PEDAGOGICAL EXPERIENCE
In the context of the global information boom, the question-and-answer form of teaching is the most preferable and effective for the digital generation, as it is oriented to maximize the activation of learners’ thought processes. Despite the fact that question-answer teaching is not new in pedagogy, practice shows the low readiness of teachers to design learning questions. The article is devoted to clarifying and describing the approach to constructing learning questions. In practice, this approach would allow the teacher to competently formulate learning questions to achieve better educational results, and students not only to search for answers to them, but also to learn how to compose questions themselves.
The main idea of the approach to constructing learning questions is information modeling of objects and concepts of the subject area. The methodology of designing learning questions supposes the decomposition of the information model of educational material in accordance with its structure, presentation features, and educational effect. Educational material is usually classified by educational functions: theory, practice, control. Accordingly, three algorithms for composing questions are identified: on theoretical material, on practical material, and questions on understanding, which are control and measuring tools.
The proposed approach to constructing learning questions for various types of educational material may be of interest to teachers, students of pedagogical universities, as well as students of psychological and pedagogical classes. The approach will also be useful for developers of electronic educational resources. Further research in this direction is planned to be expanded to the creation of a theory of learning questions from the perspective of the digital transformation of education.
The current implementation status of basic professional education programs (BPEP) in universities is characterized by a number of problems: for example, BPEPs are not fast enough to take into account changes in the labor market requirements to the target professional capabilities of graduates. In addition, there are not enough mechanisms in BPEP that allow monitoring and operational control over the effectiveness of training and compliance of the competencies of the academic component with the labor functions set out in professional standards. The article proposes an approach to modeling and formalization of BPEP based on the concept of skills development.
Different approaches to the development of educational programs are analyzed, their formalization and visualization is carried out on the basis of the method presented by the authors on the example of 09.03.03 “Applied Informatics” (the formats of mental maps, graphic metaphor “subway map”, etc. are used). The sequence of BPEP design is considered, the importance of the analysis of the program development strategy is noted.
The use of the described model makes it possible to offer new solutions to improve the effectiveness of professional educational programs, to ensure their practice orientation and flexibility, but most importantly, it makes it possible to achieve the demand for graduates in the labor market due to the reliance on the exact correspondence of skills mastered by graduates in the university to the requirements of employers.
The demand for training IT specialists with both fundamental knowledge and professional competencies that meet the current requirements of employers sets conditions for the search for relevant training methods. The article discusses an experiment to introduce the project approach using one of the tools of agile project development methodology (Scrum) in the process of training IT specialists through cooperation of a university and an IT company. Within the framework of the project “Digital Department” students were retrained and received a new qualification “Information Systems Specialist”. The authors describe the advantages of the educational model used, which combines the mastering of theoretical knowledge with the solution of real practical cases in the format of team projects. The following aspects of the educational process organization are noted: the choice of the optimal type of training, the balance between the acquisition of new knowledge and the development of practical skills, the definition of the roles of teachers and students, as well as the creation of an engaging educational environment.
The article describes the structure and course of students’ work on projects using the Scrum methodology. The analysis of the experiment results and evaluation of its effectiveness in the formation of demanded competencies of graduates are given. It is noted that students’ involvement in project activities provides a high degree of motivation and success: the main dropout of the experiment participants occurred at the theoretical stage of preparation for the project, and students who reached the stage of project activities successfully implemented their projects. Thus, the introduction of the project approach and Scrum methodology in the educational process contributes to the improvement of the quality of education and training of qualified specialists ready for the challenges of the modern labor market.
The results of the experiment described in the article can serve as a basis for further research and development of recommendations for optimization of educational programs.
INFORMATIZATION OF EDUCATION
Artificial intelligence (AI) technologies are firmly embedded in everyday life, turning anyone into a user who is constantly interacting with digital assistants of different complexity levels. Writing a scientific article by students and scientists is not done without using services that facilitate the routine operations of searching for necessary information or translating it.
The article is devoted to the review and systematization of AI tools created for scientific research and writing scientific articles in particular. A list of such tools is compiled according to the different stages of scientific research, including searching for scientific publications, visualization of bibliometric analysis, creation of scientific articles synopsis, rewriting, editing, and error correction, etc. The tools are provided with descriptions of characteristics and features of use.
Students of the Faculty of Finance of the Financial University under the Government of the Russian Federation took part in the development of the review of AI tools used for writing scientific articles: during the preparation of their own scientific publications, the students tested various tools, identified their purpose, advantages, and disadvantages.
The results of the article can serve as an aid in conducting research both by students and representatives of the academic community since the analyzed tools appeared in the last few years and are not sufficiently covered in the scientific literature.
