Developing Adult Learners’ Language Competence in Culture-Based Blended-Learning Course

During the last two decades, due to technological possibilities and the spread of the Internet, new forms of learning have originated as an alternative to traditional face-to-face learning – e-learning, online learning, hybrid learning, blended learning, ubiquitous learning, etc. They have become even more popular due to the COVID-19 pandemic as the only solution to implement learning at universities and adult education institutions. This paper will focus on a blended-learning language course designed for adult learners. The aim of the current research is to evaluate the course created and the development of adult learners’ English language competence during the course implementation in six EU countries – Croatia, Latvia, Slovenia, Romania, Poland, and the Czech Republic. 227 adult learners and ten English-language teachers were involved in the course piloting. Research methods applied: learners’ survey after the course completion, unstructured observation of learners done by teachers during the course, and structured interviews with the teachers after the course implementation. In this paper, the observation results and the findings from teachers’ interviews will be analysed. The findings highlight both positive aspects and challenges of the course created. Learners have gained cultural knowledge, increased their vocabulary, and developed reading skills, while at the same time improvements in developing learners’ listening and writing skills are also required.1

Development of the Advertising Specialty in Higher Education in Russia and China

The process of globalization and the emergence of various new media are currently increasing the importance of the study of advertising in various fields, including higher education. This is due to the fact that the ability of manufacturers to create and display advertising texts makes it possible to effectively promote ideas, goods or services around the world for commercial and non-commercial purposes. The research is devoted to a comparative analysis of the development of the advertising specialty in higher education in post-Soviet Russia (1991-2020) and in the Peoples Republic of China (1949-2020). It presents the history of the formation and development of the advertising specialty in Russian and Chinese universities. The authors investigate the extent to which the development of this specialty in universities complies with the requests of government agencies and of the advertising industry in Russia and China in different periods. The goal of the study is to examine the specifics of the development processes of the advertising specialty in Russia and China and to identify their advantages and disadvantages. Addressing the topic is relevant due to the intensity of the development of advertising and to the need to search for new forms of learning for the further development of this promising specialty in higher education. The results of the analysis have helped identify similarities and differences in the development of these processes in the two countries and describe specific features of the latter with due account of social, economic and historical factors at various stages of development. The obtained data proves that, along with similarities, the development of the advertising specialty in higher education in Russia and China has certain differences, which is directly related to the ideological atmosphere, financial state, economic strategies, and higher education standards in the two countries.

Making Kin With Plastic Through Aesthetic Experimentation

Recent scholarship in childhood studies has raised concerns about humancentric, singular discourses regarding human-plastic relations. As a result, questions of how to develop new forms of learning with materials in environmental education are now an important issue for researchers, educators, and policymakers. This paper activates a feminist new materialist ontology to position plastic as an active participant in the formation of knowledge. Drawing on visual imagery of children’s and artists’ aesthetic experimentations, we explore the intra-related and complex relationship between plastic, children, and the planet. Haraway’s concept of making kin is operationalized to highlight plastic’s multidimensional complexities as both a destructive and creative force, producing a novel framework for understanding and learning with plastic in early childhood education.

How does didactic knowledge develop?: Experiences from a design project

We, the authors of the paper, have jointly conducted several design-based research (DBR) projects. The subject of this paper is a project lasting approximately 18 months, which dealt with the introduction of a new curriculum in a vocational college. We were involved in different roles: one as a representative of the research community and the other as a representative of the vocational college and thus of practice. In the project, different interests were considered: the research division wanted to generate knowledge while the practitioners were interested in implementing a curriculum and developing new forms of learning and teaching. It is not that we could always assign each of these two perspectives to exactly one of us, even though we were officially researchers and practitioners. We have always approached each other in our DBR projects. Both perspectives have been incorporated into the paper: One author is concerned with the genesis of knowledge—how knowledge is created in DBR projects, a partly methodological approach. The other author attempts to find theoretical points of reference and reassurances about the project work. This leads to very practical considerations. The project did not commence with an exactly defined problem; we began with broad concerns that had to be distilled into specific goals over the course of the project.. We had to conduct dialogical planning in our different roles and responsibilities. After each work phase and workshop, we reviewed and made a record of what had happened and how, the condition of the group and what it should work on in the next practical phase. This was supplemented with classroom visits and one-on-one discussions with various project participants. The information derived from these evaluations was subsequently used in the planning of the next cycle. Therefore, in the next cycle, the same project was not conducted, but a revised project was developed, which continued from where the previous cycle had ended. Thus, the problem definition continued evolving. In this paper, we have tried to concisely present how the work progressed in phases and cycles and roughly described the thought process and evaluations that shaped this project. Perceived this way, this paper serves two different interests. First, it shows how a problem definition was developed and further sharpened and what concrete result was obtained in the process. This is indicated by the subtitle. Second, it explains how knowledge is created and defines the scope and specificity of this knowledge.

