Modernizing the structure of educators’ ICT competencies to train future teachers to use e-learning methods and networking

Abstract

The research investigated teacher training in the area of using ICT tools in professional activity as well as educational standards of higher education in pedagogical specialties. The analysis has demonstrated that those academic disciplines of the standard that reflect the problems of employing ICT tools in education do not fully address the issues of creating electronic learning resources (ELR). Moreover, the same observation concerns developing distance learning systems. Such systems automate the processes of collecting, processing, producing information, information interaction between participants in online learning, planning learning sessions in class and out-of-class time as well as managing students’ group, individual educational, and research activity in the digital environment. Basically, the competencies formed are oriented towards the classical learning model of education. Thus, they do not describe the above- mentioned specific features of the teacher’s professional activity in the digital environment in a clear and general way. The educational specialty-specific standards, standard syllabuses of disciplines, and curricula to prepare graduates developed on a competence-based basis constitute the regulatory and methodological framework for modernizing the educational process at pedagogical universities. The structure of teachers’ ICT competencies in the field of e-learning methods and networking is based on the requirements of the professional qualification standard of a teacher, the 3+ educational standards in the system of higher education of the Republic of Belarus as well as the National and European Qualifications Frameworks for Higher Education. The analysis of the requirements of the standard revealed a range of labor actions and functions associated with the need to form and develop certain media and ICT competencies of a teacher in the process of continuous pedagogical education. The article presents the general structure of teachers’ ICT competencies in the field of e-learning and networking methods. It is recommended to detail these competencies through developing relevant descriptors. The given structure of ICT competencies is also intended for designing electronic course descriptors in the Moodle distance learning system to assess the quality of teacher education in university electronic information and educational environment.