Contemporary time, interpreted by the prism of security, is no longer dominated by easy to describe inter-state conflicts or regional threats. Experts every now and then define new types of threats such as cybercrime, cyberterrorism or cyberwar. The intense and multi-level uncertainty affects the understanding of the present and the predicted future, and thus the search for security by all of us. The answer depends in part on whether we are able to understand contemporary security environment. These issues are, to my mind, independent of the place in which we are. Using tools for diagnosing and monitoring security remains an open question. At the moment we are searching for a solution to this problem by means of modern technologies. The paper stresses the importance and application of e.g. Internet technology and global telecommunication. Interpersonal relations are being replaced with technological solutions. Nowadays, a phone or a computer connected to the web is sufficient to make contact with another person or check what information official sources are bringing us today. Actions for security as a result of incorrect reception of a message may be associated with erroneous perception of the content and propaganda. As a result, the recipient is consciously manipulated. New technologies take the form of nonconventional, organized activities for security. Any number of people can cooperate through the web for security management without actual superior authority. Members of such groups, established ad hoc, may use their knowledge to express objections or dissatisfaction. The paper also presents another aspect of using technology. According to the author, there are situations in which technologies acting for reinforcing security often cause objection, motivated by restricting civil freedoms and by the threat of an attack on a free and open society.

Various social, political and economic contexts give rise to visibly different concepts of security and these differences make one ponder on the limitations of traditional concepts of democratization and political development. Scientists, politicians and activists are now ever more boldly beginning to ask difficult but necessary questions about the appropriate dynamics of the processes of creating security and about the priorities adopted within them, searching for ways on which these processes could be co-created by traditional, local visions of needs of citizens’ safe life. The review of scholarly literature and political journalism addressing security points out new spheres of debates and subjects of controversy within this discipline. In a situation where in security-related processes governments cannot be the only ones that dominate, a question about the possibility of expanding activities with non-governmental organizations arises.

The article conducts a comprehensive study of public information and communication space in Ukraine, analyzes its current state considering regulatory and organizational features, identifies key challenges for quality development and modernization of the industry, and identifies key dysfunctional problems that prevent high performance in domestic development of information and communication technologies. It is argued that an important role in the constructive formation of the public information and communication sector is played by the state information policy, which should be based on such principles as openness, system, equality of interests, priority of domestic producers, social orientation. It turns out that the formation of a quality public information space contributes to the development of civil society, information society and information democracy. Comprehensive digitalization of public communication will promote openness, transparency and accessibility of public information, the formation of partnerships between the public, business, and civil sectors. Three basic stages of formation of information and communication space have been identified: strategic, organizational and control ones.

Benefits and risks of remote teaching from a students’ and academic teachers’ prespective of selected Cracow universities

The epidemiological situation in Poland and in the world was a specific impulse to change education from stationary to remote education, for which it was necessary to use appropriate methods and tools. These circumstances have become a challenge not only for students, but also for academic teachers who try to provide future graduates with the knowledge, competences and skills needed by young people to work in the profession. This publication attempts to discuss the theoretical aspects of remote education based on the available literature. The research conducted and the results obtained on the basis of the respondents’ responses to the proprietary questionnaire, which was carried out using Google Forms from March 10 to April 13, 2021, are described. 115 academic teachers and 229 students participated in the study. The diagnostic survey was an anonymous form of obtaining answers to 12 questions. In the questionnaire, the questionnaire was asked about the tools used for online classes and used to contact the academic teacher - student, student - student relationship. Concentration in classes and communication problems were also investigated. The article also considers the benefits and risks of distance learning at selected Krakow universities from the perspective of academic teachers and students. It was found that the most effective acquisition of knowledge occurs through a combination of distance and stationary teaching. The hybrid mode reduces the level of threats related to e-learning and sums up the benefits of traditional and distance learning.

Information and communication technologies impact many aspects of the contemporary political life. A consequence of the use of ICT in politics is undoubtedly the evolution of democratic institutions and procedures. Modern technologies find their application as tools for exercising democratic power. This is why their importance is constantly increasing. The changes that follow application of ICT and their consequences are especially interesting subject to study and research. This article aims at answering the question how modern technologies (mainly the Internet) affect the processes of contemporary democracy and what might be the consequences of such changes. The deliberations shall concern the context of political market, where three processes between three main actors (politicians/political institutions, electorate, and the media) occur: informing, communicating, and voting. ICT influence these processes by quickening supplementing, and facilitating three various types of activities: sharing information, involvement in the political debate, and participation in the political decisionmaking processes. In the article, the author also pays attention to election silence as a phenomena functioning in the background of elections (which are a very significant element of the political market). Examples provided in the article come mainly from the practises and experiences of the Polish political life.

