Mapping Knowledge Domain Analysis in Smart Education Research

Smart education is considered an inevitable choice and an important educational trend development in the Information Age. Smart education development can promote learning opportunities to master high-quality education and lifelong learning. It vigorously promotes sustainable development. A bibliometric analysis was performed to better understand smart education research field knowledge structures and help researchers understand smart education research field characteristics. VOSviewer and CiteSpace were used to analyze 2358 Web of Science core collection articles related to smart education. The articles were dated 2000–2021. This study visually presents a systematic overview of smart education literature research, including the publication outputs, main categories, most influential countries, organizations, journals, and authors, important documents, and research academic trends. Using a series of cooperation analyses, this paper looked at research cooperation among countries and regions, organizations, and authors to build a smart education knowledge structure map. A smart education theoretical framework was proposed based on the literature review. A bibliometric analysis of the existing research results provided useful and innovative suggestions for researchers and practitioners in the field of smart education.

Social Network Sites as Community Building Tools in Educational Networking

This paper discusses the educational context of social network sites (SNSs) and the manner in which they are adopted as Europeanization tools to develop the main EU education priorities. The Erasmus + (E+) context, articulated on networks of education bodies, denotes a promising ground to investigate social and digital trends emerging within institutionalized education communities. The research approach counts on a sample of 518 organizations aligned to a set of standards regulated within the institutionalized networking frame of the E+ program. Due to the compliance requirements of E+ guidelines, this work proposes a theoretical juxtaposition of the Community of Inquiry framework and the E+ framework. Final results show an EU educational trend verging to informal affordances and non-formal education features.

Distance Learning as an Educational Trend in Higher Education

The case study research strategy describes variations in the educational and professional trajectories of part-time students in comparison with their attitude to distance learning, the goal of higher education, and their professional future of the individual. This research strategy makes it possible to present distance learning as a modern educational trend. It has been determined that in the system of continuing education, distance learning is (1) a tool for changing a profession, (2) part of a well-thought-out career strategy, (3) a guarantee of employment, (4) a way to legitimize a professional status, (5) a form that facilitates obtaining a diploma of higher education, (6) “future education”, education for the future. The subjective meanings of distance education in connection with motivation, the purpose of training, the attitude of students to it are revealed. For students receiving higher education, this is “self-education,” for those whose goal is a diploma, it is “formality”, “superficial mastering of disciplines.” The authors conclude that the consideration of correspondence education in the context of continuity allows us to identify trends in individualization, diversification (the diversity and variability of educational programs, creating opportunities for choice), informatization, and individualization. An assessment of the prospects for extramural higher education based on the experience of forced distance learning (March-June 2020) is given.

STEM Education in Ukraine in the Context of Sustainable Development

The conceptual and generalizing experience of STEM education implementation presented in Ukraine reflects the realization of the sustainable development goals through educational innovations. The study is based on the premise that STEM is a component of education for sustainable development. This educational trend focuses on the goals of Education for All (EFA), conforms to the ideas of the education-related Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) and relates to solving societal challenges in the long run. It is argued that the concept of STEM seeks to offer non-standard solutions to global issues in the field of sustainable development, and STEM education should be seen as a mechanism to accelerate the achievement of all sustainable development goals (SDG) and a strategy to obtain each of them. The specifics of STEM key ideas as global educational trends in the national Ukrainian public space are demonstrated. The consideration of STEM education as a component of the strategy for sustainable development through the detailing of the structure and implementation principles as well as STEM competencies, which are defined as the expected result and key for the person of the XXI century, is proved. The experience of Ukrainian research initiatives in the field of STEM education in the context of sustainable development is summarized. A full-fledged programme complex for comprehensive, equitable and high-quality education is presented, which combines the following links: research and experimental work of different levels, teacher’s professional development, museums and science centres work, implementation of various educational programmes, festivals and projects to attract young people to STEM, ensuring equal access for girls and boys.

