Pedagogical science/ 2.Problems of training specialists.

4.Strategic directions of the reform of the educational system

Shayakhmetova Rosa Iskanderovna

Director of the City Methodological Centre of the Education Authority in Kazan, Candidate of Pedagogic Sciences, Assistant Professor, Russia

Formation and development of ICT competence of teachers in modern conditions: Methodological aspects

Today, Information Technology is highly relevant. Undoubtedly, IT is a rapidly developing field and, in order to keep up-to-date with it, it is necessary to learn continuously. Participation in research and practice conferences as well as seminars allows us to not only disseminate our work to colleagues but also to obtain an assessment of our activity also. The exchange of experiences with fellow-thinkers makes it possible to learn about new techniques, methods and innovations that each of them learns daily through intensive work. Consequently, we are able to state that using Information Computer Technology (ICT) today enables an increase in efficiency of both the lessons and the educational process.

The main areas of informational support are as follows: the gathering, processing and analysing of information on different topics vital for the development of the education system; and informing about new pedagogical technologies as well as the results from the development of systems and institutions. The task of the methodological service is to increase the quality of information, to achieve complete, current, reliable, safe and essential information that possesses the potential for allowing competent decisions to be made.

Presently, the schools of Kazan have a broadband connection to the Internet. As part of the republican projects, ‘Computer for Teachers’ and ‘Computer for Schools’, more than 8,000 laptops and around 3,000 computers equipped with necessary software have been obtained. It is clear that the most important task, one that doesn’t allow for progress without its completion, is the training of pedagogical personnel firstly in the use of computers in the same way as a subject teacher uses his pen or chalk in the modern lesson. For the mass training of educators we have trained tutors, using the potential of the best teachers and, together with lecturers of higher education institutions, have been carrying out ongoing seminars. This work continues today with the motivation of teachers to use IT in everyday practice as a medium term task.

For this purpose, using leader-schools, centres of competence in electronic education have been set up to disseminate the best level of experience in using ICT in school education (there are 8 of them in the city). The task of these centres is the provision, demonstration and the spread of the best work practices with new technologies to all schools of the district and the city itself as well as to support teachers from neighbouring schools. With the help of practical experience in these centres, internships for increasing the career growth of educators are run. Now, with the pedagogical staff of the city, we are carrying out the following task – the mastering of the new information system “Electronic Education in the Republic of Tatarstan”, with participation in the experimental programme of electronic class registers and school diaries. With the understanding that IT technologies are a powerful pedagogical tool in the hands of the teacher and that it should be used and applied widely in subject lessons, many of them have created communities of interest and share their working experience with colleagues.

If the leading area of informational support in the CMC is to motivate teachers to use IT in the educational process as discussed above, then another area of this support is the provision of consultation in the form of scientific methodological assistance to educators in their mastering of innovation processes. The main method is intensive and purposeful communication on the Internet. The development of modern interpersonal communications (blogs, Twitter) has led to the appearance of social networks and unions. However, there is a risk of spontaneity and uncontrollability by this process. Keeping in mind the great importance of this problem, the necessity to organise a multi-functional space with a large quantity of different services unified by a single concept has arisen in the city. The Kazan educational portal (http://kazanobr.ru) has become one such space, the main purpose of which is to increase the informational culture of the pedagogical community in the city. What task does the portal serve? This is foremost an exchange of experience and a widening of the spectrum in professional competence; the formation of a single policy in the field of electronic education in the city; the perfection of the educational governance system on the basis of the introduction of ICT; and the systematisation, generalisation and implementation of experience in applying electronic education in the education process. What kind of educational resources are available on this portal to help educators? There are methodological recommendations on preparing for the USE and SFC, on drawing up of work programs for study courses in educational institutions, and on the realisation of the new generation Federal State Educational Standard etc. Master-classes given by the best teachers in the city, a collection of modern lessons, author’s seminars (video recordings of seminars by leading educators of Russia), public reports by the leaders of educational institutions of the city, publishing projects, links to internet sources etc are all featured there.

Moreover, at the Kazan educational portal, there are Virtual Methodological Unions (VMUs) that are an alternative form of methodological unions. The purpose of the VMU is the unification of pedagogical personnel in the city around common professional interests. This includes teachers of a discipline in one educational field or subjects in one level of education, supervising teachers, educational psychologists, and leaders of educational institutions. To become a member of the VMU, the user should complete the registration procedure and after, he has the ability to post notes and materials and also comment on the publications of other members. The advantages of the VMUs are the following: the dissemination of work experience to a wider circle of colleagues, a comfortable schedule and rhythm of work (each member chooses for himself), an unlimited number of VMU members, saving time on trips for face to face participation in the methodological unions’ sessions, and efficiency in getting methodological help in the professional subjects that are relevant to you. The VMUs realises their activities through online distance education – it can organise web seminars, forums, online surveys, internet testing, and a cycle of distant open lessons in given and defined subject area etc.

Due to the fact that the portal has the possibility to attract a large number of users, the necessity has arisen to publish an electronic scientific-methodological journal, “KAZANOBR.RU”, once per quarter with a defined subject matter. The purpose of the journal is the provision of assistance for the effective functioning of the educational space in the city by ensuring the professional growth and the increase of informational culture among educators, creating the conditions for their development and self-realisation. The journal is active within the “Kazan educational portal” website, which is registered as a mass medium by the Federal agency that oversees communication and mass communications. Articles of scientific and scientific-practical character, statutory and regulatory documents, analytical articles, the best work experience of educators, and answers to topical questions in education are published in the journal. The following rubrics are available: “Education for everybody and everyone” (the perfection of infrastructure in EI (Educational Institutions); the development of self-sufficiency in EI; advanced pedagogical potential; standards of the new generation; electronic education; health preservation; all children are gifted), “Preschool academy”, “Innovations and experiments”, “Upbringing: before and after lessons”, and “Creative workshop”. These rubrics can change depending on the subject of an issue.

Thus, the professional development of teachers now proposes not only the development of his competence in the subject area, but also in the use of ICT. Most teachers, widely using ICT in teaching practice, confidently say that the new technologies contribute to the growth of culture of pedagogical work.

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3. Lazarev V.S. Innovation in schools: a manual for the system of higher professional education and teacher’s development program/ Ekaterinburg, 2011.

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