The specifics of building a psychological space for the use of information technologies as tools for activating the personal potential of university students

Shutenko Elena Nikolaevna ORCID: 0000-0002-4499-2756 PhD in Psychology Associate Professor of the Department of General and Clinical Psychology at Belgorod National Research University 308012, Russia, Belgorodskaya oblast', g. Belgorod, ul. Kostyukova, 34, of. 335 avalonbel@mail.ru Other publications by this author     Shutenko Andrey Ivanovich ORCID: 0000-0002-8385-3660 PhD in Pedagogy Associate Professor of the Department of Strategic Management, Belgorod State Technological University named after V.G. Shukhov. 308012, Russia, Belgorod region, Belgorod, Kostyukova str., 34, office 335 avalonbel@mail.ru

Vorotyntseva Dar'ya Alekseevna ORCID: 0000-0001-8188-4597 Postgraduate Student, Department of the General and Clinical Psychology, Belgorod National Research University 308000, Russia, Belgorod region, Belgorod, Studentskaya str. - 14, 4, office 509 vorotyntseva@bsu.edu.ru

Introduction

In the contemporary period, there is a mass transition of higher schools to online education and distant training due to COVID-19 pandemic. This situation has resulted to wide and unrestricted spread of the latest informational-communication technologies (ICT) in educational practice. And in this connection, there is a need for deep and comprehensive scientific understanding of this new situation in higher education ^{[7, 9, 24]}. The most urgent issues concern the definition of humanitarian and psychological parameters and mechanisms of ICT application for providing students’ personal potential and abilities growth ^{[4, 10]}. Meanwhile, the scientific reflection of higher school informatization in Russian psychology lags behind from the scope and pace of ICT application. Scientific support of higher education concentrates mainly on students’ various competencies’ building including through the latest ICT application. Nevertheless, the area of competencies (as well as knowledge and skills) does not assume personal potential development ^[23]. According to the research works of D.A. Leontiev and his colleagues, this potential defines not only the abilities or knowledge themselves, but the capacity to apply them ^[14]. In other words, this refers to some inner structure providing the growth of a human being’s possibilities as a subject of a productive activity.Currently, the problem of the transition to online education based on ICT becomes primarily relevant for the entire system of high school ^{[7, 9]}. It is obvious that the answers are to be found not only in the ICT sphere itself but in the aims, goals, methods and standards these technologies are applied for as well as in the logic and models prevailing in the certain educational system. For example, if modern ICT are used in a mass reproductive logic with the explanatory and descriptive teaching method predominance, they further strengthen the shortcomings of such educational system. Otherwise, if these technologies are applied within personal approach implementation with active and developing teaching methods prevailing, they definitely enhance advantages and areas of strengths of such educational model ^[21]. Therefore, the issue of the shift to ICT in education refers to didactics, psychology and pedagogics, which cannot be resolved only technically or organizationally. The latest ICT with their powerful effects on consciousness and psyche act similarly to a catalyst. They can multiply both positive and negative aspects of a specific didactic model ^[20]. Psychological-pedagogical foundations of using ICT in education were considered in conceptual studies of prominent authors (I.V. Robert, V.A. Krasilnikova, M.A. Choshanov et al.) ^{[5, 13, 17]}. Methodological aspects of the use of information technologies are disclosed in the works of Ya.A. Vagramenko, A.G. Gein, V.Ya. Laudis, M.R. Melamud, A.I. Bashmakova, A.Yu. Derevnina, O.V. Zimina, S.I. Makarova, V.G. Zhitomirsky, A.G. Kushnerenko, M.P. Lapchik, N.I. Pak, Yu.A. Pervina, E.S. Polat, et al. Contemporary studies emphasize the growing role of ICT in education, especially in connection with the development of a fast Internet network and the transition to online learning ^{[1, 3]}.These studies and other ones note that no matter how effective modern ICT are, they are only a tool (though incredibly powerful) to organize informational and educational space ^[22]. The latest ICT with their powerful effects on consciousness and psyche act similarly to a catalyst. They can multiply both positive and negative aspects of a specific didactic model ^[20]. And in this regard, the problem of adequate and pedagogically competent application of such a tool comes to the fore. In our opinion, in the conditions of informatization of educational practice, there is a need to develop complex multifactorial parameters of the educational environment that expands the possibilities of targeted and versatile application of the latest ICT in higher education aimed at students’ self-realization ^[19].The problem of using ICT in higher education is to ensure that these technologies meet the requirements of fundamental psychological and didactic principles of teaching and act as a set of tools for building a variety of educational communications indispensable for students’ personal and intellectual resources’ development.

