Abstract: The subject of the study is the peculiarities of teaching students of the Institute of History and International Relations of Altai State University on the programs of the project "Digital Departments". A brief overview of the "Digital Department" of the specified university and the programs that it implements within the framework of this project is given. The features of teaching students in the programs of the "Digital Department" as representatives of the humanities are outlined. The topic is considered from the point of view of the tutor of students of the Institute of History and International Relations. In the course of direct work with students, the peculiarities of their choice of programs for obtaining additional IT competencies were revealed, as well as the difficulties and problems faced by students when mastering the selected programs were analyzed. The prospects for humanities students in the field of their application of IT competencies in the professional field are also presented. The research is based on the author's own experience as a tutor and includes an analysis of the results of practical work with students. The novelty of the research is due to the fact that the project "Digital Departments" itself, which has been implemented since 2022, is quite young, and at this stage of its implementation there is an accumulation of practical and methodological experience among participating universities. In this paper, the author describes the experience of two years of work as a tutor with students of the Institute of History and International Relations of the Altai State University studying at the programs of the digital department. The main conclusion is that these difficulties are typical for many universities participating in the Digital Department project, which are now on the way to finding the most optimal ways to overcome them. The new tasks set for the participating universities of the project open up interesting prospects for further training of students in the humanities.

Keywords: digital technologies, additional education, human resources potential, digital competencies, The digital economy, historical science, The Priority Program, Digital Department, IT sphere, digitalization

Abstract: The article describes the experience of teaching the course “Historical Geography and Geographic Information Systems” within the framework of the specialization “Historical Informatics” at the Department of Historical Informatic Science, Faculty of History, Moscow State University. We teach this discipline to third-year undergraduate students. The course includes several thematic blocks. The first one is devoted to Russian historical geography, and the main difficulty is to fit this voluminous course into several lessons and leave time for the remaining blocks. The second block is the basics of cartography, the history of cartography in Russia (that is, source studies of historical maps), and here we can also speak about electronic libraries of raster and vector historical maps of Russia. The third block is devoted to the substantive basics of spatial visualization. This block seems to be the most important: learning to use the proper software is an important, but it is the least constructive part of the research. It is more important to understand how to set tasks correctly and what complexities are typical to this type of visualization. Within this third block we examine both entertainment projects and research articles using historical maps. The last block of issues studied within the framework of the course is the basics of GIS software studying. We study QGIS here: it is officially freeware, cross-platform, it uses the wide-spread shapefile format, and it is well compatible with open Internet services, such as OpenStreetMap and the Google maps. Students learn to draw shapefiles upon raster maps, to attach data from spreadsheets to their vector maps and to create thematic maps, to transform the projections. We hope that our methodological experience will be useful to teachers.

Keywords: QGIS, geography, Russian history, digital history, historical data science, online map services, historical cartography, university teaching, spatial visualization, historical GIS

Abstract: The article is devoted to the author's practical experience in teaching the discipline "Project Activity" at the Institute of International Transport Communications (IMTC) of the Russian University of Transport (MIIT) in 2021-2023. Project activity, as an educational technology, is aimed at developing students' thinking/reflection skills through the formation of the ability to identify and solve a problem. The skills that students acquire in the process of learning project activities are universal, therefore, the teaching methodology and tools mastered by students can be successfully integrated into various humanitarian educational programs, including educational programs on history. The article provides a detailed classification of student projects, provides a detailed description of the RUT (MIIT) Project Activity Model and those methods (tools) that are used in the learning process. The most important from a methodological point of view are diagnostic projects implemented in the 1st semester in the 1st year, therefore they are described in the article in as much detail as possible (examples of the results of students' work are given). A survey of first-year students, who studied the discipline Project activity in the 1st semester of the 2023/2024 academic year, showed that the main tasks of project activity, such as stimulating students' motivation to study and the formation of universal meta-subject competencies, can be formed in the learning process and during one semester, within the framework of those academic hours, which are usually allocated for the PD discipline in the "History" field of study. At the same time, the most useful tools from the point of view of students are those that allow you to find out how everything really works, and what is the root cause of the problem; a problematic interview; the "5 why" method and the trees of current reality (root cause analysis).

