Today, the human world is rapidly changing under the influence of technologization, informatization, virtualization processes of all spheres of life. The basis of these processes is the development of modern information technologies (IT), which transform all components of the “nature – society – culture” system. The use of IT in various types of human activity and communication provides tremendous opportunities for personal self-realization, which is a strategic priority today.
Although the term “self-realization” appeared in 1902, the very phenomenon of self-realization has always been at the center of attention of the human sciences, acting as a process of forming a unique life path.
Various aspects of personal self-realization on the life path have been revealed by modern philosophers such as: N.S. Bastrakova, A.V. Gribakin, S.A. Ermakov, Yu.D. Zemlyakov, R.A. Zobov, N.A. Kebina, L.N. Kogan, M.A. Manuil’skij, L.V. Mezina, D.A. Mordovina, L.E. Motorina, V.S. Neveleva, N.V. Sitkevich, A.V. Solov’ev, B.F. Chechet. A number of researchers (V.P. Goncharov, T.N. Lopatinskaya, E.R. Yuzhaninova) pay special attention to the forms of self-realization in the conditions of a language, space, environment vizualization, analyzing the Internet as a human self-realization space.
In domestic and foreign psychological science, K.A. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, B.G. Ananiev, A.G. Asmolov, T.N. Berezina, L.S. Vygotskij, E.V. Galazhinskij, A.A. Derkach, V.E. Klochko, L.A. Korostyleva, S.I. Kudinov, D.A. Leont’ev, A. Maslou, K. Rodzhers, S.L. Rubinshchtejn, V. Frankl, K. Horni, I. Yalom turned to the problem development.
In pedagogical sciences, the interpretation of self-realization is closely related to the ideas of the humanization of education, openness to experience, initiative, and the creative nature of students’ activity (V.I. Andreev, V.V. Bayluk, T.I. Baryshnikova, N.V. Borisova, L.N. Drozdikova, I.F. Isaev, L.N. Makarova, O.A. Milinis, E.A. Nikitina, L.I. Nirenberg, Ya.A. Ponomarev, YU.P. Prokudin, N.Yu. Postalyuk, N.V. Senchenko, M.I. Sitnikova, S.N. Usova, Z.Z. Utyaganova, I.I. Ushatikova, K.S. Ushatikova, L.V. Curikova, I.A. Sharshov, E.N. Shiyanov, S.A. Shmakov).
The problems of using educational IT to stimulate self-realization processes of students are considered in the works of S.M. Azizova, V.G. Magomedov, A.A. Tolstykh, S.S. Poddubnyj, A.A. Kazancev, A.I. Shutenko.
Despite the availability of a significant number of studies, the problem of the essence, content, conditions, criteria for achieving a high degree of human self-realization requires further study on an interdisciplinary categorical synthesis basis. The idea of the system of factors influencing personal self-realization at the present stage of technological development needs to be clarified. The problem of substantiating a system of interrelated objective and subjective conditions that contribute to the achievement of a high degree of human self-realization in the field of education requires further research.
In accordance with the shared point of view, self-realization is understood as the purposeful arrangement of a life path by a modern person – a reality formed under the influence of objective conditions (natural and sociocultural) on the basis of subjective conditions (the individual’s own resources).
Various aspects of the life path problem study can be distinguished, revealing its essence in opposite categories.
In the first group, we include the views of thinkers who interpret the life path essence, proceeding from the “reason” – “faith” categories. The importance of reason in a person’s comprehension of his life path is emphasized in the cosmocentric and logocentric views of the philosophers of the antiquity era: Plato, Aristotle, Seneca. Gregory the Theologian, John Chrysostom and others dwelled on the meaning of faith.