Methodology and method

Theoretical approaches.The theoretical foundation of this study comprises:

- personality-centered approach in digital education (C. Crumly, P. Dietz, S. d’Angelo et al.) ^[6];

- psychological theories of informatization in education (S. Bennett, I.V. Robert, V. A. Krasilnikova, M. Thomas et al.) ^{[2, 13, 17, 22]};

- the theories of personal potential (D.A. Leontiev, 2011, V. N. Markov, Yu.V. Sinyagin, B.G. Yudin et al.) ^{[14, 15, 26]};

- the theories of educational communications in the information environment (W.G. Bowen, D. Jonassen, M. Driscoll, A.L. Vangelisti et al.) ^{[4, 11, 25]}.

The study has used the following groups of methods.Theoretical methods: complex theoretical analysis, method of systematization and generalization, method of conceptual-structural reconstruction of the psychological-pedagogical space of ICT introduction. Constructive-predictive methods: modelling, projecting.Empirical methods: participant observation, testing. Diagnostic methods: Self-actualization test (SAT) ^[8] (version of POI Shostrom ^[18])

Methods of mathematical statistics: parametrical methods, comparative data analysis.

The logic of building a study. The sequence of the research works carried out in the study consists of three related stages.

At the first stage the ICT implementation construction was worked out. The diagnostic tools for examining students were built; primary monitoring of personal potential development of students was carried out.

At the second stage the ICT implementation construction used for teaching students was tested and implemented.

At the third stage there was the final psychological monitoring of students’ personal potential development; the data of measurements were analyzed and generalized.

The participants and duration of the study. 84 students of the secondary courses of Belgorod State University studying Psychology and Pedagogy as well as 12 teachers took part in the research. The work with the students had been held during the 2nd semester of the 2022 academic year as a part of the main disciplines’ study taught online. The time interval between primary and final psychological monitoring of students comprised 6 months.

Findings and Discussion

The logic of building personality-oriented ICT introduction in higher education

The analysis applied for the research of the current practice of the informatization process in higher school has revealed that latest ICT cannot be directly transferred and inbuilt into the educational process ^{[1, 12]}. There is a requirement to define the necessary range of principles and application areas of modern ICT in the educational process for creating opportunities to stimulate the growth of students’ personal potential. To achieve this goal, we have developed the personality-oriented construction of ICT implementation. This construction implies certain principles, regulators and stimuli for modern ICT application aimed to develop a personality within the system of university training. Schematically, this construction is presented at Figure 1.

Figure 1. Construction of personality-oriented implementation of ICT in higher education

As it is shown at the Figure 1, the construction metaphorically depicts the whole educational system of a university in the form of a large pyramid as the prism of process its informatization. This macropyramid is formed from a number of internal segments included in each other reflecting sequentially tasks of ICT deployment directed towards the target top of this construction – the sphere of personal potential.

The basic segment that defines the whole space of informatization of the educational process consists of the sphere of certain psychological-pedagogical principles of ICT application. It is the sphere that outlines the contents and the functioning mode of the entire educational space covered by it.

The intermediate meta-segment is occupied by the sphere of educational communications, into which the ICT used at university education should be embedded to strengthen and develop these communications (see Figure 1).

The next segment reflects the set of incentives for activating the students' personal potential, that can be achieved with the correct use of ICT.

The central place in the proposed construction is taken by the sphere of students’ personal potential development that is no wonder as the entire process of ICT implementation into the educational environment must activate students’ personal resources and capacities ^{[6, 17]}.

The phenomenon of a personal potential (PP) is interpreted in contemporary research works as an integral concept lying in the basis of the development and realization of human abilities ^[14]. Most studies underline the connection of PP with the implementation of a person’s essential forces considered as the subject of life ^{[15, 26]}. Respectively, the task to implement modern ICT in higher education implies the building of a developing environment providing students’ activities as subjects of the educational process and a future professional career.

In accordance with some prominent studies ^[14], we consider the personal potential as an inner instance providing the accumulation and implementation of cognitive, motivational, volitional, moral, value, semantic and other personal resources. The presence of such a instance allows individuals to be purposeful, to interact effectively with the world, to build productive relationships with others and themselves, to define themselves adequately in life and to live actively.