Keywords: problem field, goal setting, teamwork skills, schematization of activities, diagnostic project, student project, competencies, education, project activities, methods

Abstract: The article is based on the report made by the author at the scientific and methodological seminar of the Association "History and Computer" and the Faculty of History of Moscow State University, which was held on January 2024. The subject of the analysis are the names and hourly volume (in academic hours) of disciplines of informatics and mathematical cycle of the National Research Nizhny Novgorod State University named after N.I. Lobachevsky or Lobachevsky University) from 1984 to 2023. N.I. Lobachevsky National Research State University from 1984 to 2023, the names of graduate qualification works made at the Department of Information Technologies in Humanities from 2007 to 2023, the names of teaching aids for 2010 to 2023, published by teachers of the department. It is revealed that the subjects of information and mathematical cycle for 40 years of their teaching in IMOMI NNGU have become more specialised and practice-oriented, both in bachelor's and master's degrees. The restored initial period of teaching quantitative methods in history in the 1980s, based on the recollections of colleagues and the first lecturer S.V. Subbotin, is of independent importance. A complete list of information and mathematical disciplines in 2023-2024 is given. The basic information about the Department of Information Technologies in Humanities Studies, which has been responsible for teaching the above disciplines since 2007, is given. It is found that since 2007 the ITGI department has graduated 86 students, 31 per cent of whom used quantitative methods and computer technologies in their final qualification works. The importance of cloud technologies in the possibilities of distributed project work of undergraduate students is shown. It is concluded that the main formed information competence of historians is a critical attitude to the digitisation of historical sources and their publication on the Internet.

Keywords: history, historical information science, methodology, chair, faculty, Lobachevsky University, information technologies, mathematical methods, education, digital transformation

Abstract: The possibilities of using artificial intelligence technologies in the training of future historians are considered. As you know, the most popular AI chatbot currently is the ChatGPT application. Unfortunately, access to this service for users from Russia and Belarus is currently limited. However, there are many third–party applications that are free from such restrictions that use the ChatGPT API and perform similar tasks. The article analyzes three of the most interesting and useful of these services: Phind.com, Talkai.info, Explainlikeimfive.io. A detailed overview of each application and possible options for its use in the educational process are offered.

Keywords: Polotsk State University, Polotsk, Explainlikeimfive.io, Talkai.info, Phind.com, ChatGPT, history, learning, artificial intelligence, scientific research

Abstract: The article considers the model of training specialists in applied informatics in the humanitarian field, developed at the Humanitarian Institute of the Siberian Federal University (Krasnoyarsk). The history of this training has been going on for almost a quarter of a century. Over the years, the program has changed its name more than once, and the curriculum has also changed in accordance with the requirements. The experience accumulated over a long enough period of time in training specialists of this profile is the subject of consideration in this article. The bachelor's and master's programs, education and activities of the Department of Information Technology in Creative and Cultural Industries, working as part of the Humanities Institute, are considered. Digital technologies continue to develop rapidly, and the number of people willing to master the difficult path of implementing applied informatics in the humanities is growing. Only in 2023, about 50 people have made final qualifying works for bachelors and masters degree at the Department of Information Technology in Creative and Cultural Industries. Each stage of the adjustment of the bachelor's and master's degree curriculum is dictated by a rapidly changing situation. At least two components remain indisputable: interdisciplinarity, which is the basis of educational programs, and a project approach, which assumes a clear statement of the problem and the use of adequate mechanisms for its solution using digital technologies.

