Features of the use of active and interactive methods in the teaching of Oriental disciplines in a distance format

Sivkina Nataliya Yurievna Doctor of History Professor, Department of Ancient and Medieval History, N. I. Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod 603000, Russia, Nizhegorodskaya oblast', g. Nizhnii Novgorod, ul. Ul'yanova, 2 natalia-sivkina@yandex.ru Other publications by this author

Grigorieva Svetlana Valerievna PhD in History Associate Professor, Department of History of Modern and Contemporary History, Lobachevsky State University of Nizhny Novgorod 603022, Russia, Nizhny Novgorod region, Nizhny Novgorod, Gagarin Avenue, 23 svetl-grigor@yandex.ru

Subject and relevance. Standards of the third generation, higher education reforms aim university teachers to use active and interactive methods of conducting classes. Developers of new work programs of disciplines and evaluation funds are forced to take these points into account. Naturally, for a high-quality learning process, the teacher does not abandon passive methods, for example, traditional lectures, but must combine them with others, unlocking the goals and objectives of the lesson, the format of teaching (full-time, correspondence or distance), taking into account the level of knowledge of students, their skills and willingness to cooperate with each other, etc. Currently time active and interactive methods have become an integral part of the educational process ^{[1; 2]}. However, the COVID-19 pandemic confused the plans, forcing both teachers and students to look for new forms of interaction.

The transfer of the educational process to the remote caused a number of problems. First of all, this is a lack of personal communication, because the teacher can not always see students hiding behind avatars; it is much more difficult than in the audience to feel the emotional impact; visualize students, get to know them better. At the same time, the distance does not allow you to fully organize group work and interactive interaction; it is more difficult to control the independence of individual tasks, especially when it comes to testing students who seek to use Internet resources on all the gadgets at their disposal. Teachers began to spend much more time and effort checking written assignments, answering students' questions, which have now switched to a written format through the electronic educational environment of the university. The variants of seminars on the Moodle platform, which are used by universities, provide for commenting and evaluating students' posted works by their classmates and a teacher, which translates the lesson into a formal framework, i.e. designed for passive methods of work. Since the epidemic has not ended, its next round is possible, and a new departure to the distance format, university teachers should be ready for further use of various methods of conducting classes. However, theoretical developments and research on the organization of interaction of active and interactive methods in a remote format are not enough today ^{[3; 4, p. 199]}. At the same time, the active introduction of digital education requires constant improvement of pedagogical technologies and the search for the most effective ways to ensure the learning process, which determines the relevance of our research.

Accordingly, the purpose of this article is to clarify the features of using active and interactive methods in digital format.

Theoretical basis. This research is based on the results of many years of work and the experience of domestic and foreign researchers in the field of innovative pedagogical technologies. In particular, we are talking about theorists and practitioners who have made a significant contribution to the development and application of the so-called "active methods", such as M. A. Danilov, V. P. Esipov, I. M. Skatkin, A.M. Matyushkin, V. V. Davydov, L. V. Zankov, V. V. Komarov, B. N. Khristenko, A. M. Smolkin, A. A. Verbitsky, V. M. Efimov, etc. For example, the works of Boronenko T. A., Grudzinskaya E. Yu., Okan G. I. and others are devoted to the technologies of using active and interactive methods in teaching students ^{[1; 2; 3; 4; 5; 6; 7]}. It should be noted that most studies are devoted to the use of these methods in a face-to-face format.

In addition, the practice-oriented approach and, in particular, the project method, which has almost three hundred years of history, has attracted quite a lot of interest in recent years ^[8]. A valuable contribution to the theory and practice of this method was made by J. Dewey ^[9], W. H. Kilpatrick ^[10], M. Wales, F.L. Stoller, etc. Many of the ideas of J. Dewey is still being used today ^[11]. The works of Zaitsev V.S., Mitrofanova G.G., Yakovleva N.O. and others are devoted to the peculiarities of using this method in the modern system of higher education. ^{[8; 12; 13; 14; 15]}.

As auxiliary works, works devoted to the psychological characteristics of modern students were involved ^{[16; 17; 18; 19; 20]}, the role of group work in teaching ^[21], principles and technologies for the development of critical thinking ^{[1; 22; 23]}. In addition, materials on the history of teaching Oriental disciplines in various universities were used ^{[24; 25; 26]}. The use of all these works allowed us to develop our own teaching methodology, the essence of which is the continuity, continuity and variability of the use of active and interactive teaching methods throughout the educational process by different teachers.

