Forming Master's Degree Students' ICT Competencies as Future Researchers and Educators: A Kazakhstan Case Study.

Abstract

This article analyses the information and communications technology competencies (ICTC) of Master’s degree students in Kazakhstan. It defines the ICTC. Research results suggest that the majority of Master’s degree students have a low level of ICTC. Of prime importance is the fact that the level of research and educational aspects of the ICTC of Master’s degree students in the study is lower than the subject matter aspect. The research shows that teachers and advisers are faced with certain difficulties in organising Master’s students’ scientific research and educational internship. This leads to the need to create additional tools to provide a means of controlling the ICTC-shaping process of Master’s students. The research found that one the most effective tools promoting optimization while working with Master’s students in scientific research, educational and research internship is blended learning technology integrated into the university’s virtual and educational environment. OPEN ACCESS 11176 ABYKENOVA ET AL. Today Master’s program is the most important stage in training scientific manpower. According to the European Higher Education Area Qualification for Master’s programs (the descriptor for the second cycle in the Framework for Qualifications of the European Higher Education Area corresponds to the learning outcomes for EQF level 7), a future Master has highly specialized knowledge in his/her field of study, has critical thinking skills in understanding issues in his/her study area, and has specialized skills in problem-solving in scientific research field. Master’s programs in Kazakhstan are developing in accordance with the procedures of the Bologna process; however we have our own individualities. In particular, there are two types of Master’s programs in Kazakhstan: a) research and educational Master’s program which trains researchers and teachers (a 2 years’ course), and b) field-specific Master’s program training specialists in one particular area (a 1 or 1.5 year’s course). The modernisation of the Kazakhstan system of education identified the necessity of training and linking academics to the system of school education. Thus, according to the State program of education development (2010) in Kazakhstan, the number of teachers having a Master’s Degree at professionoriented schools must reach 20% by 2020. It imposes certain requirements on the quality of teacher training of future Masters. ICTC has an important place in a Master’s degree students’ professional competence as a future researcher and educator. Previous research (Rogers and Twidle, 2013; McGarr and O'Brien, 2007; Lavonen et al., 2006; Lapchik, 2007; Gutiérrez and Serrano Sánchez, 2016; Keijo, 2014) address various aspects of shaping an educator’s ICTC. The scientific aspect of a Master’s student’s competency is examined in many studies (Kehm and Teichler, 2006; Lub et al., 2003; Pombo and Costa, 2009; Bailey and Sorensen, 2013; Harrison and Edwards, 2012; O'Reilly, 1996; Brooks et al., 012; Bourke and Holbrook, 2013). Rowland suggests that a close interrelation of ‘teaching’ and ‘scientific research’ can improve the quality of teaching at university (1996). Twalib points out that ICTC is necessary for proper research activity (2012). Verhoeven connects the level of interest in conducting scientific research with the knowing and using a students’ ICT level (2016). However, some researchers (Roberts and Wilson, 2002) suggest that the role of computer software is limited in a qualitative analysis of scientific data. It is important to note that the number of integrative research studies describing ICTC of a Master’s Degree student as a future researcher and educator is quite small. For the most part, the research literature deals with only one aspect of ICTC. Thus, Gerova examines various approaches of lifelong learning in forming information competency of Bachelor and Master’s Degree Students (2014). Research literature emphasizes the necessity of using ICT in research and educational activity, or describing educators’ and researchers’ ICTC, although the structure of the ICTC of a Master’s Degree Student as a researcher and educator has not been fully examined yet. In the educational Master’s program of Kazakhstan a lot of time is allocated to research, educational internships and thesis supervision. Research results to date (Castle et al., 2013; Keys, 2015; Brown, 2002) demonstrate the importance of internships for developing students’ practical skills. Agreeing that organising a Master’s Degree Student’s internship and scientific research work allows formation of competencies in INTERNATIONAL JOURNAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL & SCIENCE EDUCATION 11177 pedagogy and didactics, as well as in the field of research, can we assume that organising this educational work effectively will also enable the formation of Master’s Degree Student’s ICTC? This research is aimed at studying the anticipated problems in forming a Master’s students’ ICTC. In particular, the following questions and issues are addressed: 1) What is the ICTC structure of a Kazakhstan Master’s Degree? 