Foreign language SMART training for technical university students and the problem of preserving students’ agency
Authors:   Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University named after R.E. Alexeev, Leushina Irina V. , Leushina Lubov I. ,   Nizhny Novgorod State Technical University named after R.E. Alexeev
Published: December 2024

The authors of the article focus on the problem of preserving students’ agency in the field of SMART education. Currently, in the university community, against the backdrop of the widespread mention of SMART education, SMART technologies and SMART training, there is no comprehensive understanding of the meaning of the term «SMART» and the consequences of the transition to SMART education. Moreover, such a transition is fraught with increasing risks of transformation of a person’s identity, individuality, and gradual loss of one’s agency, when one simply «dissolves» in the information space, which ultimately, at a minimum, negatively affects the quality of one’s education. Within the framework of this study, an analytical review of open sources of information on the topic is consistently carried out, the results of which provide a general description of SMART education as a social phenomenon: SMART education is characterized by the flexibility of constructing the educational trajectory of each student, the availability of educational information; most importantly, it requires serious effort, including restructuring of thinking and acquisition of innovative communication skills from all participants in the educational process. The features of educational SMART technologies are revealed. The most important feature here is that the student, immersing oneself in the educational environment, works online or offline as part of a group, and not one-on-one with the teacher, and communicates with all participants in the process. In addition, one acts not so much as a user, but as a co-author of the educational material and actively participates in the discussion and solution of tasks. The requirements for participants in the educational SMART process (students, teachers and representatives of interested employers) are formulated: to ensure the effectiveness of SMART training, it is very important to maintain the student’s agency as a kind of a core of the educational SMART system, even in conditions of external influence (not always favorable), which is the priority function of other participants in the educational process. The influence of student’s agency on the effectiveness of the educational process is assessed. An experience of foreign language SMART training and maintaining of students’ agency is described using the example of a technical university: a specific example shows that the unification of the efforts of all participants in the educational process and the rational use of innovative methodological techniques of foreign language SMART training associated with its maximum practical orientation towards graduates’ future professional activities allow not only to maintain students’ agency level, but also to significantly increase it, which will ultimately have a positive impact on the effectiveness of the educational process and the quality of students’ training at a technical university.