The dissertation research highlights the impact of the reforms in higher education on the status of students’ independent activity, development of pedagogical theories of students’ independent activity, formation of their professional qualities as well as the development of methodological, theoretical and methodological aspects of students’ independent activity.
The author offers his periodization of the development of the theory and practice of independent activity of students of higher education institutions of Ukraine at the end of the XXth – the beginning of the XXIst century, which is connected with the state documents on computerization and development of teaching aids. The first period – 1991–1996 – is adaptive (there is still almost no training under the Soviet system). The second period is 1997–2003, during which new means of reproduction of information spread and there begin the discussions in pedagogy about the role of the teacher not only as a source of information, but also as a mentor and a consultant. The third period (during 2004–2013) is determined by the rapid development of information and communication technologies, most students and teachers switch to e-learning, the problem of obtaining information is replaced with the problem of developing the ability to understand a huge amount of information in electronic networks. The fourth period – from 2014 until now, when the processes of informatization are growing significantly, many familiar forms of independent work is a thing of the past, first of all, the list of ways of independent student activity is extremely expanding.
The dynamics of scientific research of students’ independent activity of higher education institutions of Ukraine in the system of modern pedagogical sciences has been investigated. It is established that independent educational activity is a multidimensional system object, the essence of which is a system of interconnected structures and functional components regarding the specifics of individual and collective types of independent cognitive activity of students, which provide mastery of the established amount of educational information. The pedagogical regularities in the context of development of independent activity of the student of higher education institutions of Ukraine at the end of the XXth – the beginning of the XXIst century are generalized: the influence of a level of formation of independent activity of the pupil on the same level when the pupil becomes the student; the interaction of empirical and theoretical, which is a source of development of independent activity of the student; the emergence of completely new sources of information extraction for independent activity; the need to emphasize in the independent activity of students not so much on the accumulation and search for information, as on the formation of skills to work with this information, to turn it into their own knowledge, to develop the necessary skills; the development of the student’s independent activity should be accompanied by the integration and differentiation of its content, forms, methods and means of implementation, etc.
The conceptual approaches to the development of the theory of independent activity of students of higher education institutions of Ukraine at the end of the XXth – the beginning of the XXIst century, on the basis of leading methodological approaches, the need for continuity of development of independent activity of students and its modelling as a means of educational forecasting have been highlighted. Theoretical bases of independent activity of students in the context of the activity approach have been defined, in particular: the coordination of efforts of teachers of various disciplines; practical orientation of independent activity; realization of the independent function of educational activity regardless of the type of educational institution; the expansion of potential opportunities for student development; integration of educational information; formation of students’ ability to apply independently the acquired knowledge in professional activities, etc.
Conceptual bases of independent activity of students on the basis of the competence approach have been formulated. The possibilities of using historical experience of independent activity of the students of higher school in the modern national education (independent activity with the use of new information technologies and mixed learning, the use of historically justified forms and methods of independent activity of students, interactive learning and distance forms of independent activity of students in pandemic conditions, the modification of the content and structure of independent activities of students in the study of various disciplines, independent activities of students in the system of general psychological and pedagogical training, etc.).
