Znanije Central Translations Bureau
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