Self-organisation in lifelong learning: theory, practice and implementation experience involving social networks and a remote format

2. Mediators of self-organisation in education

The important question is how to help students to develop independent learning skills. The answer to this question depends on the learning environment, in which students are immersed, as well as on the influence of the `mediator', who may be a teacher, tutor or instructor (Crooks et al., 2001; Hiemstra, 2013). In different countries such `mediators' are called differently, but they perform the same functions.

The mediator in the educational process based on self-organisation of students performs the following functions (Cruz Flores et al., 2011):

- helps students to structure their learning material using techniques that can identify their individual needs for topics covered in the course or in the training module and facilitate their independent in-depth study;

- after determining the needs of students, assists them in independent and deeper studies of specific topics, including this in the learning goals and objectives, which can be formalised as an individual curriculum written and agreed upon by the tutor and students;

- encourages students to use self-assessments (assessments of the results of their own activities) and choose methods that are appropriate for the content and type of learning in accordance with the desired goals; the tutor as a mediator can also use traditional methods of assessing the effectiveness of self-organisation (questionnaires, tests, interviews, etc.) or other forms of assessment; if it is necessary to increase the objectivity of the assessment, an additional expert can be involved;

- uses a variety of learning resources, helping students and expanding their capabilities in selecting materials for advanced learning to achieve their personal goals, including databases and online electronic resources, which today are an inexhaustible source of information necessary for the effective implementation of tasks facing students;

- creates an optimal learning environment for personalising the educational process, which involves the use of various materials on the basis of seminars, discussions, working groups, additional classes provided online and additional learning materials,

- organises feedback with students and creates opportunities to adequately assess the students' experience individually or in a group; and

- structures the course of individual learning, starting with methods and approaches to learning and ending with the choice of class time that best suits the individual needs of students; taking into account these needs, the attendance of classes, grades and ways of receiving them are stipulated.

In addition, the use of new approaches to learning based on digital technologies, innovative learning methods and Internet resources can currently help students to strengthen their natural predisposition to self-organisation, promoting the lifelong learning process in the context of independence and freedom, and rational assessments without fear of errors in relation to the results of their learning and liberation from conventions that were always limiting, for example, in a formal approach to learning. At the same time, it should be noted that, like any approach to learning, the independent approach has its advantages and disadvantages, which must be taken into account in the process of its usage.

In the modern world, self-learning is attracting the increasing attention as one of the most promising educational methods (Joan, 2015). Currently, a significant number of different learning methods have appeared due to the use of the latest electronic technologies, and, consequently, the learning format itself must be changed. This increase in the choice of learning resources means that students have the opportunity to choose their own learning method (Manca, Ranieri, 2016).

3. Criticism of the use of self-organisation in learning

Basically, criticism of the use of self-organisation in learning is associated with its insufficient versatility. Self-organisation in learning, presumably, can undermine the idea of traditional education and cast doubt on the very system of generally accepted traditional approach to the educational system in society. However, this approach has its advantages, especially in the field of adult education. Our studies have shown that self-education is very effective when an informal learning model is used (Belovol et al., 2018).

Self-organisation in learning, with its characteristic democratic approach promoting independence and communication between teachers or students and teachers as equals, refers to the `Western' learning styles that may be unacceptable for some other cultures. For example, in Asia or Africa, the traditional, authoritarian style often prevails, in which the goals are always clearly defined and control is associated with quantitative indicators in accordance with the requirements of national education systems. Students from these countries may turn out to be unprepared for self-learning. In this regard, they obviously need the help of a tutor and pedagogical support.

Studies on the self-organisation of Russian students show that it is negatively affected by the inability of students to resort to external resources when planning their activities in the absence of external control (Bobyliov, 2019). Students develop skills in the self-organisation of educational activities much more successfully if they are supported and controlled by teachers (Trofimov, 2017).

