Unfavorable epidemiological situation as an intensifier of digitalization of higher education / Неблагоприятная эпидемиологическая обстановка как интенсификатор цифровизации высшего образования

Компанеева Людмила Геннадьевна ORCID: 0000-0001-8328-013X кандидат педагогических наук доцент, кафедра лингвистики и межкультурной коммуникации, Волгоградский институт управления - филиал РАНХиГС 400078, Россия, Волгоградская область, г. Волгоград, ул. Герцена, 10, ауд. 407 Kompaneeva Liudmila Gennadievna PhD in Pedagogy Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics and intercultural communication, Volgograd Institute of Management – branch of RANEPA 400078, Russia, Volgograd region, Volgograd, Herzen str., 10, room 407 kompaneyeva@mail.ru Другие публикации этого автора     Гуляева Евгения Вячеславовна ORCID: 0000-0003-1605-8576 кандидат филологических наук доцент, заведующий кафедрой лингвистики и межкультурной коммуникации, Волгоградский институт управления - филиал РАНХиГС 400078, Россия, Волгоградская область, г. Волгоград, ул. Герцена, 10, ауд. 407 Gulyaeva Evgeniya Vyacheslavovna PhD in Philology Associate Professor, Head of the Department of Linguistics and intercultural communication, Volgograd Institute of Management – branch of RANEPA 400078, Russia, Volgograd region, Volgograd, Herzen str., 10, room 407 guevgenia@yandex.ru Другие публикации этого автора     Гавриш Алеся Дмитриевна ORCID: 0000-0002-4791-5852 кандидат филологических наук старший преподаватель кафедры лингвистики и межкультурной коммуникации, Волгоградский институт управления ‒ филиал РАНХиГС, г. Волгоград 400078, Россия, Волгоградская область, г. Волгоград, ул. Герцена, 10, ауд. 407 Gavrish Alesya Dmitrievna PhD in Philology Senior Lecturer, Department of Linguistics and intercultural communication, Volgograd Institute of Management – branch of RANEPA, Volgograd 400078, Russia, Volgograd region, Volgograd, Herzen str., 10, room 407 prostozachem@mail.ru Другие публикации этого автора

Платонова Дарья Олеговна ORCID: 0000-0002-8562-2970 кандидат филологических наук доцент, кафедра лингвистики и межкультурной коммуникации, Волгоградский институт управления - филиал РАНХиГС 400078, Россия, Волгоградская область, г. Волгоград, ул. Герцена, 10, ауд. 407 Platonova Daria Olegovna PhD in Philology Associate Professor, Department of Linguistics and intercultural communication, Volgograd Institute of Management – branch of RANEPA 400078, Russia, Volgograd region, Volgograd, Herzen str., 10, room 407 danyush7777@yandex.ru Другие публикации этого автора

Introduction

Accelerated by the pandemic, the digital future becomes a reality increasingly faster. The events associated with COVID-19 (Coronavirus disease caused by SARS-CoV-2 virus) showed how much important digital technology was in case of a rapid change in the common functioning processes of society. The digital society, society of the future considered in recent history, is deemed to be a result of the implementation of the concept of information society, however, its key feature is not information itself but the electronic digital way to store and disseminate it and the electronic digital mediation of any social relations ^[1].

The development of digitalization transforms all areas of activities of human society including education. In the course of education enhancement, digital technology plays an increasingly important role, contributing to education modernization and development and training of experts possessing the required digital skills. The creation and introduction of the digital educational environment in educational institutions as well as the implementation of the digital transformation of the educational system are supported at the state level and organized within the framework of the Federal Project «Digital Educational Environment».

The introduction of digital technology, the emergence of the digital educational environment, digital tools and digital footprints determine the development of digital education ^[2]. Digital education should be understood as a process of organization of the interaction between educators and students while moving from the goal to the result in the digital educational environment; its main means are digital technology, digital tools and digital footprints as results of learning and professional activities.

The legal basis for the initiation and implementation of digitalization in the area of education in the Russian Federation is as follows:

1) Federal Law №273-FZ of December 29, 2012 «On Education in the Russian Federation» enshrining the right of educational organizations to apply various digital learning technologies in their activities.

2) Program «Digital Economy of the Russian Federation», in accordance with which the digital educational environment must be created by 2024, ensuring high quality and accessibility of education.

