THE DEVELOPMENT OF PROFESSIONAL COMPETENCIES THROUGH PARTICIPATING IN MINI PROJECTS

Abstract

Project activities are an important component of education. They allow students to develop not only
their academic but also personal skills. In connection with this, the objectives of our research were
formed: to determine the main advantages of project activities by describing the competencies
developed during the project implementation; to conduct a survey of university teachers to discover
their attitude to the use of projects in education; to develop possible recommendations based on the
results obtained. It was decided to divide the study into two stages. The first stage of the research was
a survey of Russian university teachers. The questionnaire consisted of eight questions directly or
indirectly associated with project activities. A total of 43 teachers from different departments of the
four Russian universities participated in the survey. At the second stage, skills developed by the students
through participation in project activities were identified on the basis of the survey of teachers. The
second stage of the study revealed that project activities are sufficiently implemented in metropolitan
universities. Based on the data obtained, we formulated some recommendations that can make project
activities more comprehensible in the preparation of students: an explanation of the importance of
project activities, as well as the curriculum review, if necessary. There is a need for a more extensive
study to assess the situation in the regions since our research does not allow us to consider it.