Thus, self-organisation in learning, in which there is no rigid and well-defined approach to the learning goals, can disorient students due to difficulties in finding clear parameters for assessing the results achieved in the learning process. In fact, self-organisation in learning may require answers to a number of important questions: what to evaluate, how to evaluate and in relation to what? In relation to the sensation of the usefulness of the life of the person or to his/her current and future work? In relation to the content of what is taught or the social consequences of learning? Or, perhaps, in relation to the achieved personality changes? And there may be quite a lot of such questions. Nevertheless, self-organisation in learning has several advantages.

4. Advantages of the self-directed approach to learning

Self-organisation in learning can contribute to the development of a new approach to education, which is based on real life conditions and learning experience (Gibbons, 2002; Grow, 1991). Self-organisation in education reflects the idea of the free choice in learning, taking into account the interests of students and helping them to realise their desires. This is particularly relevant in adult education. Self-organisation implies the idea of developing cooperative pedagogy, in which the freedoms of each person are perceived and interact in such a way that everyone can benefit from them (Guglielmino, 2008. Pp. 1-14).

Self-organisation in education and learning helps students to become proactive and committed to success, increase their self-assessments and feel satisfied with life and achieved results. Self-organisation in learning significantly increases the ability of students to make conscious choices in their favour, since in the process of self-learning they make decisions that take into account their own ideas, desires, aspirations, feelings and needs, and, therefore, they experience an increased sense of responsibility for the decisions made. Self-organisation in education encourages students, taking into account their real interests, to study topics in a wider and interdisciplinary context as compared with how it is done in the framework of educational disciplines. With the help of self-learning, the educational programme can be mastered with due account for the goals and the motivation emanating from the teacher, but in a more informal and democratic form (Barrios, Camargo Uribe, 2017).

Thus, the advantages of self-directed learning are as follows:

1) self-organisation in learning contributes to the practical implementation of the didactic principle of learning and development, which can be defined as a `natural' sense of self-confidence, proactivity, commitment to success through learning, a sense of satisfaction with life and achieved results due to the accepted responsibility for the chosen lifestyle and the way to receive an education;

2) self-education based on self-organisation opens the door to a new interpretation of `success in learning' and `success in the educational process'. For example, an educational institution aimed at promoting self-education in learning should accept the fact that `success' or `failure' in the learning process are relative concepts and should be considered more globally, taking into account the development of the student's entire life and learning. This approach is especially important when success or failure in the educational process is actually determined by tests or quantitative assessment methods, which, no matter how objective they might be, are always stereotyped, containing imposed criteria and are aimed at assessing academic performance in learning the content that was not consciously selected by students themselves;

3) students' aspiration to self-organisation, if it is transformed into the real aspiration to development through continuing self-learning, allows them to have a much wider range of interests than it is possible in traditional learning with a clearly defined curriculum, a predetermined schedule and content, because the traditional school today is not able to satisfy all the needs and interests of students.

Self-organisation contributes to a deeper study of topics that, although included in academic disciplines, can yet be studied more widely, even at an interdisciplinary level, taking into account the specific interests of students themselves. Based on self-organisation, it becomes possible to transform the curriculum content in such a way as to motivate students to study it in accordance with the goals and objectives defined by the teacher.

Consequently, the knowledge that students will acquire, regardless of the restrictions associated with the formalised curriculum will be the result of the free choice rather than obtrusion. Without compulsory curricula, students are free to choose, plan, research and create, while learning what they want according to their goals, values that they intend to uphold and personal desires that they want to achieve through learning. This is precisely the main development trend of self-organisation in learning. Self-organisation in learning provides a new approach to education and learning in general: it reflects the idea of receiving an education without restrictions, the right to choose one's own way of receiving an education, to follow one's own interests with the aim of satisfying one's own desires and expectations (Sumuer, 2018). Self-organisation in education is based on the idea of the free choice.

