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Introduction
Sociology is inextricably linked with the development of personality. It gives the student a wide general educational potential, shaping social and cultural skills. Therefore, it is necessary that the knowledge acquired by the student contains potential opportunities for the development of personal and professional qualities of the young generation. During the educational process, students acquire knowledge about the laws of development of society, social processes and social changes, personality and processes of its socialization, deviant behavior of a person and culture as a social phenomenon, social structure of society, social stratification, social mobility, social organization and social groups of a society. These questions cannot leave a young man without interest in himself as an individual, citizen and member of society, for the reason that at the same time the process of personality development takes place and the student's image of himself as an individual is formed, the student's attitude to himself as an individual, as a subject of life. Such processes occur only when interacting with other people in various social groups, such as: family, friends, student group and labor collective, in these groups he expects to participate in professional activities and social processes.
Innovations in the field of higher education are aimed at reorienting its goals of forming a professional personality: developing the ability to innovate; to update the content of the educational process: the exclusion of descriptiveness in learning, the formation of logical and imaginative thinking, the emphasis on practicality in learning, focus on the priority of self-learning (Reutova & Shavyrina, 2014; Arakcheeva, 2016). To form the competencies of a modern graduate, both traditional and active, and interactive learning models are often needed, often called innovative in the educational system.
The use of this model in the teaching of sociology contributes to the formation of a communicative component in the structure of competencies. An interactive approach is based on productivity, creativity, mobility, and is based on scientific thinking.
Methodology
The methodology of teaching sociology using innovative methods is widely covered in the works of foreign researchers. For example, A. Osborne formulated the main features of the approach to learning based on problem solving. Briefly, they boil down to the following: statement of a social problem, its formulation taking into account pluralism of points of view; the search for social facts necessary to clarify and solve the problem; the search for ideas by brainstorming (evaluation of proposals is postponed until the end of the statements); decision making (ideas are analyzed, evaluated, the best of them are selected); achieving agreement of the entire group with the solution found (Malikova, 2011; Gushchin, 2012; Lomakina & Sergeeva, 2014).
Sakamoto in the teaching of sociology proposed the use of case-study pedagogical technology (case study), which ensures the introduction of a systematic way of thinking into society. A feature of this innovative technological approach is its focus on achieving a deliberately fixed goal (Malikova, 2002).
The organization of teaching sociology as a development of a new experience is fruitful, based on the well-known pedagogical concept of D. Dewey (“to create the conditions due to which the trainees cannot but learn”).
Innovative education requires a sociology teacher to pay more attention to factor theories of social determinism. These include the well-known one-factor theories, which deal with the impact of technological, cultural, political and geographical factors. These are the theories of "technological determinism", the "new industrial society" of R. Aron, J. Galbraith; "Post-capitalist society" R. Darendorf; "Post-industrial society" D. Bell; “Post-economic society” by G. Kann and A. Wiener; The “technetronic society” of Z. Brzezinski, the “super-industrial society” of A. Toffler; "Political determinism" S. Hook; “Post-socialism” by Alena Turena (Lomov, 1989; Malikova, 2002).
We believe that the general structure of the methodology of teaching sociology is determined to the greatest extent by the following factors: the target nature of the system of higher education, the structure of sociology as a research and educational discipline, the peculiarities of teaching sociology in different specialized universities, the needs for optimal communication teacher-student, teacher -Lecturer, teaching and learning experience.
The subject of this review will be some questions about the application of innovative teaching methods in the teaching of sociology in higher education. Based on the subject of research, the purpose of the article is to review the experience of applying innovative methods of teaching sociology in universities, determining the most effective methods of educational work.
Results
The participatory (engagement) approach implies more of a “study with someone else” than a “study of someone” or “for someone”. It is based on the principle that ordinary people, like professional sociologists, are capable of critical thinking and analysis, that their knowledge is informative and valuable for comprehending social development (Toisteva, 2015; Gavrilova, 2017). It can be used as a means of transferring research opportunities into the hands of those who are deprived and powerless, so that they too can learn and change their life on their own, for their own sake.