The Economic Role of the Region's Geobrand in Strengthening the Educational Trend of Foreign Youth Migration

The article considers the influence of the geobrand of Yekaterinburg and the Sverdlovsk oblast with regards to attracting foreign students to the universities in the region. It provides the statistics on the positive economic impact of the geobrand on the educational trend of foreign youth migration. What attracts foreign students is not only the university, but also the region itself. In case of Yekaterinburg, it is a well-known geobrand created historically purposefully or spontaneously. Large-scale international events held in the region contribute a lot to the worldwide recognition of the geobrand. It attracts additional resources and determines the competitive position of the area both locally and globally. With the development of digital culture, information society and the media space, it is possible to increase the region’s competitiveness and investment attractiveness. It is essential for improving its image and for its positive perception internally and externally. Since 2017 Yekaterinburg has been positioned mainly as a cultural and sports capital. Its image is transforming from that of an industrial territory to the image of a developing region. There are 39 higher education institutions located in Yekaterinburg, many of which occupy high positions in the Russian university ranking. Full-time contracts and part-time contracts with foreign students allowed the universities to receive income from the export of educational services. These universities managed to increase their total return on export of their services, which proves the interest of foreign students to studying in Ural universities. The main criteria for choosing the universities were recognition of the university diploma in their home country, interest in the region where the university is located and tuition fee. The sources of information from which they learned about the university were: Internet, World Cup and the university representatives visiting their country. Keywords: export of educational services, economic impact of geobrand, educational migration, geotransformation

Social Network Sites as Community Building Tools in Educational Networking

This chapter discusses the educational context of social network sites (SNSs) and the manner in which they are adopted as Europeanization tools to develop the main EU education priorities. The Erasmus + (E+) context, articulated on networks of education bodies, denotes a promising ground to investigate social and digital trends emerging within institutionalized education communities. The research approach counts on a sample of 518 organizations aligned to a set of standards regulated within the institutionalized networking frame of the E+ program. Due to the compliance requirements of E+ guidelines, this chapter proposes a theoretical juxtaposition of the community of inquiry framework and the E+ framework. Final results show an EU educational trend verging to informal affordances and non-formal education features.

Institutional and socio-economic factors of the educational trend in Ukraine in the context of European integration

Purpose. To assess institutional factors and the results of education reform in Ukraine, considering economic and social development of the country; to specify the main institutional European integration tendencies of Ukraine in the field of education taking into account the factor of human capital. Methodology. The methodological basis of the work proposed involves such universal methods of scientific knowledge as analysis; synthesis; inductive method; deductive method; causal modeling; combined application of complementary approaches and methods based on the principles of general scientific methodology, in particular, competency-based, person-centered, culturological ones. Findings. It is found that the conditions for reforming Ukrainian education taking into account the global educational and European integration trends provide for institutional processes in the socio-economic sphere and radical changes in the content, forms of organization and methods of teaching and education. Namely, this refers to designing the educational process as an institution of successful personal and professional socialization based on EU requirements, which will lead to the growth of national capital through accelerated human accumulation and bring Ukraine closer to complete European integration. Originality. The study identifies key trends in Ukrainian, European and world educational spheres, as well as the reasons that negatively affect the development of education in Ukraine and do not allow it to significantly influence the competitive potential of countries and deliver on European integration opportunities. In contrast to previously suggested investigations, this approach focuses on the institutional and socio-economic factors of the educational trend. Practical value. The results of the research can be used by experts in the formation of institutional requirements for designing the trend of the education system in Ukraine, taking into account the requirements of European integration.

Modern education technologies: 21st century trends and challenges

Since modern technologies produce new global education trends, education prospects redesign, and new opportunities and threats assessments are needed. The new educational technology development phase was researched as an answer to modern world challenges. The strategic priorities of education in the EU are analyzed. New technologies, practices, and related needs: financing, digital integration, accessibility, informational security were studied and generalized. Higher education key trends and their transformation in the context of the COVID-19 crisis new opportunities and threats were researched. The analysis of the seven years of NMC Horizon and other research emerging educational technologies adoption forecasts provided in the research shows significant discrepancies related to extreme uncertainty. Five educational trend groups from the NMC Horizon report 2020 were reviewed. The author defined the remote education tools and their importance on the example of the university providing online/mixed learning. The anonymous polls among lecturers and students performed in the spring of 2020 (just after the COVID-19 quarantine announcement) show the most highly demanded tools are Google Meet, email, specific learning systems such as Moodle. The barriers to fully-fledged remote education are technical problems and occasionally poor Internet connectivity. The participants are quite ready to learn and to use digital tools for education. However, the absence of live communication increases workload during online learning, and other factors arise as the factors lowering student activity. During severe transformation, the main tasks of education are accessibility and diversity.