Independence and self-direction in learning and work of students are achieved through the organisation of their work and acquisition of competencies, which they will implement when they are ready to devote time to them, in accordance with the planning, implementation and assessment of their own learning experience. Self-organisation is directly related to self-learning, since it is impossible to achieve success in educational activities without the correct time distribution and without the ability to set goals. Today, the process of self-education is impossible without the use of advanced technologies and learning resources.

5. Experience in implementing self-organisation technologies in higher education

The modern approach to self-organisation in higher education involves the use of various tools and methods. Various forms of independent work performed by students contribute to the formation and development of self-organisation in educational activities. In the process of scientific research work, students acquire the ability to formulate goals and organise their time. The use of various forms of independent work, including the remote learning format, is a prerequisite for self-organisation in educational activities.

In formal learning, self-organisation means that students are involved in formulating the goals of their own learning activities, organising knowledge and constructing meaning using appropriate strategies that they consider necessary for the acquisition, development and generalisation of everything that has been studied (Loba- to Fraile, 2006). The constructivist model of education allows students to learn by managing the process of their own learning. Constructivism suggests that students are products of their own abilities, which are used to acquire knowledge. In classrooms, pedagogical situations are created, solving which, students learn to actively construct knowledge. In this context, the University of Los Lagos (Santiago, Chile) developed in 2012 a student-oriented educational model based on competencies, which includes the search for new forms of relationships in teaching, much more flexible and creative approaches that, practically speaking, contribute to the solution of pedagogical problems, considering the student as the main protagonist in constructing learning. To ensure the achievement of these goals, the curriculum included disciplines that form `transversal competencies for learning', which are a series of cognitive, emotional and social tools that can be used during the teaching process in harmony with the constructivist educational model (Leon Urquijo et al., 2014).

Recently, various social networks have been increasingly used for teaching and learning. For example, Facebook is used in different countries as a platform for online learning (Joan, 2015). This social network allows students from different countries and regions to organise self-directed learning, exchange ideas, participate in discussions of tasks, jointly develop research projects, watch videos, exchange information and always be in touch with the teacher and the group. Thus, Face- book can act as an ideal environment for the development of independent learning and the implementation of one's own educational strategies. Studies on the use of Facebook in learning emphasise the importance of social networks for implementing digital education and achieving learning goals in educational institutions (Duncan, Barczyk, 2016; Peruta, Shields, 2017). The data obtained confirm that Facebook, along with other social networks and the media, can expand the audience in the universities and make the educational process more creative and attractive.

Facebook provides collaboration and communication among communities focused on specific issues in certain areas of interest. When used in the structure of higher education, this network also helps to better implement the interaction between the teacher and students. In addition, Facebook can be useful in establishing new `social contacts', which is very important for the processes of learning and socialisation in educational institutions. It should be noted that Facebook has the ability to integrate educational resources and applications on its platform to improve the quality of teaching and learning and allows teachers and students to optimise class time. Facebook also allows students to easily share seminar schedules, relevant materials, and Internet links. Modern educational platforms offering tools for communication, collaboration and learning are structured in such a way as to resemble Facebook. The basis of this one and other social networks is the availability of data: they are communication tools that can be used to facilitate the learning process and increase the involvement of students in independent learning activities (Ellefsen, 2016; Tugrul, 2017).

Students, as a rule, are good at using Facebook and do it to create groups and work on projects. In addition, the use of this network allows students to access networks, forums and chat rooms (for example, to obtain information on term papers) (Chugh, Umar, 2018). We can distinguish the following advantages of using Facebook as part of self-directed learning:

- easy access and exchange of resources, data, links, etc.;

- easy ways to create interest groups;

- integration of Facebook with mobile devices, which provides greater flexibility in the learning process; and

- support of the personalised educational process and its connection with real life.

The expansion of web-based communication and learning tools has opened up new learning opportunities, which include the use of social networks as learning tools in accordance with individual needs and interests (Caruso, 2018; Cuesta et al., 2016).