November 4. /TASS/. Vice-rector of Tyumen State University Taisiya Pogodaeva considers the innovative approach of her university to building customised educational programs for students reasonable: students have increased motivation in their studies. On Wednesday, speaking as part of the online discussion “Individualization in Education: Where to Start,” the vice-rector praised the results of the four-year university innovation in the teaching process.

Customised educational programs at Tyumen State University were developed for 8,000 students, each of them, with the help of mentors, had an opportunity to create their own path in education.

“In the four years since the introduction of customised educational trajectories, they have been drafted for 8,000 students", said Pogodaeva. "People create their own learning system - they collect modules of educational courses, based on the vision of what complex of knowledge they want to receive in teh end. Such students are more involved, and their results will be much higher than just the skill of remembering and writing down what they heard during a lecture". 

According to the vice-rector, during this time the university had to completely change the administration of the educational process: "The educational space is now built of three independent blocks. The first is the core, compulsory courses for all university students. The second block, optional, is responsible for the broadening the knowledge. One can select those courses — we have over 600 of them, from painting to physical chemistry. Finally, the third block is a set of profiles in which professional training is carried out". 

Innovation in education — since freshman year 

This kind of design, Pogodaeva clarified, begins in studies immediately, during the first year. "In December, during the week, freshmen choose two disciplines for the next semester. And from the fourth semester, students can choose from the entire volume of optional classes, including thematically related sets of disciplines. For two weeks at the beginning of each semester, students can "cross over" from one discipline to another, as the schedule is formed only for this period", said the vice-rector.

As far as physical education goes, for example, freshmen from the first week choose the sport they would like at the university, as well as the time at which they will attend classes, Pogodaeva added. “As for the foreign languages, at Tyumen State University, as in most Russian universities, there are three of them — English, French and German. But we, unlike many, offer 11 levels,” she said.

A full-time psychologist and 14 mentors help students navigate the educational space of the university, each with 200-220 students, mostly freshmen. "The vast majority of teachers who provide the educational process in the new format are our university teachers. The second, smaller group, are teachers from Moscow State University, the Higher School of Economics and other leading Russian universities. We do not register them as the staff, but invite them to Tyumen to teach separate modules", Pogodaeva explained.