COMPUTER GAMES AND OUTREACH TECHNOLOGIES IN THE HIERARCHY OF LEARNING CONTEXTS

Abstract

The ways of intensification of cognition processes in the conditions of growing volumes of information entering higher education are considered. Attention is paid to the possibilities of "serious games" and outreach technologies, for which learning and cognition are the goals, as well as the context, using the terminology of G. Bateson. In education, both "serious games" and outreach technologies are considered a means of attracting the attention of the subject of learning, which is important, since, in conditions of an excess of information, the attention of the recipient is the most important resource for transmitting the information. Attracting the attention of those who perceive information is becoming an urgent goal of educational activities. At the micro-level of perception, "person-information", the possibilities of computer "serious games" are emphasized. Games of this type are focused on professional knowledge and skills – from comprehending the logic of some activity to gaining the automatism of performing certain operations. They can be used both for the development of a person’s general ability to pay attention and for focusing attention on a particular object in a pedagogical context. They can work at the macro-level of cognition: the level of interaction of the knower with a certain range of sources.
The so-called outreach technologies also work at the macro-level of cognition. In a broad sense, outreach is building relationships with an audience outside of formal communication channels, propaganda, and expanding the reach of a loyal audience. In fact, outreach technologies attract the attention of potential consumers of information to existing information resources, providing a "soft" effect on the cognition process.

Both "serious games" and outreach technologies find their place in the "hierarchies of contexts" of the cognition process, forming in the latter relationships similar to the relationship between speed and distance traveled, contributing to the intensification of cognitive activity.
And both become objects of pedagogical research.