Modern civilization is marked by complex and multidimensional globalization that spreads widely and forms a basis for social development. Its transition to information society stimulates the use of information and communication technologies in almost all spheres of life and provides for the rapid formation of an integrated global information space.
Approaches to theory and practice of education and upbringing also significantly change under the influence of globalization, integration, informatization, distance and personality-focused learning. Use of innovative educational technologies is currently an objective need and condition for reaching high quality of the modern education.
Being one the most important parts of the social life, education forms intellectual potential of the society and individuals. Nowadays, it is being drawn in the process of modernization in an effort to: develop and implement a model of advanced continuing education system; improve methodology of content selection; improve teaching methods and structure that should agree with objectives of the student´s personality development, which is one of the actual conditions of information society; create educational systems and teaching techniques, aimed at development of intellectual potential; improve educational management and communication, using a common professional-oriented database and information and communication technologies.
One of the priority tasks in the field of education is to make the management of educational system more effective in its two main dimensions: educational institutions and branch in general.
Use of modern information technologies expands the potential of educational management. The interesting point is that the technologies for improvement of the educational content and quality are of a much bigger importance than the technical questions of how to implement the information and communication technologies, in educational institution management and for the purposes of education authorities.
In this respect, one of the most important aspects is to achieve better transparency of the educational system, which can be provided by the use of the following technical factors: option of keeping digital records of plans, activities and results of the management, teachers and students; possibility to access open digital information sources via telecommunication channels.
Planning and management of the educational process are fundamental issues for an each particular educational institution, which are based on the information, general for all educational institutions. The areas of planning and management include: definition of the institution´s activities (quantity and organization of educational institutions); human resources; available facilities and time; planning of learning process (development of curriculum and teaching hour plans depending on the staff availability); correspondence of curriculum and time (lessons schedule), taking in account possible limiting factors (working hours of the institution and teaching staff, facility limits); dynamic respond to planed and unexpected changes in educational process.
In order to implement these ideas, information and communication space of a particular educational institution should be integrated in the regional information and education system.
During transition towards this new model of education, student´s personality is regarded as the biggest value of the whole educational process. Education and upbringing have the following tasks: information acquisition and processing (or, traditionally said, acquiring new knowledge); development of abilities and skills; development of attitudes [1].
Such model can successfully exist only on the basis of a common informational and educational space that provides conditions for user´s access to the information resources on a specific subject via interactive information and communication technologies. The main criteria of value, practicality and effectiveness of any innovations in education and upbringing are to serve for the good of an individual [2].
One of the aims of widely used new information and communication technologies in education is to create conditions for better and effective educational management, as these technologies provide communication between different participants of the educational policy - state, regions, communities, employers, educational institutions, teachers, students and their families.
Informatization of the educational system, providing its openness and unification, already creates a possibility for a dialogue between all its participants. Expanding informatization till the level of a competent educational society is the practical task that modern educational policy is currently facing.
Managing introduction of modern educational technologies at the institutional level means, that end products (educational and informational resources), tested in educational institutions, are accepted for general practice and their turn change it. Moreover, the managerial process aims to spread the use of new educational and informational resources. Educational authorities and heads of educational institutions should constantly pay attention to this process, and stimulate the expansion of modern innovative technologies in education.
References:
- Karnazhitskaya T. Distance learning: «pro» and «contras» // Belaruskaya Dumka. - 2004. - № 3. - P. 131-134.
- Rybka D.P. Educational aspects of distance learning // Distance learning - educational space of the 21st century: Abstracts of the IV International scientific and methodical conference. - Minsk: Belarusian State University of Informatics and Radioelectronics, 2004. - P. 390-391.
The work is submitted to Scientific Conference "The Problems of International Integration of Educational Standards", England (London) - France (Paris), April 20-28, 2009. Came to the Editor´s Office on 29.01.2009.