The paper discusses the technological capabilities of virtual reality (VR) in the field of education as a highly developed form of computer modeling. VR is con-sidered to be able to revolutionize the education field since it provides better en-gagement in learning activities than other teaching methods. In order to study the impact of VR technology on ensuring the quality of e-learning, an experiment is conducted during the Physical Geography online course. The current research in-volves 60 third-year students from the Abai Kazakh National Pedagogical Uni-versity, Moscow Pedagogical State University, and Ajman University. All the re-spondents were divided into two groups. The training of the first group is under-gone through distance learning in the Moodle e-learning system, while the educa-tional process of the second is supplemented with the technological capabilities of the latest VR services (Google Earth, Apple Maps, My Way VR, The VR Muse-um of Fine Art). During the study, students’ subjective assessment of the training is performed according to the basic, expected, and desirable criteria. The exami-nation is carried out in two stages - before and after the course. At the first stage of the assessment, the use of VR corresponds to the desired quality of the educa-tional product. However, after the course and the acquiring of virtual experience, the transfer of the students' desired training criteria into the expected can be ob-served. This indicates a high degree of adaptability of VR technology in educa-tion as well as an increase in the respondents' requirements against the quality of subsequent training courses. Consequently, a significant impact of immersive technology's evolution on the demands on the e-learning quality can be noted.

The purpose of this article is aimed at the development of pedagogical tools and methods of forming students' competencies in the course of higher education. The submitted paper presents the potential of information technology in forming professional competencies of the university students providing the students' classroom and individual organization. The grounds for the presented paper have become the ideas of competence-based approach, the system of modern didactic principles that intensify the students' learning and cognitive activities. The article describes the structure of modern e-learning system that satisfies the federal state educational standards and contributes to the students' professional competencies. This article is intended for the educators, researchers, heads of educational institutions engaged in the development of academic syllabi and pedagogical tools to provide university students with professional competencies.

The purpose of this paper is aimed at studying the issue of formation of learning content based on its fundamentalization and professionalization under the competence approach. The presented paper demonstrates the process of professionalization and fundamentalization of training as a conceptual framework of shaping the content of disciplines in higher education. The basis of the presented work is the ideas of the competence approach, theory of fundamentalization and professionalization of vocational education. The paper presents the principles and mechanisms of fundamentalization and professionalization of the discipline's content and the algorithm of formation of fundamental and applied discipline content under the competence approach. This article is intended for teachers, researchers, heads of educational institutions involved in the formation and selection of the content of disciplines in higher education.

The transition to new educational standards puts forward the applied orientation of training school education. The universality of mathematical methods allows to reflect the connection of theoretical material of various fields of knowledge with practice on the level of general scientific methodology. Practice-oriented activity, as a manifestation of the content of the mathematics course of the secondary school, determines the importance of mathematics in preparing students for continuing education in the process of professional development. But at the same time there arises the need to stop understanding the educational activity only as a process of obtaining ready-made knowledge. The relevance of the problem is caused by the insufficiently developed method of teaching to solve practice-oriented optimization problems in the school course of mathematics as a means of strengthening its applied orientation. The purpose of the article is to develop and substantiate the technology of teaching students to solve practice-oriented optimization problems in the course of implementing the applied orientation of the mathematics course. The article discusses methodological aspects of organizing pupils' training in mathematics, substantiates the need to use practice-oriented optimization problems in mathematics in secondary schools, suggests a set of tasks and considers various methods for solving practiceoriented optimization problems, and also reveals the specificity of solving problems of this type.

The purpose of the study is to analyze the key challenges in the implementation of STEM education in Russia and the largest economies in terms of employment promotion and increasing students’ competitiveness. The research is based on the system analysis aimed at assessing the current status of STEM education in Russia and highlighting its key problems, and the comparative analysis is focused on comparing the approaches to STEM education implementation in Russia and other countries. It has been shown that STEM approach is being most actively implemented in the American system of education, which attracts young people to STEM careers through state and non-formal STEM education programs. The research describes a scheme of cooperation and partnership between stakeholders and the federal coordinating body of the Russian Federation providing support for the STEM education and aimed at the interaction between state and public institutions.