The novelty of the work lies in the development and implementation of the author's methodology for teaching Oriental disciplines in a classical university based on the continuity of courses and interdisciplinary interaction, which can be used both in full-time and distance format.

The research methods were the traditional general philosophical methods of analysis and synthesis, as well as the method of systematization of materials, since the authors used various forms of classes, analyzed their effectiveness in terms of assimilation of the material and selected the most valuable options. In addition, the observation method and the survey method were used to obtain student reflection on the classes conducted.

Results. Of course, the distance format has its disadvantages, noted above, but at the same time, the introduction of distance forms has demonstrated new teaching opportunities. Firstly, all teachers, without exception, had to master ZOOM and other educational platforms; learn how to develop electronic courses: record video lectures; provide them with presentation and demonstration materials. Secondly, the freed-up time, which was previously required for the journey to the university and back, could now be spent on improving the lecture material, searching for new scientific literature and sources. Thirdly, teachers have more opportunities to visualize lecture material, demonstrate fragments of films, maps, monuments of culture and art. The fourth point that I would like to note is more opportunities for individual work with students. In fact, the distance perfectly corresponds to a personality-oriented approach, because the electronic educational environment allows students who are far from always deciding to publicly talk about problems with the subject, to personally contact the teacher, ask for individual advice, clarify the details of the material they listened to, get a personal assignment taking into account their interests and level of training. The psychological characteristics of the current generation of students (their life in cyberspace and the desire for comfort ^[16]) quite often lead to the fact that it is much easier to write to a teacher about a problem on a social network or by e-mail than to voice it in a face-to-face conversation.

Therefore, the authors tried to find advantages and, if possible, adapt the existing methodological arsenal to the conditions of the distance. In addition, the reliance on interdisciplinary connections and continuity of courses used in the full-time format has found excellent implementation in the new conditions. I would like to share some of the best practices from personal experience.

First of all, the essence of our methodology boils down to the fact that Oriental disciplines are studied at our university throughout their undergraduate studies in cooperation (1-4 course). In particular, the OPOP in the field of training "History" includes several mandatory courses on the history of the countries of the East: the history of the ancient East (1st year), the history of Asia and Africa in the Middle Ages (2nd year), in modern and modern times (3rd year), disciplines of students' choice, such as such as "Russia-the East: Features of intercivilizational interaction" (2nd year), "The Era of Hellenism" (3rd year), "Colonial systems and forms of the national liberation struggle of the peoples of the East in modern times" (3rd year), etc. The construction of the OPOP, in which the teachers themselves actively participate, thus allows for continuity in the teaching of courses, interdisciplinary interaction, ensuring the process of forming the necessary competencies.

Since usually different disciplines are taught by different teachers who develop courses based on their own vision of the subject, students do not always perceive the history of individual states holistically: China of the Qin era exists separately in their heads, separately in the Ming era, etc. If the Persian power of the Achaemenids fell from the blows of the army of Alexander the Great, then Iran and other countries are being dealt with within the framework of modern or modern times, with almost no emphasis on its historical and cultural past. This fragmentary knowledge of the history of the East is partly facilitated by the reduction of hours that has occurred in recent years: the teacher always has to choose which topics need to be discussed with students in the classroom, and which ones should be given for independent study.  Therefore, the authors of the article relied on the interactivity of modern students and their interaction not only within the course (group), but also between courses.

In the first year, the main Oriental studies subject is "The History of the Ancient East". The task of the teacher is to present the material using a variety of active and interactive methods. Practical classes allow you to use search tasks and text analysis tasks (for example, when analyzing the laws of Hammurabi), a historical game on the campaigns of the pharaohs of the New Kingdom period, the creation of clusters (comparative diagrams, etc.), a project, etc. To get emotional reflection after classes, a small survey is conducted (oral or written), in which it is suggested to answer how much you liked this form of conducting classes or how the student evaluates his activity, etc. This allows, on the one hand, the teacher, in whose reserve there is an opportunity to present the material in different forms, to select those methods and didactic tools that have found a response from the students of this course. On the other hand, the student himself, "going out" into a reflexive position, gets the opportunity to trace the dynamics of personal development that affects self-educational activity ^{[23, p. 212]}.

This basis allows teachers of other Oriental disciplines (in the following courses) not to waste time explaining organizational issues: students are already familiar with most of the methods. Moreover, a kind of "cases" have been developed for practical classes - materials for conducting the same lesson using different active and interactive methods.

