Specifics of information and communication developments in education: Analysis of value changes before and after 2020 (A critical review)

Introduction. The study examines the ambiguous attitude of the scholarly community to the changes occurring in the education system, in general, and to the use of digital technologies within education, in particular. The aim of this study is to reveal the specifics of the educational changes on the basis of a critical review of research investigations, analysis of value factors determining the problems of integration of digital information and communication technologies in education before and after the COVID-19 pandemic. Materials and Methods. The research methodology includes the analysis and generalization of international and Russian refereed research literature investigating the problems of information developments of society, virtualization of cognitive processes and the development of education. Results. The research findings indicate the specificity of highly critical attitudes of the scholarly community to the use of digital technologies in education and to the current outcomes of the use of the virtual environment in the educational process. The authors emphasize that, in contrast to the situation of the previous stage, there is a particularly pronounced mediated nature of communication in the virtual space, which, as a consequence, determines the possibility of losing a range of informative elements in the process of communicative exchange. In this regard, the focus of the study is on the issues of formative assessment and feedback in the process of virtual communication in education. The authors clarify and define modern educational changes. They argue that virtualization in modern educational practice is the most important factor influencing, first of all, value orientations of the individual. The content of value orientations is changing as well. Values are being re-estimated; attention is focused on the values of safety and health. In this concern, the main attention is shifted to the following issues: the influence of digital learning on the functional body responses, the safety of educational interaction, individuals’ adaptation to altered conditions, and formation of adaptive developmental mechanisms. Conclusions. In conclusion, the authors summarize the main characteristic features and value factors which determine the problems of integration of digital information and communication technologies in education.

THE EFFECTIVENESS OF ONLINE TEACEHR TRAININGS IN THE FIELD OF MEDIA EDUCATION

Today, the field of education is considered to be one of the important links that educates and brings up not only students, but also raises many demands and problems in the field of teacher certification and training. Educational changes, in turn, provide for the revision of curricula and the introduction of various media tools that allow the current conditions to be implemented not only on existing but also on remote platforms. To conduct education on these platforms, teachers participate in and train in seminars, webinars and courses at various educational institutions. As a result, they can easily switch from one platform to another and integrate into the new classroom gauge. They are able to participate in these trainings and a number of educational programs through the online platform, which is wider and more numerous than in the present case. The online platform is rapidly stabilizing its position in the field of education, already recording its success and effectiveness.

THE CULTURE OF THE LATIFUNDIA

Researching for socio-educational transformation implies elucidating the hegemonic cultural, political and economic problems of a social formation; in this case, of the Venezuelan social formation. In the field of education, the dominant approaches obfuscate the political stance of teachers by minimising their potential as organic intellectuals capable of transforming their environment. Both naïve empiricism and idealism permeate the sociological and pedagogical reflections that legitimise the colonial and neo-colonial phases established by the culture of the latifundia. This article takes a look at the culture of the latifundia as a structural and cultural remnant of Spanish colonialism as found in the novels of the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Social and educational changes must start with an analysis of the roots; that is, the epistemic-theoretical and cultural foundations that constitute the processes of institutionalisation of Venezuelan education, with the ultimate purpose of discovering the conceptual and methodological devices that hinder the qualitative leap needed in the socio-educational task, which is mainly political-ideological.

Reflexive Competence in the Structure of Future Music Teachers’ Training: the Modern Vector of Research

The article presents an analytical and reflexive analysis of the problem of music teachers’ training in the context of educational changes. The peculiarities and specifics of Musical Arts specialists’ training are outlined; priorities in the creation of an educational environment in modern higher education institutions are defined as compared to the near and far-abroad countries. Factors contributing to music teachers’ training increased efficiency and popularity are substantiated. It is established that such a resource is the formation of reflexive competence. The means of forming reflexive competence in future music teachers are visualization, testing (paper- and computer-based), electronic textbooks, videos, multimedia, and stages within which reflexive competence is formed, where the priority is given to a reflective workshop.

Development of Human Potential in the Information Society: Educational Changes and Organisational Development

The information society necessitates the continuous development of education. At the same time, the development of education creates new opportunities for the development of human potential. The purpose of this work is to analyse the instrumental possibilities of educational change for the development of education in the conditions of demanding educational requests and tasks of professional work with a substantial amount of information. The approaches of joint creative activity of participants of the educational process as effective means that create an unfavorable context for educational changes are determined. It is emphasised that the development of human potential depends on the ability of education to be flexible relative to the needs of the information society. It is determined that the transformation of the social institution of education requires radical changes in the training of a new generation of managers with a high level of professionalism, culture, innovative creative thinking. It is found out that a set of theories of organisational development is submitted methodologically capacious for creating conceptual models of management of educational changes. Reasonably scientific bases of educational changes as objects of public management are characterised by tendentiousness of public management of educational changes of collective nature.

The changes we need: Education post COVID-19

The COVID-19 pandemic has caused both unprecendented disruptions and massive changes to education. However, as schools return, these changes may disappear. Moreover, not all of the changes are necessarily the changes we want in education. In this paper, we argue that the pandemic has created a unique opportunity for educational changes that have been proposed before COVID-19 but were never fully realized. We identify three big changes that education should make post COVID: curriculum that is developmental, personalized, and evolving; pedagogy that is student-centered, inquiry-based, authentic, and purposeful; and delivery of instruction that capitalizes on the strengths of both synchronous and asynchronous learning.

Combining Photography and Duoethnography for Creating a Trioethnography Approach to Reflect Upon Educational Issues Amidst the COVID-19 Global Pandemic

This study proposes a new research design, combining duoethnography and photography into a trioethnography that opens an artful lens through which educational changes, emerging and unfixed problems, and unexplored/unseen values and hopes were examined. Central to this trioethnography was voices of three Vietnamese doctoral students with transnational experiences in Canada and Australia, around three educational topics: researcher positionality, education inequity, and mindfulness in relation to the global crisis within and beyond higher education contexts. Living transnationally in these insecure and rocky times of a pandemic gives us a unique opportunity to contemplate the global educational shifts, moves, and changes in and after the crisis. We formed our discussions in the three circles of the Indigenous approach, in which we shared cultural artifacts, such as photographs, and used them as the catalysts for personal and interactive reflections. Taking up the spirit of duoethnography, we have seen that findings might be emerging from our dialogues and discussions; we gathered three different voices of contemplative educators to juxtapose our diverse perspectives and experiences of how education is changing, evolving, and shifting significantly amidst the COVID-19. In this process, we have shown efforts in progressing the traditional methodological practices of duoethnography through our trioethnographic conversations. Within the back-and-forth conversations, we have seen multiple facets of our narrative experiences through photographs, including personal sophisticated emotions, struggles, hopes, and losses.