The second important aspect of considering the problem under study reveals the life path in the categories of “individual” (M. Montaigne, A. Schopenhauer, F. Nietzsche) and “supra-individual”, acting as “social”, “historical”, “Universe”, “Eternity” (K. Marx, L.N. Kogan, A.V. Gribakin, V.S. Neveleva). The dialectic of “individual” and “supra-individual” is revealed by modern authors in the interconnected processes of self-identity and self-transcendence, reflecting the appeal to the human world and his ability to go beyond his own limits [1].
The next aspect we highlight is associated with the above-described “individual” – “supra-individual” aspect, but we cannot reduce it to it. This is the aspect of “single” – “general”. The search for “universal” is represented by Russian religious philosophy in the person of V.S. Soloviev, L.N. Tolstoy, F.M. Dostoevsky. The completeness of experiencing one’s own unique life, comprehension of one’s self-archetype, liberation from the imposition of the beliefs of the “strangers and the blind” comes to the fore in existentialist and neo-Freudian self-realization interpretations.
Depending on who the life path subject is, it is possible to distinguish the life path of a “person – principle” (the history creator, making a breakthrough to the new) and “an ordinary person” (V.S. Neveleva). The self-realization study from the point of view of the unity and a man and history relations requires further research today.
Self-realization problems are also disclosed in the categories of “possible” and “real”. The aalysis of existence and ways of acquiring of “other”, “possible”, “true” existence by a person can be traced in the works of M. Heidegger, K. Jaspers, L.N. Tolstoy, S.A. Ermakova et al. K. Jaspers warns: “The danger for a person lies in self-confidence, as if he is already what he could be” [2, p. 453].
“Stability” – “variability” is the next group of categories that reveal the problem of interest and is associated with the aspect of “possible” and “real”. The analysis of self-realization processes makes it possible to reveal the unity of stability and variability moments, constancy and dynamism on the life path of subjects. We can talk about the dynamics of motives, the emergence of new ways of behavior and activity, forms of response to situations, the use of adaptive self-affirmation and cooperation methods. The dialectic of stability and variability is also manifested in self-realization unevenness: at different life path stages, it can be more or less, or simply be absent.
Finally, the “anthropological” – “technological” aspect of the analysis of an individual’s self-realization process becomes extremely relevant in modern conditions.
Since the last third of the twentieth century, a widely understood technology has become a “fundamental human characteristic” (N. Vig). The transformation of the entire system of natural, social and spiritual factors that have an external and internal impact on an individual’s self-realization is associated today with the development of information technologies.
O.M. Manzhueva notes: “Three inventions – a language, writing and printing, three information explosions underlie the modern civilization and humanity emergence as a whole. The true information revolution, marking the beginning of the “fourth level”, starts with the creation of computers at the end of the 40s of the XX century” [3, p. 110-111]. At the same time, the point is not in numbering (a number of domestic authors bring the number of information revolutions to eight [4]), but in understanding the universal revolutionary nature of information technologies.
Today, there is no single generally accepted definition of information technology.
In the Russian Federation Federal Law “On Information, Information Technologies and Information Protection” IT is “processes, methods of searching, collecting, storing, processing, providing, disseminating information and ways to implement such processes and methods” [5].
Modern authors offer a broad interpretation of information technology as an “area of activity that ensures the effective implementation of the human activity information aspect” [6].
From our point of view, IT can be understood as a combination of:
• natural, social and cultural, anthropological conditions for the creation of information resources of a society and man;
• information required for the intelligent technology production;
• principles and rules for managing information and communication processes;
• criteria for assessing the effectiveness of the implementation of the information aspect of human and society activities;
• natural, social and cultural, anthropological consequences of the application of this technology for the reality formed during a person’s life [7, p. 14].
Even in the last third of the twentieth century, ideas about the self-transformation of mankind in the age of the domination of technology, leading to “technological man” appeared (V. Ferkiss). The latter, as a rule, is assessed very critically: firstly, as a person who is rigidly involved in technological processes, turning from a subject into an agent of technical and technological systems; secondly, as a “consuming person”, who is distinguished by goal-oriented rational activity, total consumerism, internal passivity, conformism. The era of the internetization of all life spheres gave rise to a new species (and possibly a different species) Homo. Different variants of its designation are offered: “Homo informaticus”, “Homo internetus”, “Homo cyberneticus”, “Homo Cyberus”, “eHOMO”.