2) What is the ICTC status of Master’s students? 3) What difficulties occur in forming a Master’s Student’s ICTC? 4) What are the solutions? 2. Theory 2.1. On Master’s Student’s Professional Activity in Kazakhstan Master’s programs are formally differentiated into the academic Master’s program (with the emphasis on scientific research work) and the field-specific Master’s program enabling a deliberate change of one’s major field or a continuation of one’s basic education (Kehm et al., 2006; Lub et al., 2003). In Kazakhstan, a Master, having completed a scientific and educational Master’s program, and having defended a thesis, can teach at any educational institution. The field-oriented Master’s program only gives specialized in-depth knowledge, and such a Master cannot teach. Masters who follow the scientific and educational route are the future academic staffs who have the requisite all-round training. Thus, a Master of Engineering receives humanities/sociological knowledge in the sphere of didactics and education. According to the literature (Pombo and Costa, 2009; Bailey and Sorensen, 2013; Harrison and Edwards, 2012; O'Reilly, 1996; Brooks et al., 2012, Bourke and Holbrook, 2013; Suleimenov and Kulevskaya, 2007) there are three main types of a Master’s student’s activity as a researcher and educator, regardless of the field: a) activity in the subject area, b) scientific research activity, and c) research and educational activity. The correlation of these types of activity is comprehensive: educational activity is based on the fundamentals of the subject area and scientific research activity as illustrated with the Euler diagram below (Figure 1). Figure 1. The structure of a Master’s Degree Student’s professional activity. 11178 ABYKENOVA ET AL. Needless to say, a Master’s student must have fundamental knowledge in his/her subject area. Apart from the basic knowledge received at the Bachelor level, a Master’s student studies additional in-depth knowledge connected with his/her scientific research activity. As scientific research activity is applicable to any area of knowledge, it is the most complex one and includes the fundamentals and activities directly related to the subject area. Any research and educational activity is based on the knowledge from the subject area, education science and teaching methodology, as well as on the competencies in the area of research and educational activity, as a teacher in the classroom also has to demonstrate the epistemic (research) logic of the subject matter. 2.2. The structure of a Master’s Degree Student’s ICTC ICTC, as many authors suggest (Rogers and Twidle, 2013; McGarr and O'Brien, 2007, Lavonen et al.; 2006, Lapchik, 2007), is one of the key professional competencies of a teacher. The authors’ works conclude that the ICT competencies penetrate all the components of a Master’s Degree Student’s professional competencies. It is explained by the fact that ICTs are applied to any type of a Master’s Degree Student’s activity as a researcher and educator. Studying the international practices of training Master’s students has identified various approaches towards defining the structure and contents of a Master’s degree student’s ICTC as a researcher and educator. Thus, Rogers and Twidle examine a teacher in ICTC as an architect and a manger who studies information technologies for searching new ways of organising and managing education (2013). Larsen et al. state that it is necessary to develop ICTC in four directions: assistance to ICT; control; coaching; and co-operation (Larsen et al., 2008). Other researchers (Lavonen et al., 2006) have included a Master’s degree student’s virtual learning skills into ICTC. Lapchik has identified the invariant structure of a competency which includes key, basic, and special competency (2007). In accordance with this, we define ICTC of a Master’s student as a researcher and educator in Table 1 (Appendix A). The familiarity with such components of the ICTC in research and educational activity, and ICTC in scientific research activity, by default suggests the Master’s student’s computer competence. Based on analysis of academic literature, and taking teaching activity at higher and other education levels into account, and given the development of modern teaching techniques, we were able to define a Master’s student’s ICTC broadly as a researcher and educator. This profile consists of three components: ICT in the subject area, ICT in research and educational activity area, and ICT in scientific research activity area. The development of the Kazakhstan educational system, and the improvements in computer processing in scientific and technical information, lead to the premise that the contents of ICT competencies can be changed and adjusted as required. 2.3 The role of a Master’s Degree Student’s internship and IC