The Beginnings of Modern Higher Education in England

Realizing that a people can not be entirely conquered unless it is educated to embrace the culture and civilization of the conquerors, the Romans established the first schools in Britain in order to ‘romanize the sons of native chieftains’ [1]. With the arrival of Christianity, associated with the mission of Augustine in 597 AD, the churches took upon themselves the mission of teaching reading, writing and some religious knowledge, but few men benefited from this. The schools in the cathedrals and monasteries gradually grew to become universities, their main objective being to make students understand and explain the truth of God. “After the year 1000, cathedral schools replaced monasteries as cultural centres, and new forms of learning emerged. The cathedral schools were in turn supplanted by the universities, which promoted a “Catholic” learning that was inspired, oddly enough, by the transmission of the work of Aristotle through Arab scholars.”[2]. The paper analyses in broad lines the lengthy and burdensome process the English universities went through until the beginning of the 20th century in order to reach the performance of forming people capable not only of doing research and of disseminating knowledge, but also of contributing to the development of the country.

Pre-university training: traditions and novations in transformation conditions of higher education

The article deals with the notion of ‘pre-university training’, its role and significance in young people’s start in professional training in higher education have been considered. Herewith, the role of pre-university training in lowering the risks which arise in this process has been stated. The most typical risks, belonging to the category of social risks, have been considered, their classification has been provided. It has been noted that such risks are objectively determined with a new social environment where young people get into while entering higher educational establishments, also with new forms of learning activities which are often unfamiliar to the current school graduates. The main forms of work with the prospective students in the system of pre-university training have been analysed, their impact on more effective adaptation, first of all of first year students to their learning in a modern higher educational establishment, has been shown. Such analysis has been undertaken based on the experience of Kharkiv University of Humanities ‘People’s Ukrainian Academy’ as for organizational activities of the Pre-University Training Centre during thirty years. The transformation of pre-university training system in conditions of admission changes in higher educational establishments has been considered, namely the increase of educational component in general subjects within the training process for external independent evaluation of education quality.

Are the Digital Learners Ready for Innovative Forms of Learning?

The integration of modern technologies in the learning process is a key component of the strategies of educational institutions for effective education. Through them the educational content and learning activities are enriched and realized quickly and easily with the active participation of the students. At the same time, technologies are a prerequisite for the realization of new forms of education, adequate to the learners’ needs and expectations. For teachers, the benefits of applying digital technologies in the learning process and their contribution to improving the quality of education are undeniable. For the current generation of learners, technologies are an essential part of their daily lives. But the readiness of digital learners to accept and participate in new forms of learning based on technological innovations is a matter of crucial importance. The aim of the current paper is to present an analysis of the results of a study about the students’ attitude to the implementation of various innovative forms of learning.