Psychological-pedagogical principles of ICT implementation

While building the process of ICT introduction, we proceeded from the fact that the process of informatization of higher education should have a clearly personally addressed with the imperative basis ensuring the harmonious development of students’ personality.

By summarizing theoretical developments and experience in the practical application of ICT at a university ^{[1, 2, 4, 17, 22]}, we could identify a number of important components of this process in the form of a certain set of principles for ICT implementation aimed at students’ self-realization and development of their PP.

· The principle of targeting of latest ICT implementing means the accordance of informational provision to the professional contents of education and personal requirements of students, their age-related and cognitive capacities, their level of training, professional area and scientific interests.

· The principle of accessibility of ICT implies the option of giving each student free access to use informational resources and technologies within a university educational cluster fully providing them with necessary amount of learning, reference, scientific, theoretical, methodological, bibliographic and other kinds of information.

· The principle of redundancy provides for a certain measure of information (data, reference materials, etc.), allowing a student to determine independently the set of conditions for solving a learning task and satisfying one’s request.

· The principle of diversity of ICT application suggests the use as wide a variety of electronic and digital tools and resources to help the student to build their educational trajectory.

· The principle of dialogue ensures the possibility of active interaction between students and teachers, with expert and reference communities as well as among themselves. ICTs should contribute to strengthening mutual communication and interaction of students.

· The principle of sensitivity means that ICT must be responsive to students’ requests and needs so that to adjust and improve informational support for educational process concerning disciplines and courses under study as well as for doing some research work by students.

· The principle of synergy denote that ICT should organically connect with the logic and methods of students' cognitive actions to achieve a synergistic effect of raising their educational achievements through the joint activation of personal abilities and ICT capabilities.

· The principle of refreshment ICT entails constant revision, correction, addition and updating of both the ICT themselves and the ways they provide educational information for students.

· The principle of cultural conformity means that the contents and information structure of the latest ICT correspond to the cultural environment (the culture of the region, people, homeland, society, country) where the given university educational system functions.

· The principle of systematicity assumes a purposeful and progressive formation of knowledge through ICT leaving no gaps in mental development and linking current knowledge to previous learning experiences.

· The principle of scientific orientation requires use ICT for assimilation of reliable and fundamental scientific knowledge, facts and examples as well as standard scientific concepts. This principle assumes the formation of an objective, scientifically based educational process building, the avoidance of unreliable, distorted and unfounded information.

· The principle of connection with life exposes practical orientation of the applied ICT in order to connect the acquired knowledge with the practical experience of students, to use various forms of experiment in mastering students' learning skills and knowledge and to test theory through effective practical criteria (see Figure 1).

In whole the principles decrypted above make ICT practical application didactically and psychologically correct. In addition to these principles, it is also important to comply with the principles of conformity to natural inclinations, humanism, age characteristics and other standard requirements and norms for the educational process building.

Educational communications as the sphere of ICT implementation

The latest ICT can be transferred and integrated into the educational environment of the university if they function as an element of educational communications (EC). These communications form a sphere of direct inclusion of the personality in the learning process and serve as a place for the deployment of ICT ^[20]. That is stipulated by the specifics of the educational process that essentially has a communicative nature ^[25].

EC are a complicated, multilevel, flexible, open net of searching, perceiving, exchanging and processing information (educative, scientific, methodological, personal, etc.) including interactions and contacts of educational system actors related to professional training ^[21]. The structure of EC is formed by the following components:

· the didactical component is a root element, since the latest ICT serve to implement certain didactic forms, models and methods of teaching, monitoring and evaluation systems, aimed at students’ educational-professional competencies building;

· the information-gnostic component is the basis semantic component of EC representing the contents of education (knowledge) in digital, multimedia, virtual, online and other formats and resources to be transferred to students;

· the communicative component reflects a complex and expanded system of links (direct, reverse, cyclic, recursive, synergetic, etc.) as well as channels and mechanisms for searching, obtaining, exchanging and transferring educative, methodological, pedagogical and other essential information in the process of students’ training;

· the interactive component involves constant, various and multilevel interactions of students and teachers in the process of university training based on latest ICT;

· the participating component implies the possibility of maintaining and developing a variety of interpersonal relationships in educational communications’ environment for developing informal contacts between teachers and students aiming at the achieving better mutual understanding and participation in the learning process;

· the attractive-motivating component is connected with the previous one and ensures that EC provide for attractive, evolving, motivating, accessible and understandable models, forms of informational provision that stimulate learning motivation and students’ intention to study continuously;

· the value-sense component reflects a culture-forming and educative function of EC through which students are taught definite senses and value orientations, worldviews and beliefs.

