Formation of media competence at higher educational institutions: analysis of students – future teachers’s opinions

Introduction. Every year the world is witnessing changes in the information environment as well as the rapid growth of information volumes, which has a strong influence on people’s consciousness and behaviour. The formation of media competence is becoming relevant in these conditions; this issue is actively researched in pedagogical science worldwide. Therefore, media competence is viewed as an integral part of modern man’s education. When addressing the conditions of its formation at a pedagogical university, it is important to consider the opinion of students – future teachers. The aim of this article is to analyse students’ opinions in the sphere of media competence and to outline the conditions of its formation within the framework of a pedagogical university. Methods. The empirical study involved 112 respondents – students of the Institute of Historical, Legal and Socio-Humanitarian Education under Bashkir State Pedagogical University named after M. Akmulla (Ufa, Russian Federation). The main research methods comprised: analysis of pedagogical, psychological and methodological literature, Internet resources; study of pedagogical experience; observation (practice of creating conditions for forming media competence); interpretation of obtained results (survey of students aged 17 to 22 – the most active age group that is supposed to possess media competence). Results. The study revealed the opinions of students – future teachers regarding the process of media competence formation in the conditions of higher educational institution, as well as to identify the level of their knowledge in terms of several components: information, interpretation (evaluation), security, knowledge. The obtained results substantiated the below conditions that are important to create within the period of training at a pedagogical university: organisational-pedagogical; psychological-pedagogical; pedagogical; material and technical; strategic. Conclusion. Pedagogical university students have certain knowledge in the sphere of media, albeit segmentary. In order to structure this knowledge, it is necessary to add a number of skills – those connected with the use of social media, mobile and distance learning, cloud technology – to the list of skills to be developed in pedagogical education. The use of media and information technologies in evaluating educational outcomes of pedagogical university students (e.g., demonstration examination) is specifically important in the appraisal system.