Humanitarian Education Paradigm: Search For Compromise Between Academicism And Innovatics

Modern educational standards are characterized by laconic definitions necessary to implement competencies.

Thus, according to technical universities’ recommendations the main competency in Russian and Speech Culture is “readiness to communicate orally and in writing in Russian and foreign languages to meet challenges of professional activities”. That is knowledge, abilities and skills the students gain in such discipline can be detailed in many various elaborations and education curricula may have diverse multi-content. In addition every thinking person related to education is sure in necessity of mastering norms of the Russian language, the basic rules of argumentation, knowledge of the language functional styles etc. by high school students, reasoning from understanding that “speech as a practical means of social upbringing has acquired increasing significance in the course of modern Russian society reforms’ implementation and it is considered as a universal skill of extra-professional and extra-disciplinary character necessary for any area of human activity” (Ionova, 2016, p. 167). As for forms of teaching such disciplines in modern conditions they are rapidly changed. The reasons for such changes are propelled by advances in technology and active use of multimedia technologies and Internet resources on the one hand; and due to particular requirements for education services’ quality on the other. University educators today must not only “supply” a student with necessary material but interest the audience in the course, represent the discipline and themselves in it in the way to accommodate to modern rivalry conditions and be in demand. All of these processes capture the essence of our country higher education main directions and modernization programmes which are intended to increase competitiveness of Russian universities whose effectiveness is under discussion and active debates not only in professional community but among the public at large as well (Kliucharev & Neverov, 2018). What is more, failures in realization of those programmes are often connected with exactly direct implementers, absence of personal interest of the reforms’ front-line practitioners – instructors, teachers, lower and middle managers (Kliucharev, 2014; Didenko & Kliucharev, 2014). This once again makes one think about the role of a university educator in higher education system, his or her personality traits and ability to practically embody innovative ideas in the sphere of higher education.

For decades a university course of lectures on Russian and Speech Culture in all Russian high schools was designed on one plan:

introductory lectures announced the course learning objectives, reminded of Russian language origin and its development; main lectures were devoted to normative language aspects, then teaching language functional styles; at the end of the course lectures on Rhetoric were delivered. This programme was supported by authoritative publications which are currently demanded as educational aids. And the most acceptable form of teaching material presentation for a long time was an academic lecture.

An academic lecture remains one of the priority forms of teaching material presentation.

Another matter is that academicism is not the synonym to “boredom” or “routine”, and in view of the current state of technological development it can become a factor of creating effective learning environment presupposing active interaction between participants of the educational process. The methods to create interactivity and cooperation which provide for modelling life situations, using role plays, mutual problem solving are extensively discussed in pedagogics. Dominance of any participant in academic activity or any idea in the situation of active cooperation is excluded. A student is not a passive listener (spectator) anymore; he/she is a partner, actively participating in educational process and following his/her individual route. Partnership and co-management in such activity are emphasized and the character of interrelation between instructor and student is defined as the subject-subject relationship (Ryumina, 2014).

A traditional university lecture has always been characterized by high scientific degree, clear plan and lecturer-centered mode of stand-and-deliver the lecture content. In this regard it could assume the format of conversation or problem solving lecture in concordance with course topics and lecturer’s guidelines as well as the audience characteristics.

It is worthy of note that an academic lecture format had never been an obstacle to form students’ cognitive interest in the subject. But just today an academic lecture has become the object of unquenchable plaints of most of the critically inclined educators if not all. The authors of the large-scale research “An academic lecture: teaching and study” analyzed the methodical potential of academic lecture and reviewed diverse opinions on its effectiveness. So, for example, in the foreword to the collector of articles Tyagunova (2010) writes: “from this critical position point of view lectures as a form to organize education process are incorrigibly flawed and uninteresting in their essence as a form of teaching activity implementation. They are flawed because they are “traditional” in their following the medieval scheme of knowledge transmission and “monologic” making students “passive recipients” of transferred knowledge. Lecture in its own way is an academic “dinosaur”, which against all the odds in historical transformations of educational system was not only perfectly-preserved but also showed up a sort of immortality gene. They are uninteresting because of their per se “perpetual reiteration” of the same things in their academic curriculum regulated “routine” performance. In this view the lecture research study is initially doubtful. Neither educators nor students consider the study of such a “banal” thing as lecturing worthy of notice. Partly it explicates the absence of empirical analysis of lecture delivering practice among domestic researchers whereas there is no shortage in conceptualizations and didactic thematization of this “educational form” (Tyagunova, 2010, p. 3). But such hard words of the researcher fulfil the role of a provocative stimulus to take a closer look at sequential scientific research study of an academic lecture proving its relevance and topicality.