The above-mentioned components are highlighted rather conventionally. They cannot function and be implied being isolated from each other. For example, the didactic component is directly connected and supported by information-gnostic and the communicative ones. The participating component implies the attractive-motivating component and is entailed with the value and semantic one. Acting together, the mentioned components establish the common educational net of training and information environment in higher school ^[21].

Learning and developmental stimuli of ICT

The next sphere is directly close to the personality of the student, and reflects the set of impact opportunities of ICT for more successful mastering of students training courses and the development of cognitive and personal resources. This sphere is formed by two groups of ICT stimuli: 1) learning stimuli and 2) developing stimuli.

The first group represents actual stimuli, reflecting the obvious didactic possibilities of using ICT in the educational process. This group includes the following ones:

· the representative stimulus consists in a more effective presentation and presentation of educational material and all the necessary information in the learning process;

· the descriptive stimulus consists in a detailed description and reproduction of the content of training, training tasks, necessary material, etc.;

· the exposing stimulus makes it possible to present educational material in a more versatile and multidimensional way, including through the use of digital, holographic visual aids, etc.;

· the orientation stimulus consists in full-scale information and navigation support for trainees;

· the search-heuristic stimulus ensures the rapid finding of the necessary information, advancement towards the discovery of new sides and connections in educational and scientific knowledge;

· the imprinting stimulus enhances the possibility of a holistic and capacious capture of objects, structures and processes within the framework of educational and cognitive activity;

· the adaptive stimulus consists in increased flexibility and sensitivity of ICT to the needs of students, the ability to take into account their learning motivation;

· the contact stimulus is the ability to provide versatile, intensive and continuous contacts in the learning process;

· the coordinating stimulus makes it possible to enhance the coherence and conjugation of information processes in education, to provide informational support for interdisciplinary connections in education;

· the structuring stimulus means the possibility of a better structuring of the educational material into an accessible construct for the assimilation and processing by students;

· the control-evaluative stimulus makes it possible to more effectively perform the functions of control and evaluation within the framework of attestation, final, milestone, etc. monitoring of students' knowledge;

· the logistical stimulus lies in the possibility of synchronization, delivery, storage, transfer of the necessary educational, scientific and methodological information in training;

· the diversification stimulus is to achieve greater variability and diversity in the presentation of the content of training and in the development of the necessary competencies, the use of various forms and methods of teaching and learning;

· the catalytic stimulus is manifested in the strengthening of the main forms and methods of educational influences with the help of modern ICT;

· the facilitative stimulus consists in facilitating the work with the educational material of students, as well as unloading teachers by reducing the share of explanatory and illustrative activities in their work;

· the innovation stimulus means the ability to promptly and timely update and modernize the learning process through the use of the latest ICT.

The second group includes latent stimuli of ICT and mainly reflects the psychological spectrum of possible influences of ICT on personality development, which requires more subtle and correct work of teachers with ICT. The totality of such possible impacts is specified in the following series of stimuli:

· the reflexive stimulus suggests an increase in the opportunities for students to receive versatile and stable feedback in the course of learning;

· the modeling stimulus means the possibility of modeling various learning and cognitive constructs, projects and processes for educational and research purposes;

· the motivating stimulus suggests the possibility of using various reinforcements of students' learning motivation through the use of ICT;

· the suggestive stimulus means the ability to evoke vivid emotional experiences of students, influence their subconsciousness and behavior through ICT for better assimilation of learning material in the process of training;

· the translimiting stimulus – the possibility of expanding the didactic process beyond the time frame of the curriculum through the transition to a virtual information space;

· the temporal stimulus means the possibility of structuring and managing study time, releasing time resources for self-education and individual work;

· the personalizing stimulus is to provide greater opportunities for building an individual learning path through the use of ICT;

· the inclusive stimulus presupposes the achievement more flexible and diverse integration, inclusion in the educational process of students with different learning abilities;

· the exteriorizing stimulus consists in expanding the space of opportunities for the versatile manifestation of personal abilities and talents of students in the process of preparation;

· the self-actualizing stimulus is to provide a more versatile and diverse disclosure of personal qualities and needs of students, their learning abilities.

