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SELF-EDUCATION
OF A UNIVERSITY TEACHER
(USING THE EXAMPLE OF A GEOMETRY TEACHER) А. F. Shabaeva
Self-education is a need of any responsible person involved in any professional activities. Furthermore, for a university teacher, self-education is a necessary precondition for efficient professional activity. The success of selfeducation largely depends on its continuity and systematic character. Daily work with information in the course of preparation for lectures, seminars, internal and other scientific seminars, conferences, performing scientific and research work, mastering new pedagogic technologies and methodologies, and upgrading the level of general culture facilitate a teacher’s professional and personal development.
Geometry is a part of mathematics that studies spatial relations and forms of objects, as well as their generalization. People knew many geometrical facts already 4,000 to 5,000 years ago. Today’s geometry is one of the fields of mathematics. In the course of the long-term development of geometry as a science, it was divided into individual components: differential geometry, topology, non-Euclidian geometry, Riemann geometry, etc. Geometry is continuously developing, enriching itself with new facts and rules. Its current state is conditioned by deep interdependence on other disciplines of the scientific cycle. Geometry has become a broadly divergent structure, and its borders have become less distinct. To go with the times, a teacher of geometry should continuously improve his/her knowledge, know the main directions and problems of development of science, and relations with other sciences and practice. At the same time, a teacher should undertake research work himself/herself in one of the chosen topics. As experience shows, with an upgrade of qualification, the efforts made for preparing a lecture or practical training session do not decrease, but on the contrary, increase. A mature teacher knows students’ strong and weak, which is why in the course of preparation he/she uses all his/her efforts for improvement and supplement of the existing patterns of teaching and presenting the materials. All the above encourages students to be interested in their field of their study.
Professional development of a teacher is not possible without self-education. However, it is necessary to create conditions to make a teacher’s self-education possible: advanced training courses, academic work, conferences, the possibility of publications (theses, articles, monographs), etc. The rating system of assessment of activity of a teacher and different forms of material incentive also encourage selfeducation. All the above, is, first of all, the duty of management of a higher educational institution.
The existing social and economic conditions and the fast moving development of modern society present new requirements for the field of education. New information and computer-based facilities with larger educational capabilities have a cardinal impact upon organization of the educational process. These new facilities become an integral part of the educational process, which
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makes it possible to talk about new pedagogical techniques, based on the use of modern computer facilities. The main advantages of such techniques are: (а) efficient management of activities of students with regard to study of a discipline; (b) encouragement of educational and cognitive activities; (c) individualization of the educational process with preservation of its integrity with the help of special software; (d) the ability to build a system of education which will allow a student to undertake self-education; (e) efficient system of control and evaluation of training results, etc. With the help of a computer and the Internet, information may be received more quickly and easily, and a larger amount of information may be received. Thus, education is becoming more IT-based, which is a condition for its further development. A teacher must have knowledge of IT, and have not only PC and information network system skills, but also use the latest IT achievements in education and self-education, and know methods of use of information technologies in practical training. In particular, there is an opportunity in the course of study of geometry to make geometrical constructions on the screen of a PC, and to demonstrate different geometrical forms and geometrical transformations.
An electronic textbook gives one the possibility to study training materials independently. Students of our university are attracted to creation of electronic schoolbooks in different sections of subject matter. The technology of development of electronic textbooks is continuously improving, and a teacher should know these technologies. The computer has become an important instrument in the work of a teacher, which improves efficiency and quality of the teacher’s work. It may be used at all stages of the process of study. In particular, test forms of examination and evaluation of knowledge of students has recently become widely used, which can be explained by the improvement of electronics and computer technologies and software. Teachers of the Sterlitamak branch of Bashkir State University have prepared tests for intermediate and final control of knowledge of students. Electronic multimedia lecture notes are being prepared in different subjects. Students of the university are given home tasks and individual variants of home inspection tests by e-mail. The local network of the Faculty of Physics and Mathematics has records of rating scores of students according to the module rating system accepted at the university. Furthermore, there are departmental information and educational Web-sites at the university for the purpose of information and organizational support of the educational process. The University gives free access to the electronic versions of periodical publications, textbooks, teaching guides, monographs and other scientific work of domestic and foreign specialists.
There are new requirements on the results of professional activity of university teachers in today’s system of education. A teacher must continuously upgrade his or her qualifications, improve and update his or her knowledge of the subject matter, and master advanced technologies, which is made possible, first of all, by systematic pedagogical self-education.
Translated from Russian by Znanije Central Translations Bureau
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