Peculiarities of would-be teachers’ professional training with electronic educational resources

Providing open access to EER and securing safety and comfort for students working with these resources require the improvement of technological platforms, hardware for electronic learning implementation, principles of creating such resources, and methods for their usage.

The process of professional training of would-be teachers requires professionally oriented EER which are part of information-educational environment of an educational institution and are available for students in 24/7 mode. It is necessary to determine the optimal stages and principles for creating such resources and their scientific and methodological support, which is especially topical in the view of the doctrine of the informatization of education.

The analysis of the EER shows that at present a shift of the paradigm of education development can be observed worldwide, which is caused by the use of EER as Massive Open On-line Courses. The entire educational process is transferred into the electronic (cloud) environment. The use of numerous sources of information, multimedia, fast navigation and management makes learning available at anytime from anywhere.

Unfortunately, the potential of available EER capable of meeting the demands of labour market as well as students' and teachers' needs is rather limited. This insufficiency should be compensated with compact EER developed in accordance with the trajectory of teaching students, through providing the conditions for electronic communication and co-operation between the participants of educational process by means of intensifying it with the use of EER as constituents of the electronic education technology.

Analysis of recent research and publications. The analysis of the preceding research shows that electronic education is rapidly developing all over the world. The USA, South Korea, and Western Europe lead the world in this sphere. In European countries electronic education develops on the account of state grants, while in the USA a commercial system already functions. In Europe and the US, the technology of electronic education showed to good advantage and has been applied to educational process as one of promising educational technologies.

Today a positive trend of application of electronic education and its various models is being observed in Ukraine. It has become the object of investigation for Ukrainian scientists V. Bykov, R. Gurevych, I. Zakharova, M. Zhaldak, N. Morze, I. Robert and others. The problems of elaboration and classification of educational EER are covered in the academic studies by V. Bykov, V. Lapinskyi, S. Lytvynova, Yu. Mashbyts, M. Shyshkina and others. The practical aspects of elaboration and application of electronic coursebooks, reference books, learning and methodological packages are described in the research by

V. Vasiukevych, V. Vember, Yu. Zhuk, M. Kademiia, N. Klokar and others.

The problem of the use of EER in educational process is covered in the works by foreign scholars D. Stephens [13] and M. Burns [4], who explore the capabilities and essential characteristics of EER. On the one hand, they view it as a combination of graphic, textual, and digital content; on the other hand - as software and information component designed for all participants of educational process.

The experience of Alan Brinkley, Betty Dessants, Michael Flamm, Cynthia Fleming, Charles Forcey, and Eric Rothschild proved to be valuable for our research. In their work “Using Electronic Resources for Teaching” (an excerpt from “The Chicago Handbook for Teachers: A Practical Guide to the College Classroom” [22]) the authors investigate the promising directions of the use of EER in implementation of the Classroom technology.

The problems of the implementation of on-line education and the use of EER are investigated in the works by foreign scientists M. K. Tallent-Runnels, J. A. Thomas, W.Y. Lan, S. Cooper, T. C. Ahern, S. M. Shaw, X. Liu [21].

The article aims at generalizing the classification of EER; abstracting the possibilities of the use of EER in educational process of institutes of higher education; substantiating peculiarities of would-be teachers' professional training with EER and determining didactic peculiarities of EER designing; sharing the authors' own experience in creating ELMP (including its stages and principles); determining the functions of the use of ELMP in professional training.

Research results

The analysis of the current state of the use of ICT in the educational process of IHE shows that their usage requires preparing teachers to practical application of ICT to their professional work. It is necessary to determine and substantiate the most efficient ways of the selection of electronic facilities and resources, their systematization, determination of their role in educational process, evaluation of the potential of their practical use and their correlation with the aims of teaching. Teachers should master the skills of selection and quality evaluation of educational EER through the analysis of their contents, functional capabilities to provide high-quality professional training, their cross-platform character, capability to be adapted to the needs of a particular user and their physical peculiarities.