3) The State Program of the Russian Federation «Education Development» for 2018-2025, which provides for the achievement of high quality and accessibility of education and application of distance technologies.

During the COVID-2019 pandemic, the educational system and the educational process itself underwent significant changes, there was a massive, forced transition of educational institutions to the distance mode of work, and consequently, many countries actually launched an unexpected large-scale experiment for education digitalization, its positive results are likely to be used further in the system. All educational institutions shifted to the widespread and, more importantly, real application of distance and digital learning technologies. The teaching staff of higher education institutions mastered and adapted the available services provided by technical developers of distance learning technologies and filled them with new educational content within a short period of time. The crisis provoked by the epidemic caused the rapid introduction of innovations in higher education institutions, they would take years at another time, overcoming administrative obstacles and personnel resistance.

On the basis of the observation of modern trends in education, the World Economic Forum predicted the following possible changes in the education area early in the pandemic: 1) amazing local innovations will take place in the course of forced pedagogical experiments (the traditional classroom education will be supplemented with new methods – from live broadcasts to experiments with virtual reality); 2) the partnership between the private and the state educational sectors will grow (various parties interested in the further use of digital technology, from publishers and television to providers of technology and telecommunications networks, will become more active); 3) the digital inequality will increase (the quality of education will mainly depend on access to digital technology) ^[3].

Rave reviews of the impact of the accelerated transition to digital education during the pandemic and the possibility of applying its components in the process of higher education raise questions about the prospects of the future use of such technology in education. The reasonableness of the study conducted within the stated topic is determined by the need to evaluate the changes in the use of digital technology and online learning, which are due to the pandemic challenges, directly in the educational process and resolve the issue of the possibility of its further application in terms of the modern digital educational environment.

Material and methods

The purpose of our study is the SWOT-analysis (the analysis of strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats) of applying digital technology of learning and e-learning in the educational process in the higher school performed on the basis of the data obtained as a result of the forced accelerated transition to distance forms of work and e-learning in the period of the pandemic.

It is necessary to fulfill the following objectives:

– to conduct a content analysis of the websites of three leading higher education institutions of Volgograd Region to consider the functioning of the digital educational environment of these institutions

– to consider the content of the operating programs in humanities in these higher education institutions for 2023 and evaluate the occurring changes in comparison with our similar study in 2019

– to identify the advantages and disadvantages, possibilities and threats of the use of distance technologies and e-learning in the higher school;

– to assess the prospects of application and the peculiarities of development of e-learning components and online courses in terms of the modern digital educational environment.

The methodological basis of the study is the principles of the systemic and structural-functional approaches.

The study was conducted in February and March 2023. To evaluate the changes that have occurred in the transformation of the social readiness to use components of digital education, we analyzed the websites of three leading higher education institutions of Volgograd Region: Volgograd Institute of Management – branch of RANEPA (Russian Academy of National Economy and Public Administration), Volgograd State Socio-Pedagogical University and Volgograd State University, in order to consider the operation of the digital educational environment of the abovementioned educational institutions.

We also conducted a content analysis of 44 curricula of bachelor's and specialist's full-time humanities programs, such as Public Administration, Management, Human Resource Management, Economics, Law, Psychology, Social Work, History, Elementary Education, Economics, Foreign Languages of these higher education institutions for the academic year 2022/2023 and evaluated the changes that occurred, in comparison with our similar study of 2019 dedicated to the readiness of Volgograd higher education institutions to function in the digital society ^[4].

The current situation with the use of digital technology and e-learning components in the educational process was evaluated by means of an anonymous survey of students. We can add that the participation of respondents in the survey was voluntary, and we ensured the anonymity of personal data of all respondents. The questionnaire survey involved 450 persons, random first to fourth year students of the three leading higher education institutions of Volgograd mentioned above. The participants consisted of full-time students whose major subjects were as follows: management (18%), humanities (11,5%), law (26%), economics (17%), philology (15,5%) and sociology (12%).

The questionnaire included 26 questions assessing the availability and use of digital gadgets in the personal and academic life of the students (4); the use of digital technology and e-learning by professors in the educational process during the long period of distance learning (4); the degree of change in the presentation of material during the quarantine measures in the spring of 2023 in comparison with the previous period of distance learning (3) and the use of new forms of work mastered by professors during the pandemic in traditional offline learning (15).