The “technological” model of self-realization, chosen voluntarily or involuntarily, turns a person into a technological “slave”, a mindless consumer dependent on tecnologies, into an object of manipulation of other people, characterized by value orientations’ deformation, irresponsibility, loss of contacts in real life, etc.
Therefore, the self-realization anthropological aspects, suggesting the interconnection of self-affirmation, self-preservation and self-rehabilitation processes of a person as a biological-social-spiritual being are of particular importance. A number of objective and subjective conditions that contribute to a high degree of human self-realization can be identified.
Such objective conditions include ensuring the natural human environment preservation. Critical environment condition provokes, in addition to diseases, the emergence of a feeling of unhappiness, manifestations of physical self-destruction (drug addiction, alcoholism, suicide), conscious or unconscious choice by people of negative life path models. According to experts, 30 % of the Russians live in environmentally hazardous areas. At the same time, it is known that life expectancy in such areas is 10–15 years less than in the country as a whole [8]. A subjective condition for a personal self-realization is caring for the bodily component of his being, maintaining and restoring health, using the entire potential of ICT to solve this problem.
Overcoming the crisis tendencies of modern “cultural ecology”, manifested in the destruction of the transpersonal values’ system, can also be considered as a necessary condition for self-realization. In this case, the subjective condition for self-realization is fostering and self-nurturing of emotional sensitivity, responsiveness, awareness of relationships between people as a spiritual value. These qualities are formed in the process of implementing the cooperation and co-creation model in education.
Achieving a high degree of self-realization will be facilitated by the availability of knowledge, information and related education. In this regard, the individual’s awareness of his needs, motives, goals, methods of control and self-control, as well as the development of cognitive independence, including the desire and willingness of a person to use the virtual educational space advantages, can be considered subjective conditions for self-realization.
A high degree of personal self-realization is facilitated by a corresponding assessment by society of a person’s labor activity. Material reward should correspond to the importance of the functions performed by a person in the society. This implies the need for professional self-determination of a person, assessment of material wealth and technological achievements not only through the prism of prestige, profitability, but spiritual values as well; awareness of labor as an ethical value.
The objective conditions for self-realization include ensuring the information space protection, prevention of negative information-psychological and information-technological impact on people. Subjective conditions in this regard include the formation of one’s own culture of life self-determination, including a system of relations to society, nature, the results of scientific and technological progress; the psychological stability formation; knowledge of the potential risks and ways to ensure the Internet security.
Finally, a society must ensure the weakening of the confrontation between different social groups, form a real unity of different cultures and generations. In this regard, the ability and readiness of a person for a dialogue and polylogue (including in cyberspace); priority of strategic public interests over personal and group interests, understanding of the inextricable link between freedom and responsibility in matters of attitude to the environment, all living things and artificially created with the help of IT can be considered the self-realization subjective conditions.
The formation of a complex of conditions which contribute to the achievement of a high degree of self-realization of the individual is becoming an urgent task of the education system. The search for new educational technologies leads to the “School 4.0” project (by analogy with “Industry 4.0”), the implementation of which is a matter of the future. However, it is safe to say that the use of modern digital technologies in the education system is becoming relevant today.
Currently, “didactics of education informatization” (I.V. Robert), “network educational strategy” (M.N. Berulava), “Education 2.0” (by analogy with Web 2.0), based on attracting students to direct participation in creation of new collective documents, are used.
To form subjective conditions for self-realization of students in the study of “Philosophy” the program of research activities called “Development of cognitive independence of students” was implemented
This activity direction was chosen based on the understanding of the culture of an individual’s independent work as the most important mechanism of personified and productive personality formation in the continuous education model, which contributes to the formation and realization of the self-realization need [9].