Here, an important point of the work is the questioning of students on the eve of the lecture. You can understand 10-15 minutes before the start of the lesson by asking a couple of questions how interesting the new material is to students, what aspects of the topic they are most concerned about, that they already know what to pay special attention to. This survey allows not only to arouse interest in new material, but also to adjust the lecture or seminar plan taking into account the interests and level of training of students.

There is also a survey about the future practical lesson at the end of the previous one. In this case, students have the opportunity to choose the form of the lesson itself. For example, whether they want to analyze the topic using the basket method, case technology or another method ^{[5; 6; 7]}. Naturally, the teacher is ready for any option, the difference will be in student training. For the students themselves, participation in the choice allows them to increase motivation to study the discipline, makes them feel their significant role in the learning process, develops responsibility for decisions made, independence and organization.

By developing continuity of methods, teachers of Oriental disciplines encourage students to interact with the aim of learning between courses. For example, since there is little time left for questions on the cultural history of different countries, you can use extracurricular activities – the work of a student club, which students of different courses attend. They hold meetings mainly in a remote format. The topics for discussion and the form of their coverage are also diverse. One of the meetings of the club is dedicated, for example, to the culture of India. At the same time, third-year students are assigned to conduct a lecture tour of the preserved cultural monuments of the Mughal empire, first-year students must prepare information about the preserved monuments of the ancient East, etc. It is valuable that the tour is conducted by the students themselves, having previously familiarized themselves with the materials of the recommended scientific literature, for example, the educational and methodological manual "Monuments of culture of the peoples of the East" ^[27]. There is an interchange: junior courses, presenting their topic, consolidate it and at the same time get acquainted with the continuation of the history of this territory, which will be useful to them in their future studies; and undergraduates, in addition to studying new material, have the opportunity to recall previously passed material, but sometimes already forgotten. And, of course, the manner of submitting the task awakens creativity and creates a positive emotional mood.

As the remote format of work has shown, this technique has demonstrated itself from the best side. Active and interactive methods also work well, as in the face-to-face format ^[2]. Thus, the use of such methodological techniques as cinquain, RAFT, essay, discussion have not lost their significance in the conditions of distance. On the contrary, the electronic educational environment made it possible to optimize these forms of work due to strict regulations, individualization (the inability to copy from a neighbor), faster verification (printed material is much easier to read than handwritten).

Even the quiz game is carried out in a remote format without much difficulty. The main condition is that the teams must be "in touch" during the game to discuss the answer, so they organize groups in VKontakte or group chat. Additional instruction of team captains on the eve of the game usually does not take much time. Tasks with cartographic material can be performed without printing materials, tracing or marking directly in the phone, saving and sending to the teacher. Tasks for analyzing sources, large in size, which cannot be put on the screen, the teacher sends to the captains, and those to the members of their teams. Thus, each participant has a document on the computer.

A simulation game in a remote format is also technically possible. Moreover, it even has its advantages over the face-to-face format. For example, games on the topics "Phoenician colonization" in the framework of the discipline "History of the Ancient East" or "Journey to India" in the framework of the "History of Asian and African countries in modern times" provide students with the opportunity to present costumes, the appearance of ships, necessary equipment and goods, weapons, a route map, etc. in the form of a presentation, accompanying it with explanations and answering questions from other teams. Students' search and group activities play an important role here.  At the same time, the assessment, first of all, will be influenced by the level of training of the team, the remote format does not play a significant role.

Perhaps the only serious disadvantage of remote work using active and interactive methods remains the instability of the Internet.

Thanks to the distance, it has become much easier to use modernizing forms of classes in work, in particular, a lecture-visualization or a lecture-excursion. For example, as part of the course "The History of Asian and African countries in Modern Times", a visualization lecture on the culture of Japan before and after the Meiji Revolution is held. At the end of the lecture, students are independently invited to draw their own conclusions about its general and specific features based on the received material. In fact, the demonstration material on which students mark the features of the "new" and "old" era in the conditions of the distance can be shown as well as in the classroom. Perhaps there is only one, but a positive difference here – in digital communication, the teacher can send students a picture or two right in class and an individual task for them, which can be done on the model of what everyone understands in class. In the face-to-face format, this is technically more difficult, and hints from neighbors can distort the result.

