Application of design and technological activities as a method of improving the professionalization of specialists of higher educational institutions

In this article we developed the concept of design and technological activities. We tested the need to develop design competence in educational process of the Faculty of Law of the National Economic University with 50 teachers and 200 students of the Faculty comprising Law, International Law, Law Enforcement, Social Work, and Psychology. Design competence is knowledge for preparation of pedagogical projects and their implementation, developed in the educational process. The current stage is characterized by globalization of problems requiring involvement of the world community, changes the paradigm of education, posing new challenges to the educational sphere. Accelerating pace of socio-economic development requires to plan and evaluate life and professional prospects. It becomes important for teachers to learn how to design pedagogical reality, predict the consequences of its transformations and teach students to build their lives on the basis of design. These trends urge the problem of design, make it interdisciplinary, exceptionally large-scale and pressing. Promising areas for development of design and technological activities include: identification of new patterns and principles of pedagogical design; identification of new factors and conditions for successful operation and development of design activities; development of theoretical background for training, retraining and advanced training of personnel in the field of pedagogical design; detailed development of methodological and technological support of the pedagogical design process; improvement of the qualimetric tools of design activity. Verification of the concept against the background of the identified set of pedagogical conditions showed an increase in the efficiency of design and technological activities.