Keyword: «project activities»

At present, society requires from a person the ability to constant personal and professional improvement, which actualizes the development of students’ “self-concept”, the formation of their personality in the educational process of the university. The purpose of the article is to study the influence of students’ “self-concept” on the willingness to participate in volunteer work. The study was conducted on the basis of the Tula State Pedagogical University named after L. Tolstoy with first- and second-year students. The research methods included a theoretical analysis of domestic and foreign literature on the research problem; questionnaires, testing, and a pedagogical experiment were used as empirical methods. The principles of consistency and integrity, taking into account the individual and age characteristics of students, etc. were determined as fundamental ones. The article presents the experience of implementing the program of classes for volunteer students "The First Step into Volunteering", which promotes the involvement of students in various areas of volunteering. Its distinctive feature is the form of interaction organization in the "student-mentor - first-year student" system. The proposed program provides theoretical and practical modules aimed at developing the “self-concept”, individuality of students, reveals the potentials of personal and professional growth by means of volunteer work. The program consists of the following modules: “Who am I?”, “I am a volunteer”, “Helping others”, “Volunteer project”, “From volunteering to employment”. The theoretical significance is presented by an overview of approaches to the structure of the students’ “self-concept” and the development of the volunteer movement. The practical significance of the research is in the worked out program for the development of students’ “self-concept” at the pedagogical university in the process of active involvement in volunteer work. The introduction of students to project activities deserves special attention. The research results can be useful for the development of volunteer centers of universities, the organization of psychological and pedagogical support for the creative activity of students.

The relevance of the research problem in this work is due to the tendency to accelerate the informatization of society, contributing to the process of emergence of new competences that are necessary for every successful person. Formation of information competence of students is a necessary part of the educational process of primary school. In the theory and practice of solving this problem, they propose various means aimed at the formation of components of information competence of students, including those in the framework of extracurricular activities. At the same time, the resource of modern multimedia technologies together with the organization of project activities is not sufficiently studied. Therefore, we see the purpose of the study in considering the concept of “information competence” in relation to students of primary school age, as well as developing and testing a program of extracurricular activities, the implementation of which makes it possible to form all components of information competence of students when organizing project activities using multimedia technologies. The study assumed the use of an integrated approach, characterized by the use of methods of analysis of psychological and pedagogical literature on the problem of research, the selection of substantive characteristics and the main components of the information competence of primary school students on this basis. Taking into account the identified theoretical approaches, a holistic experiment was organized, including diagnostic and formative stages, which made it possible to identify the developmental potential of multimedia technologies for the formation of information competence among students. We associate the theoretical significance of the study with the modification of scientific approaches to the consideration of the "information competence" concept. The practical significance of the study is to consider the methodological aspects of planning the content of the extracurricular activities course to create effective conditions for the formation of information competence of students. The proposed course is modular in nature and it is based on the organization of project activities of students with the inclusion of multimedia technologies at its different stages.

The goal is to work out and test a program for implementing mentoring in pairs as a basis for developing the personal potential of a mentor and a troubled teenager, taking into account their individual characteristics. The study has been conducted on the basis of the Central Educational Institution No. 27 and Tula State Pedagogical University named after L.Tolstoy, which teenagers, senior schoolchildren, and students have attended. Research methods include theoretical ones (study and analysis of psychological and pedagogical literature; analysis, generalization and systematization of information from scientific sources); empirical ones (questionnaires, testing, pedagogical experiment); and methods of quantitative and qualitative analysis. The diagnostic program includes the following methods: «Questionnaire of interpersonal relations» (author – A. A. Rukavishnikov), «Communicative and organizational inclinations» (authors – V. V. Sinyavsky, B. A. Fedorishin), «Unfinished sentences», the test «Who am I?» (author – M. Kuhn). Based on the results of the study of troubled teenagers and mentors from among students and senior schoolchildren, a program for the development of mentoring in pairs is compiled in order to form a positive image of a mentor–friend for troubled teenagers, prevent deviant behavior through inclusion in various activities, and provide systematic assistance to troubled teenagers. The development of mentoring relationships is based on the principles of trust, dialogue and constructive partnership, and mutual enrichment, as well as the direct transfer of personal and practical experience and knowledge. The content of the mentor training program includes the following sections: «I am a mentor», «How to become a mentor for a troubled teenager», «Steps of cooperation», «To help a mentor», «Feedback». The authors' approach to the content of the program consists in the development at mentors from among students and senior schoolchildren of models of positive prevention of deviant behavior of troubled adolescents in extracurricular activities. The analysis of the implementation of the mentoring program shows that the presence of a mentor-friend has a positive effect on the formation of positive behavioral patterns of a troubled teenager. Mentors help teenagers to reveal their personal potential by personal example and develop themselves as a pair (team), helping the younger ones. Mentoring at the same time is a way of direct and indirect personal influence of the mentor on the troubled teenager. For the mentor, such work turns into an element of personal improvement and self-development, acting as a test for a person in the future profession.

The article deals with the practical application of innovative technologies of environmental education and education of preschool children. It also focuses on the development of environmental culture and its components.

The urgency of developing effective methods of managing a modern institution of additional education for children is due to the economic and social changes taking place in the modern world. Technological and economic changes, modernization of the education system require the organization to introduce innovations and flexibly adapt its structures and methods of work to changing requirements and conditions. The search for new approaches to education management takes an important place in this process. The article emphasizes the relevance of the use of project management methods in the institution for its improvement and optimization of the work and development of the institution as a whole. The purpose of the article is to reveal some aspects of the work of the head in the organization of project activities for the effective solution of the main tasks of the institution development within the situational approach. The situational approach implies considering the situation as a sum of various situational variables in their interrelations. A specific feature of the situational approach we are considering is the use of flexible (adaptive) elements of the management structure. The management system of an educational institution is based on changing variables, factors of the external and internal environment and taking into account the principles of situational management: efficiency, flexibility, variability and optimality. The analysis of project activities practical use in the field of additional education has shown that the solution of project tasks in the institution is carried out taking into account the social and cultural context of the problems under consideration. The theoretical significance of the article lies in the fact that in the course of the study, the components of situational management were identified, the main aspects of the application of project management in an institution were determined, an analysis of project activities in an institution of additional education for children was made. The practical significance of the study is due to the fact that the theoretical provisions contained in it and the practical experience of implementing the ideas of project management in running of an institution of additional education can be used in the work of educational institutions of various types. The novelty of the study is in the identification of the relationship between project management and situational management in an institution of additional education, which has not been practically considered in the scientific literature.