A computer-based presentation widely known to instructors can become a practical step to avoid different contradictions (between academic tradition and requirements of novelty, current requirements from the specialists-graduates and readiness of technical chairs’ heads to withdraw humanitarian subjects in favour of exact sciences etc. Such presentation on the one hand does not harm academic systemic nature and promotes creating interactivity of education process which is the basis for university courses teaching current paradigms on the other.

Today there are different kinds of technologies, oriented towards learning in accordance with the needs of the times and students’ demands. A range of opportunities is well-known to educators and is successively described in the article of Nizova in the following way:

“electronic textbooks, interactive learning trainers, virtual realities (virtual museum, virtual travel), computer presentations, electronic text and exercise databases, reference and information material (online translators and dictionaries), electronic libraries and collections (audio-, photo-, video files), web-based applications for textbooks, modes of communication in social network services etc.” (Nizova & Potapov, 2014, p. 97). All those materials can be used by educator and recommended to students as information resource or for self-instruction work. They also can be taken into consideration while working out study course program on Russian and Speech Culture. Naturally it is necessary to constantly adapt available resources to demands of each occupational group and also to create own technically available didactic teaching aids oriented towards different audience.

In current scientific and methodical literature transformation of higher education institutions under the influence of digital technologies which change the ways of gaining and supporting education is extensively discussed.

Online technologies in management and administration systems, the influence of open access resources upon students’ educational level, web based learning and full-time education relationship, structure and principles for the developing innovative learning tools, their role in creating conditions for academic activity individualization due to the variety of education content presentation forms; guidelines for interactive cooperation between a user and ICT device and other become the subject of analysis (Sadowski, Pediaditis, & Townsend, 2017). In this regard using different techniques to impact audience impact which include not only a conversation, discussion, play and the like, but animation, graphics and audio-, video- resources is considered by specialists as indisputable advantage. The most available mode of working with audience at the initial stage to search for interactive collaboration is multimedia presentation (Spirina, Kazimova, & Mulikova, 2017).

The mere fact of using presentations in university classes has long been the focus of scientific attention for Russian and foreign researchers who debate questions of teaching process organization with the help of multimedia presentations and consider the ways to measure effectiveness level of using ICT.

They also regard principles of designing multimedia presentations, their usage time in one form of academic interaction or another, creating university interactive supportive learning environment through modern computer technologies etc.

The thesis that multimedia technology primarily understood as the way to combine several kinds of information for solving educational task (text, graphic, video-, photo-, audio- and animation material) is well recognized and it is considered by all researchers as integral component to modern educational process. It is obvious that this technology corresponds to society topical demands which require to improve methods, forms and means of educational process organization caused by ICT ubiquity that reflect the shifts in modern culture (its mosaicism), accumulation of a large amount of information in society and development of its new presentation forms which are defined as a “clip-data presentation” based on compression principle that is compression of information and singling out of key attitudes to organize the content of text excerpts (Ionova, 2016).