A significant amount of EER created, in particular, via cloud technologies, and calculating resources (e.g. networks, servers, data files, software, etc.) are becoming available to users as web-resources. Thus, supplying content-information loading for learning space with necessary EER, such as electronic books, libraries, educational portals, distant educational services, etc. is a matter of the utmost importance. Quality improvement and promoting accessibility of EER foster the development of hi-tech infrastructure of educational process, which meets the demands of the present.

There are many electronic educational resources aimed at supplying, functioning and development of process of IHE, which can be grouped as follows:

- local and network EER (amongst others, on optical digital storage media);

- educational web-based facilities: specialized websites, electronic collections, libraries, bodies of educational materials, etc.;

- educational electronic databases;

- systems and platforms for electronic learning, distant ones in particular.

Ukrainian scientists V. Bykov and V. Lapinskyi in their research work “Methodological

and procedural background for designing and using electronic educational facilities” define electronic educational resources (EER) as kind of facilities for learning and teaching activities; they are composed of a set of electronic information objects (documents, documented data and instructions, information materials, procedural models, etc.) which exist in electronic form and are stored and distributed within educational systems on storage devices for electronic data [1, p. 3].

According to the classification proposed by V. Bykov and V. Lapinskyi, the main sorts of EER (as per the field of function) are electronic resources of educational function (EREF), electronic resources supporting scientific research (ERSR), and electronic resources of administrative function (ERAF). Educational electronic resources (the most relevant in the context of the present research), in their turn, can be classified under various criteria.

In the context of the present research, special attention is focused on EREF. They comprise software and educational electronic data, which, in their turn, can be systematized according to the level of grouping [1].

According to the level of grouping, educational software is classified as follows:

- unattached software;

- systemic sets (collections) of educational software.

Educational data are divided according to the level of grouping into:

- unattached data;

- databases.

The types and kinds of electronic resources used at educational institution can be particularized under the criterion of their place in educational process.

Applied EREF as constituents of educational process can be classified into educational and providing ones [1, p. 4].

Educational EREF (designed directly for the realization of the educational process):

- educational e-editions (electronic coursebooks, textbooks, training courses);

- software for educational assessment;

- computer-oriented educational laboratories;

- reference resources;

- demonstrational resources;

- modeling resources;

- simulators;

- educational aids;

- educational sets of applied software;

- electronic sets of methodological and teaching aids;

Providing EREF (to provide the organization of the educational process):

- electronic educational data;

- electronic methodological and teaching materials;

- additional electronic scientific and educational materials.

Numerous EREF have already been designed in Ukraine, but their number is still insufficient, and their quality in some cases does not meet contemporary requirements [2, p. 6]. Thus, teachers often have to fill this gap by themselves, designing their own pedagogical program facilities for teaching particular units of some courses. We share V. Bykov's opinion that the major factor contributing to the efficiency of education informatization is not the achieved scientific and technical level of its computerization, but the quality and capacity of educational program facilities and other information educational resources [3, p. 16].

The quality of EREF depends on its contents, as well as adequate comprehension of its training material by every student. That is why it is advantageous to present the training material of various complexity levels; each level should comprise basic and variable components and proper amount of additional materials. It should include the basic theoretical training material which meets the requirements of state standards; the system of exercises and tasks which help form would-be teachers' professional competence; methods and means of learning administration; methods and means of final assessment of learning achievements.

Among the burning problems are the use of EREF in various operational systems; the simplicity of usage combined with functionality; interactive assistance; supporting individual and collective modes of learning; convenient review of the hierarchy of learning objects; the ability to choose any succession of units for studying; the swiftness of switching from one unit to another; the individual monitoring of the efficiency of task completion; the availability of means to control students' mistakes in the process of task completion; print capabilities for files, graphs, diagrams; supporting standards of graphical interfaces; animation of processes studied; the ability to work with glossaries; application of search services for units, headings, figures, formulas, references; the ability to create and use bookmarks; the availability of references to units, formulas, sources and the ability to work with them; the capability of numbering units, formulas, graphs, and figures; the ability to keep records of students' activities as well as video and audio support; adding and renewal of necessary information in the process of learning; the availability of space for notes and free zones for comments; the ability to control the integrity of software etc. [5, p. 453].