The article considers the advantages and disadvantages of implementing distance learning for medical students’ training in quarantine. The issues of using e-learning methods in distance learning have been analysed. In the teaching methodology, the questions of determining the feasibility, advantages and disadvantages of implementing distance learning in the educational space and distinguishing between the concepts of “distance learning” and “e-learning” appear. The term “e-learning” is often interpreted as synonymous with “distance learning”, but the authors of this article note that this is not entirely correct. E-learning is only one of the forms used in combination with other forms of learning. Distance learning at the modern level involves the implementation of the educational process only by the network. Distance learning is a method of attending class even if students cannot be there physically. According to the Regulation “On distance learning” in Poltava State Medical University, “distance learning is a set of educational services provided through modern psychological, pedagogical, information and communication technologies”. The purpose of distance learning at the university is to introduce modern information and communication technologies to train the specialists at the educational and qualification levels “bachelor” and “master”, training programmes for interns, and advanced training of doctors according to national educational standards. The article analyses the modern pedagogical research of Ukrainian and foreign schools and presents the results of the analysis of students’ and teachers’ opinions on the introduction of distance learning in the educational process. The article also presents the results of implementing distance education at the Poltava State Medical University in the disciplines “Medical Physics” and “Medical Informatics”. The result of the study proved that distance learning has only advantages theoretically. In practice, many problems need to be solved.

This is a study on the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICT) in education, with a particular emphasis on rural schools, covering topics that range from the insights of teachers on the necessary adaptation of their work methods, to the actual use of ICT in the classroom. To this end, a descriptive methodology is applied through a non-experimental design by means of a survey, targeting a sample of 217 individuals. The objective is to determine the degree of satisfaction of rural teachers of the autonomous community of Andalusia with what concerns the role of ICT and current technology management strategies. The study was carried out from the point of view of teaching and school organization. Above all, the interest lies in determining which aspects of this new reality are more appealing to the teacher, from personal and professional standpoints. Some of the most relevant results and conclusions point out a high degree of satisfaction with the novel possibilities offered by ICT while enhancing teaching and broadening professional relationships. In turn, these same conclusions highlight that the most significant constraints occur at the organizational level (e.g. management, resource allocation), which represents a key aspect for the improvement of these educational centers in the near future.

The Research Studio eLearning Environments has developed the “Learning Pulse”. The “Learning Pulse” makes use of a PUSH technology and supports repetitive learning activities by utilizing ICT. The PUSH technology is based on external initiation of a learning activity. This terminology is derived from webapplication programming. This article reflects on the background and the relationship between the “Learning Pulse” and lifelong learning, focusing on aspects of motivation, flexibility, and learner dropouts. In the second part the idea behind the “Learning Pulse” is compared with the settings in which “conventional” self directed learning takes place. Based on these assumptions it is described how the PUSH approach can be used for embedding learning activities into the daily routine of a learner.

The article reveals the problem of the simultaneous development of methods of the use of information and communication technologies application in the teaching process of an educational institution. In the current conditions of education, in the conditions of war, the educational model can exist only in combination with the use of modern technologies for teaching English. The education system needs to modernize teaching methods by means of innovative tools of information and communication technologies and to carry out such training of teachers at the state level, as well as to rely on the self-education of active teachers-practitioners. Instead of simply restricting students to linear displays, such as reading text from a book, media products create this process by involving various elements to make it more dynamic and interesting. The authors analyzed the advantages and peculiarities of the technology which are actively used in the presentation of information. When introducing and updating lexical or grammatical material, it is effective to use presentations that contain not only certain information, grammatical material, but also slides with illustrations, pictures, and small text tasks. The authors also gave information about some wide spread digital platforms for teaching and learning that are convenient as for teachers so for students. Moodle is an integration platform for teaching a foreign language: it is quite stable, scalable, and modularity and support for open integration protocols have been a priority for developers from the very beginning. Puzzle English is an online platform (website and mobile applications) for self-study of a foreign language. Kahoot is a free educational platform that can be used to conduct interactive classes and test students’/pupils’ knowledge through online testing. It is suitable for studying any academic discipline in any education institution. Canva was created as a graphic resource, but now it is actively used by teachers.

Laboratory-based courses play a critical role in scientific education, yet there is disagreement among science and engineering educators about whether and which types of technology mediated lab work should be involved to promote learners’ better conceptual understanding, design skills or professional skills. In this study we tried to evaluate the efficiency of different types of e-labs, using Ma, Nickerson four dimensional models of educational goals. We found different patterns and enlarged the model to 5 dimensions. We attempted to clearly specify the differences, advantages and disadvantages of all 3 kinds of e-labs according to educational goals to be reached. We also tried to investigate which aspects of the laboratory experience are most essential to learners and if those lab characteristics are related to learner characteristics or prior experience. In the second part of the study we focused on investigating (not verifying) the hypothesis that it is not the actual nature of the laboratories, but the beliefs that students and teachers have about them, which may determine the effectiveness of different lab types.