Separately, it should be said about the technology of project activities. This method, having undergone a lot of transformations in time and space, has a long history and is still in demand ^{[8; 10; 12; 28; 29]}. In recent years, the practice-oriented approach has yielded good results ^[15], therefore, the use of the project method plays an important role in the process of training a specialist historian, it allows implementing the principles of activity-based and problem-based learning ^{[14, p. 145]}. The tasks of historical education involve not only the perception and accumulation of historical knowledge, but also the education of the necessary skills and abilities in the student, such as critical thinking ^{[7; 22, p. 133; 23]}. It can be developed by a student only in the conditions of his practical activity. At the same time, the role of the teacher, despite the independent work of the students, is quite high, because one initiative of the students is not enough, they need the help of a mentor in planning and completing tasks ^{[9, p. 205; 11, p. 256]}. Design involves the dismemberment of any problematic issue (topic) into parts to facilitate its solution; the establishment of connections and patterns of what is happening; consideration of any issue in a versatile and systematic manner. The use of project activities in higher education contributes to the development by students of the skills of selecting and analyzing historical sources (from which information about historical processes of the past is taken and verified), working with cartographic, statistical materials, displaying results in various symbolic forms, develops research and creative skills, increases motivation for self-study and gives experience in public speaking. These skills and abilities will contribute to the development of the competencies necessary for a future specialist. The project method remains relevant even in remote conditions.

Design involves various forms of activity. For example, the theme "The Colonial conquest of India".An informational, group, short-term project that aims to study the colonial struggle for Indian colonies between England, France, Holland and Portugal. It is assumed that students should be divided into four equal-sized team members who will represent a particular country in the classroom. Conducting this lesson is possible both in full-time and in a remote format, since the interaction of students in groups is carried out primarily during extracurricular time as part of independent work. Each of the teams must provide information about:

· causes and forms of colonial expansion of the selected country;

· location of the colonial possessions of the state (show them on the map);

· a historical figure who played a leading role in the colonial expansion of the chosen country;

· methods of colonial expansion;

· The results and consequences of colonial expansion for the chosen European state and India itself. 

Another topic of creative projects is "The Indian National Congress and the National Liberation Movement in India".A game (role-playing), group, short-term project designed to simulate a meeting of the Indian National Congress, aimed at understanding the various directions of its activities in the last third of the XIX century. Students need to be divided into two teams of equal number of participants. One of them defends the ideas of the radical direction of the Indian national liberation movement, the second - the ideas of moderates. Group work by students is carried out independently during extracurricular time, and during the lesson they voice the results of their interaction, which is quite possible in a remote format. The project involves the following tasks:

· preparation of a brief historical background (causes and conditions of the movement, social composition of congressmen, biographies of the most prominent representatives);

· development and presentation of the movement program;

· substantiation of forms and methods of achieving the set goals;

· preparation and discussion of a booklet for voters;

 The presentation of projects in the classroom should develop into a discussion about the strengths and weaknesses of each of the INC areas, successes and shortcomings in the activities of their representatives. Representatives of the teams should show how their movement can change the life of Indian society, as well as refute the theses of opponents. In order to independently assess the persuasiveness of the students' arguments, it is possible to allocate a third small team (2-4 people), the so-called judges or speakers, who should be familiar with the program of each of the parties. The function of the speaker can also be assumed by the teacher.

With such an organization of classes and the implementation of project activities, there is an active interaction of team members, which develops students' communication skills, helps to break down the overall activity into a number of operations, each of which will be carried out by individual students.

A few words should be said about the assessment methodology. The use of active and interactive methods is best matched by a point-rating evaluation system. In fact, the student gets the opportunity to score the desired number of points during the semester. An increasing rating system is applied, with a maximum of 100 points.

Conclusions. The active participation of the teaching staff of IMOMI N.I. Lobachevsky National Research University in the development and discussion of standards and OPOP in the direction of "History" significantly expands the possibilities of cooperation and cooperation of teachers of Oriental disciplines aimed at developing and achieving common goals, creating didactic and psychological conditions in which a student can show not only intellectual and cognitive activity but also a personal social position, your individuality, express yourself as a subject of learning.

The formation of a unified Oriental studies module is aimed at the continuity of courses and the development of interdisciplinary ties, which creates great opportunities for interaction between students and teachers, the choice and application of active and interactive teaching methods, allows for interactive classroom and extracurricular time, forming the necessary universal and professional competencies.

At the same time, teachers of Oriental disciplines carry out the continuity of courses not only from the point of view of the content of the material, but also from the point of view of the choice of teaching methods.

The pedagogical experience of conducting classes accumulated over the years of the pandemic shows that the author's methodology of teaching Oriental disciplines using active and interactive forms in the conditions of distance learning is just as applicable as in full-time education developed by the teachers of UNN.