Development of geoinformation competencies among students majoring in History and Geography (44.03.05 Pedagogical Education)

This paper provides basic principles for the development and use of geoinformation software and methodological complexes of pedagogical education in the organization of distance learning at the university. The relevance of the topic of the work is due to the need to optimize the educational process at the university when studying a number of academic disciplines involving the use of geoinformation systems. In the context of increasingly and actively developing distance learning technologies, the use of traditional methodological techniques in the educational process reduces the effectiveness of cartographic and geoinformation competencies development among students, primarily due to the inability to use computer classes and other elements of the educational environment of the university. The main attention in this work is paid to the principles of development and use of educational and methodological geoinformation projects based on information from Earth remote sensing data, electronic maps, attribute tables and specialized databases. The basic concept of geoinformation software and methodological complexes development is based on the theory of neogeography. The paper presents the authors’ interpretation of the term «geoinformation competence», which correlates with the main planned learning outcomes in the context of the requirements of the Federal State Educational Standard. The proposed methods and approaches allow a modern university teacher to effectively manage the process of creating educational and scientific projects of geographical orientation by students. Free software and source data are supposed to be used as they allow obtaining high-quality cartographic materials of modern level and contribute to students’ geoinformation competencies development. The research results are used to organize the educational process among students majoring in pedagogical education in the aspect of geoinformation competencies development. The authors have carried out a comparative analysis and evaluation of the effectiveness of modern geoinformation tools for the use of specialized GIS, software and methodological complexes and web services by teachers and students. As a result of the work, recommendations are given on the organization of the educational process, which contribute to geoinformation competencies development among students – prospective teachers in the context of distance learning at a modern university.