The thesis paper researches the issues of students’ autonomy development at higher educational institutions. Conceptual and categorical apparatus of the research was elaborated by correlating the achievements in the field of general methodology and the pedagogic methodology with the analysis of the peculiarities of educational activities of higher educational institutions’ students. As the methodological platform were used the synergetic and competence-oriented methodological approaches: students’ autonomy valence and fractural structure was developed, which unites four fractals (polycognitive, instrumental, worldview, correctional-reflexive), which emerge through the iteration of the development tendencies and formation of the composing elements of each fractal, determined by the gnoseological, axiological and praxeological valencies.
Students’ autonomy development concept was elaborated based on the exposure of the mechanisms of knowledge interiorization in students’ educational and self-educational activities. The concept arises as the outcome of five conceptual ideas: the idea of systematic communitarianism; the idea of context-objective training; the idea of constructivism; the idea of the educational process optimization and intensification; the idea of the continuousness and functional integrity of students’ autonomy development.
Object of the research: educational process of a higher educational institution.
Scope of the research: system of higher educational institution students’ autonomy development in the environment of the educational and self-educational activities’ integration.
Aim of the research: to justify the theoretically-methodological patterns and model of the system of higher educational institution students’ autonomy development in the environment of the educational and self-educational activities’ integration.
Methods of the research: theoretical – systematic and comparative analysis and synthesis, classification and generalization; pedagogical (didactic) projection, modeling and forecasting for the elaboration of an efficient technique of conducting a framework experiment in accordance with the scope of the research; empirical – pedagogical monitoring of the educational classes, organization of individual work, consulting, arrangement of scientific, research and methodological seminars, discussions and inquiries, questionnaire surveys, testing, aggregation of independent expert responses and characteristics, method of diagnostic tests, independent and individual work, research of the academic documentation; mathematical statistics for the processing of the experimental data.
Academic novelty of the gained results is that this is the first time when:
the theoretical and methodological grounds of students’ autonomy development within the educational process of a higher educational institution (institutions offering higher education) have been systematically justified; as well as the model of the didactic system of the development of students’ autonomy basing upon the determination of the content and essence understanding and creation of the conjunction of the organizationally-didactic conditions; has been defined the valence- and fractal-based understanding of the process of students’ autonomy development on the principles of the implementation of the provisions of the synergy- and competencies-based approaches in their contamination unity; has been developed the valence- and fractal-based structure of students’ autonomy as the unity of construct-fractals (polycognitive, instrumental, worldview, correctional-reflective fractal); regular patterns (content-procedural; gnoseological; psychological; organizationally-managerial; social) and principles: general and specific; principles of the integration of students’ educational and self-educational activities; innovative technologies, forms, methods, know-hows and organizational measures for the educational and self-educational activities of students as the basis of their autonomy development.
Practical significance of the gained results is that we have justified, elaborated ways of psychologically-didactic support for the organization and implementation of these kinds of activities, which have been presented as a didactic-methodic case for students; author’s proper optional course “Integration of students’ educational and self-educational activities at a higher school”; we have prepared textbooks for the educational subject “Practical course of the primary foreign language (English)” for independent and individual work over the home reading of the original English language fiction literature; we have renewed and upgraded educational programs (for the specialty “035 Philology”) upon the basis of the professional and specialized orientation and autonomy of students as well as the academic materials for the mentioned programs.