Considering the view of S. Lytvynova [19], we can systematize the facilities of using EER in the process of the professional training of would-be teachers as shown in Fig. 1.

Fig. 1. Facilities of using EER in the process of the professional training of would-be teachers

The problems concerning the design of such resources are studied by V. Bykov, R. Gurevych, M. Zhaldak, N. Morze and other scholars. They claim that among the EREF available nowadays, the leading role in the professional training of specialists is played by electronic learning and methodological package (ELMP).

The analysis of the definitions of the concept of ELMP is summarized in Table 1.

Table 1. Analysis of definitions of ELMP

Table 2 Functions of ELMP in the process of would-be teachers' professional training

The multifunctionality of ELMP in professional training of would-be teachers has been proved by the results of the pedagogical experiment in Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University. In the course of the experiment the use of ELMP in professional training of would-be teachers (specialty 015. Professional Training (Computer Technologies)) received approval. The results of the experiment demonstrate the efficiency of the use of EER and ELMP in particular in would-be teachers' professional training. 21 respondents were involved in the pedagogic experiment. The students' professional knowledge in the process of studying “Methods of teaching information technologies” was evaluated according to the indices of the formation of academic achievements, theoretical knowledge and practical skills.

As the experimental and control groups were not numerous, we shall restrict ourselves to the methods of mathematical statistics for small representative groups. In order to test the elaborated methods for the use of ELMP in would-be teachers' professional training the students of Vinnytsia Mykhailo Kotsiubynskyi State Pedagogical University were grouped as follows: control group - 9 students; experimental group - 12 students.

Students belonging to the experimental group were taught according to the elaborated methods of the use of ELMP available at http://ito.vspu.net/ENK/index.htm. In the course of the experiment the positive dynamics of the students' academic achievements in conditions of the use of ELMP on Methods of Teaching Information Technologies were recorded in the experimental group. (Fig. 7).

Thus, the pedagogical experiment proved the efficiency of the elaborated methods for the use of ELMP in would-be teachers' professional training.

The diversity of ELMP's functions in the process of would-be teachers' professional training proves that the ELMP elaborated according to the definite structure, general and specific principles contribute significantly to would-be teachers' substantial professional training and develop their professional competence.

Conclusions and perspectives for further research

The analysis of literary sources [18, p. 140], [20, p. 3], participation in the activities of scientific-research laboratory on the problems of the use of information technologies in education of VSPU and the Institute of Information Technologies and Educational Facilities of the National Academy of Sciences of Ukraine (http://ito.vspu.net/eksperement_robota/lab_nTZN/monograf_ios.pdf),the conducted research and our own pedagogical experience enabled us to determine the ELMP structure as follows:

1. Methodological information: summary; training program; working program; primary and supplementary literary sources; the Internet resources.

2. Training materials: theoretical material; materials for practical and laboratory classes; glossary.

3. Testing materials: assessment criteria; tests; tasks for students' independent work; quizzes; exam questions.

Having researched the problem, we defined the following peculiarities of the use of EREF in the process of would-be teachers' professional training:

1. ELMP is viewed as a unified system of EER integrated in order to store, organize, process, transmit and present training materials and information of other types to both students and teachers according to the chosen educational technology.

2. All the EREFs integrated into ELMP are interconnected, have the common information basis and are developed in accordance with the chosen educational technology and within the common conception of would-be teachers' professional training.

3. ELMP can be used via local and distributed networks of an educational institution and on the Internet.

Further research should be done on the improvement of the EREF structure, the integration of educational EREF and cloud services within ELMP in order to provide high- quality professional training of would-be teachers, the stipulation of the ability to use ELMP on various modern electronic devices and different operating systems.