Peculiarities of Using Information and Reference Multimedia Publications in the Process of Future History Teachers Training

Active use of information multimedia publications, electronic encyclopedias, resources of virtual museums in the educational process is possible on condition that such scientific and practical problems as intensifying the educational process and increasing its efficiency in the process of informatization are solved. Having analyzed the results of scientific studying the possibilities of applying multimedia information publications and, in particular, Wikipedia with its affiliated projects, examples of the other information resources in the educational process, explaining their terminological differences and identifying their essential and technological differences the following methods of investigation were used: theoretical analyses of scientific literature aimed at defining the status of the problem under study; modeling for determining the peculiarities of using different reference multimedia publications in the process of teaching History. Among the wide range of information resources mentioned, one of the most effective is Wikipedia encyclopedia with its affiliated projects. Encyclopedic articles mostly contain historical information, while in the process of teaching history and other social and humanitarian disciplines it is advisable to use photos and multimedia illustrations posted on the repository, as well as to edit the existing articles with adding the necessary historical information, creating new articles about the historic events and personalities, as well as photographing historical objects to illustrate the existing information. It would positively influence forming future teachers’ relevant professional competence. However, it is possible only on condition that the level of information and communication competence of university teachers is increased but most of them lack the skills and experience of working with computer equipment, multimedia products.