Abstract:

One of the trends of modern education is the principle of "Education throughout life", which poses new challenges for higher education. In conditions of continuing professional education, an adult that makes a conscious choice, aimed at professional development, becomes the subject. To this end, adult education can be viewed as an issue, because it requires a transformation of the existing forms and methods of work in higher education. Adult by virtue of the established system of value-semantic relations has a different attitude towards learning, he recognizes its necessity, the hierarchy of motives that underlie learning, is notable for awareness and stability.

Social demands are converted to the need for education modernization, which involves the use of innovative educational technologies. The methods that meet these requirements are dialogical, they stimulate the initiation of thinking of students, ensure the development of their intellectual potential, assume the interaction of students with each other and a high level of involvement in the educational process. At the heart of the dialogical methods is the modeling of activity, principle of direct participation, which allows to make each person be the active party of the educational process. Dialogical methods allow to form knowledge, professional competence by engaging students in active learning and cognitive activity, enabling them to go beyond the individual experience and mobilizing willingness to perceive and create new information.

Currently, the possibility of adult education is expanding through the development of computer and Internet technologies. For example, the existing territorial division of the teacher and adults in modern conditions is compensated by the development of computer and Internet technologies. It can be argued that learning in the form of webinars is not an innovation. Webinar, or online seminar – is a multimedia tool for distance learning via Internet. Online seminar is suitable for adult education, since an adult does not always have the opportunity to be at the designated time to participate in learning. If student has access to the Internet, webinar is the best temporal and spatial learning option.

It is possible to combine the capabilities of the webinar and dialogical methods by organizing small online groups among participants. The method of small groups, involving the separation of the group participants into small subgroups, includes joint discussion of the issues, preparation of joint projects. Mutual dialogueness of students’ thinking creates the conditions for the identification of contradictions, thinking initiation. While learning with this method, the formation and development of thinking takes place, the processes of mutual influence and mutual development are activated.

When using the method of small groups there is an active construction of knowledge, their selective choice and design. Participants when communicating transfer the importance of the material, initiate meanings and interest to the knowledge among each other at the expense of the development of self-interest. In other words, the method of small groups in webinar develops the intellectual potential, triggers processes of self-development and self-actualization through the initiation and development of individual thinking, activates and transfers the potential of person into real ideas, hypotheses, decisions and actions, creating opportunities for professional development.

Keywords:

Adult education, dialogical methods, webinar, method of small groups, small online groups.