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A
Media literacy education
Electronic educational environment as the tool of manager student media competence development
Prof. Dr. Elena Frolova,
Russian State Social University, Wilhelm Pieck street, 4, build. 1, Moscow e-mail: efrolova06@mail.ru
Dr. Tatyana Ryabova,
Russian State Social University, Wilhelm Pieck street, 4, build. 1, Moscow e-mail: tani-87@inbox.ru
Dr. Olga Rogach,
Russian State Social University, Wilhelm Pieck street, 4, build. 1, Moscow e-mail: rogach16@mail.ru
Abstract. The introduction of distance learning forms in the educational process at universities in the modern conditions of society development raises the issue of the readiness and the possibilities of the electronic educational environment concerning student media competence development. The consideration of this issue concerning the application to managerial specialties is particularly relevant, since the preparation and the adoption of managerial decisions actualizes the skills of work with media texts, requires the development of critical and imaginative thinking, and the ability to evaluate information reasonably. The aim of the study was the evaluation of EEE effectiveness use as the tool for the development of a manager student media competence, its resources and limitations in the modern educational space of Russian universities. Russian universities (N = 4), training managers, became the empirical base of the study. The research method is the questionnaire survey of students (N = 325), supplemented by focus group study materials. 11 university professors with the experience in the e-learning system took part in the study.
In the course of the study, the restrictions were established on the use of the electronic educational environment, such as: the absence of an individual approach by a teacher; low efficiency of the test system in the development of such competencies as analysis and the evaluation of media texts; the absence or a small amount of tasks, including the analysis of documents, the drawing up of summary analytical tables and the visualization of information. And the study also made it possible to identify a number of opportunities for the use of the electronic educational environment as the tool of a manager student media competence development: the development of knowledge about information resources, information systems, information communication technologies, media space and its components; the understanding of the place and the role of a person in information society; the ability to separate propaganda, imposed information from the presentation of facts, etc.
Keywords: media competence, media education, manager students, electronic educational environment.
Introduction
During the era of social development key process informatization and globalization, the media space is transformed significantly, becoming more dynamic, interdisciplinary and international [Gutiérrez-Martín & Torrego-González, 2018]. A significant media influence on the formation and the development of individual, business and professional qualities of a person requires purposeful work on the part of educational institutions [Cheung, 2005; 2009; Reid & Norris, 2016]. This circumstance emphasizes the difficulty of media management teaching and
the rethinking of higher education technologies in this field [Förster & Rohn, 2015]. A special attention of researchers from developed countries is devoted to the inclusion of new media technology teaching in the traditional educational process [Benhamdi, Babouri & Chiky, 2017], the study of the factors that affect the online performance and student performance [Zhu, Valcke, Schellens et al., 2009].
The importance of media education development, as the trend of learning, whose goal is to teach population to work with information coming from the media space, to analyze and critically perceive incoming information, to form its own vision of a situation, its own individual position is not questioned today [Cheung, 2009; Lauri, Borg, Günnel & Gillum, 2010]. Media education allows people to exercise their right to expression freedom and information [Rowe, 2014], which not only promotes personal development, but also increases social participation and interactivity [Fedorov, 2015]. Without reliable sources of information about the changes in various spheres of life, without critical analysis of this information using media resources, and without constant interaction with the media environment, it is impossible to make a balanced, an optimal and an effective management decision in the modern world.
Materials and methods
The reasons of media education relevance, which were justified by L. Mastreman in 1985 become more complicated and strengthened with the development of information technologies. The understanding of media education as an extended long-term social and educational activity, within which an information culture should be formed based on respect for the values and customs of all peoples and nationalities, and on respect for cultural diversity [Korochensky, 2003]. At the same time, a special importance of media education and the formation of media competence in the current conditions of international relations development, the information struggle [McMahon, 2003] and the influence of mass media on the consciousness of citizens, are acquired in the process of manager expert training. The preparation and the adoption of management decisions actualizes the skills of work with media texts, requires the development of critical and imaginative thinking and the ability to evaluate information reasonably. Modern e-learning systems are an effective multimedia tool intended for use both in the traditional educational process of an educational institution [Kabalnov, 2009] and in the professional development of developed managers.
