The Spread of Information and Communication Technologies in Lifelong Education

The article deals with the issues of the spread of ICT in lifelong education. It is noted that the development of continuous education is of great importance for providing the national economy with skilled personnel, reducing unemployment, and therefore directly affects the humanitarian security of the state. The essence of the open education system and its main assets in Ukraine are analyzed - open educational resources, institutional repositories created and supported by domestic scientific, educational and research institutions. The capabilities of forms of distance learning in lifelong learning are identified - «natural» distant universities, corporate training providers and advanced training courses, online trainings offered by traditional universities, massive open online courses. The rapid growth of mobile ICTs because of using of wireless devices - laptops, netbooks, tablet PCs, pocket PCs, Internet tablets, e-books, smartphones, and other electronic applications - was noted. The importance of introducing ICT into informal education of the elderly - gerontology - through the «University of the third age», various educational courses and social adaptation groups of elderly people is illustrated. It is determined that the strategy of implementation of ICT in the lifelong education is an important factor in the creation of a new educational system that meets the requirements of the modern information society and provides greater access to education for different segments of population, increases its quality and creative potential.