Students, simulating situations from current social practices, as well as their future respondents, in the process of implementing the participatory approach, they become responsible both for the production of knowledge and for its use. The participation in the training of future sociologists is a way to develop students' ability to cultivate an active response in assessing and analyzing socially significant problems in order to comprehend possible social alternatives, make socially oriented decisions and actions to improve the existing situation through sociological intellectual activity.
The most essential property of participatory activity is the active participation of students in mastering the basics and skills of planning a sociological research process. In addition, another important task is being solved - not only strengthening the intellectual potential, but also the leadership potential.
For example, in practical classes in sociology, in the mode of an interactive training seminar, students take turns acting as speakers organizing a discussion of urgent problems that have certain social prerequisites and anticipated social consequences. The participatory form of organizing classes (with the elements of “case studies”, “brainstorming”) involves a constant change of status: leader, opponent, informal vice speaker, performing the role of an arbiter, evaluating the performances of classmates. From the perspective of the participatory approach, a variety of data collection and analysis methods can be applied.
So, students are invited to independently prepare for an interactive seminar to study the scientific articles of leading sociologists according to a given logical scheme and give their analysis. It is important that all participants in the seminar clearly understand the nature and meaning of the information received, know how to apply it, and can plan actions to solve a particular problem. The participatory approach focuses on the importance of collaboration among groups of people in understanding and transforming social reality.
Practice shows that the process of collective discovery and decision-making mobilizes students to accept social changes more readily. Therefore, the participatory organization of sociological education also performs important social functions of interactive education: social adaptation and the legitimization of new social orders. The participatory approach gives rise to a number of techniques for the development of democratic processes and the decentralization of control not only in scientific research, but also in the teaching of sociology.
Today, a model of problem-based learning is spreading (Minin & Vyuzhanina, 2013; Nurtazin, et al., 2013). In this model, the teacher plays the role of an instructor explaining the task, and students independently distribute functions within their group, manage the process of searching, summarizing and presenting information. The teacher rarely intervenes - only in cases where students require consultation or when a failure occurs in the processes of self-government due to the inexperience of students. This model is successfully used in the classroom, which requires the development of independent, critical thinking, individual and collective work skills, responsibility and interest in new knowledge, where the experience of independent discoveries, upholding and revising one’s opinion is so important.
Consider the importance of qualitative strategies and methods both in sociological research and in the teaching of sociology. Introducing students to them, it is necessary to focus on the study of the uniqueness and uniqueness of specific personal situations, the specifics of the life world of individuals. A sociologist refers to the everyday experience of a person, his interaction with other people, expressed in words, gestures, communicative symbols, statements, narration of his own life. This allows you to more fully comprehend and interpret the specific forms of social life of people.
It should be noted that qualitative strategies and methods are applied within the framework of microsociology (it is sometimes called “fragmented” sociology, since the attention of researchers is focused on microanalysis of specific interactions). The study of one or more cases, events, biographies, life stories allows a sociologist to see some social meanings of human actions and actions, social behavior of people and to construct mini-theories on their basis. The latter, not claiming universality and universality, are intended only to explain social phenomena, events, and actions.
In the process of teaching sociology in classroom studies with students, primarily at training seminars, a number of methods are implemented that are applied at the intersection of sociology and psychology and require interactive learning. These include, for example, such qualitative analysis methods as free interviews and “brainstorming” (“brainstorming”). Using the method of free interviews, the sociologist personally turns to the expert, not having a rigid, pre-arranged conversation plan. In this case, the interview acquires an intelligence character, with its help some theoretical aspects of the problem are clarified, concepts are interpreted and the main lines of research are identified. To solve these problems, experts are involved in an amount of not more than 10-15 people. (need to take into account that there are few narrow specialists in the problem under study and the number mentioned is quite enough to achieve the goal).
As for the “brainstorming” method, it involves the collective face-to-face activity of experts. This method is very complicated in the organizational plan, since it is not easy to assemble a group of specialists - people who are very busy - at one time and in one place. But it can be very effective. Nomination and collective discussion of proposals for solving a particular problem, with the possibility of free expression of the most unexpected ideas, exchange of views, creative discussion, of course, is very fruitful. This method is especially effective when the problem has been little studied and the task is to find ways to study and solve it.