The aim of the study is to assess the effectiveness of EEE use as the tool for manager student media competence development, its resources and limitations in the modern educational space of Russian universities. Russian universities (N = 4), training managers, became the empirical basis of the study.
The leading method of research was the questionnaire survey of students (N = 325) within the specialties "state and municipal management", "management", "personnel management" of the full-time course of study in two levels of preparation: bachelor degree - 2nd, 3rd year; magistracy - 1st and 2nd year. Such a sample is justified by the fact that the use of e-learning in core disciplines is envisaged for the recruitment of 2015, 2016 according to curricula.
The results of the research were supplemented by focus group study materials, in which 11 university professors took part with experience in the e-learning system. The following issues were discussed during the focus group survey:
- e-learning opportunities for the development of working skills with media;
- the main problems and the shortcomings in the practical work with e-learning system in the focus of media competence development;
- the trends of EEE improvement as an effective tool for media competence development.
Discussion
The use of e-learning within an additional education organization is of particular relevance: advanced training and retraining programs [Silverblatt, 2016]. Due to the need for continuous professional development in terms of new technology and management tool mastering [Buckingham, 2003], business planning, the search for effective management methods for managers, organization administrators and government agencies, the issue of work and learning combination takes place [Chu et al, 2014]. The application of e-learning system in supplementary education programs can become an effective tool for necessary skills [Potter, Thai, 2016].
In the context of higher education modernization in Russia and the introduction of distance learning forms [Gladilina et al., 2016], the issue of the electronic educational environment (EEE) role in the development of student media competence is re-posed. Are new information technologies a significant resource for knowledge and media operation skills development? The contradictory nature of this issue, conditioned by the lack of built-in and adaptability of EEE in the training of modern experts, illustrates certain risks and limitations in its use [Frolova, 2017].
Researchers emphasize the importance of creation in the context of a common space school between the poles of traditional authoritarian school culture and interactive creative media culture [Rantala, 2009]. There is a stable understanding of the need for media education of students in European countries. According to the performed studies, the need for media education is stressed. A regularity is revealed: the students with a critical perception of the media space have a higher need for relevant skills development [Küter-Luks et al., 2011]. At the same time, less than 5% of surveyed students understand the essence of "media education" concept in Russia. An insufficiently developed media competence of Russian population and the perception of certain things, the so-called "grandmother's competence syndrome" and "child's competence syndrome" [Tarkhov, 2016] affect the citizens' desire to learn and develop their work skills in the information space. The federal state educational standard of higher education does not provide special disciplines aimed at media competence development, and in this regard, a number of researchers describe the relationship between media education tasks with a particular subject on the basis of their own research [Podlinyaev, Mindeeva, 2016] or the knowledge branch and form the practical basis for the assignments and methods of student media competence development.
E-learning technologies provide "a wide application of multi-media and hypermedia, a remote access to distributed educational resources on the basis of web technologies, the use of a variety of network tools between students and a teacher" [Tarkhov, 2016]. However, the use of films, video stories, newspapers and magazines in the practice of teaching within the existing state educational standards of higher education is not provided for and given to a teacher's discretion. Despite the widespread introduction of e-learning systems and technologies in the educational process with the aim to develop a student media competence, in practice the issue of a teacher encouraging and motivating to introduce media literacy in education remains unresolved [Hobbs, 2004; Rogach et al., 2017]. An insufficient state regulation of the educational, financial, technological foundations for the realization of media education is a limiting factor in the development of a student media competency [Volcic & Erjavec, 2006].
The development of media competence of manager students presupposes the creation and a constant increase of electronic infrastructure potential and a wide introduction of e-learning tools into the educational process. Modern students are aware of the need for media education very keenly, they need general knowledge about the media, the skills of media text critical evaluation, the analysis of media influence [Küter Luks, Heuvelman & Peters, 2011], the recognition and the research of media political and economic context [Vraga, Tully, 2015]. However, today in most universities of Russia EEE is positioned only as an additional opportunity of student preparation, to compensate for the reduction of classroom number in the form of full-time education.
