The article is devoted to the problem of specification of approaches to the design and implementation of electronic educational courses in conditions of continuously and dynamically changing digital information and learning environment of the modern university. Based on the results of the content analysis of the digital infrastructure and regulatory documentation of the Siberian Federal University and the discursive analysis of the leading trends in the field of digital education, necessary conditions for a successful professional pedagogical activity are described. On the basis of smart education principles, possible solutions to the problems of teaching at university, such as personification of teaching, project-oriented courses and initiating the launch of mechanisms for students’ informal self-education are synthesized and justified.

The article presents the two phenomena observed in the space of art and education in 21st century, which may constitute the basis for rethinking and modernizing the theory of aesthetic education. The first is the educational turn in contemporary art, consisting in the use of pedagogical methods and forms by artists in their creative work. Education becomes not only the subject of contemporary artistic projects, but above all, an artistic practice, the foundations of which were taken from radical pedagogy. The second element important for rethinking the theory of aesthetic education is the perspective of critical pedagogy. The article briefly presents Yolanda Medina’s Critical Aesthetic Pedagogy, which tries to combine aesthetic pedagogy with a critical approach in the context of self and social empowerment. New ways of intertwining the spheres of art and education in the 21st century may be an opportunity to renew and modernize both the practice and theory of aesthetic education, and to strengthen the aesthetic education approach in Polish pedagogy.

Tunnel to the Third Power – art-based research in the practice of higher education

The article presents the artistic-educational-research project Tunnel to the Third Power, implemented by two communities related to artistic and educational spaces: a group of students of Artistic Education at the Faculty of Education, University of Warsaw, who are prepared to work as art educators, and the second group: the students of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw. The methodological basis of the implemented activities was art-based research. The theoretical basis of the project was the art-as-pedagogy of Clair Bishop and the widely commented educational turn in contemporary art. The artistic basis was the project of the artist Piotr Grabowski Tunnel. The importance of mankind for the future. The article discusses the assumptions of the project, its implementation and research conclusions. The student project was also shown as an example of using art-based research in the practice of higher education.