Museum Pedagogics As A Means Of Students-Migrants’ Socio-Cultural Adaptation

Abstract

The article is devoted to the search for solutions to the problem of the socio-cultural adaptation of the students - educational migrants. According to the data of Russian and foreign sources, the educational migrants adapt to the foreign cultural environment more successfully in comparison to all other groups. However, this process is accompanied by a set of problems, impeding the success of their socio-cultural adaptation. In this article are presented the findings of the barriers and factors of the socio-cultural adaptation of students-immigrants. The advantages and risks during the transition to the blended learning are analyzed. The authors also conducted analysis of the means of the museum pedagogics, based on the electronic digital resources. The purpose of the research is to define the possibility of integration the means of the museum pedagogics to the content of pedagogical disciplines for socio-cultural adaptation of the students - migrants while shifting to the model of the blended learning. The methods of the research: analysis of theoretical sources, educational programs of educational disciplines and electronic resources of the museum educational environment; systematization, generalization, design. The result of the study was a modular program, integrating museum pedagogy, based on the use of electronic digital resources, in the content of pedagogical disciplines. According to the authors, it implements a more successful process of socio-cultural adaptation of educational migrants. The data obtained in this research can be recommended to teachers of higher educational institutions for the organization of pedagogical tracking and support of students - educational migrants.

Keywords: Socio-cultural adaptationstudents - educational migrantsthe means of museum pedagogicsblended learning training

Introduction

The integration processes in the system of the higher education of Russia, due to its entry into the world’s educational space, caused the flow of the foreign students, who are taking part in different types of the exchange programs, grants and training, and also on a commercial basis. This phenomenon is called the educational migration and today became usual for the system of education in the Republic of Tatarstan. In the academic year 2016/17, there were 8793 foreign students from 16 countries of the near abroad and 81 foreign countries studying at the universities of Tatarstan under the bachelor's, master's and specialty programs.

The amount of the foreign students was 5,5% of the total number of students. The biggest part of the educational migrants is from Asian republics of the former Union of Independent States: Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, and Tajikistan.

According to the data of Russian and foreign sources, the educational migrants adapt to the foreign cultural environment more successfully in comparison to all other groups. However, studies show that most of them have so-called "cultural shock", which is connected with a lack of knowledge about cultural peculiarities of modern Russia. As a rule, students, preparing for training, focus on language knowledge and have a weak idea about the culture of the host country. Tatarstan itself is a multicultural region, and the complexity of the ethnocultural organization of its society is an additional source of problems for educational migrants associated with their sociocultural, didactic, psychological and communication adaptation.

The process of adaptation to a new socio-cultural environment is complex and often accompanied by the opposition of personal or group values and goals with the goals and values of representatives of other social and ethnic groups, cultures or confessions.

The relevance of the process of socio-cultural adaptation for future teachers is of particular importance. This is due to the fact that the formation of their professional culture is inseparably linked with the acquisition of new values, the formation of a humanistic orientation, motivation and awareness of the importance of pedagogical activity. All this is impossible without the acceptance of the cultural environment in which their professional growth and development take place.

Numerous studies of recent years indicate the need to create special conditions for the psychological and pedagogical support of educational migrants and the special organization of the educational environment of the university. Existing studies and practical experience in implementing such support are focused more on traditional training models. However, recently, in higher education, there is a tendency to move to a blended model of education, and this in the long term will require a revision of the substantive and organizational and technological component of the entire educational process. And, consequently, psychological and pedagogical support for the adaptation of foreign students.

The teachers at universities conduct active searches for methods and technologies of integration of electronic educational resources in the traditional model, revise the content of the teaching disciplines with the orientation to the blended education. The difficulty, in our opinion, lies in the fact that there are a limited number of studies devoted to the search and realization of the content potential of the teaching disciplines, in particular, the pedagogical unit for the socio-cultural adaptation of migrant students in conditions of blended learning. And there are practically no works dealing with the use of modern means of museum pedagogy for these purposes.

Problem Statement

It seems necessary to analyze the specifics of the problems of socio-cultural adaptation of the students - educational migrants, as well as the possibilities and means of museum pedagogy to solve these problems in the context of blended learning for students studying the program ‘Pedagogical Education’.

Research Questions

In foreign sociological studies, there are three types of adaptation: psychological, socio-cultural and intercultural. Psychological refers to adaptation, which is mainly determined by internal psychological indicators (for example, a sense of well-being or self-esteem). Intercultural is assessed using structures such as ethnic relations, tolerance, discrimination and prejudice. Socio-cultural adaptation is manifested as competence in carrying out activities of everyday intercultural living (Berry, 2016). The concept of sociocultural adaptation means such an adaptation of an individual (or a group of people) to the conditions of a new socio-cultural environment, and, consequently, to new values and value orientations, rules of behavior, traditions that allow full-fledged existence in a new environment.

The result of adaptation depends on the chosen strategy: assimilation, integration, marginalization and separation. The most successful adaptation occurs when immigrants choose an integration strategy. That is, when there is interest, both to preserve the original culture, and to interact with other groups. Integration consists in the fact that people retain a certain degree of cultural integrity, and at the same time seek to participate as an integral part of a larger society (Berry & Sabatier, 2010).

In the context of our work, the socio-pedagogical aspect of adaptation is significant. Its essence consists in cooperation of students, teachers and administration of the University, directed on acceptance by foreign students of new social requirements at preservation of own social and cultural identity, not leading to Assimilation.

Researchers highlight a complex of student's cultural adaptation problems, which are reduced to their relationship in the Study Group, direct communication with the classmates in the dormitory and local population, the development of educational Environment of the university, etc.

As general problems associated with adaptation to the learning environment in Russia are as follows:

  • -overcoming the language barrier;

  • -necessity to adopt the new cultural environment;

  • -difficulties of intellectual adaptation due to lack of knowledge and differences in training programs, inability to perceive a large volume of information due to lack of Russian language proficiency and complexity of scientific terminology;

  • -overcoming psycho-emotional burden (mental stress, homesickness, religious factors);

  • -necessity of physiological adaptation to climatic conditions, new food;

  • -necessity of living in other household conditions;

  • necessity to solve financial and economic problems (Kryvtsova, 2010);

  • lack of professional motivation;

  • collision with manifestations of racial and national discrimination.

The success or failure of cultural adaptation is influenced by numerous external and internal factors (Glass, Gomes, & Urzua, 2014).

In the research, Ong and Cheong (2016) state that for the positive flow of this process it is important to pay special attention on the cultural empathy, labelled and social skill, survival, interpersonal communication and participation in involvement in campus activities.

Investigating internal factors, Londadzhim (2012) maintains a hierarchy of motives that can have both positive and negative effects on the result of cultural adaptation. The higher stage is motivated by the desire to increase social status in the future. Next is the motive of the debt to the family, striving to provide the student with a reliable future. The third place is the motive of responsibility to the state that paid studying abroad. The last place takes the motive of learning the desired profession. At the same time, the first three groups of factors form the attitude to study as a mandatory process, which is impossible to break, and it causes psychological difficulties in the development of new cultural environment. And only the motive of getting the desired profession contributes to the successful process of cultural adaptation.

All the listed factor groups are considered within the framework of institutional support and accompaniment of foreign students and have much in common in different countries.

Having considered the directions of the universities' work to improve the support of educational migrants, Wilson (2011) proposes the following: improve communication, expand opportunities to interact with Americans, expand English language improvement activities, create more opportunities for financial support, assess international graduate student programs.

The Republic of Tatarstan successfully operates a holistic system of language, cultural, educational support for educational migrants, which includes the following:

  • special departments in foreign students' institutes, organizing language and information support;

  • bodies of student self-government, helping the educational migrants to solve various problems;

  • public associations (Unions of Foreign Students and PhD students, Association of Foreign Students);

  • Youth Assembly of peoples of Tatarstan and others.

From the point of view of pedagogical component of accompaniment and students' support, it is necessary to note importance of methods and technologies of training which promote successful adaptation. Interactive methods of training, game Technologies (dramatizations and communicative situations), group forms of activity in preparing projects together with Russian students allow foreigners to interact more effectively and develop new sociocultural enviroment.

At the same time, work in small international groups stimulates the formation of tolerance, intercultural interaction skills among Russian students and facilitates the process of entering foreign students into a new culture. Particular importance is attached to the content learning side.