Results
Modern students own information technologies not only at the level of a "commoner": they have common ideas about network possibilities, they use search queries and social networks, but they also can display filters during the operation with media, create their blogs, place all the necessary information and know a number of special programs (53% of the respondents). At the same time, more than 75% of students noted that they spend more than 30 minutes to search for necessary information during the preparation for a lesson. The reasons of a long search for necessary information are the following ones: "intricacy and difficulty of assignments," "a large array of required information," "the inability to seek the necessary information quickly". At the same time, positive aspects of EEE use in training were also noted: "the regularity of contact with various types of media texts", "a number of tasks require a critical comprehension of information, an assessment of reliability and accuracy of sources". Accordingly, it can be concluded that EEE provides the development of analytical abilities for students, such skills as organization, prioritization, the analysis and the synthesis of information from various sources.
Despite the fact that 55% of respondents try to engage in e-learning at least once a week, 13% do not engage more than once a month, and 21% do tasks only during the session. Undoubtedly, this imposes a certain imprint on the quality of the performed work, and on a teacher's and a student's load during a session. During the focus of the group study the teachers noted that students frequently attach tasks in the electronic environment that do not meet the established requirements both for registration (to a lesser extent) and for content.
It is fair to note that the system of student teaching with EEE use has been applied at higher educational institutions relatively recently, which does not exclude the technical and organizational difficulties in its work. Ranking the factors that reduce the effectiveness of EEE in the development of media competence, we can distinguish the following: technical drawbacks of the system operation; an inconvenient interface; the functional weakness of EEE and the absence of a number of opportunities for interaction with other students, teachers and the scientific community. Teachers also noted the absence of an effective feedback, which does not allow to develop communication with students in the form of a dialogue, namely, the function "message", "discussion", "news" are not involved almost; the absence of opportunity for emotional activity of judgments, the development of public speaking skills, public protection and discussions, which is especially necessary for manager students.
Within the conditions of financial support insufficiency for Russian universities, the use of electronic technologies becomes the compensator reducing the number of classroom classes, which causes discontent among many students. 32% of the surveyed students believe that EEE does not contribute to the mastery of professional competence skills within the specialty. Teachers are less critical in their assessment - only a quarter of respondents in the focus group questioned the possibilities of EEE to have a positive impact on the quality of education and the mastery of professional competencies. "It is easier to dump documents into a common base than to produce a report in the audience. Full-time students speak to each other, express their position, master the material, communicating with each other.
According to the results of student survey, the restrictions on the use of electronic educational environment have been revealed. In particular, the respondents noted the lack of an individual approach from a teacher (31.9%); low efficiency of the test system in the development of such competencies as analysis and the evaluation of media texts (38.9%); the absence or the inadequacy of tasks, including the analysis of documents, the development of summary analytical tables, the visualization of information (29.2%). The greatest difficulties for students during the work with various sources of information is the assessment of these sources for their reliability and novelty. The least used ones in the educational process are the video cases and video clips, the use of which, according to students, will also allow them to develop the skills of work with information and media.
Diagram 1. Restrictions on the use of electronic educational environment according to the estimations of Russian university manager students
45 40 35 30 25 20 15 10 5 0
38,9
ai Q
29,2
15,4
tho lack of an individual approach from a teacher
low efficiency of the test system in the formation of such competencies as analysisand the evaluation of media texts
absence or inadequacy of tasks including the analysis of documents, the formation of summary analytical tables and the visualization of information
other factors
Positive aspects of EEE use in the educational process include the increase of independence degree during the work with media texts, the development of creative abilities of students, the skills of search, the generalization and the analysis of large amounts of information according to teachers. "With the distance form of training, it is necessary to do a large amount of independent work to obtain the necessary knowledge within a specialty. At the full-time form of education, the necessary information is given in a more accessible and expanded form. "At the same time, students (47%) noted that "the electronic educational environment promotes creativity in the work on assignments" and "stimulates cognitive activity in the field of media".