Those theses are interpreted in the works of Nizova and Potapov (Nizova & Potapov, 2014), Korotun and Polyanin (Polyanin & Korotun, 2017), Maloshonok (Maloshonok, 2016), Popova (Popova, 2015) and others. Efforts to enhance education environment and modes of interaction between instructor and student integrating «technologies of enhancing student engagement” (the term coined by Thomas Wanner) through the use of multimedia presentations deserve special attention. In particular Wanner (2015) proves the effectiveness of using PowerPoint presentations as a learning tool not only in the lecture format, but also at the stage of students’ pre-lecture preparation; besides in the process of lecture content comprehension and exam preparation. According to researcher PowerPoint is exactly an effective method to involve students in education process (Wanner, 2015). At the same time some scientific papers indicate that the level of this problem theoretical study and the research of practical effectiveness of using this technology are still far from perfect. Thus, some papers by researchers from New Zealand and Singapore study the factors which help or prevent students effectively digest the knowledge and acquire necessary professional skills in the process of using ICT (Crosslin, 2018; Aguayo, Cochrane, & Narayan, 2017; Yang & Kwok, 2017). The questions of implementation of main pedagogical principles in using multimedia demand theoretical reflection; besides, practical recommendations on creating specific kinds of presentations in various disciplines due to slide perception peculiarities in different spheres of knowledge and the other are not properly designed (Polyanin & Korotun, 2017).

The development of education environment in Tyumen Industrial University as well as in all today’s higher education environments including Russia and other countries, equipping it with modern e-learning tools lead to necessity of creating multimedia projects and other components of interactive educational milieu in concern with teaching such disciplines as Russian, where a technical component never seemed significant.

Comprehending methodical settings and principles of high school didactics is inevitable and necessary for conceptualizing today’s reorganization process in higher education.

Systematization of information component and teaching experience is one of the main targets of educator-practitioner’s research activity.

The necessity in such systematization is determined by the variety of ideas and approaches to university teaching which are broadly represented in scientific papers, arise from the engagement with students who dictate that educators searched for new teaching forms.

Theoretical methods: study, interpretation and comparative and correlational analysis of pedagogic and methodical literature devoted to modern technical means characteristics used in linguodidactics, defining their effectiveness in teaching Russian and Speech Culture.

Empirical methods: result generalization of pedagogic practice concerning the use of ICT in education process; analysis and working out of innovative and multimedia discipline components that allow optimize the teaching process during academic semester.

The main aspect of analysis of multimedia technologies’ role, and actual presentations in a lecture is conducted in the context of using visual aids in education process; therefore one of positive moments in using presentations is that they make it possible to provide poly-sensory perception (visual and auditory) of learning materials.

The more sensory organs act in the process of information perception the more successful cognitive process is. Undertaking research on appropriate combination of verbal, visual and practical educational methods Babansky marked desirability of learning information impact on learners’ several sensory organs simultaneously (Babansky, 1989). Along with that, the researcher points to the fact that in different spheres of knowledge the level of visibility can vary depending upon the subject specifics. In humanitarian disciplines (and the course under our review belongs to the list) the use of visual aids is limited. Teaching some aspects requiring philosophical reflection on the problem or required reading long text excerpts is not sometimes conceived of material visualization as it calls for student’s individual work.

The next criteria applied to analyze effectiveness of using multimedia and innovative methods in education process including lectures is the level of motivation changing under the influence of emerging learning technologies. In this case the views are opposing from strongly positive (idea that emotional perception of learning materials presented in multimedia presentation is contributing to the formation of interest in the discipline) to radically negative.

Proponents of negative views state that motivation in high school should be guided by the choice of profession and that university must not be equated with secondary school. In professional higher education institutions special attention should be paid to serious theoretical and substantive consideration of problems not to their emotional perception (Popova & Chikova, 2014). We cannot but agree with these opinions but it should be added that high motivation level based on profession choice is often a desirable but not a real fact of education process. To form motivation is still an actual goal of every university instructor.

One of the positive aspects of using multimedia presentations in a lecture is often considered as possibility to substantially enlarge the amount of educational information (Moskalenko, 2015; Nagibina, 2012). This factor becomes essential within the context of information expansion in curricula with more sophisticated content, increase in the number of competencies.

It is exactly the active and coherent implementation of ICT into teaching process makes it possible to organize education environment in accordance to challenges of the times. At the same time it should not be forgotten that too much lecture material can play a negative role. In this case a lecturer becomes a coordinator of information flows and measures new knowledge and speed at which students can learn lecture material.

