Burtovyi R. Development of Information and Digital Competence of Future Officers in the Non-formal Education Context

The thesis provides a theoretical generalization and practical solution to the problem of developing the information and digital competence (IDC) of future officers in non-formal education. Their elimination required the consistent solution of five tasks to achieve the main goal of the study: to theoretically substantiate and experimentally test the effectiveness of organizational and pedagogical conditions for the development of information and digital competence of future officers in non-formal education. To identify the state of development of the problem of development of future officers' IDC in non-formal education in the theory and practice of professional education, theoretical methods of scientific knowledge (analysis, systematization, and generalization of scientific literature and normative documents) were used to characterize the thesaurus and describe the state of development of the research problem. The generalization of scientific research has shown scientific results on the integration of digital technologies into the educational process, peculiarities of practical training in working with different information systems; development of information skills; focus on cybersecurity; development of skills in working with digital systems; continuous professional development of university’s stuff; cooperation with stakeholders; international IT-based collaboration. To fulfill task 2 of the study, "to clarify the essence and structure of the concepts of "information and digital competence of an officer" and "development of the future officer's IDC," a terminological analysis was used, which clarified the central concept of the study "information and digital competence of future officers" as an integral socially significant characteristic of a personality that combines values and aspirations for professional development in the field of application of digital technologies in the military field, IT knowledge (about information and information technology), and the development of IDC. The third task, "to characterize the non-formal education of future officers as a type of alternative to formal educational activities and to identify the organizational and pedagogical conditions for the development of the ICC of future officers in the context of non-formal education," required the analysis of the regulatory framework and content analysis of Internet platforms as theoretical methods and expert evaluation as an empirical method of scientific knowledge. To fulfill task 4 "to develop and theoretically substantiate a model for the development of information and digital competence of future officers in the nonformal education context, which implements the selected organizational and pedagogical conditions", the modeling method was used as a method of scientific knowledge, based on which the model of development of ICD of future naval officers in non-formal education was created and substantiated theoretically. The model describes the implementation of the selected organizational and pedagogical conditions in the professional training of future officers. The model is implemented in stages (motivational; conceptual and analytical; procedural; comparativeevaluative) and is based on the content of training, which is formed on individual requests of future officers, which for their implementation require forms (personal and collective), methods (verbal and visual, practical, interactive) and means (electronic educational resources, audiovisual (popular videos about IT and its use in the military fields) and visual planar means (maps, illustrations, magnetic boards), digital means (mobile phones, specialized software, including devices (compass, computers, etc.) and instruments (compass, barometer, etc.)), virtual simulators, and training equipment). To solve task 5, "to experimentally test the effectiveness of organizational and pedagogical conditions for the development of information and digital competence of future officers in non-formal education," empirical methods of scientific knowledge were used, among which a pedagogical experiment occupied the central place. The scientific novelty of this study is – for the first time, the organizational and pedagogical conditions for the development of IDC of future officers in the non-formal education context were scientifically substantiated, and a model for their implementation was developed and experimentally tested; 14 – the essence of the concepts of "information and digital competence of future officers" and "development of information and digital competence of future officers" is clarified; the structure of the officers’ IDC is characterized by the integration of three components (personal; knowledge; procedural); – methods, forms, and means of training future officers focused on developing their IDC in non-formal education were further developed.