Zh.A. Revenko, N.I. Bytsko

Higher State Educational Institution of Ukraine "Bukovinian State Medical University"

FEATURES OF OPTIMIZATION OF INDEPENDENT OUT—OF-SCHOOL WORK FOR STUDENTS AT THE DEPARTMENT OF SOCIAL MEDICINE AND ORGANIZATION OF HEALTH CARE

An important task of modern universities is to inculcate skills to future specialists not only to receive the information, but to teach them how to acquire knowledge independently. Medicine today, more than ever, needs young, creative, social, mobile and technically competent professionals who are able to study on their own, to adapt fast to the conditions of their professional activity and to have creative clinical thinking.

Currently, while developing some courses, you should be oriented more on self-training programs. The future professional should not only get a certain amount of knowledge, but also learn to gain knowledge independently, to be able to work with information, to master the ways of cognitive activity in order not to lose their competence in future and to strive to improve their skills constantly.

Therefore, in medical higher education institutions (HEIs) independent work of students (IWS) has always been given a great attention. It not only allows you to acquire additional professional information but teaches to work independently. In credit-modular system of training the number of training hours in classroom work is reduced, and the IWS increases; it enhances the outlook of the future doctor, formation of clinical thinking and creates the necessary skills to improve their knowledge. Within the lecture course teachers cannot make out in detail all the material that the curriculum provides, so the individual sections and topics are submitted to an independent study. The learning is as a dialogue that facilitates the development of cognitive activity of future specialists, builds their independence, the ability to solve current production targets creatively and to make informed professional decisions.

Independent work of students (IWS) should be understood as an activity of students organized by the teacher, which aims to fulfill the general educational and didactic purpose in specially designated time: search of knowledge, their comprehension, consolidation, the formation and development of skills to solve a problem, generalization and systematization of knowledge. Therefore IWS is interconnected and interdependent total activity of students and teachers, which focuses on the self-tuition, and self-actualization of students. On the other hand, increasing the role and proportion of IWS requires reconstruction of the faculty on the implementation of the new system of organization and control of the independent work of students.

According to the levels of productive independent activity of the students there are four distinct types of work: reproductive, reconstructive variable, heuristic and creative works.

1.  Reproductive independent works according to a sample help to remember how to act in definite situations. The activity of the students when they are doing this kind of works is not quite independent as they have to keep doing some actions as in the model. The teacher has to determine the optimal volume of work done by each student.

2.  Reconstructive variable independent works allow, based on previously acquired knowledge, to find their own solutions to specific problems. Such independent works lead to meaningful implementation of knowledge to typical situations, teach to analyze phenomena and facts forming techniques and methods of cognitive activity, creating conditions for the development of active thinking in students.

3.  Heuristic independent works form skills for a search for the answer outside the known sample. Typically, a student determines ways to solve the problem and finds it. It is at this level of productive activity that the creative personality of the student is formed.

4.  Creative independent works are the crown of independent activity of students. This activity allows students to obtain completely new knowledge, consolidates skills for independent search of information. The task of this type is one of the most effective means of forming creative personality.

Thus, the teacher, depending on the success of academic groups, chooses the appropriate type of independent work of the student. And each task that is put before the student should have a clear purpose and procedure previously envisaged, techniques and means of implementation. Independent study is designed to develop skills, initiative, creative thinking and independence of the future professional in any activity. Therefore, selecting tasks should minimize their sampled implementation. Today it has become possible due to the reform of teaching processes and application of the credit-modular system.

Implementation of new methods of the organization of training medical students at the university in the context of a new law on "Higher Education" of July,1 2014 requires special attention to the IWS due to a significant increase in its volume and a reduction in the number of classroom hours. The independent work of the student occupies in average, 60-70% of the total hours.

Speaking about the IWS, we understand not only the individual student's work that they perform for mastering the discipline, but also a study of topics submitted to independent out-of class work.

The Department of Social Medicine and OHC uses different versions of independent (individual) work of students on different courses, in different disciplines:

· writing an essay on the proposed theme (for the 1, 3, 5-year students);

· performing students’ yearly projects (e.g. methods of programming and planning

statistical research – for students of the 4^th year, analysis of the work of health care

institutions using their annual reports - for students of the 4-5 years);

· filling in basic medical and statistical accounting and reporting documentation (for

the 6^th year students);

· working out sanitary papers on the proposed topic (for the 5^th year students);

· solving situational problems (for the 4^th year students).

As our experience suggests, the effectiveness of IWS increases with proper training and methodical provision: textbooks, manuals, guidelines, workshops, books of problems (including electronic media) and others. It is also important to create conditions for self-study, reading rooms, computer rooms, laboratories, facilities of professional activity and others. The staff of the department of social medicine and OHC of Higher State Educational Institution of Ukraine "Bukovinian State Medical University" has some experience in organization of such work. Thus, the department organized a computer class for individual work where students can study some material in out-of-class activity. For this purpose they are provided with necessary materials, which include: clarifying relevance, goal-checklist, logical structure of topics, outline diagram of topics, examples of tests for the І-III levels, situational tasks for self-control in preparation for practical classes (tests and tasks are given to students along with the standards of their solution). The teachers of the department provide their students with their qualified consultations twice a week and can help them with any challenging issue. In order to improve distance learning, we created methodical complexes of disciplines, which, in accordance with modern requirements, are presented for the students in the form of Internet - pages in the university virtual library, or, which is even better and available in the site of certain department (Moodle).

Modern educational technology is more closely intertwined with multimedia, the student see innovation as something that teaches them to coexist with the world of the future, part of which they are, because this generation of young people feels so comfortable in the virtual world that sometimes does not feel the need of materially realistic representation of information. And virtual objects with augmented reality unlike virtual reality are perceived by the brain as part of the world, amplifying the effect.

Under the conditions of limited classroom time for learning the disciplines, working with the themes which are submitted for the independent out-of-class work will optimize the learning process, implement the principle of individualization of learning, and enhance cognitive activity of students. Of course, the organization of IWS requires that the teacher formulate the problem clearly, choose recommended literature correctly, enforce the execution mode (the work must be handed over three weeks before the last class), check the amount of work fulfilled, organize additional work for the students who did not do their work properly or did not solve the situational problems correctly and so on.

The method that we applied to the independent work of students in the study of social medicine and organization of health care practice allows them to test their new knowledge and practical skills, to conduct analysis of medical institutions of different levels, formulate and make management decisions. Summarizing the above – the independent students’ work is the main condition for the formation of cognitive independence and the reform of teaching process in credit-modular system facilitates maximum expression of students' creativity and encourages cognitive independence.