Research demonstrates that instructors should be mindful of many nuances using presentations in academic lecture, especially of time balance between audio-information and visuals. Lecture delivering with the use of multimedia presentations requires special skills to productively correlate between different kinds of lecturer’s and student’s language behavior (Polyanin & Korotun, 2017).

Video image translation and information visualization will never replace the educator who interprets facts and stimulates audience to speak which is especially important in teaching humanitarian subjects.

The question about when to use PowerPoint in a lecture is also thought-provoking.

In our opinion representative material may fulfil the function of systematization, be a module coating to develop a lecture into something of an event, but it can also serve as purely illustrative function. Such variability in using presentation is even useful as it creates the effect of lecture diversity as a genre.

Review of theoretical and practical issues connected with using multimedia presentations in modern education environment allows us to define basic rules of designing multimedia presentations and using them in a lecture course on Russian and Speech Culture in a technical university.

As it was earlier mentioned presentations designed by us correspond to the course of lectures on the discipline “Russian and Speech Culture” delivered in Tyumen Industrial University. In our case in traditional thematic planning (in accordance with authorized work programmes) presentations serve several topical functions.

Exactly the presentation promotes creating lecture interactivity as it is followed by tasks to apply the acquired knowledge, for example: correct the sentences, read the text with numerals putting them in the correct form; write the text with the words which are still pronounced with [shn] according to the Russian language rules; read the text in compliance with accentual norms of Russian; watch the video “Top 10 – typical accentual mistakes”; make up your own list of the words which present challenges in terms of adherence to accentual norms etc. And furthermore, presentation allows representing some language facts in a problem solving way, create optimal conditions for their comparison and analysis and therefore intensify the process of education material learning performance, encourage students to scientific research.

The course “Russian and Speech Culture” involves consolidating spelling and punctuation principles acquired at school. Presentation allows actively work in this regard because difficult from spelling point of view words can be written so students can remember their graphic image. Moreover, lecture informative nature is enhanced due to increasing the amount of data which requires presentation exactly in a graphic form. Thus, samples of dictionary articles necessary for digesting speech norms can be demonstrated. Comparison of dictionary articles in dictionaries of one type but by different authors created at different times makes it possible to grab students’ attention to the problem of norm, its variability and mobility. The emotional component of such lectures is also important as it is possible now to use not only tools which systematize theoretical knowledge but visual images as well that often promote creating atmosphere of interest during lecture material perception. Audience of any age percepts information through play more actively and productively than in the times of academic monologism.

An important empirical observation was that multimedia technologies improve the process of recording learning material by students (Sizikova, Stunzha, Poveshchenko, Agavelyan, & Voloshina, 2017). Quality of residual knowledge depends on the results of recording lecture material and instructor is interested in quality of this process. Works by Lokuge Dona, Gregory, & Pechenkina are devoted to studying this methodical aspect. In one of the articles they regard the question of traditional system effectiveness to record lectures and suggest taking the discipline specifics and even approaches to teaching into consideration (Lokuge Dona, Gregory, & Pechenkina, 2017).

It is clear that novelty of learning material presentation through the use of multimedia presentation which was once was a significant boost to perception is relative. Today this form of presentation is so widespread that instructor expecting results should strive to content novelty, to presenting lecture material in such a way that academicism and the discipline terminology which must be learned combine with interactivity supposing intensive interaction between instructor and student.

Multimedia technologies are helpful and necessary not only for students but for instructors too as they prevent them from professional burnout despite of heavy study loads, encourage them to find new solutions to already known problems, create and self-develop (Cho, Lim, & Lee, 2017). In this context the mere fact of using ICT in education process does not guarantee effective work with audience and brilliant result as the dominant role in the teaching humanitarian discipline process belongs to a person but not to computer. It is instructor capable of conceptual interpretation of scientific facts and elements of life who is the first and foremost condition for any methodical success especially in flourishing pragmatism times or in conditions of technical university when most of students are motivated to search for and digest strictly useful (in our case technical) information.