Теория и методика профессионального образования | Мир педагогики и психологии №3(20) Март, 2018

Значение и потенциал МООК для самообразования студентов вуза

Зубков Артём Дмитриевич
аспирант кафедры социологии и массовых коммуникаций, Новосибирский государственный технический университет, магистрант кафедры английского языка, Новосибирский государственный педагогический университет, РФ, г. Новосибирск, zubkov_nstu@mail.ru

Аннотация: Статья рассматривает вопрос самообразования студентов вуза с использованием массовых открытых онлайн-курсов (МООК). Приводятся характеристики онлайн-курсов, рассматриваются их положительные и отрицательные стороны , затрагиваются вопросы прохождения данных курсов студентами высших учебных заведений, описываются некоторые МООК-платформы, на которых они представлены.
Ключевые слова: массовые открытые онлайн-курсы, МООК, вуз, самообразование

Zubkov Artyom Dmitrievich
postgraduate student of Department of Sociology and Mass Communication, Novosibirsk State Technical University graduate student of English Language Department, Novosibirsk State Pedagogical University, Russia, Novosibirsk, zubkov_nstu@mail.ru

Abstract: The paper explores the issue of self-education of higher institution students using massive open online courses (MOOCs). The characteristics of online courses are given, their benefits and drawback are examined, the questions of learning these courses by students of universities are discussed and some of the MOOC platforms are described.
Keywords: massive open online courses, MOOC, higher education, self-education

At present, the state, the labor market and the modern system of higher education make high demands on the graduate of the university. Self-education of a student, increasing his professional skills, development of his own qualities is not only a personal, but also a social problem. Changes in the world affect the interests of every person. For example, digital technologies, rapidly penetrating into various spheres of human life, lead to the difficulty of following them. In the field of higher education there are changes, and they are so important that they cannot get feedback from the immediate participants of the educational process. It is obvious that the system of higher education is changing, and how it will look like, for example, in ten years it is still difficult to imagine. The development of the Internet opens a lot of horizons, and one of the latest innovations is the possibility irrespectively from the place of residence and status of the student, to get education in the best universities in the world [2]. Today, there is a huge amount of educational resources that are available at any time. They are called MOOCs (massive open online courses) and they are gaining popularity.

Information and communication technologies (ICT) had a significant impact on the change in the traditional model of education and teaching methods in higher education [4, 14].  Massive open online courses have opened new prospects for distance education. The concept of  MOOCs rely on principles of recent theory of learning - connectivity: the approach to learning as a process of networking and decision-making, learning and cognition as a process, not a state. MOOCs affect the independence, personal and professional motivation of students in acquiring knowledge, skills that are necessary for future professional activity [6, 15]. MOOCs are  e-courses (teaching and methodological complexes) are created by teachers of leading universities, including video lectures, lecture notes, homework assignments, tests and final control with the help of valuation funds and obtaining an official certificate. One of the important characteristics of MOOCs is the availability of each student's personal learning environment, involving the active participation and interaction of students with teachers. Training online courses, placed in the public domain are specially developed for MOOC platform courses[1, 8]. The largest project today is soursera.org - an online training project with the assistance of leading world universities, contains courses developed by the instructors of Princeton, Stanford, the University of Berkeley and many others. Now the project is actively translated into Russian. One can find such courses as "Psychology of Vocation",  "Psychodiagnostics"  prepared by the National Research Tomsk State University. Udacity is a private educational organization whose main goal is the democratization of education. The main goal of Edx.org is to combine the efforts of Harvard and Massachusetts University of Technology in creating modern online courses for free education and providing them to students all over the world. The Khan Academy project is positioned as the most successful non-profit educational organization created in 2006 by a graduate of MIT and Harvard Salman Khan. Along with the most popular, such as Coursera, Udacity, edX appear similar platforms in Germany, Spain, India, Great Britain. The most famous Russian platforms are Lecterium, Universirium, INTUIT, Interneturok.ru and others. So, Lecterium is a resource that provides an opportunity not only to create and post MOOC, but also contains about 4,618 video lections. Universirium is a project where courses are positioned as separate courses that can be built into educational programs.

MOOCs rely on the principle of maximum information immersion in the narrow-subject area which allows students to work with large amount of information and that in turn leads to the development of critical thinking of a student and the systematization of the knowledge that he receives [17]. Such training allows the student to have a great academic freedom which presupposes the correct choice of mode and intensity of work with the teaching materials. Classes in online courses are implemented several times a week that implies a certain periodicity of "teacher-student meetings", preparation for classes and studying additional sources on the discretion of a student [3].