75% of surveyed students rated their competence in information analysis from the mass media as "partially competent", 18% - "fully competent", 7% - "practically incompetent". 54% claim that in order to form their opinion on any problem, they will study the information provided by 2-3 diverse sources of data, 37.5% - 3-5 different sources. However, teachers said the opposite during the conduct of a focus group study: "Students prepare the material without generalizing the information from various sources, but they choose one prepared essay or a report from student work base"; "During the expression of their opinions, students quote someone else's position often, without the knowledge of facts and the information on the problem."
Diagram 2. Evaluation of a manager student media competence development degree at Russian universities based on the results of trainee self-study
■ partially competent
■ absolutely competent
■ almost incompetent
Most likely, students can not evaluate their skills with sufficient degree of objectivity during the work with information, since their self-esteem in this area can be overstated. If we consider a self-assessment consisting of cognitive and emotional components reflecting a person's knowledge of himself and his attitude to himself as a measure of self-satisfaction, then students believe that they have sufficient knowledge of information technologies, they do not write special programs, but they have the skills of search, analysis, the compilation of information and they are satisfied with their knowledge and skills in this field.
The results of the study illustrate the following possibilities of EEE use as a tool of a manager student media competence development:
- the understanding of the importance and the role of information in modern society;
- the development of knowledge about information resources, information systems, information communication technologies, media space and its components (direct-media, communication systems, mass media, social media);
- the understanding of the place and the role of a person in the information society;
- the understanding of values and the motives in information activities within the contemporary media space;
- the ability to separate propagandistic and imposed information from the presentation of
facts.
Based on the results of the study, it was revealed that modern manager students have actualized the needs for the development of a whole range of media competencies, especially in terms of a media text analysis and synthesis abilities development and the abilities to determine the intentions and interests that underlie the corporate and popular production of media texts and their ideology.
Diagram 3. Actualized needs of manager students in the development of complex of
media competencies
Conclusions
According to S.V. Tarkhov in his work "Media competence and e-learning: problems, challenges, solutions" e-learning is widely used due to certain opportunities that it reveals for teachers and students: "the organization of mass individualized interactive learning"; the possibility of training regardless of location; the use of educational content using various media and interactive technologies; automated control over the learning process, etc. However, they note "the interaction of students, both with each other and with a teacher using the communication capabilities of e-learning and social media" as another possibility. In our opinion, this is a controversial issue due to the specifics of the developed product of information programs of e-learning support, which are used in various universities. As the study showed, EEE as a tool for the development of a manager student media competence has a number of shortcomings, including that students do not use the entire interface and all provided opportunities. At the same time, EEE allows to use a lot of tools for student media competence development, and also expands the opportunities for education, especially for working students.
The efficiency and the effectiveness of e-learning use in the educational process largely depends on a chosen approach of an educational institution. The use of electronic environment as the "replacement or the supplement of classroom activities" does not allow you to create the necessary skills of working with information for students.
Despite the wide possibilities of communication technology use in the electronic environment, the authors identified certain shortcomings:
- The modern electronic educational environment does not sufficiently stimulate students to self-education and self-organization, the fulfillment of a number of tasks is of a formal nature.
- The technical imperfections in the functioning of the electronic training system.
- The implemented electronic educational environment does not provide opportunities for the interaction with other students, teachers and the scientific community.
- It is impossible to use the electronic educational environment as a platform for scientific discussions and webinars.
The effectiveness of EEE use as the tool for the development of student media competence is determined by a number of organizational and technical factors, such as the presence of effective feedback between a teacher and a student, the specifics of tasks that orientate to work in the media space, and the use of the communication capabilities of the electronic educational environment. A large volume of tasks, the prevalence of test items limits the effectiveness of EEE. The modern education system should be oriented towards the interests of students, where such competencies as the ability to analyze and synthesize media texts and the practical skills of its creation are claimed according to the results of the research. The revealed limitations and problems of EEE use as the tool for the development of student media competence allow us to formulate the key trends of its modernization: the preparation of relevant teaching content using all communication opportunities, including video clips and other media; the decrease of test item number with a simultaneous increase of creative task amount aimed at the development of critical analysis skills of media texts; the provision of a work quality control in EEE; the creation of conditions for the interaction with other students, teachers and the scientific community.
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