The study involved 343 first-year students of the Nizhny Novgorod Institute of Management.
When studying the self-realization degree of bachelors in the aspect of “Education”, it turned out that 98.7 % of the respondents strive for self-development in this area. The share of students with an average degree of self-realization was 70.7 %, for 19.3 % of the respondents a low degree of self-realization was characteristic, for 10.0 % – a high one. Thus, although for all respondents (100 %) there was an opportunity for self-realization in the field of education, the majority of students demonstrated an average degree of self-realization.
The study of the level of independence of students revealed a number of problems. The majority of students (67.3 %) are characterized by a low degree of independence, 15.7 % – by an average degree of independence, 13.2 % – by a high one.
The study of the educational activity formation motives showed the following results: 71.4 % of the respondents agree with the statements about the importance of studying a philosophy course to substantiate their own civic and ideological position (i.e., for the formation of universal competencies stipulated by the Educational Standards). 50.3 % of respondents showed interest in studying the issues stipulated by the “Philosophy” discipline curriculum.
It should be noted that the study of the students’ level of independence has been conducted by us annually since 2013. Since 2018, educational independence has been studied in the context of the problem of increasing the students’ self-realization degree, which is reflected in the questionnaires we have developed.
Taking into account the results obtained, a system of independent work, involving the use of information and communication technologies in the course of studying a philosophy course, was organized. As it has been mentioned before, educational independence is one of the most important factors in a person’s self-realization in the field of education.
The basis for studying the course of philosophy using ICT tools, contributing to the achievement of a high degree of self-realization by the student, were the principles of personalization of teaching; the relationship of internal and external conditions that provide a student with a situation of success; unity of organization and self-organization of independent work; creating a reflective educational environment [10].
To solve the problem of achieving a high degree of self-realization by students in the course of studying a philosophy course, individual and group forms of work, differentiated tasks of a reproductive and productive nature, involving the use of ICT, were used in a rational combination. At each stage of activity, the students had an opportunity to choose: to perform tasks of a reproductive or creative nature, work in groups or individually, which ICT tools to use.
Most students highly appreciate the role of ICT in the educational process, but only 28.5 % of them choose productive tasks in independent work (creating public pages in a social network and collective documents, working on the Joint Abstract project). More than 70 % of students prefer reproductive tasks using materials from electronic library systems (ELS), as well as Internet simulators.
The independent work results were used in organizing disputes and discussions, business games, writing abstracts and essays, as well as preparing scientific publications and reports at student forums, scientific and practical conferences and round tables.
It should be noted that a significant number of students were interested in various aspects of the very philosophical problem of human self-realization, such as professional self-realization, self-realization and self-actualization, the search and acquisition of the meaning of life, the problem of achieving happiness, choice and action, self-realization in a digital society and others.
In the self-analysis of activities, students who used productive forms of independent work demonstrated a significant increase in interest in philosophical issues (9-10 points on a ten-point scale). Students who carried out independent work only at the reproductive level gave an average mark of 5-6 points.
As for the assessment of self-realization degree of students who participated in productive activities using ICT tools in the study of “Philosophy” discipline, 79.2 % of the respondents are characterized by a high degree of self-realization, 20.8 % – by an average. A low degree of self-realization is not typical for this group of students.
The degree of self-realization of students who participated in reproductive activities using ICT means while studying “Philosophy” discipline did not change significantly. Most of the students surveyed demonstrate an average self-realization degree (73.6 %), for 14.2 % of the respondents a low degree of self-realization is characteristic, for 12.2 % – a high one.
Information technologies actively influence the system of natural and social and cultural factors that have an external and internal impact on the self-realization of the individual. The use of educational information and communication technologies makes it possible to develop educational independence, initiative, students’ readiness for self-education. This circumstance contributes to the achievement of a high degree of personal self-realization for the effective solution of practical educational problems.