Therefore, the researchers suggest the following:

  • to introduce into the training program the cultural component, which would reflect the basic values of the Russian linguocultural society (Unezheva, 2016);

  • to adapt the studied courses to the needs of foreign students taking into account their personal characteristics, professional orientation (Grebennikova, 2015);

  • to take into account ethnocultural peculiarities of migrant students in higher vocational education programs (Kagermazova & Galachieva, 2013).

As we noted above, in the Russian universities there is a tendency of gradual transition to the model of the blended learning which implies integration of teaching with participation of the teacher with the online training, and also independent control of trajectory, time, place and pace of study. From the point of view of formation educational migrants' cultural adaptation, the blended learning has advantages: removes psychological stress from unusual tempo and a way of submission of educational information; expands opportunities for individual approach taking into account personal, professional and ethno features; creates unlimited possibilities for the introduction of cultural and ethno components; ensures the teacher's availability at any time; softens problems related to mental peculiarities of communication during the execution of group online projects, etc. This approach does not negate the fully traditional format of training. However, in our opinion, it can negatively influence on the formation of important speech and cultural skills of migrants because of the restriction of "live" contacts.

According to the researchers, ignorance of non-verbal means of communication on the basis of non-verbal sign systems serves as a significant hindrance to achieving understanding: ignorance of behavioral stereotypes, enshrined in the culture of the communication partner's ethnos; the difference in national-cultural standardized psychological reactions, life values, attitudes, motivations, mutual expectations. Inability to correctly evaluate and adequately perceive the significant elements of the design of speech, forms of non-verbal behavior of each other violates the process of cultural adaptation of foreign students. All mentioned factors cause its complications (Modnov & Ukhova, 2013).

There is no doubt that the transition of Higher vocational education to the model of blended learning will create a complex of tasks: the development of new standards and programs, technologies and training tools; updating of forms and means of control; creation of new organizational-pedagogical and psychological forms of accompaniment of students. It will also entail functional and meaningful changes in pedagogical activities, which are most vividly manifested in the system of electronic and distance education (Akhmadullina & Valiakhmetova, 2017).

Foreseeing such radical changes, teachers of higher school are already in active search of prospective technologies and means of training, and also explore possibilities of content of educational disciplines for realization of purposes of training in new conditions. In the context of our research we believe that the great potential for the purposes of cultural adaptation of immigrant students in the context of blended learning is the museum pedagogy and the museum educational environment.

Purpose of the Study

In this regard, we have set a task: To determine the possibility of the integrating the means of museum pedagogy into the content of pedagogical disciplines with the purpose of cultural of the preadaptation students in the condition of blended learning.

Research Methods

The basic approaches in our research were: cultural, personal-activity oriented, intercultural, technological approaches. Methods of research: analysis of theoretical sources, educational programs of educational disciplines; electronic resources of the museum educational environment, systematization, generalization, design.

Methodological basis for this research was: researches in the field of various aspects of psychological, psycho-pedagogical and cultural adaptation of students and teenagers (Pugachev, Budiltseva, & Varlamova, 2018; Ovchinnikov & Sultanova, 2014); works devoted to the study of factors of cultural, psychological adaptation (Sumer, 2009; Schotte, Stanat, & Edele, 2018); and also special technologies and methods of psychological and pedagogical accompaniment of foreign students’ cultural adaptation (Donskikh, 2010;  Sablina & Kopiatina, 2013).

Findings

In relation to the purpose of the study at the first stage, we analyzed the means of museum pedagogy, based on the use of digital electronic resources.

The key principle of museum pedagogy is the principle of "dialogue of cultures" as the connection and interaction of different cultures of the world. Communicative basis of the museum space, its interactive character and ability to affect emotionally and intellectually the personality provides the efficiency of the transfer of foreign cultural experience.

In the activity of modern museums there is an active desire to create a digital cultural and educational environment. Currently, almost every major museum has its own website, which allows it to carry out its functions in a virtual format. A virtual museum is a repository of digital cultural and scientific resources which can be used at any time and from anywhere via the Internet (Kasyanov, 2018).

