V. Shreider
Omsk
Changes in Higher Education include the
establishment of a multi-level structure that would meet international standards and match
the country’s human resource needs.
Speaking about the individualization of Higher Education, we should
consider several key elements of globally oriented approaches and programs that are being
developed at the University. They are: studyabroad, doing research abroad, the
internationalization of the curriculum, globally-oriented teaching and learning materials,
private lessons, independent study, and etc.
The purpose of individualized education is to ensure that every student
gains access to knowledge, skills and information that will prepare him/her to contribute
to variety of communities and workplaces. This central purpose is made more challenging as
universities must accomodate students with ever more diverse backgrounds, abilities, and
interests.
Today the Universities all over the world try to make their curricula
more flexible and diverse. In Russia universities give students the opportunities to
choose cources according to their interests and professional goals. In the USA there are
some Schools of Individualized Study. One of them is, for example, Gallatin School of
Individualized Study, a small innovative college in New York University that gives
students the opportunity to design a program of study tailored to their own needs and
interests. Students may take on the exciting challenge of creating their own curriculum
and unique plan for learning. Like these colleges in Russia we can name a private schools,
where the curriculum is more individualized.
Thinking about the consequences of individualized education the
universities are compatible with many general education reform discussions.
But some recommendations are out of discussion:
Students can follow a predetermined curriculum of
requirements and electives, enjoy an unusual degree of freedom to design their own
personalized programs of study, with few reguirements and a wide range of opportunities.
The faculty adviser helps students to choose the program, that is consistent with the
career and educational goals of the student. The process of creating an individualized
program begins with the student and adviser discussing the student’s interests,
goals, and past experiences. In order to facilitate this process, student articulates
his/her educational goals and strategies for achieving them by writing a Plan of
Individualized Study. Together, the study plan, that is revised every semester, and the
discussions with the adviser, help students to integrate into the educational
opportunities available to them.
Flexibity and rigor characterize the individualized education, by that
we teach students how to face the world of many possibilities by asking appopriate
questions and searching for creative answers; to prepare students for an entire working
life during which they are likely to have many careers.
A University with individualized study can offer a variety of
opportunities in experimental education, such as internships, independent study and
private lessons, so that students may have the practical experience they need for the
world of work. Independent study provides students with the opportunity to work
face-to-face with a teacher on a particular topic or creative project. Taking private
lessons students are offered the opportunity to learn and perfect their craft. They allow
and teach independent thinking and versatility.
That’s why we can describe the individualized study as the basis
for introduction to the students‘ opportunities for self-discovery, diversity and
flexibity of the curriculum, creativity and academic exellence.