A high-quality approach to teaching sociology in modern conditions implies the possibility of collecting social information in virtual networks of Internet communities, where respondents, experts, representatives of various modal and reference social groups interact interactively. Fundamentally new is the possibility of democratic communication and obtaining relevant information, outside of social and status restrictions in portals, forums, sites, collective and individual users of the global network.
The method of studying individual cases and situations helps in improving the quality of research work and teaching in a “case study”. Its peculiarity consists in a deep study of the specifics of the object. At the same time, the conclusions are most often applied in nature and end with specific recommendations aimed at optimizing the activities of the studied social community. It is important to note that using this method, closed communities that are difficult to study in other ways are often investigated. This method usually involves “immersing” the scientist in the studied object for a long time, often using the included observation. That is how for a number of years the production team was studied by the Leningrad (St. Petersburg) sociologist A.N. Alekseev. He described and analyzed in detail the nature and content of the daily life of the team.
Within the framework of a qualitative approach to the study of social problems in a university audience, the “focus group” method, or group discussion, is of considerable interest. It (discussion) is conducted by a moderator - a researcher of the problem posed, on the initiative of which a group is convened for discussion. A group can be homogeneous (homogeneous), including, say, only students of one group, random (customers in a supermarket), can be formed on the principle of reaching people with a polar point of view on the problem under discussion, etc. The optimal composition of the group is within 15 people.
To organize the discussion in the student group, two students are appointed as moderators: one - “black moderator”, critic; the other is the “white moderator”, which is focused on identifying constructive ideas in the speeches of fellow students. Both of them get the right to evaluate the performances of classmates, and the group evaluates the efforts of the facilitators at the end of the seminar. Thus, the teacher, as it were, changes social roles and status with students, becoming one of the participants in the discussion, latently stimulating the cognitive activity of students.
The “focus group” method can be used by students specializing in “sociology of marketing”, due to its relevance in applied research (studying the demand for certain goods, customer reactions to advertising, etc.). The discussion can be recorded on videotape (if participants do not mind it) and then carefully analyzed. The analysis takes into account not only the position and point of view of the participants in the discussion, but also their behavior, vocabulary, intonation, i.e. all that can reveal the meaning that the focus group members put into their judgments. The success of this method depends to a large extent on the moderator’s preparedness for the discussion, on the availability of a carefully thought out program for discussing a given topic. After all, the course of the discussion is far from always predictable. Sometimes its participants will want to "go aside" from the proposed topic, talk about what interests them more than the moderator. The art of the latter consists in bringing the discussion back on track, without annoying the focus group participants by “diverting” them from interesting turns of the discussion.
I would like to draw attention to the fact that, in the context of the complexity of modern social processes, there is an increasing need for interdisciplinary contacts that contribute to the enrichment of the methodological arsenal of sociologists.
So, during the economic crisis it is especially important to know why some people behave aggressively in social interaction, what are the possible measures to prevent or take social control of certain forms of deviant social behavior that pose threats to public safety.
In this regard, at lectures and seminars on social tension and conflicts, we draw students' attention not only to social, but also to socio-psychological aspects: the way in which the aggressive behavior model was learned; on factors provoking the manifestation of aggression; on conditions conducive to preventing or taking it under social control. More and more scientific evidence is emerging that the incidence of aggression can be reduced.
Practice shows that a very productive innovative form of modern high-quality university sociological education is the training of social skills. It contributes to the formation of a personality that can resolve ambiguous and conflict situations. Participation in it dramatically reduces the likelihood of being drawn into a conflict relationship. This training is based on the following procedures:
Modeling involving a demonstration of examples (models) of adequate behavior.
1. Role-playing games that enable students to imagine themselves in a situation where the implementation of basic knowledge is required and they can verify in practice what they learned during the simulation.
2. Establishment of feedback (can be combined with role-playing games and modeling) in the form of reactions of training participants, usually positive, to their behavior (encouragement and rewarding for desirable social behavior).
3. Transfer of skills from the training situation to the real life situation. Learning ends with knowledge of the principles, the application of which helps in life situations.
Training situations should contain as many diverse elements as possible that are characteristic of a real life situation in order to increase the possibility of using the acquired experience of conflict resolution. The most successfully acquired new knowledge during role-playing simulation games. As a rule, students show maximum interest and activity in such trainings.
There are a huge number of "role-playing games" that can be included in the course of sociology, starting from the classical ones - "Hammurabi", "Babylon", "Humanus", involving the choice of various strategies of social organization and social hierarchy, socio-economic planning and social control over resources. Special scripting of such games is also possible.
Students are also very interested in participating in the implementation of collective research projects. Typically, such a project is a comprehensive sociological study of the full cycle, carried out throughout the semester and involves the active participation of all students in the group. The distribution of responsibilities between students is carried out in such a way that everyone learns all types of activities of an applied sociologist: from developing a research program and its tools to using the widest possible range of methods for collecting primary sociological information, from computer input and processing of information to preparing an analytical report. The project ends with a public presentation of the results with a computer presentation and a mandatory discussion of its results (Maykova, Blokhina & Grigoriev, 2009).
In modern conditions, traditional academic lectures and interactive seminars are necessary and can be combined with additional telecommunications consultations with the teacher. But for successful interactive learning (direct and distance) students must have their own email address, free Internet access and an appropriate level of competence. It is productive for students to create a study group site. Using their own communication network, students quickly and successfully search for the necessary information, analyze the recommended materials. At the same time, the role of the teacher is to carry out a control check of students' assimilation of knowledge in the audience.
We believe that teaching practices based on the use of ICTs (information and communication technologies) should be considered as complementing, but not replacing, the key role of the teacher in the educational process. The use of ICTs should help students with self-study, interactive lessons with a one-on-one teacher, etc. The use of ICT can make any group, including a small one, a natural unit of learning: students will reinforce each other, and collaboration will be directed by both the teacher and fellow students. Of course, the forms of work described above in a university audience do not constitute an integrated system; rather, it is a combination of pedagogical attitudes, methods, teaching methods, formed empirically. The main thing is that it can quite productively prove itself in pedagogical practice, helps to adapt to new needs and requirements of the modern educational environment.
Conclusions
In conclusion, I would like to note the following. The tasks that teachers set themselves in the learning process are to orient the student (to give a clear logical structure of the subject); motivate him (show the value of the subject, arouse and maintain interest in him); present material (introduce new knowledge into a previously learned context); explain (give examples and give the necessary explanations); develop (provide additional material for a more detailed familiarization with the issue); consolidate (give the opportunity to practice and check the understanding of the material); confirm the adequacy of the knowledge gained to the required level.
Some of these tasks in the traditional educational system are usually carried out with the help of lectures, while others are carried out in the course of individual work with students, organizing their independent work with educational literature, teaching debates at seminars, etc. Although traditional forms still provide a solution to the challenges facing education, today there is a need to find more effective innovative approaches to student learning. It seems that in order to implement genuine modernization in the Russian system of higher education in the coming decade, a number of technological and organizational changes must be made that will ensure transitions: from passive education to active education; from a static presentation of a material to a dynamic one (using video and animation); from incomplete computerization of the learning environment to a complete one; from impersonal presentation of the material to individual work with students; from a unidirectional vector of the educational process (teacher - student) to interactive, etc.
At the same time, in my opinion, the technology and methodology of pedagogical work should change. The training material should be divided into separate modules, with new methods of assessment and work with students - the organization of work with a remote teacher, with a small group, asynchronous access to lecture materials. The teaching style should change, and the teachers themselves should be involved in this large-scale overall work of the university community. The urgent tasks of improving the quality of sociological education, its orientation towards the implementation of a problem-oriented participatory approach based on innovative, interactive methods of training specialists - all this implies the maximum interdisciplinary integration of the achievements of related humanitarian disciplines in the context of ensuring the basic educational module of sociology.