Museums are actively joining the global movement for the discovery of cultural and historical heritage data. For example, the projects OpenGLAM, Flickr Commons. The most ambitious project for today - Google Art & Culture allows you to make virtual trips around the museum, create your own collections and get acquainted with museum exhibits around the world in all details.

In the on-line arsenal of the museum there are virtual tours, 3D exposition, exhibition, 3D excursion, 3D panoramas, and they create the effect of the presence and demonstration of the volumetric space.

With the help of the virtual museum you can get acquainted with the historical and architectural heritage, national and regional culture, valuable exhibits from museum collections.

The digital educational environment of the museum is a powerful means of communication of people: being at a distance, uniting in groups by their interests, they get the opportunity to exchange information, impressions, create projects, organize network communities.

Thus, the virtual museum is able to carry out communicative, cultural, educational, educational, motivational functions.

Gamification of the museum environment is getting more and more popular: quests, quizzes, and interactive guides created on the basis of special mobile applications with the technology of augmented reality (for example, the mobile application “Artefact”).

The multimedia libraries of museum funds are valuable educational resource, which allow you to get acquainted with electronic reproductions; digitized texts (archival historical documents, artistic prose and poetry, reference materials); audiotapes (fragments of samples of musical works, vocal art, etc.). The corresponding tools allow the use of different techniques for the analysis of images, texts and audio recordings; to study resources, both separately and in comparison with each other, establish similarities and differences; form new educational modules, integrating images, text and sound resources.

Many of the enumerated electronic resources of the museum educational environment can easily be integrated into the educational process of the university, in particular, during bachelor’s study of "Pedagogical Education", without requiring a radical revision of existing training programs.

The result of the second stage of the study was the development of a program that integrates the means of museum pedagogy and the content of pedagogical disciplines. It is assumed that the implementation of this program will be carried out by embedding its individual modules in the teaching of these disciplines in the transition to a model of blended learning.

The purpose of the program is to contribute to the process of sociocultural adaptation of educational migrants.

Tasks:

  • familiarization of migrants students with cultural values of the region of their residence, its history, traditions with the purpose of forming a positive attitude to the new environment, the city, the country;

  • involvement of migrants in various types and forms of educational activity using the electronic resources of museum pedagogy to form their sociocultural adaptation

The program is orientated toward use in a blended education.

Principles of implementation of the program:

  • Integration of educational and museum space;

  • Dialogue and interaction of cultures;

  • Visibility;

  • Communicative orientation;

  • Individualization and differentiation of the educational process;

  • Pragmatist character of training

The contents of the program (fragment) - Table 1 .

Table 1 -
See Full Size >

Conclusion

The study of the problems of the student’s adaptation - educational migrants to the new socio-cultural conditions, to the situation of education and living, it’s highly relevant today, however, these issues have not yet been adequately reflected in scientific research. Recently, different centres for the study of the problems of education of migrant students are forming in Russia. This circumstance, of course, is a deterrent to the internationalization of modern education in Russia.

The preparation of foreign students - future specialists who understand and tolerate Russian social and cultural specifics - is a key condition for the development of the domestic economy, which means that it is one of the main tasks of a high professional education.

In our opinion, the organization of a specific educational space that integrates the educational, extracurricular, independent, individual, practical, cultural activities of students can be the solution for the problem of adaptation of foreign students. Also, we consider that the educational potential of museum pedagogy fully contributes to the realization of this idea in conditions of blended education.

A modular program for the integration of museum pedagogy and the content of pedagogical disciplines for the purposes of sociocultural adaptation of students - educational migrants, developed by the authors of the article, is at the testing stage. This suggests further studies of its effectiveness in the context of the model of blended learning.

The data obtained in this study can be recommended to university teachers for the organization of pedagogical support and support for students - educational migrants.

References

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05 September 2018

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Cite this article as:

Akhmadullina, R. M., Valiakhmetova, N. R., & Salpykova, I. M. (2018). Museum Pedagogics As A Means Of Students-Migrants’ Socio-Cultural Adaptation. In R. Valeeva (Ed.), Teacher Education - IFTE 2018, vol 45. European Proceedings of Social and Behavioural Sciences (pp. 874-883). Future Academy. https://doi.org/10.15405/epsbs.2018.09.102