The use of creative, project and heuristic activities of journalism students to increase their motivation to study specialized disciplines

Introduction. Currently, there is a gap between modern transformations of the media space and traditional teaching methods in the training of journalism students at the university. This leads to a decrease in the level of motivation of students. The aim is to assess the level of motivation of students within the framework of the experiment and describe an effective strategy for increasing the motivation of journalism students in the educational process at the university.

Materials and Methods. The research material is the motivation level of university journalism students. To study the level of motivation, A.D. Tytar’s methodology of assessment and correction of motivation was used.

Results and Discussion. Three blocks of the motivational component were studied: pragmatic, emotional and creative. A pedagogical experiment was conducted in the 2023/2024 academic year. Two groups of students studying at Surgut State Pedagogical University in the field of 42.03.02 “Journalism” (bachelor’s degree) in the 2nd and 3rd courses were selected: a control group (2nd year, KG, 18 people) and an experimental group (3rd year, EG, 14 people). In the course of the work, active teaching methods were used in the experimental group. The emphasis is placed on creative, project-based and heuristic activities, in which the teacher acts as a facilitator, translating the teacher-student relationship into a subject-subject one. The use of active methods helped to increase the motivation of students in the experimental group, contributed to their successful socialization, and the formation of professional identity. Thus, at the control stage of the experiment in the EG, over 70 % of students rated the significance of the course at 6 points or higher, in the CG – no more than 4. In the EG, the indicators related to the assessment of their available resources for the implementation of the curriculum increased by 30 %. 80 % of EG students gave a score above 7 points on the “Independence” and “Feedback” grades. In KG, most indicators remained at the same level. 60 % of students in the control group and 90 % in the experimental group consider their education to be systematic.

Conclusion. The novelty of the research lies in the organization of work to increase the educational motivation of journalism students purposefully and systematically. A single educational space was organized for EG students. At the first stage (within the framework of the training “Fundamentals of goal setting”) The contradiction between the internal and external motives of the students was revealed. The results of the experiment fix a number of problems of domestic media education in terms of forming the motivation of student journalists, and ways to solve them are outlined. The conclusion is made about the need to move away from traditional forms and methods of teaching, and the urgency of forming a unified educational space based on the project activities of the study group is noted. The theoretical conclusions and results of the experiment can form the basis of the author's pedagogical concept within the framework of modern media education.