The impact of distance learning on the development of professional thinking of retraining programs

The research problem and the rationale for its relevance. The transition to distance learning in the system of professional retraining, which has become a necessity of our time under the COVID-19 pandemic, has led to a change in the form of communication between students and teachers, which has had an impact on the development of students' professional thinking. However, qualitative training of a specialist is not possible without his achieving a sufficient level of professional thinking development. There are almost no researches in the scientific literature devoted to the impact of distance learning on the development of students' professional thinking during professional retraining, which explains the relevance of our study. The goal of research is to find out how distance learning affects the development of professional thinking of retraining students and, if necessary, determine the ways to compensate for the negative aspects of this effect. Methodology. The research is based on the assumption that three aspects are important in studying the influence of distance learning on the development of professional thinking: the current level of development of online search and reference interactive systems, the emergence of advanced technical capabilities in using such systems, and the model of professional thinking formation. Research methods: study and analysis of psychological and pedagogical literature on the problem under study, questionnaire survey, interviewing, factor analysis. Results. The questionnaire survey of students and teachers' interviews revealed that smartphones and other gadgets are the main means of remote communication, while information and reference systems are the main source of knowledge for students. For the first time data has been obtained that pattern thinking with predominant formation of simple cause-and-effect schemes of professional thinking and practical absence of a creative component prevails in the distance form of education. The novelty of the research is that distant learning helps identify a stable tendency towards reduction of independence, originality, active personal and professional attitude, and empathy which are the most important characteristics of professional thinking. Ways to compensate for the negative aspects of the impact of the shortcomings of distance learning are identified: strengthening the practical orientation of training, which involves the use of real tasks on the training profile in various aspects of quasi-professional activity, strengthening the problem-research nature of learning activities through block-module structuring of forms of organization of student activity and didactic material.