Concept Of Research Training Of Technical Universities Students

Methodological basis of technical universities students’ research training

In the process of solving the problem of technical universities students’ research training at the methodological level, the main reference point was the competence approach that determines the understanding of modern technical education meaning. Many ideas of the competence approach appeared as a result of studying the situation in the labor market, determining the employment requirements, which are formed on it.

The study, the analysis of papers on competence-based education made it possible to determine that to decompose the structure of higher technical education, to reorient its target and effective settings is possible on the basis of the theoretical and methodological base of the competence approach, which acts as a link between practice and theory and is able to implement links between universities and employers, having a practical and effective-target orientation.

A competence-based approach, interacting with traditional approaches (axiological, value-motivational (Factorovich, 2012), synergistic, integrative (Panferov & Bezgodova, 2019), activity (Henner, 2018; Jurgena, Cadere, & Kevita, 2018), context (Verbitsky & Larionova, 2009) is the backbone one and is making fundamental changes in the learning process, reflected in the strengthening of the practical orientation and the instrumental focus of engineering education, creates optimum opportunities for the students to research.

Methodological principles (continuity, integration, unity of educational space, practice orientation, intensification of training, creativity and activity orientation, reflexivity), which specify the provisions of the competence approach and along with it, which are the methodological foundations for the creation of the concept. The implementation of the competence approach and methodological principles involves the revision of the goals, content, methods of technical universities students training, which is possible when changing the management system at the university, in particular the quality management of education, focused on preparing students for research activities.

The content of the concept of technical universities students’ research training

The concept of technical universities students’ research training (hereinafter — the concept) is a set of views and concepts in the field of professional training of students, built on the basis of competence-based approach theory and the design principles of the research competence formation process, generalization of advanced pedagogical experience in this sphere, formed today, taking into account the needs of modern society and production. The concept of students’ research training in the context of competence-oriented technical education defines research training as the basis for building innovative didactics of engineering universities, within the framework of the developing national system of qualifications, allows to implement the requirements of Federal State Standard of Higher Education on the formation of a complex of professional, special, general cultural competencies.

The concept describes the process of research training, means and methods of its implementation and includes (Figure 01 ): general provisions; methodological support; content - functional model of a technical university student’s training for research activities; verification.

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The purpose of the concept is justification of the creative engineering subject’s formation process with a well-developed research attitude and reflection, ready to take an active part in the innovative engineering processes, capable of developing new ideas, of solving research production problems and taking innovative decisions.

The concept solves the following tasks:

- methodological bases of engineering universities students’ preparation for research activity are defined;

- principles that form the basis for the effective selection of the content and technologies of preparation for research activities are formulated;

- components are structured and integrated into an integrated functional model, necessary changes are made in the process of professional training;

- criteria and indicators of readiness for research activity of a technical high school student are defined (Gorshkova, 2015).

When building the concept, it was determined that the prerequisites for its development are:

- specifics of modern engineering education (change of educational paradigm, introduction of competence-based approach in engineering education, the introduction of FES of HE; search for innovative pedagogical solutions to improve the efficiency of technical education) (Pipere, 2016);

- changing structure, content and nature of engineering activities, which are based on research aspects;

- changing requirements suggested to a technical university graduate, according to professional standards, requiring training of specialists capable of providing high production results and ready to carry out research;

- age and socio-pedagogical features of technical universities students (Erlina, Susantini, Wasis, & Wicaksono, 2018; Su, 2019);

- experience of pedagogical science in training engineers who are capable of adapting to changing production conditions; historical background, taking into account the experience of research training; results and experience of pedagogical research in this area (Pinheiro, Wangenheim, & Filho, 2018).

It should be noted that the higher the level of research activity of students and teachers is the more capable of progress a university is. In the engineer’s activity, the research character manifests itself as a leading one. It gives ground to creative self-development, contributing to successful professional activity (Prayino, Suciati, & Titikusumawati, 2018). Therefore, the research training of students is a condition of the competitiveness of Russian technical education and we consider it a strategic reference point in the direction of which the professional training of technical universities students will be carried out.

Understanding of scientific and pedagogical, methodological foundations of the quality management system of university education, which motivates the participants of the educational process to improve the quality of educational activities, contributed to the transition to the program-target management system, which is characterized by the following features: focus on the final result; systematic understanding of the object; a planned level of quality; a comprehensive analysis of problems; an integrated approach to the choice of goals and means to achieve them; linking together goals and resources; striving for maximum efficiency in achieving goals with rational use of resources; integration of university and enterprise efforts.