We can assume that there are no flaws in such a system. However, if we consider online courses as a component integrating into the existing education system, then the question arises: how will the online course be combined with traditional learning? As a rule the beginning of classes in Russian universities is at the beginning of the term, number of hours is determined by curriculum of educational program. If the complete replacement of the traditional course is not considered, but only the integration of the online course as an additional or variable component appears , teacher and student cannot be free from the conditions of the entire system. The timetable for online courses does not allow long-term planning since they are not cyclical. Consequently, the planning of the educational process in the traditional form requires serious preparation. This preparation implies the willingness of universities to update the content of their own training courses annually and change the schedules of training, and this is a time-consuming process that requires a lot of time.

The most controversial aspect when considering the possibility of integrating online courses into a well-established traditional educational process is the organization and management of the educational process. If a teacher manages the process, then he has the necessary special knowledge to construct the content of the course, select topics for discussions and conduct them. Another thing is with the organization and control: to fully incorporate an online course in the teaching process, a teacher should apply for a course and become a learner and together with students be trained to track their activity and results [12]. But a teacher is not relieved from the need to use their own funds of evaluation tools to diagnose the level of mastering of knowledge by students. This circumstance cannot be ignored since the integrated component is only a part of the discipline, otherwise its presence as an element or module in the whole course loses its significance. Thus, parallel participation of the instructor in the course is not advisable, as it involves mastering logic of other people's materials, adapting to the format of communication and all this requires a lot of work, but it does not guarantee the quality and high course result.

In modern conditions of development of education and training of highly qualified personnel, one of the most important roles is played by the student's ability to adapt to the changing conditions of life, acquire necessary knowledge independently. Self-education of a student is possible through online courses. A learner independently selects a course of interest,  registers and begins training. An important feature here is that if a student realizes that this course is not interesting to him for some reason he can stop the training at any time. This allows a student not to waste time on materials that do not suit his interest but to continue searching for exactly the courses that he need for future professional work [7, 9].

Self-education in the context of higher education is undoubtedly very important, but we will consider self-education much broader in terms of learning or mastering additional skills or knowledge (which are aimed at realizing the interests of students) including the realization of creative needs. Today one of the largest platforms for the realization of its capabilities, access to information and self-study is the Internet. Many different forms, methods and technologies are presented here, with the help of which it is possible to achieve the results desired in the process of self-education [10].

MOOC platforms provide students a wide choice of online courses in any area. A student is given freedom and independence in choosing necessary course.

Distance learning provides the opportunity to flexibly regulate the learning process, as each student independently chooses the time for study [13]. He is not "tied" to the schedule of classes, he can work in parallel with the work at the enterprise, but nevertheless will carry out the process of self-education.

A student who studies using remote technologies has permanent individual contact with a teacher. Not always a full-time student decides to come and ask a question after class and a teacher does not always have time to answer questions from all students. Here, on any question of a student, an answer is guaranteed. And it does not matter how he was asked - in the forum or by e-mail [11].

During an online course a student is fully provided with the literature, methodical, didactic multimedia materials that are necessary for mastering the disciplines.

Thus, massive open online courses are e-learning with the use of distance educational technologies that involve indirect interaction between instructors and students, as well as students among themselves.

Here it is necessary to bear in mind that in courses aimed at the study disciplines of humanities it is impossible to automate the verification of assignments. The purpose of training in such courses is often determined by a student and instructors perform only the role of observers, organizing cross-checks of completed assignments, discussions, conversations, etc. Since the choice of online course for studying is exclusively a personal matter of the learner, it (the choice) is based not only on his educational needs, but also on the already existing level of education, life experience, socio-ethno-cultural environment that is habitual for him [16]. In this case with dozens or even hundreds of people enrolled in the course, it is hardly possible to guarantee a sufficiently high level of knowledge for each learner. Although the opportunity to openly express one's point of view, to debate is certainly a boon, but this opportunity should be based on knowledge and not simply on the subjective opinion of a particular student.

Based on the material above we note that online courses have a pedagogical potential that allows you to create content and achieve the learning goals by a wide variety of ways, methods and techniques. As a result of massive open online courses use university is widely implementing the opportunity to participate in transfer of pedagogical experience, receives a digital educational resource, increases competitiveness, recognizability in the world educational community.

Despite all the advantages of online courses they cannot replace traditional education, as otherwise there may be a violation of the system and the integrity of education. Online courses can perfectly be used as a source of additional education, advanced training and its support at the current level.

The special value of the current distance education is not in the convenience and pleasure derived from the learning process, but in the fact that a student can choose the courses that he needs independently. This ultimately allows a student to implement the process of self-education effectively.

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