Современные информационные технологии/1. Компьютерная инженерия

Docent, Candidate in Engineering Sciences, E.V. Shevchuk

Docent, Candidate in Engineering Sciences, A.V. Shpak

North Kazakhstan State University named after Manash Kozybayev,

Petropavlovsk, Kazakhstan

ON FORMING THE INFORMATION CULTURE AND INFORMATION COMPETENCE OF A COMPETETIVE SPECIALIST

The processes of rethinking the information and computer technologies’ role in life of the whole society, as well as individual’s life particularly, became the condition for the situation when the notions ‘information culture’ and ‘information competence’ have become rather popular in the modern informatizated society.

Correspondently, repeated attempts to define these notions, to specify their intention and structure with regard to the realities of our times, to find the ways and means for forming or developing information culture or competence have grown to be of current interest.

The term ‘information culture’ appeared in the early seventies of the previous century. Initially this term was identified with the notion ‘computer competence’. Having made retrospective analysis one may state that intention ‘computer competence’ has evolved with evolution of computer aids and appearance of information technologies. Primarily, computer competence was defined as the knowledge of computer science, then as the skill to operate a computer and later on the notion of computer competence was accompanied with the skills to search, accumulate and process different types of information by means of computer, to convey information through computer networks, to systematize it and use for solving real-world problems.

Toward the end of the 1980s the intention of computer competence had presupposed the ability to know about the role and place of information technologies in society, about the prospects of their development, about the structure and capabilities of computing systems, about the ways to formalize objective tasks and methods of mathematical modeling.

There are two approaches to define the notion ‘information culture’ in modern researches. They are culturological and information. Information culture is considered as the way of human activity in the information society under the culturological approach. Under the information approach this notion is considered as the complex including knowledge, skills and experiences of searching, extracting and analyzing the information that is everything what enters into information activity pointed at informative consumer satisfaction.

Person’s cultural level makes itself felt in his activity that is why forming of information culture as a personality trait should be regarded from the position of competent approach.

In the early 20^th century active approach in education gave place to the new approach which was competent approach. There are a lot of definitions for information competence. The definition given by P.V. Bespalov should be singled out. He defined it as a person’s ability to solve the tasks of certain kind and having a number of personality traits combined with needed storage of knowledge and skills, as person’s integral ability to master, manage, apply, invert and invent new information technologies.

According to most of scientists’ opinions, information competence involves easy orientation in information flows (it means that one can easily get, process, convey and apply information using computers, telecommunications and other communications facilities and use information technologies while solving different job and ordinary tasks). The notion of information competence presupposes the scientific view of the world which is based on comprehension how to formalize the main information laws in nature and society and how to use different means of modern information technologies; scientific view of the world is based on knowledge of ethical and legal norms of behavior in information environment also.

In statements of Bologna Declaration ensuring integration of post-Soviet higher school into space of European higher education there is a point about necessity to use competent approach in educational programs of new model for training specialist. In its turn, it demands to form base competence of future specialist capable of positive creative professional activity. Increasing role of information in the life of society and use of information technologies in different spheres of professional activity give leave to single out information competence as a base one. The problem of forming future specialist’s information competence is becoming of high priority in modern information society that is filled with the means of storage, processing and transfer of data on the basis of new information technologies.

In scientists’ judgment, information training of future specialists is certainly to be continuous so that forming of future specialists’ information culture and competence could be realized at every stage of education and throughout all the subjects studied.

The main contents of information competence may be represented in a few words. Present-day specialist (if to understand the notion in a modern way) has to have enough skills to use engineering devices (like mobile phone and computers or electronic communications), to be able to use up-to-date computer and information technologies in his activity, to be able to extract information from different sources including paper-based sources, to present it in the simplest terms and use effectively, to know how to process information analytically and know peculiarities of information flows in the subject field of his activity, to know ethical and legal basis of informative society.

Development of information competence has to be realized in accord with its inner structure. Analysis of the literature has shown that this structure is presented by cognitive, active and motivational training aspects which are associated with the certain types of students’ information activity. These types of information activity are related.

Development conditions of information competence can be united into the following groups:

- organizational-pedagogical conditions (curriculum, material support and technique of the lessons);

- informative (extraction of lesson contents, integration of different courses, emphasizing of key-notes);

- technological (check-out and evaluative forms of teaching, setup of active teaching forms, use of innovative technologies);

- acmeological (definition of objectives, realization of students’ development diagnostics, incentive scheme, motivation and incentive scheme, reflexion at the end of the lesson, inclusion of students into the system of self-administration).

The authors think that realization of the offers that have been made in this article in the system of post-Soviet higher education can become the basis for providing system forming of future specialists’ information culture and competence.