Today, the transformation of the education system is largely associated with the use of cloud technologies. Many universities in Russia have already appreciated the advantages of cloud services (financial savings, flexibility and scalability, ease of access, security, etc.) and are implementing digital management platforms of different scale, complexity and, consequently, cost.
The article discusses the key features of cloud technologies, types and models of clouds, their advantages and disadvantages. The highlights of using cloud platforms in the educational system are analyzed. The range of cloud management platforms for educational institutions created by Russian and foreign IT companies is presented. The most popular domestic cloud platforms were discussed: Galaxy University Management, 1C:University PROF, Tandem University, and Modeus. An overview of foreign cloud platforms OpenEduCat and Camu as well as a comparison of the use of cloud platforms in Russia and abroad is given. It is noted that cloud platforms for managing educational institutions are similar in their functionality. The main differences of domestic platforms from foreign comparables are related to the digital educational environment of the university. The existing problems of creating a digital educational environment of the university are analyzed, the main development prospects are identified.
One of the ways to improve the quality and efficiency of higher education in Russia is to personalize learning, to find ways to create an individual educational trajectory for each student. Traditional teaching methods do not consider the individual characteristics of students, while the development of digital technologies, including artificial intelligence technologies, creates new ways to transform the higher education system.
The article presents a tool for personalizing the educational trajectories of students in Russian universities — an intelligent adaptive learning system based on neural networks. During the research described in the article, the optimal neural network architecture was determined (using multilayer perсeptron, convolutional and recurrent neural networks). The created adaptive system was integrated into the infrastructure of five Russian universities, where an experiment on its application involving 1000 students was conducted. Then, the impact of the intelligent adaptive learning system on students’ academic performance and engagement as well as on teaching efficiency was evaluated. The evaluation methods were statistical analysis using Student’s t-test and analysis of variance, student and faculty surveys.
The results of the experimental application of the intelligent adaptive learning system demonstrate an accuracy of predicting the performance of the educational process up to 92 %, an increase the academic performance of students in the experimental group by 18 %, an increase of their involvement in the learning process by 25 %, as well as an increase in the efficiency of teachers’ work by 15 % with a decrease in time costs by 20 %.
The research presented in this article demonstrates a significant potential of intelligent adaptive learning systems to improve the quality of higher education in Russia. The results can be used for optimization of educational programs and teaching methods. Further research is needed on the long-term impact of the presented adaptive learning system on the career trajectories of graduates and the labor market demand for the graduates.
Under modern conditions of digitalization of education, including liberal arts education, the use of natural language processing technologies and large language models (LLM) is of particular relevance and practical significance for improving professional training of students of philological specialties. The article explores the possibilities of using LLM for objective analysis of media context in the training of philology students. On the basis of critical analysis of literature and empirical research using the methods of thematic modeling, tonality analysis and fact extraction on the material of a corpus of 5,2 million media texts, the key thematic and linguistic features of the media context significant for the development of professional competencies of philology students are revealed. A conceptual model of integrating LLM methods into adaptive learning systems for personalized formation of media context analysis skills was developed. Experimental testing of the model on a sample of 120 students demonstrated a statistically significant increase in learning outcomes and learner satisfaction compared to the control group. The obtained results open prospects for the creation of intelligent adaptive systems for training philologists to work in a transforming media landscape.
FOREIGN EXPERIENCE
Spain is actively implementing innovations in education to prepare students for the challenges of the 21st century. One of the key aspects here is the integration of digital technologies into the educational process. The legal basis for the implementation of new tasks to modernize the education sector was the Organic Law on Education of 2006. But a real breakthrough in digitalization and the introduction of new information technologies occurred in Spain at the end of the second decade of the 21st century. In the context of the COVID-19 pandemic, decisive steps were taken in Spain to reform education and the widespread introduction of digital technologies. The development and implementation of the Educa en Digital (Education in Digital) program in 2020 demonstrated Spain’s desire to actively move towards the digitalization of the education system. The program became effective support for the digital transformation of the country’s education system, which included ensuring access to educational resources using modern digital technologies. The Socialist government led by Pedro Sánchez has repeatedly stated that the digitalization of education is an important factor in eliminating educational gaps and ensuring social cohesion, as it allows all students to have access to high-quality educational content, regardless of their social status or place of residence. The changes made to educational legislation in 2020 and the development by the Spanish government of the Strategy for the Digital Transformation of the Country until 2025 created the conditions for the implementation of large-scale projects in the field of digitalization of education.
ISSN 2658-7769 (Online)