Role of Interactive Learning and ICT in Students’ Academic Success

The psycho-pedagogical review of the traditionally established methods and forms of organizing and conducting classes in educational institutions shows that passive forms of learning prevail in the educational process in perceiving and mastering educational material. The task of the modern theory and practice of teaching is the creation of conditions for learning activities where students would strive to independently acquire new knowledge and later could successfully use them in their practical activities. Unfortunately, today it can be stated that the possibilities of using interactive methods in the classroom are not being sufficiently used. As practice shows, teachers conduct practical classes in the traditional method, where they are the main actor, and students are passive participants in the learning process, who occasionally have the opportunity to verbalize their knowledge, while the success of mastering the educational material depends on the student’s mental activity. Attempts to intensify the activity of students, for example, with the help of problem-based training, are often limited to the teacher’s formulation of a specific task and the explanation of the issue at hand. Some students from time to time buy home assignments written by professionals at custom dissertation writing service.

The use of interactive methods and cutting-edge software in the learning process has a definite impact on the development of the learner: it enhances the motivation of learning, communication with peers, enriches life experience, and activates self-development. A person is aware of the need for such communication-interaction. In modern pedagogy, interactive methods of education provide students with purposeful intensive inclusion in educational interaction, where the main goal is to solve specific educational problems. These methods open up opportunities for the personal growth of participants in this interaction. Students are not to just follow teacher’s instructions and recommendations but they strive for “outside-school” learning which definitely widens the worldview and allows students to gain additional skills and knowledge not leaning on standard university program. It stimulates students to study harder.

Education, where the predominant role is played by the interaction of students in groups, initially causes difficulties in terms of organization and psychological perception, but in the future the benefits of such training are obvious:

– The activity of all participants in the educational process, due to the presence of a single goal and common motivation;
– Comfort: working in a small group, students feel more confident, the opinion of each is accepted by the whole group;
– Development of personal qualities and improvement of self-esteem: everyone has the opportunity to learn both a leading role and the role of an ordinary participant in a group decision, to build constructive communication;
– Development of speech, communication skills of all participants in the educational process;
– A deeper study of the material by the participants due to the repetition and application of the knowledge gained, consideration of the issue from different points of view.

Therefore, it can be assumed that interactive learning, based on interpersonal communication, specially organized communication situations, creates in the classroom conditions conducive to the emergence of interest in the learning process, the formation of motivation and the realization of students’ cognitive activity, in which a student feels his success, his intellectual viability, what makes the learning process itself productive. In addition, there were conducted some experiments which proved that students who are taught by interactive methods using ICT show better academic results both on exams and usual computer tests.

Thus, it should be noted that interactive learning simultaneously solves several problems. First of all, interactive methods are based on the direct interaction of students with the learning environment, that is, the reality in which they reveal the area of experience mastered. This creates a situation that requires the revision of existing experience, without which it is impossible to isolate and problematize the field of the unknown. Secondly, in interactive learning, the student’s subjective experience serves not only as an auxiliary material and illustration of the main content of education, but as a central source of educational cognition, which also activates the self-actualization processes in the direction of determining the ratio of “axiomatic”, objective and “subjective” personal knowledge. Thirdly, in the interactive training, the activity of the teacher gives way to the activity of the student, which stimulates self-actualization in terms of revising the existing methods of organizing work on solving serious applied problems. This ensures the most effective development of the ability for self-actualization since there is a revision of all existing potentials and outlines ways to build them up to achieve a result in the course of relevant interactions.