Modern Pedagogical Approaches Research Articles

TERMS ANALYSIS REFERRING TO THE PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION TRAINING OF FUTURE PHYSICIANS

The article presents the main findings of carried out terminological analysis of the professional communication training in undergraduate medical education and describes developmental factors influ-encing the communication skills development with the aim of further accounting received results in the process of modernizing subjects directed at the formation of professional qualities and communicative competence of medical students. The definition of the terms referring to the medical communication training enabled us to determine professional communication of future physicians that develops under the influence of linguistic, psychological, educational and professional factors. The communication readiness includes the development of professional and communication competencies which are realized in the current system of higher medical education by the staged professional undergraduate training and subjects aimed at gaining clinical, linguistic, social and cultural skills. Thus, communicative competence involves the development of lexical and grammatical competencies in both Ukrainian and foreign languages as well as the formation of ethical values in order to provide effective monologues, dialogues and polylogues during the interpersonal and intrapersonal interaction in colloquial, official, business, academic and teaching speaking styles. Modern pedagogical approaches to the professional communication training and global academic processes necessitate the application of information and communication technologies in the educational process physicians and their further carrier. The subjects directed at the development of communicative competencies of medical students should encompass theoretical and practical aspects of professional clinical thinking and proper language skills; acquiring clinical skills; development of social and professionally important qualities and values; learning the key aspects of professional activity with the aim to force the readiness for professional communication by means of professional language in the determined forms of communication.

Modern pedagogical approaches to differentiating physical education process of primary schoolchildren

Physical education of primary school pupils is the subject of special attention both in the theory of pedagogy and in the methods of physical education. This is due to the fact that it is at the junior school age that the basic physical qualities of a person are formed. During this period the children's need for movements is quite high. On this basis it is possible to intensify the desire for physical self-improvement among pupils. The article analyzes the modern pedagogical conditions of the process of physical education, with account for differentiated approach to primary schoolchildren

Πρακτικές και αντιλήψεις εκπαιδευτικών για την προώθηση του εγγραμματισμού σε πολύγλωσσα εκπαιδευτικά περιβάλλοντα: Το παράδειγμα ενός νηπιαγωγείου

The purpose of the current study is to investigate and highlight teachers’ beliefs and practices regarding the promotion of children’s literacy in a multicultural and multilingual environment. The research focuses on two kindergarten classrooms at a school located in the center of Athens. More specifically, the goals of this study were a) to compare the stated practices of the participating kindergarten teachers with their observed practices in the classroom context b) to establish whether the teachers’ theoretical orientation is consistent in practice with their adopted methods and c) to determine the extent to which those methods are adapted to the respective educational setting. The theoretical framework of the current survey follows the contemporary pedagogical approach to literacy. The following research materials are used: a) the observation and recording of teachers’ instructional practices, b) observation checklists pertaining to the students’ oral and written communication skills, completed directly by the teachers and analyzed in this research to examine the extent to which the teachers are aware of the particularities of their classes and c) semi-structured interviews that enable sound comparisons between the teachers’ convictions and instruction methods. The findings of this study show that both kindergarten teachers employ traditional methods of literacy in most of their instructional practices, even though they espouse -at least partially- modern pedagogical approaches, as revealed by the interviews. In addition, the checklists demonstrate that the teachers do not have a clear understanding of their classes’ unique characteristics, which could be one of the reasons for the observed inconsistency between teachers’ beliefs and practices.

Modern approaches to the organization of educational process in the context of the preparation of scientific pedagogical personnel

The article deals with the modern pedagogical approaches to the organization of educational activities in the field of training of highly qualified personnel. The focus is on the application of the system, the competency of environment and approaches to learning in graduate school. Separately imposed the application of the project teaching method in the context of the competency approach, aimed at the development of creative abilities and autonomy in the construction of future educational activities.

Probability Distributome: A Web Computational Infrastructure for Exploring the Properties, Interrelations, and Applications of Probability Distributions.

Probability distributions are useful for modeling, simulation, analysis, and inference on varieties of natural processes and physical phenomena. There are uncountably many probability distributions. However, a few dozen families of distributions are commonly defined and are frequently used in practice for problem solving, experimental applications, and theoretical studies. In this paper, we present a new computational and graphical infrastructure, the Distributome, which facilitates the discovery, exploration and application of diverse spectra of probability distributions. The extensible Distributome infrastructure provides interfaces for (human and machine) traversal, search, and navigation of all common probability distributions. It also enables distribution modeling, applications, investigation of inter-distribution relations, as well as their analytical representations and computational utilization. The entire Distributome framework is designed and implemented as an open-source, community-built, and Internet-accessible infrastructure. It is portable, extensible and compatible with HTML5 and Web2.0 standards (http://Distributome.org). We demonstrate two types of applications of the probability Distributome resources: computational research and science education. The Distributome tools may be employed to address five complementary computational modeling applications (simulation, data-analysis and inference, model-fitting, examination of the analytical, mathematical and computational properties of specific probability distributions, and exploration of the inter-distributional relations). Many high school and college science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) courses may be enriched by the use of modern pedagogical approaches and technology-enhanced methods. The Distributome resources provide enhancements for blended STEM education by improving student motivation, augmenting the classical curriculum with interactive webapps, and overhauling the learning assessment protocols.

ORGANIZATION OF DISTANCE LEARNING FOR MEETING THE NEEDS OF MODERN STUDENTS

The use of modern information technologies, including distance learning, significantly strengthened the traditional approaches to the educational process in higher education institutions. On the one hand, the reason for this is the rapid development of information and communication technologies, and as a consequence, appearance of new modern pedagogical approaches to conducting lectures, practical and laboratory trainings. On the other hand, students also have changed. Under present conditions, they have a number of personal qualities that were not inherent to pupils and students of previous years. The article argues the use of distance learning technologies and the possibilities of modern specialists trained in educational measurements in the field of distance learning.

