The dissertation deals with the questions of improving professional training of the future economists in agrotechnical colleges by means of information- communication technologies. Readiness of the future economists to professional activity, formed by means of information-communication technologies is understood as a personal formation of the individual, integrative quality of the person, which includes a complex of personal features and professional qualities, necessary for successful application of ICT into the professional activity of the future economists.
The set of interconnected components of such readiness has been distinguished: personally-motivational (positive attitude to the profession, interest in it; knowledge of the specifics of using ICT in professional activity; orientation towards the formation of professional competence by means of ICT; conviction of the importance of ICT in the work of economist); semantic (system of professional knowledge, professional-economic thinking; existence of knowledge about possibilities and ways of using ICT in the future activity); operational (possession of the toolkit of economist; ability to practically use the gained knowledge; skills of using ICT in professional activity; using ICT tools in order to achieve goals of training).
The criteria of formation of readiness to professional activity have been defined and improved: (motivational-orientation, which characterizes the system of values that motivates professional activity and the use of ICT in it; cognitive-educational, which characterizes the integrity of knowledge of the bases of professional activity, the knowledge of the abilities of using ICT in professional activity; active – characterizes the availability of practical skills to carry out the professional activity by means of ICT). Four levels of readiness formation of the future economists to professional activity in colleges have been determined: low, middle, sufficient, high.
The organizational-pedagogical conditions of formation readiness of the future specialists of economic profile to professional activity by means of information- communication technologies have been determined and theoretically substantiated: use of computer-oriented forms and methods of organization of study; activation of cognitive activity by means of information-communication technologies; organization of distance learning based on the Moodle system.
To realize the first organizational-pedagogical condition in the educational process the computer-oriented forms of study have been introduced: multimedia lectures; individual work of students with information in the Internet, forums, chats, video and teleconferences etc. The following computer-oriented methods have been used: work with electronic textbooks, processing of material from the Internet, business games, method of discussions with a computer-oriented support, computer testing, web-conference, project methods, case-study, modeling. To realize the second organizational-pedagogical condition the groups of ICT means have been distinguished, which were used in the process of training students: technical equipment; applying software; communicational software; computer testing systems; electronic educational resources; multimedia; Internet resources. Implementation of the third organizational-pedagogical condition has been carried out on the basis of using the capabilities of the Moodle platform.
The structural-organizational model of training of the future economists to professional activity by means of ICT in agrotechnical colleges has been developed. It includes four interconnected blocks: target (purpose and tasks of training the future economists), conceptual (principles, scientific approaches, components of readiness, peculiarities of training specialists in agrotechnical colleges), organizational-technological (methods, forms, means, technologies of study, organizational-pedagogical conditions), evaluative-effective (criteria, indicators, levels and result of readiness). The organizational-pedagogical conditions which are laid into the foundation of the structural-organizational model of training the future economists to professional activity by means of ICT in agrotechnical colleges have been grounded.
