INNOVATIVE COMPUTER TECHNOLOGIES IN FOREIGN LANGUAGES INSTRUCTION AT UKRAINIAN HIGHER SCHOOLS

The global process of transition to the information society, as well as economic, political and social changes that accompany it, accelerate the reform of the Ukrainian education system. First of all, it concerns providing access to education and training for all people who have the necessary skills and knowledge. The effective solution of these problems is facilitated by distance and blended learning, carried out on the basis of modern pedagogical, information and telecommunication technologies. In the article the ways of organizing blended teaching/learning of foreign languages in Ukrainian higher education institutions (HEI) are analyzed; types of software used for creating educational materials by means of innovative computer technologies to organize blended language learning are revealed; the prospects of using electronic materials of known platforms of online courses for teaching languages as supplements to distance courses compiled by the lecturers of the Department of Foreign Languages at Lviv Polytechnic National University on the basis of Lviv Polytechnic virtual learning environment (VLE) are considered. Materials of research are as follows: dissertations, scientific papers, materials of Ukrainian and international scientific and practical conferences, published by lecturers of foreign languages at Ukrainian higher education institutions, as well as web pages of these institutions and software for compiling educational materials.

On the basis of the analyzed materials, partially presented in the article, it was revealed that for organization of blended learning the lecturers of Foreign Language Departments at HEI, in addition to traditional educational materials for full-time study (manuals, dictionaries, audio and video recordings, etc.), actively use: electronic materials compiled by means of different types of tools in open access; portal materials for language learning; distance courses or their elements compiled by means of the VLE of their educational institutions; educational materials of the platforms of mass open online courses (MOOC). Lecturers of the Department of Foreign Languages at Lviv Polytechnic National University have used MOOC for their students teaching since January 2019. English language practical classes, held at Lviv Polytechic for the first year students, demonstrated that the students using successfully the materials of distance course, compiled by the lecturers of the Department of Foreign Languages for their students, can improve better their knowledge of the language than the rest students. The further researches will be concerned to description of the techniques for organization of foreign languages blended learning by incorporating the materials of the MOOC platforms in the course of classes with full-time and part-time students.