Vol 14, No 4 (2017)

“How do students view their own university?” The answer to this important but elusive question offers a welcome opportunity for cross-national research. In this two-part report, part one reviews the value of 360-degree feedback for educational institutions - why and how this may promote cross-national research. Part two offers a case study of research at Fordham University, examining a shift in student attitudes after the opening in 2016 of a new half-billion dollar Law School building in New York City.

The concept of the normative personal orientation seeks to specify how personnel motivation should be organized in the value-motivational sphere for professional activity execution in accordance with its social purpose. Based on the priority of the civil service social purpose, the hierarchical structure of the personal normative orientations was theoretically validated. Social motives related to serving for the benefit of the Fatherland as well as work motives associated with the achievement of some role positions are the major motives. The subordinate motives are the monetary rewards and self-development. Development of the future civil servants’ orientation is based on a conscious idea about the required motives’ subordination, that is, about the normative civil servant’s orientation. The study involved 63 students of the 2nd and 4th year studying at the Russian management institute in the specialty “Customs” and 51 students of the 1st and 2nd year studying at the Public Administration Academy of the Republic of Armenia, as well as 4 experts (two from Russia and Armenia) having long-term experience in the civil service. The method is an author’s closed-questions’ inventory containing a list of 18 personal goals, that should guide the civil servant in professional work. The instruction required the selection of five most important goals. An absolute majority (from 66 to 90%) of Russian and Armenian students has the motives’ subordination that is inconsistent with the normative orientation. According to the students’ view, self-development, self-creation and material benefit are the leading motives of a civil servant. The expert motives’ representations are identical to the required content of civil servant normative orientation. The authors defined the need to develop a special psychological and educational program for promoting required representations about the normative orientation of future civil servants.

The study examines the experience of “flow” in its relationship with the motivation and individuality of students. The flow pattern is clarified by the analyses of presence of elements related to motivation. The article discusses different approaches to the determination of flow-state within holistic and causal directions, provides an overview of the problematic points of this concept and raises the question of the considering the elements traditionally identified as the part of flow as elements of motivation. The empirical study involved 133 university students of 1-3-years of study. The Russian version of the questionnaire “The flow state scale-2” in the author’s adaptation (D. I. Savelieva), the “academic motivation scale” (T. O. Gordeeva, O. Sychev, E. N. Osin) and the H. Eysenck questionnaire G-EPQ (extroversion-introversion and neuroticism-emotional stability scales) were used. The result of correlation and factor analysis revealed significant relationships of most of the “flow”-elements with motivation to learn (especially with intrinsic motivation). At the same time, it is established that extraversion-introversion is associated only with two elements of “flow” (a clear goal and loss of consciousness), and neuroticism-emotional stability with one (loss of consciousness). An attempt to identify at the empirical level the “flow” elements, matching the theoretical description of motivation has failed. The theoretical reasons of the obtained results, of the relationship of flow, motivation to learn, and individual students’ personal characteristics are discussed.

The possibility of statement and solution of the problem of searching of theoretical justification and development of efficient didactic mechanisms of the organization of process of pedagogical monitoring and assessment of level of knowledge of trainees can be based on convergence of the leading psychological and pedagogical, mathematical, and informational technologies with accounting of the modern achievements in science. In the article, the pedagogical expediency of realization of opportunities of means of informational technologies in monitoring and assessment of the composite mathematical knowledge, in the management of cognitive activity of students is proved. The ability to integrate fractal methods and neural network technologies in perfecting of a system of pedagogical monitoring of mathematical knowledge of trainees as a part of the automated training systems (ATS) is investigated and realized in practice. It is proved that fractal methods increase the accuracy and depth of estimation of the level of proficiency of students and also complexes of intellectual operations of the integrative qualities allowing to master and apply cross-disciplinary knowledge and abilities in professional activity. Neural network technologies solve a problem of realization of the personal focused tutoring from positions of optimum individualization of mathematical education and self-realization of the person. The technology of projection of integrative system of pedagogical monitoring of knowledge of students includes the following stages: establishment of the required tutoring parameters; definition and preparation of input data for realization of integration of fractal and neural network technologies; development of the diagnostic module as a part of the block of an artificial intelligence of ATS, filling of the databases structured by system; start of system for obtaining the forecast. In development of the integrative automated system of pedagogical monitoring of knowledge the fact that individual evaluation test of tutoring of students is carried out on the basis of two parameters depths of assimilation of a concept, its interrelation with other concepts and assessment of size of the synergetic effect of integration of knowledge and activity of trainees is new. Experience of introduction and operation of the automated system of pedagogical monitoring and assessment of the level of knowledge on the basis of integration of fractal model operation and neural network technologies allowed to increase the level of objectivity of estimation of trainees, quality of management of the educational process, its effectiveness in general.