Introduction

As the analysis of trends in the development of education in the last decade shows, its key areas include: the strategy of lifelong education «throughout life», the individualization of the educational trajectory, the increasing importance of methodological and analytical approaches to the cognitive process as a component of educational activity, the increase in the duration of general education [4] .

To a large extent, these trends are initiated and supported by the active development of new digital technologies and the global introduction of the Internet in all spheres of life, including education. As a result, online learning, characterized by economy, technology and efficiency, is becoming an integral part of the educational process, being most actively used as the leading method of distance learning.

Materials and Methods

Distance learning, implemented through modern information technologies, has a number of advantages (wide accessibility and openness of education; prompt transmission and storage of a significant amount of information; the ability to access various sources of information; interactive interaction between the subjects of the educational process using online feedback on the Internet; focus on self-education of students and individualization of the learning process [2]), as well as significant shortcomings that limit its productivity (the inability to carry out direct interaction between the subjects of the educational process; the extreme limitation of the implementation of the educational component of education, which does not contribute to the formation of the professional mentality of future specialists,including specialists in the healthcare sector, which is one of the socionomic [1]).

Given these shortcomings, the importance of expanding the possibilities for the implementation of digital technologies in medical education should be emphasized, which is due to the need for continuous medical education; the growing volume of scientific data that a specialist needs to take into account when making a decision; the objective need to optimize the educational process in the medical field with a focus on the individualization of specialist training.

As noted by V. A. Lazarenko et al., “the current generation of young people is distinguished by innovative demands for the learning process, puts forward new requirements for the methodological support of training sessions, more adequate to their educational potential” [3, p. 107-108]. This necessarily determines the rethinking of traditional teaching methods, which will increase the motivation of students and, as a result, the effectiveness of the educational process.

Modern trends in the digital transformation of education require the development and implementation of didactic methods, forms and means in the educational process of professional training of specialists in the medical field, integrating traditional and innovative, digital approaches to learning.

Essential for the regulation of the professional activities of medical workers is its legal component, which determines the lawful organization of professional relations in the systems “doctor-patient”, “teacher-student” (in the field of medical education) and warns, makes unacceptable the delinquent behavior of a specialist.

To improve the legal literacy of medical students, we have developed a didactic game «Legal Literacy in Education», which is a training simulator on the topic «Regulatory regulation in the system of vocational education».

Traditionally, a didactic game is considered as one of the active teaching methods and is implemented in quite a variety of forms, such as discussion, analysis of specific situations and documents, actions according to instructions, etc.

As noted by A. A. Khusaenova et al. [5], the didactic game is one of the effective methodological tools for the practical use of the information base, providing quick and accurate recognition of specific variants of constructive professional behavior of a specialist. As an optimal set of methods and tools for training and control, the authors propose the following sequence: 1) a learning algorithm; 2) programmed learning; 3) professional tasks; 4) problem situations; 5) educational games.

“The possibilities of goal formation and goal realization by the students themselves are the most important factor in the meaningfulness of the learning process, the generation of cognitive and professional motivation, professional creative thinking of the participants in the game. These factors — goal-setting and goal-fulfillment — are one of the main ones that make the learning process active» [5, p. 121].

Results

The use of didactic games in the educational process contributes to the development of students’ focus on the discipline being mastered, the desire to learn new things in the scientific field under study and increases the motivation for approval. In other words, the game method, as one of the methods of active learning, contributes to the formation of internal and external motivation for learning activities.

The didactic product developed by us is based on the capabilities of the PowerPoint computer program, which allows students to master the educational material and continuously check its assimilation using the embedded programming system.

The training simulator on the topic «Legal Literacy in Education» is an effective and easy-to-use methodological tool that contributes to the effectiveness of mastering the educational material and increasing the motivation of students. Based on well-established programmed learning, the game approach can be applied both in offline classes and in distance learning.

The educational material on the topic is differentiated into three levels according to the degree of complexity: the fulfillment of tasks of the first level assumes a grade of «satisfactory»; having completed the tasks of the second level, the student receives a mark of «good»; the third — an «excellent» rating.

The tasks of each level are built on the principle of multiple choice options. The student is asked to complete tasks of different difficulty levels. Each question is hidden behind the symbolic image of medals of different «values» — bronze (first level of difficulty), silver (second level), gold (third level). In case of an incorrect answer, the student receives prompt feedback and information support, which contributes to a motivated assimilation of educational material. Having “collected” all the bronze medals, that is, having completed all the tasks of the first level of complexity, the student can move on to the second level of the game and answer the questions hidden behind the silver medals, thus receiving a “good” rating. Finally, to get an excellent grade, you must go to the third level and complete the proposed tasks,

Before starting to complete tasks, as well as when moving from one level of the game to the next, more difficult one, students receive motivating instructions that encourage them to complete tasks honestly, based on existing knowledge, and not resort to «gray» technologies for finding the right answer. The importance of mastering knowledge for their application in professional activities (intrinsic motivation), as well as the successful completion of the final control (external positive motivation) is updated.

Discussion

The proposed didactic game was tested as part of the advanced training course for scientific and pedagogical workers and residents in the discipline «Pedagogy» when they mastered the section «Legal regulation in the system of vocational education» and made it possible to ensure the effectiveness of mastering the material by enhancing the cognitive activity of students and increasing interest to the topic being studied. The didactic game can be used to improve the legal literacy of students in pedagogical, medical and other areas of professional activity.