Keywords: graduation work, digital technology, project approach, interdisciplinarity, Humanities, Applied Informatics, bachelor, master, program, university

Abstract: The article studies the issues of information visualization to demonstrate the results of historical research. It shows how MS Excel and Tableau Public Desktop Edition software can be used to visualize data and generate ideas on the basis of big data sets as well as facilitate the process of scientific research. This software can be used to show data in the form of tables, graphs, and charts helping to present information on the Russian Empire’s court activity. This is the so-called presentation method of visualization which is introductory in its nature and focuses on the audience for which the report is performed. The research is based on statistics of the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Empire and archival data for the period from the second half of the 19th century to the first quarter of the 20th century. It is concluded that today’s level of computing equipment allows researchers to have modern software tools at hand that provide for demonstrating results of their research at conferences, lectures, in dissertations, etc. The article can be used at scientific-methodical seminars of the departments, at professional development courses for teachers as well as to teach undergraduates and graduate students to present the research results.

Keywords: radial chart, pivot table, Tableau Public Desktop, MS Excel, judicial chamber, data visualization, combination chart, bubbles chart, graph, data filtering

Abstract: The article analyzes the formation and the development of educational programs in the field of historical information science at the History Faculty of Lomonosov Moscow State University. The topicality of the issue is the growing demand for specialists in humanities who have professional experience in the expanding information environment. This demands further development of a relative component of historian’s education considering those innovations which characterize “digital shift” in historical studies. Development of this educational component provides history graduates with conspicuous advantages at modern intellectual labor market. The article systematically studies the structure of educational programs in this interdisciplinary field and characterizes the main scholarly work of the academic staff at the same time. This article is the first to provide a detailed description of historical information science educational programs realized in Lomonosov Moscow State University at all three levels of university education. The experience of the Department of Historical Information Science of Moscow University may be in demand in other universities as well.

Keywords: history of Russia, interdisciplinaririty, modeling, PhD program, BA program, MA program, Historical Information Science, information technology, quantitative history, digital turn

Abstract: The article studies cultural and historical as well as social and psychological aspects of interaction between computerized and traditional forms of higher historical education. The following adversarial lines between traditions and innovations in education are analyzed: hypertext readers, audio slides and video lectures in contrast to “live” face-to-face lectures; step-by-step online training aids instead of taking notes and sitting for an exam at the end; stagewise formalized testing instead of single-stage oral exam; electronic mail instead of tutorial meetings; forum discussions instead of “offline” seminars; virtual simulators instead of laboratory work with real objects and texts; individual knowledge acquisition trajectory instead of general curriculum; automatically registered “success rating” and “scientific value” instead of informal opinion and expert reviews; necessity to analyze huge digitized datasets instead of descriptions and compilation of a relatively small amount of published data. The research methodology is the use of theories and analogies from history and culture of traditional societies and civilizations to understand instructor’s role in the situation of education technologization. The article is an experiment to revive epistolary dialogical genre in research articles. This text is an expert exchange of pro and contra arguments about traditional and innovative forms of work with information in the field of liberal education and especially historical one. The dialogue does not aim at its transformation into a “line” or a “dot”. Its aim is in contrast to hear what others say and compare their opinion with one’s own interpretation and perception of reality, to find new meanings and ways of their verbalization and “external presentation”. The main conclusions are ideas stating that any computer technology is a more convenient and efficient form of educational information that relates mainly to modern epoch in terms of its volume, speed and update availability rather than quality of education. This does not lead to the increased quality of education. The latter is merely in line with the communicative structure and dynamics of modern civilization. Full-time education based on a single curriculum in its traditional form with lectures and seminars is still irreplaceable and has a number of advantages over computer-based self-education. The study provides new arguments in favor of the central, irreplaceable and irretrievable role or face-to-face communication of instructors and students as well as emphasizes the lack of problems understudy related to online education efficiency criteria in comparison with live offline dialogue methods of the educational process. The research novelty is an original dialogical search of hidden and rarely mentioned advantages and disadvantages within the opposed innovative and traditional forms of higher historical education.

Keywords: dialogicality of education, role of personality, historical analogies, traditions and innovations, education efficiency criteria, specific character of liberal education, epistolary dialogue, online courses, computerization of educational technologies, historical education