Introduction. The article describes the requirements for the image of an academic speaker under conditions of uncertainty. Criteria for forming an online speaker’s image in modern information and communication space are considered. The significance of changing the status of an academic speaker-lecturer and student-listener as participants in the communication act in a digital environment is studied. It is concluded that the space of uncertainty has created a new image of an academic speaker with a number of distinctive features and peculiarities. Purpose of Work. The aim of the undertaken research is to identify and describe the fundamental changes that have influenced the formation of a new type of academic speaker and to determine the peculiarities of his perception by the audience in the context of virtual communication. The goal required solving the following interrelated tasks: to investigate the conditions for the formation of an academic online speaker; to identify the distinctive features of the online speaker from other types of speakers; to analyze the process of adapting a new type of academic speaker to the virtual communication environment in the distance learning format. Methodologies and Techniques. To achieve the goal of research and solve the identified problems the following methods were used: the method of system description (as the main one), the method of comparative analysis, the method of linguistic observation and the method of frontal survey. A frontal survey of the second-year students of Department of Law of the Don State Technical University was used as an empirical basis for the study, in which 150 recipients took part. Results. A working definition of the term «online speaker» is given, the conditions of uncertainty in which the speaker has to build up communication with the Internet audience are characterized. The results of observing the unplanned mass transfer of academic communication in higher education to online environment are described. The factors influencing the formation of the online speaker’s image are identified. Practical Significance. The materials and results of the study may be of interest to teachers of higher education, educators and heads of educational institutions working under the conditions of distance learning. Recommendations . The change of the system of interpersonal interaction in the academic environment of higher education requires not only the introduction of new educational online technologies but also a detailed study of the forms of communication behind them, the development of other ones, including professional and image approaches to organizing communication.

The article touches upon the problem of necessity to change pedagogical methods and technologies in high school education that are determined by the changes in modern society. The authors point out that the up-to-date society is deeply plunged into digital technologies and the reality is that methods being used in education cannot meet the requirements of the present. In this regard the authors speculate that application of digital technologies, namely laboratory facilities of virtual reality in training process of technical university students is able to improve the education quality. The goal of this research is to prove this theory. The authors give a thorough comparative analysis of academic literature that describes the existing virtual reality facilities which are widely used in higher educational establishments of transport abroad as well as in the Russian Federation. The typology of training facilities is given in the article, all advantages and drawbacks of digital technologies concerning the virtual reality on the example of reality simulators railway complexes have been described. With the help of statistic data processing methods that have been obtained by the experimental way the authors have proved that the application of reality simulators laboratory facilities can improve the quality of training at technical higher educational establishments.