In accordance with specialist’s information competence requirements, the system of multilevel continuous information training has to be implemented. Much attention in this system is paid to the questions of continuity, succession and informative sufficiency of the educational process, integration of special and information subjects, forming professional-oriented information environment and integrated information space.

The following principles have to be put into the basis of contents for training holders of a Bachelor’s and Master’s Degree:

- Forming of specialist’s information culture and competence equivalent to the modern level and prospects of information processes’ and systems’ development may be accomplished only under the conjunctive use of information technologies in the educational process of the higher institution establishment;

- In order to train competitive specialist who will be able to conceive and bring into use innovations while solving the objective tasks it is necessary to extend the computer science sections (this is the discipline that usually represents the subjects of general instructions in the curriculum) which include the basis of professional information competence. It should be done in regard with the character of future professional activity (in compliance with the main principles of credit teaching technology, recent achievements in industry, science, engineering and culture have to be taken into account in the syllabus that includes all the contents of sample educational program. It means the syllabus is divided into two parts: the basis part which contains fundamental and methodological knowledge and the variational part which is presented as a changeable, adequate to the modern level of technologies, dynamic part, part which is brought up to date after the level of information technologies’ development in due time);

- In order to advance graduate’s professional competence in the sphere of information technologies, besides the educational course of computer science, applied sciences oriented at subject field and specialist’s professional environment of activity need to be added to curriculum. It can be done for account of elective disciplines;

- In order to realize individual educational route, elective disciplines of information course that take into account different levels of students’ computer training and sphere of future professional interests should be involved in curriculums;

- Computer-oriented educational technologies used in the educational process have to be combined rationally with traditional teaching technologies and supported by modern equipment.

On the assumption of everything abovementioned, the authors offer particular ways of improving conditions for development of future students’ information culture and competence (the ways of improving have been offered in the context of modern system of higher education in the countries of former USSR).

1. The ways of improving organizational-pedagogical and informative conditions for development of students’ information culture and competence.

The block of information culture and competence reflects cognitive aspect of training that involves integrative thesaurus of informative disciplines and students’ knowledge about the work of computer technologies and software products used in the process of teaching and professional activity. In order to form this block, the module on the theme ‘Principles of solving base tasks in the subject field (it depends on the students’ speciality) by means of computer technologies and specialized application software’ has to be included in educational program as a variational one (for example, computing methods of communications-electronics equipment and the ways of their realization by means of computer technologies should be demonstrated for students of speciality ‘Radio engineering’; designers should survey computer graphics).

The block of information culture and competence reflects active aspect of training which involves student’s skills to use means of information technologies which he will be able to demonstrate after graduating or completing certain training course (it means that students will be able to process information, carry out mathematical calculations, design text-based documents at the instrumental level; to use means of information technologies for interaction between people, information sharing and attraction of other people’s resources to succeed at the communication level; to perform systems operations, e.g. sort out information and present it in a structured fashion, choose proper means of information technologies needed for solving multipurpose tasks at the system-level). In order to form this block of information culture and competence, the module ‘Modern technologies of information search and data transfer through the Internet’ should be added to educational program as a variational one, the modules ‘Information processing methods’ and ‘Engineering of information systems in the subject field’ – as elective courses.

One more aspect reflected by the block of information culture and competence is a motivational factor. This aspect is hardly realized in functioning standards which expect necessity to develop such competences as self-development, self-improvement in training and professional activity, tendency to stock mind with knowledge in the area of using means of information technologies while doing job tasks. In order to form described block of information culture and competence, the course project ‘Use of modern information technologies for solving job tasks’ that will be propaedeutical course for diploma project planning should be inducted as elective course.

2. The ways of improving technological conditions for development of students’ information culture and competence.

It is necessary to introduce wide and continuous use of new educational information technologies (e.g., real-virtual laboratories, CD-ROM collections, multimedia presentation facility, WWW technologies, etc.) into everyday practice for the whole period of studying, which will contribute to students’ synthetic information-telecommunications training up to the moment of defending the diploma projects.

Engngrafting skills of professional and scientific work through the participation in the Internet forums and conferences.

Using more information technologies in realizing of problem-oriented and project educational programs (multipurpose course and diploma projects), in innovative departmental and interdepartmental projects.

Teachers should encourage students during the educational process to use information space of the university daily, to see educational portals; it is necessary to expand introduction of various distance technologies’ elements for full-time students.

3. The ways of improving acmeological conditions for development of students’ information culture and competence.

It is recommended to organize virtual Olympiads, conferences, competitions regularly, Olympiads for full-time students to check their abilities to apply information technologies in order to solve job tasks, and research project contests.

Realizing of the conditions offered in this article will help advance students’ information competence as well as their professional competence and later on it will help students to get over to the level of social competence.