Innovative vectors of architectural education: creativity technique

The Article deals with the idea of modernization of the synergetic system of architectural education, gives ground to expediency of innovation according to the tasks of educating students’ creativity, analyzes modern pedagogical approaches to the professionalization of teaching with the definition of key competencies, gives recommendations for the selection and application of innovative developing techniques of professional training of future architects aimed at creative personal development.

Towards an understanding of resilience and its relevance to medical training

This article explores the concept of resilience and its potential relevance to medicine. It also looks at the dimensions of resilience and its ethical importance for effective professional practice, and considers whether a focus on resilience might be useful in medical training. An applied literature search was conducted across the domains of education, ethics, psychology and sociology to answer the research question: 'What is resilience and what might it mean for professional development in medical education?' This article predominantly considers the findings in relation to training in undergraduate and postgraduate settings, although the literature is wide-ranging and findings may be applicable elsewhere. Resilience is a dynamic capability which can allow people to thrive on challenges given appropriate social and personal contexts. The dimensions of resilience (which include self-efficacy, self-control, ability to engage support and help, learning from difficulties, and persistence despite blocks to progress) are all recognised as qualities that are important in clinical leaders. Much of what is deemed good practice in modern pedagogical approaches to medical training may support the development of resilience in adulthood, but this concept has rarely been used as a goal of professional development. More research is needed on the ways in which resilience can be recognised, developed and supported during and after clinical training. Resilience is a useful and interesting construct which should be further explored in medical education practice and research.

Comparing e-Learning tools’ success: The case of instructor–student interactive vs. self-paced tools

e-Learning tools have profoundly transformed modern pedagogical approaches. Vendors provide different types of systems, such as self-paced (SP) and instructor-student interactive (ISI) e-Learning tools. Although both types of tools represent promising solutions to facilitate the learning process, it is important to theoretically identify a framework to evaluate the success of these tools and assess whether one type of tool is more effective than another. Toward this end, we (1) propose a model to evaluate e-Learning tools' success by extending and contextualizing Seddon's information systems (IS) success model for the e-Learning environment and (2) formulate four hypotheses to predict the differences in the success factors between SP and ISI tools. We test the model and hypotheses using data from 783 students across seven higher education institutions in Hong Kong. The results support the proposed e-Learning tool success model and three of the four hypotheses. ISI tools outperform SP tools in terms of system quality, perceived usefulness, satisfaction, and learning outcome.

Remarks on pupils’ feedback concerning the implementation of virtual experiments in Science teaching

The huge steps of ICT development in the last decades proved that ICT tools provide many advantages in Science teaching by using not only traditional methods but also modern pedagogical approaches. One of the new technologies that can be used by the teachers in teaching Science is offered by virtual instrumentation (VI). Using this technology, different virtual experiments or simulations of real processes can be designed. These virtual experiments can be used in the educational contexts for simulating the real phenomena which are taking place in different systems. In addition, the virtual experiments or simulations can be used by the teachers and students in the classroom in order to assure a logical learning process, based on practical aspects.The paper presents some conclusion results from the feedback expressed by over 2800 pupils from five countries, concerning the use of new virtual experiments designed by 146 teachers who participated to the training modules “Virtual Instrumentation in Science Education” organized in the frame of Socrates-Comenius 2.1. European project “VccSSe - Virtual Community Collaborating Space for Science Education”. Different aspects and interpretation related to the challenges and difficulties encountered during the implementation process are also included. The results have proved that the use of virtual instruments can produce benefic changes concerning the social dynamics of the classrooms. The information - presented in a new way - has a great influence on development of an authentic learning.

Remarks on pupils’ feedback concerning the implementation of virtual experiments in Science teaching

The huge steps of ICT development in the last decades proved that ICT tools provide many advantages in Science teaching by using not only traditional methods but also modern pedagogical approaches. One of the new technologies that can be used by the teachers in teaching Science is offered by virtual instrumentation (VI). Using this technology, different virtual experiments or simulations of real processes can be designed. These virtual experiments can be used in the educational contexts for simulating the real phenomena which are taking place in different systems. In addition, the virtual experiments or simulations can be used by the teachers and students in the classroom in order to assure a logical learning process, based on practical aspects. The paper presents some conclusion results from the feedback expressed by over 2800 pupils from five countries, concerning the use of new virtual experiments designed by 146 teachers who participated to the training modules “Virtual Instrumentation in Science Education” organized in the frame of Socrates-Comenius 2.1. European project “VccSSe - Virtual Community Collaborating Space for Science Education”. Different aspects and interpretation related to the challenges and difficulties encountered during the implementation process are also included. The results have proved that the use of virtual instruments can produce benefic changes concerning the social dynamics of the classrooms. The information - presented in a new way - has a great influence on development of an authentic learning.

ONTOLOGY-BASED USER MODELING AND E-PORTFOLIO GRID LEARNING SERVICES

Several challenges need to be met by a new generation of learning services. On one hand, they need to fit into a ubiquitous and serendipitous learning vision, to adapt to different types of users with different backgrounds and needs. On the other hand, they need to integrate modern pedagogical approaches of learning. These services will probably rely on the cooperation of different distributed, autonomous, goal-oriented entities, and they can be Grid- or Web-Oriented. In this paper, we show how core technologies can contribute to the development of a next generation of learning services. In particular, we focus our attention on personalized services delivery for learning by employing an ontological perspective and user modeling techniques. This paper presents some preliminary results obtained within Elegi FP6 project.