Ph.D., Associate Professor V.P. Barakhsanov
Dr.Hab., Professor E.A. Barakhsanova
I.I. Druz'yanov
E.I. Savvinova
Institute of Physical Culture and Sport of North-Eastern Federal University (SVFU) named after M.K. Ammosov, Yakutsk

Keywords: virtual communication, game of Go/ Baduk, Internet, modern information technologies, information community, interactivity

Introduction

As things now stand in the physical education sector, Internet not only plays an increasingly important role as a commonly acknowledged information and communication tool, but is becoming indispensable for special interaction, mutual assistance and consulting process, including interaction of sport institutions such as sport clubs and sport associations in different sport disciplines etc. It actively develops, in fact, as a new socialization system that forms special communication media and subculture that can be viewed as one of the key instruments and formation mechanisms for the new information-driven mass consciousness. The available studies of the virtual communication history were preceded by works that explored psychological effects of the increased computerization in labor activity (O.K. Tikhomirov, L.G. Gur'eva, 1986, 1989) [6].

It is the virtual reality created by computers that becomes a top priority subject for studies today, and many researchers tend to accept virtualization as a transition of quite a few basic forms of human activity into virtual networking environment (Y.P. Belinskaya, A.Y. Zhichkina) [1,2]. It is important to emphasize in this context that the problem of virtual-communication-based interaction will be rated among the top priorities of the physical culture education in the situation when the virtual-information-based competence is being formed and increasingly recognized. There are good grounds to state that the initiatives to study and help shape up the new virtual communication environment must be ranked among the key elements of the responsible mission of the physical culture and sport institutions. A higher educational establishment will be viewed in this context as an experimental site, unique cultural environment and universal communication system as emphasized in works by K.K. Colin, T. Parsons et al. [4, 5, 7].

It is based on the agreement of March 23, 2013 signed by Mengzhi University (Seul, South Korea) and SVFU named after M.K. Ammosov that the Physical Education Department of the Institute of Physical Culture and Sport initiated a project to implement the game of Go/ Baduk in the continuous education curriculum in the city of Yakutsk. Students of the Children’s and Youth Sport School and M.K. Ammosov SVFU university students have been mastering the game since 2012. The game mastering process is designed largely based on direct web-communication that gives the students the means to improve the game skills through: obtaining ready advise and consulting from the leading Go/ Baduk gamers, instructors and coachers; improving their game ratings; participating in the online competitions of players from the Russian Federation and foreign game associations based in Korea, China and Japan; and establishing formal and informal virtual contacts with the foreign amateurs and masters of the Go game.

The purpose of the study was to explore the effectiveness of the online Go/ Baduk education methods and practices; assess their contribution to the gaming skill improvement process; discuss the social and cultural benefits of the relevant communication system; and evaluate the potential demand for such system in the sport education and training process.

Materials and methods

The study offered a set of special test questions that were grouped in three broad-based surveys. 14-17 years-old students of the local national schools were subject to the first survey. The sampled students were offered survey forms including 21 question that covered different aspects of the internet communication and usage, including the user’s activity; online gaming experience; background personal information of the internet user; and the online tools of the Go/Baduk mastering system in application to the young gamers. Results of the survey gave us the prime understanding of how the modern internet tools are being used by young sports population active in the intellectual sport disciplines.

The second survey was focused on the university student population; subject to the survey was a sample of 200 university students representing 10 faculties and institutes of SVFU named after M.K. Ammosov. The survey was based on an updated questioning form that offered 30 questions addressing a variety of sociological and psychological aspects. The questions were designed to explore the internet usage activity of the students; its target content; internet risks apprehension levels; awareness of the internet resource potential related aspects; and a set of direct questions giving the means for the qualitative assessments of the students’ attitudes to and involvement in the internet.

The third survey was focused on the teachers, instructors and coaches. The survey polled opinions of some 100 teachers, instructors and coaches from the Children’s and Youth Sport School of Yakutsk city, with equal respect to responses of both the internet users and non-users. The survey form was designed to explore the teaching/ coaching community attitudes to the internet usage by children; the parents’ policies and practices of the internet access control for the children’s protection; and to assess the general levels of the parents’ awareness in the internet safety assurance matters.

Study results and discussion

It should be mentioned that the overall interest (in percentage terms) to the internet resources as an excellent tool for professional sport training is very high. University student’s communities show more and more interest to online competitions in the context of the growing volumes of manuals, teaching aids and methodological materials.

In assessment of how effective the virtual-communiciation-based Go/Baduk mastering model is, it may be pertinent to mention first the following obvious qualitative changes in attitudes of the gaming children’s and university students: most of the would-be competitive gamers are very optimistic and positive about their sport careers and general development objectives; they show much interest to the game education project; they openly and sincerely express their trust and good feelings to the educators, coaches and teammates; and they demonstrate much patience and preparedness to education-driven communication in unexpected situations. Many young gamers and university students have become more determined and goal-oriented as they strive to improve their gaming skills and increasingly tend to focus their attention on their personal “bottleneck” problems in the training process; they have demonstrated success-driven positive behaviour; and the university students of the experimental group showed positive trends in taking the personal responsibility and initiative in addressing concrete problems and pressures in the educational process flexibly using the relevant virtual tools, resources and information technologies.

Conclusion

The study demonstrates that the available education manuals and methodologies need to be updated as required by the growing role of the internet resources and as demonstrated by the experience of the virtual-communiciation-based Go/Baduk mastering by the junior sport school players and university students.

The study highlighted a few specific aspects of the online education and training methodology, with an emphasis on the content and procedures of the Go/ Baduk virtual mastering process being expressly success-driven. The key aspect of the virtual-communiciation-based Go/Baduk mastering methodology is a wide variety and diversity of the education tools and practices that offer multiple ways to develop the personal gifts and realize ambitions and aspirations in the game supported by practical application of the mastered skills and principles in the personal qualities development process.

References

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Corresponding author: 706037@mail.ru