ADAPTATION OF FIRST-YEAR STUDENTS TO THE CONDITIONS OF DISTANCE LEARNING IN HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

Abstract

The article deals with the issue of first-year students’ adaptation to the conditions of distance educational environment in a higher education institution. The theoretical aspects of the problem under study are revealed. The concept of "adaptation of first-year students" is clarified as a complex process of integration into a new social environment, which involves the assimilation and reproduction of relevant norms, values and roles, building new social relations for the purpose of harmonious coexistence and establishing effective interaction with participants in the educational process of a higher education institution (administration, teaching stuff, curator, parents, members of the academic group). The classification of types (forms) of adaptation is presented; the following forms are singled out: active, passive, social, didactic, psychological, formal, socio-psychological, physiological and professional. The characteristic problems of first-year students’ adaptation in the conditions of distance learning in higher education institutions are identified related to self-organization of activities and mastering new types of it, disorientation in the organizational issues of the distance educational process, lack of skills to independently process a large amount of material, the ability to use educational platforms, Google applications, video conferencing, social networks, general student communities, etc. The program "I am a student" is designed; it is aimed at optimizing the process of adaptation of first-year students in the conditions of distance learning in higher education and preventing their maladjustment. Its conceptual and content aspects are characterized. The directions (organizational, informational, psychological, preventive) and stages (organizational and diagnostic, motivational and content, final and reflective) of the program implementation are indicated. The content of each block of the program is described in detail; the following blocks are singled out: educational and orientation, social and orientation, social and adaptation, and sociocultural. The expected results of the program implementation are predicted at the level of each first-year student (activity, mobility, independence, stress resistance, self-control, self-organization, readiness to implement their own educational trajectory) and at the level of the student group (absence of conflicts, involvement in the academic community, academic performance, integrity of the student group, readiness to provide support and assistance, etc.)