НОВІ ВИКЛИКИ ДИСТАНЦІЙНОГО НАВЧАННЯ

Нещодавно світ розділений пандемією, яка спричинила низку медичних, економічних і політичних проблем. В освіті це змусило навчальні заклади перейти на дистанційне навчання. Як результат, це стало, з одного боку, стимулом для впровадження інноваційних технологій, а з іншого – індикатором основних його проблем і недоліків. У статті розглядаються основні виклики та розбіжності, спричинені швидким упровадженням дистанційної освіти.Аналізуються описані в низці наукових робіт концепції дистанційної освіти задля знаходження її чіткого визначення в науковій літературі та робиться спроба визначити ключові особливості дистанційного навчання шляхом порівняння дидактичних принципів, що використовуються в традиційному навчанні, із сучасними ідеями дистанційної освіти. Наголошується, що дистанційне викладання навчальних предметів без безпосереднього спілкування з викладачем переконало освітню спільноту в необхідності створення особливої дидактичної системи, придатної для нових дистанційних форм чання. Зазначається, що застосування сучасних інформаційних технологій і методів навчання є недо-статньою умовою його ефективності.Також наведено перелік основних труднощів, які поставали перед викладачами та студентами в про-цесі переходу на дистанційний спосіб навчання. Наголошується на необхідності встановлення чітких правил спілкування задля успішної взаємодії між викладачем і студентами, зокрема у використанні електронної пошти, соціальних мереж і різноманітних месенджерів. Також розглядається низка нега-тивних наслідків бездумного запровадження технічних засобів для навчання і спілкування, надмірне використання яких заради пошуку готових відповідей і рішень може призвести до погіршення кри-тичного мислення студентів, завадити розвитку їхніх творчих здібностей і здатності чітко й правильно висловлювати свої думки та ідеї, навіть спричинити складнощі в спілкуванні як усній, так і в письмовій формі.У результаті розгляду особливостей запровадження дистанційного навчання в час світової пандемії наголошується на важливості розробки єдиної національної системи дистанційної освіти для врегулю-вання взаємин між усіма суб’єктами дистанційного навчання та координації його теоретичного, мето-дологічного й організаційного забезпечення.Ключові слова: концепція дистанційної освіти, дистанційне навчання, дистанційна освіта, освіта протягом усього життя, онлайн-навчання, традиційна освітня система. The world has recently been divided by the pandemic, which has caused a number of medical, economic and political problems worldwide. In education, it has forced the education institutions to switch to distance learning. As a result, it has become, on the one hand, an incentive for the introduction of innovative technologies, and on the other – an indicator of its main shortcomings and problems. The paper outlines the main challenges and discrepancies caused the rapid distance education implementation brought to life by the unexpected introduction of global studying remotely.The paper studies a concept of distance education in a range of scientific works in order to find its clear definition in the scientific literature and makes an effort to distinguish the key features of distance learning through the comparison of didactic principles used in traditional teaching with modern ideas of distance education. The educational subjects’ interaction without direct communication with the teacher resulted in persuading the educational community in the inevitability of creating a specific didactic system suitable for new forms of learning. It is stated that the application of modern information technologies and successful teaching methods is not the only necessary condition for effective learning.The analysis has been made of the main difficulties teachers and learners undergone in the process of changing to the remote way of teaching. A range of techniques for maintaining teacher-student interaction is regarded as a beneficial solution on condition of establishing clear rules for such communication. However, recent observations proved that the habit of foolhardy relying on technical devices in order to achieve ready-made answers have deteriorated the learners critical thinking, lessened creativeness and abilities to express their ideas clearly and correctly, which might even sometimes impede expressing thoughts both orally and in written form.The paper emphasizes the importance of developing a national unified system of distance education for regulating the relationship between distance learning participants and coordination of theoretical, methodological and organizational support.Key words: distance education concept, distance learning, distance education, education through life, online learning, traditional educational system.

Humanitarian resistance in the context of digitalisation of education

Introduction. In the context of a pandemic, significant transformations in education have occurred: the urgent shift to new forms of learning and digitalisation of the learning process have become a challenge to the traditional understanding of education as a public good, based on humanistic grounds. In the media and social networks, there was a public debate over the prospects of the education for several months. The disparity in opinions and not always accurate determination of the positions of the authors of numerous publications highlight the need for analysing the situation in modern education from the standpoint of axiology and cultural studies.Aim. The present publication is aimed to consider the current changes in education in the conditions of digitalisation and to identify the potential of humanistic pedagogy.Methodology and research methods. The study is based on an interdisciplinary methodology, which integrates the achievements of the humanities and social sciences. The method of cluster analysis, content analysis in the mass media and social media, supplemented by group identification analysis, were employed.Research results. According to the findings of the present study, it was concluded that the contemporary processes in Russian education can be described from the point of view of trauma theory. The author introduces the concept of “humanitarian resistance”, which is referred to the forms of symbolic protest, based on the values of humanism, national and cultural traditions, and non-violence. Furthermore, the author proposes a primary classification of the forms of humanitarian resistance in Russian education, including worldview, axiological, socio-psychological and pedagogical aspects. In the current article, the essence of each aspect is disclosed on specific examples.Scientific novelty of the conducted research lies in the theoretical justification of the analysis of current educational practices from a philosophical and cultural point of view. The introduction of new categories into scientific circulation allows for an adequate description of the current processes in education. The article is debatable, involving the discussion on the problems of education as a public good and the teacher as a bearer of the humanistic tradition in terms of digitalisation.Practical significance of the research consists in the possibility of using its results to determine the prospects of educational policy in the digital society, as well as to develop the strategies and to select teacher training routes in new conditions.