Forced shift to distance learning as an impetus to technological changes in the Russian higher education

Abstract

The objective request for the compliance of all spheres of life with the requirements of the information society has accelerated processes determined by the restrictive measures of the covid-19 pandemic. Almost all sectors of the economy were forced to switch to remote working; however, the education system was the most affected. The mass transition to distance learning revealed a number of challenges and contradictions in distant forms of the higher education programs and made the Russian education system respond to the challenges of the digital society. This required a deep analysis of various aspects of distance learning, readiness of all education actors to work remotely, availability of material-technical facilities, methodological support and software, and also an assessment of prospects and scenarios for the development of the Russian education system after the pandemic. In May 2020, the Center for Education Development Strategy at Lomonosov Moscow State University and the RUDN Department of Sociology, with the support of the Russian Professors Assembly, conducted a survey of the academic personnel to study universities transition to distance learning. The survey data reveled the real situation in the education system, features of the forced transition to remote working and challenges of such an educational format, and allowed to reconstruct a portrait of the teacher most skeptical to distance learning. The study helped to make a number of recommendations on improving forms and methods of learning and on developing education technologies in universities; to identify the main risks of distance education and to suggest possible forms of mixed learning in Russian universities.

Organizational and Technological Conditions for Providing Accessible Inclusive Higher Education

“…A separate group of studies is devoted to such a not always obvious understanding of accessibility as the psychological and methodological readiness of university teachers to provide conditions for students with disabilities to learn educational content by means of distance learning (Dyachkova, 2016;Evlanova, 2020;Narbut, Aleshkovsky, Gasparishvili, & Krukhmaleva, 2020).…”

Personality Traits and Academic Motivation as Predictors of Attitudes towards Digital Educational Technologies among Russian University Students

“…E.P. Belinskaya and N.V. Fedorova (2020) emphasized that the impact of students' personality traits on the different aspects of the educational process is a fairly popular topic in contemporary science, but much less research (especially in Russian psychology) is devoted to the influence of personality traits on the patterns of remote or online education. Only relatively recently, US researchers D. Gray and A. DiLoreto (2016) developed a comprehensive model of factors affecting the students' perception of the effectiveness of online learning and satisfaction with it.…”

“…The beginning of the COVID-19 pandemic and the "stay-at-home" restrictions have dramatically accelerated the digitalization of education in the world and in Russia. This situation has become a challenge to which the education system has responded by jumping to a new level of development (Baeva et al, 2020;Krouglov, 2021;Narbut et al, 2020;. Based on numerous studies conducted during the pandemic in different countries, most experts are inclined to believe that the changes introduced will no longer allow the education system to fully return to its previous track after the pandemic: most likely, there will be enrichment with new forms of education in blended and/or fully digital format (Baeva et al, 2020;Narbut et al, 2020;Aleshkovski et al, 2021;Li, 2022;.…”

Digitalization processes vs. traditional ones: ethical and environmental aspects

“…Digital transformation can increase profits and lower costs. The transformation of a company's culture towards the digitalization of employee workflow can successfully promote the digitalization of other operational processes (Narbut et al 2020). Another factor of success is having highly qualified experts.…”