Consistent and conjugated implementation of both groups of stimuli in practice promotes to a more effective activation of students' PP.

Development of students' personal potential in experimental online-learning

The experimental part of the study included the approbation of the proposed construction of ICTs introduction in the educational process of students of Belgorod State University studying Psychology and Pedagogy. This work involved teachers who used this construction for carry out online classes with ICT applying .

While approbation of proposed construction, teachers of major courses were developing their own programs, methods and forms of work with students guided by certain psychological and pedagogical principles of ICT implementation in learning. Therefore, the practical introduction of this construction provided necessary scientific, didactic and psychological support for students' transition to online learning with ICT introduction.

The experimental group consisted of 43 students who had been taught online for 6 months under psychological-pedagogical support in framework of the proposed construction. The control group included 41 students studying online with the use of ICT without any psychological-pedagogical support but only with organizational and technical support. Both groups were tested for the development of students' PP. The primary monitoring was carried out before the start of experimental work, the final monitoring was carried out after 6 months.

To diagnose students’ PP, we used Self-actualization test (SAT) ^[8] as version of POI Shostrom ^[18]. This questionnaire defines the attitudes and behavioral norms inherent in a self-actualizing personality with a high PP as one of its attributes ^[16]. Therefore, the scales of this technique reflect certain important aspects of PP, so that we could apply them as a criterion basis to carry out the diagnostic monitoring.

The summary testing results of the control and experimental groups are presented in Figure 2 as combined graphs with average value markers.

Figure 2.The results of monitoring the personal characteristics of students (by test POI E. Shostrom)

As the results of the primary monitoring have shown, the initial average data in both students’ groups are approximately equal, generally not exceeding the established statistical average values for this technique (in the Figure they are indicated by a thin dotted graph with square markers) (see Figure 2).

In accordance with the results of the final monitoring, there is some rise of the certain significant indicators in the experimental group that start exceeding the average statistical values and indicators in the control group. The noteworthy increase in indicators was noted on such scales as: self-support (inner directed «I»), self-actualizing values («SAV»), self-respect (self-regard «Sr»), self-acceptance («Sa»), reliance on positive essence of human beings (nature of man «Nc»), productive relationship (capacity «C»). There was also some progress on the basic «time competence» scale («Tc»). At the same time, the final monitoring in the control group of students has not revealed any essential changes in PP development. Most of the data obtained in this group do not exceed the average statistical values. Moreover, there is a slight decrease in the indicators of such scales as synergy («Sy»), acceptance of aggression («A») and productive relations (capacity «C»).

Conclusions

The study presented and tested the personal-oriented construction of ICT introduction into the university training. According to the construction, the leading role in this process is assigned to the certain principles of ICT application (targeting, accessibility, redundancy, diversity, sensitivity, cultural conformity, systematicity, scientific orientation etc.). The transition to this construction of university informatization implies that introducing the latest ICT should be aimed to develop and intensify of various educational communications comprising such components as: didactic, information-gnostic, interactive, attractive-motivating and value-sense ones. The development of these communications is aimed at activating the personal potential of students through the implementation of certain stimuli ICT. Two groups of such stimuli are defined: educational (representative, descriptive, exposing, orientational, adaptive, contact, imprinting, control-evaluative, structuring, etc.) and developing (reflective, modeling, motivating, suggestive, translimitative, temporal, personalizing, inclusive, etc.).

The experimental work showed sufficient effectiveness of the developed construction in students’ online training. There is a rise of significant indicators of their personal potential through strengthening attitudes towards self-actualization. The indicators of self-support, self-respect and self-acceptance change upwards with the growth of spontaneity, goodwill and social constructiveness.

In whole, the developed construction of ICT introduction in teaching can serve as a significant support in guiding didactically competent and psychologically correct informatization of the university education process.

Acknowledgements

The reported study was funded by RSF according to the research project No 22-28-01029 «Psychological-pedagogical models and mechanisms for the development of students' personal potential through the use of modern information-communication technologies in university education» (2022-2023) on the basis of the Belgorod National Research University (Belgorod, Russia).