Innovative Forms of Students’ Independent Work in Modern Technical Education

Recent social, economic and demographic changes are setting new challenges for public education which require structural changes. A priority task in engineering education is how to train competent personnel who would be capable to quickly respond to labour market demands and willing to engage in life-long learning. The innovative component of the educational process in the new paradigm of higher education says that a student should be encouraged to be independent in learning. In the course of the transition towards a learning framework with a higher focus on independent learning there is a higher demand for face-to-face interaction with the teacher. The authors argue that independent learning is an integral part of all the subject areas of higher education and that it should be considered as a holistic phenomenon and a complex system. The unique feature behind independent learning is that the student not only gains knowledge of the subject but also develops basic competencies that help his/her adaptation in professional sphere, such as analysis, planning, self-adjustment and self-assessment. The solution proposed by the authors is to take into account the communication and polydialogue approach when defining the subject of education in the context of the competence- and activity-based paradigms by bringing metacognitive, cognitive, compensation and collaboration learning strategies in independent learning. The authors distinguish two aspects with regard to the above strategies: strategies as an intellectual behaviour of the student aimed at faster and more efficient learning and strategies as ways to process information for better understanding and retainment.