Abstract:

The research focuses on an open pair educational technology and shows its efficacy in developing professionally significant qualities and soft skills in university students. Educational technology in question creates conditions aimed at increasing teaching/learning quality, making graduates more competitive in the labor market. Professionally significant qualities such as responsibility, critical thinking and flexibility are in the limelight of the proposed technology.

The article describes a launching stage, specifics of teaching/learning materials, organization and monitoring of students’ activities. Evidence-based research was conducted with eighty higher school students majoring in psychology and foreign languages. Research methodology included analysis of historical data along with analytical and psychodiagnostic approaches.

The results show that psychological climate in students groups involved in this pilot experiment improved as compared to baseline data. The experimental pilot study, which was aimed at creating educational settings favorable for developing soft skills and professional competencies, proved that open group/pair-based approach is versatile and can be applied in any field, as well as at any level of education, as students absorb and process didactic material relying on their own individual resources and powers). Study process shows much higher efficacy as compared to traditional frontal educational setting.

Keywords:

Collaborative training technology, principles of learning management, group-based training, open group work, open pair work, communication, communicative skills, personality development in higher school, development, soft skills, team work skills, critical thinking, higher school, contact teaching/learning.