Aim of the Center for Educational Innovations and Smart Education (hereinafter - "CEI Smart"):
- to improve the quality of training young specialists through the introduction of new forms and methods of education.
Objectives of CEI Smart:
- improving the quality of specialists’ training through toughening the qualification requirements;
- activization of innovative activities of bachelor, master and doctoral students and teachers;
- formation of new scientific approaches to the educational and professional content of the University courses (implementation of practice-oriented bachelor degree programs);
- testing of pedagogical theories and best practices in the field of modern higher and secondary professional education;
- introduction of innovative and proven technologies, methods and techniques of teaching in the educational activities of the University.
- creating a Smart learning model that implies creating an intelligent, high-tech, human-friendly learning environment using modern information and organizational systems;
- participation in the organization and creation of educational programs for new specialties;
- participation in the formation of an industry-wide system of qualifications in the field of ICT;
- participation in the development of professional standards in the ICT sector;
- implementation of the certification system for the qualification of specialists in the field of ICT;
- ensuring interaction with industry and regional authorities for the development of technical and vocational education and training of ICT personnel.
One of the objectives of the Center for educational innovations and Smart education is to introduce Smart learning technologies into the educational process of IITU. To this end, the CEI Smart has organized seminars for the IITU teaching staff, developed methodological guidelines, and compiled a schedule for the presentation of educational materials to the master program students.
SMART education is an educational paradigm that involves adaptive implementation of the educational process, which is possible through the use of SMART information technologies. The implementation of the SMART education paradigm aims at shaping the process of learning and education for the acquisition of knowledge, skills, abilities and competencies necessary for flexible and adaptive interaction with the changing social, economic and technological environment. SMART education should provide an opportunity to take advantage of the global information society to meet the national educational needs and interests.
The main principles of SMART education include the following:
- Use of up-to-date information in the educational program for solving educational problems: the speed and volume of information flow in education and any professional activity is rapidly increasing, the existing educational materials need to be supplemented with real-time information to prepare students for solving current practical problems.
- Organization of the students’ independent educational, research, and project activities. This principle is dominant in preparing students for creative search for solutions to problems, independent information processing and research activities.
- Implementation of the educational process in a distributed learning environment. The educational environment should not be limited to the educational institution premises or to the confines of the educational system. The learning process should be ongoing.
- Flexible educational paths, individualization of education. The diversity of educational activities requires the provision of wide opportunities for students to study educational programs and courses, use educational tools in accordance with their health, material and social conditions.
Smart Education is a concept that involves a comprehensive modernization of all educational processes, as well as methods and technologies used in such processes. The concept of Smart in the educational context entails the emergence of technologies such as "smart" board, "smart" screens, Internet access from anywhere. Each of these technologies allows you to build a new process of content development, delivery and updating. Learning becomes possible not only in the classroom, but also at home and in any public places, such as museums, cafes, and so on. The main element linking the educational process to the everchanging environment is active educational content used to create unified repositories that allow to remove the time and space frames. As practice shows, the economy increasingly requires specialists knowledgeable in related industries, such as Bioinformatics, IT Genetics, Agro-Informatics, etc. So training IT specialists for such related fields is the call of the time.
The main directions of CEI Smart work:
Direction 1.
It is the concept of Smart Education that allows you to build the educational process in a new way. In the 2018/2019 academic year, IITU admitted students to the bachelor degree program in the specialty "Computer Science and organization of digitalization of education". All disciplines related to ICT within the work plan of this specialty are conducted by IITU, and pedagogical disciplines – under an agreement – by the Abay Kazakh National Pedagogical University (KazNPU). Their organization involves not only the IITU faculty, but also requires use of its laboratories and practical base, library.
Direction 2.
In the 2019/2020 academic year, work has begun on creating educational programs in Bioinformatics. Together with the Institute of Human and Animal Physiology, we are working on joint training of specialists in Bioinformatics at the bachelor's and master's levels. The biology-related disciplines will be conducted on the basis of the Institute with the involvement of doctors of science working for it. Master students will be able to choose dissertation topics related to real-life projects and, if necessary, get a part-time job in the respective field. The educational process is based on the concept of Smart Education. A Memorandum has already been signed between the two organizations and preparatory work is underway to implement the Bioinformatics specialty.
Direction 3.
The next project that is already being developed at the preparatory stage is Digital Law.
The Internet has become a major platform for creating, managing and developing large-scale business projects. Modern legislation does not yet fully regulate this new area with an eye to the international experience and current international legislation. In cyberspace, both specific offenses, such as violation of intellectual property rights (copyright, patent rights, secret production rights), and "ordinary crimes" are committed – fraud, extortion, illegal business, etc. At the same time, large companies must create a reliable protection of the IT systems that store confidential data, so as to enable such systems to resist cyber attacks.
As such, there is no separate branch of IT law at the moment. Lawyers who choose this direction have to be knowledgeable in several areas of law simultaneously: contract law, intellectual property law, regulation of personal data protection, storage and transfer of information, as well as its transfer in the electronic form. Many firms are already starting to create IT-legal departments or hire IT-lawyers. Among the bar associations, there are also those that provide services exclusively on cyber security issues, and large universities form faculties for training specialists in cyber law. In the era of technology, a lawyer specializing in the IT sphere has a wide range of opportunities. There is almost no competition among such specialists because of their shortage, and their experience and knowledge are priceless.
The absence of a system of training specialists in the field of digital law in the Republic of Kazakhstan is fraught with legal vulnerability of Kazakhstani firms and organizations not only in the external, but also in the internal market. The latter circumstance is clearly confirmed by the gradual but constant displacement of Kazakh law firms from the field of legal services provision to large Kazakh corporate businesses, which are ousted by almost exclusively foreign law firms. And what is most deplorable about this trend is the absolute openness, honesty and fairness of such displacement occurring due to technical, technological and conceptual superiority of western law firms in solving the international business issues.
The project aims: To improve the quality of training specialists in the field of ICT and digital law, create a single market for educational services, and introduce dual-diploma education.
Vision: Availability of competitive and mobile staff for Kazakhstan and the EEU.
Project participants: International Information Technology University (IITU), Abay Kazakh National Pedagogical University (KazNPU).
The project results are expected to provide:
- Creation and implementation of dual-diploma educational programs;
- Development of blended and mobile learning;
- Introduction of progressive teaching methods;
- Creation of a flexible educational environment;
- Launching a WEB portal for online learning;
- Open environment for sharing knowledge and experience;
- Creation of massive open educational content (MPEC);
- Development and implementation of Smart Education methodology and hardware-software;
- Working out curricula on the basis of advanced learning;
- Involvement of the best foreign practices in training specialists in digital law;
- Raising the quality of educational services and the competitiveness of specialists of the new formation;
- Delivery of advanced training courses in the field of digital law for specialists already working in various sectors of the economy of Kazakhstan.
Educational trajectory:
