Digitalization of the educational process: synergy of gamification and artificial intelligence in the training of highly qualified civil aviation specialists

The subject matter of this article presents the results of a study on the digital transformation of the educational process of training highly qualified air transport specialists, as well as retraining and advanced training of civil aviation employees to acquire the necessary competencies to ensure flight safety and high-quality passenger service at airports. It is emphasized that simulation, virtual reality, and artificial intelligence technologies have been actively integrated into the educational process of higher education institutions in recent years and have proven the feasibility of their use. However, their use in the corporate training of aviation employees is complicated by several obstacles. Among these, first, attention should be paid to the correctness of assessing the competencies acquired by employees, which is extremely necessary when making decisions on their certification. The goal – to substantiate, based on the results of the experiment, the feasibility of using immersion technologies based on the synergy of gamification and artificial intelligence in corporate training of civil aviation employees, which will ensure the interactivity of the educational process, its constructivism, and implementation according to a practice-oriented approach, as well as the realism of the assessment of the competencies acquired by the personnel for their subsequent certification by international standards. Results. Guided by the requirements of international standards, particularly for the performance of aircraft anti-icing work, a model for assessing the competencies acquired by employees due to advanced training in the correctness of aircraft anti-icing has been developed. This assessment model is based on fuzzy logic, which allows processing parameters with fuzzy limits and realistically assesses the quality of the anti-icing procedure. The construction methodology is based on the fuzzy phasing of input variables, building a rule base, and defuzzification to obtain a final assessment. Conclusions. The study results proved the feasibility of using immersion technologies in the corporate training of civil aviation employees. They developed a model for assessing the competencies they had acquired, which allowed for a realistic assessment of airline employees’ acquired knowledge and skills and, accordingly, certifying them by international standards.