A program-target system of education quality management allowed (Gorshkova, 2017):

1) to set realistic achievable goals, namely, the formation of students' readiness for research;

2) to organize the developing educational environment at universities;

3) to form a united team (university representatives, basic enterprises);

4) to develop a program of training for research activities (a functional model);

5) to guarantee the necessary support: personnel, material and technical, informational, methodological, etc.

Research training of technical university students was defined as a program of ideology of university work; therefore, a systematic monitoring of research competence formation quality is an integral part of the management system.

Having analyzed a number of works on the university educational environment organization (Belyaev, 2016; Yasvin, 2018; Blinov, Vinenko, & Sergeev, 2015), we came to the conclusion that a developing educational environment formation at a technical university is a prerequisite for solving the problem of creating innovative didactics of an engineering university, focused on the research training of the student, while taking into account the requirements of employers for the research training of graduates, characterized by an individual and productive style of engineering activities as well as professional standards requirements.

We consider a developing educational environment at an engineering university to be competence-oriented space, which creates a set of conditions aimed at ensuring the optimal parameters of educational activities of the university in the process of training the students for research activities, i.e. achievement of the target, substantial, operational, productive, and resource aspects.

Developing educational environment at a modern technical university includes the following structural components, which are provided with human, managerial and information resources.

Spatial and subject component: architectural and aesthetic organization of the educational process; symbolic space (symbols and traditions of the university).

Content component: a functional model of research training as the content of the concept.

Organizational component: human resource, management resource, communication sphere (partnership between teachers and students based on the adoption of common goals; harmonization of the interests of all participants of the educational process; creating an atmosphere of productive activity, organizational conditions. Personnel resource provides for the creation of a team of like-minded people, united by a common goal through the coordination of the structural units of the university, and individual teachers; improving the professional competence of university employees.

The informational component provides for network interaction with representatives of basic enterprises, the use of network educational resources, the introduction of an electronic system to support the educational process aimed at solving urgent problems of education informatization, including the development of the infrastructure of a common educational information space, the development of electronic educational resources.

The educational environment (Figure 02 ) is characterized by a structure in which the elements are interrelated and inseparable.

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We have proved that the creation of a developing educational environment requires:

- target orientation of students onto research and development;

- integration of education and research at all stages of the educational process;

- transformation of education content, development of new methodological support and improvement of the existing one; changes in organizational and technological foundations of the educational process;

- organization of interaction and joint activities of all subjects (teachers, university staff, representatives of basic enterprises, students), united by the environment;

- formation of a system of partnership with universities, research organizations, enterprises;

- expanding the set of FES of HE competencies through special competencies that contribute to the formation of students' readiness for research;

- providing personal and professional development of students, involvement in the process of co-management of educational quality in their self-organization while preparing for research activities.

Implementation of the concept of technical universities students’ research training

The content of the concept is implemented in the functional model of preparation of students for research activities, which is the basis of innovative didactics of engineering universities. The concept is interdisciplinary, being part of the integral content of professional training. It is the basis of the organization of students’ training for research process.

Evaluation of the effectiveness of the research training concept implementation, expressed in the assessment of the formation of technical universities students’ research competence was carried out by means of criteria, indicators.

Cognitive - determines the degree of conceptual apparatus development, the ability to use the formed theoretical base in the process of research.

Personal - is for the motives and values of the individual, the student’s reflection in the process of research.

Activity - determines the degree of skill in using the methods of performing research activities, the possibility of using the mastered methods of action and accumulated knowledge in practice.

Experimental work on the implementation and verification of the concept confirmed the effectiveness of its main provisions. The total number of people involved in the experimental work was 1520, including 1390 students and 130 teachers.

The experiment on the implementation of the concept took place in 3 stages. At the ascertaining stage, it was determined that at the entrance into the experiment, the research competence of first-year students was not formed, students with a low level of research competence dominate among the graduates (before the experiment), which reflects the results of the process of traditional vocational training in a technical university. At the forming stage, the pedagogical feasibility of introducing the concept of technical universities students’ research training is proved empirically. The generalizing stage was aimed at assessing the effectiveness of the concept, by identifying the technical universities students’ research competence formation dynamics. The results of the control sections are presented in Table 1 .

Comparison of the data of initial and final sections showed a stable growth of indicators for all components of the research competence of students in experimental groups in comparison with comparable results of control groups and the results of graduates before the experiment. The reliability of the results is confirmed by checking on the basis of statistical analysis using the criteria of mathematical statistics. The results of the experimental work show the effectiveness of the developed concept, implemented through a functional model of technical universities students’ research training.