Theoretical background

In the light of recent events, the attention of scholars in many countries has been focused on the rapid development of digital education, assessment of the advantages, disadvantages and prospects for e-learning and digital technology, application of their possibilities in the traditional learning process and feasibility of the transition to e-learning ^[5].

The technical and cognitive skills that make it possible to navigate modern information technology, satisfying personal, educational and professional needs, such as the ability to work with information in the digital environment, the capability of algorithmizing and optimizing own actions, the ability to interact in the digital environment taking into account ethical standards and legal regulation of the digital space, knowledge of the fundamentals of information security at the user level and the capability of protecting digital devices and personal data become a vital necessity for all higher school graduates. The category of digital education as one of the possibilities of increasing the effectiveness of the formation of professional competence of future bachelors, specialists and masters is described in works by A. A. Verbitsky, E. Yu. Levina and S. Grand-Clement ^[6]; ^[7]; ^[8].

The influence of the development and introduction of digital tools and technologies on the educational process is considered by V. N. Minina. The author notes that there are new participants in the group of actors involved in education: developers and owners of educational platforms, software and programming tools, mediators providing services for the adaptation of both tools and technologies themselves to the educational process in higher education institutions and professors and students to new technologies. New actors of the educational process transform usual relations between professors, students and administrations of educational organizations, they are actively involved in decision-making with respect to the content and arrangement of the educational process, partially displacing the academic staff from this area ^[9].

The influence of advantages and disadvantages of the accelerated transition to digital and online education on the system of higher education is still to be studied, it is the subject of research and discussion of scholars from different countries. For example, the influence of the pandemic on the change in methods of teaching and motivation of students and their readiness to use e-learning were considered in the work by A. Prasetyo ^[10] and G. Erlam ^[11], the influence of forced distance learning on the emotional state of students and their academic stress was evaluated by A. Clabaugh and J. F. Duque and N. Selwyn respectively ^[12];^[13].

Critical educational research of digital educational platforms as parts of wider socio-technical assemblages and their performative effects was conducted in works by M. Decuypere ^[14] and possible positive and negative effects of the pandemic on digital innovations are described in works by O. Zawacki-Richter, Ben Williamson and Rebecca Eynon, L. N. Danilova ^[15]; ^[16]; ^[17]. In their studies, the scholars increasingly often conclude that in terms of full functioning of educational institutions the need for distance learning is significantly reduced (satisfying only some groups of students), while digital technology, on the contrary, must be developed further by intensifying its use in classroom education. Researchers notice that the use of digital educational platforms allows teachers to organize the educational online-process at a convenient time, because there is no need to seek for an empty classroom or to adjust to the university’s schedule. In addition, online educational activities take place in a home environment, comfortable for both student and teacher.

Study and results

Digitalization of higher education means the transformation of the education and management process and routine social practices in the system of higher education due to the introduction of technologies of creation, processing, exchange, and transfer of arrays of information with the use of non-paper media. The conducted analysis of the websites showed that digitalization has been substantially and successfully integrated into the process of management and operation of higher education institutions, almost all management areas are automated: enrollment record, personnel management, curriculum, and schedule development, planning and monitoring of activities, record of students' academic progress and attendance, administrative and economic work, etc. However, the introduction of digital components in the process of education was slow, professors limited themselves mainly to the use of lively presentations while explaining new material.

The mobilization of the academic teaching staff during the pandemic facilitated the use of new forms of work, including digital technology. The analysis of 44 curricula of bachelor's and specialist's humanities programs of the leading Volgograd higher education institutions showed that the curricula and programs of Volgograd State University and Volgograd State Socio-Pedagogical University did not undergo significant changes in comparison with our similar study in 2019 related to the readiness of these higher education institutions for the development of digital skills of students and the use of digital technology in the educational process ^[4].

Volgograd Institute of Management – branch of RANEPA included some components of e-learning. For example, in the curricula of 6 from 9 specialist's and bachelor's educational programs, there was a change of part of classroom lessons to electronic ones, which are to be uploaded in the distance learning system (on the basis of Moodle – a Learning online platform or course management system) with further automatic check of students' works and record in the general rating. On average, in bachelor's and specialist's programs, 6-8 disciplines are studied with the change of classroom work to work in the institution's distance learning system, which comprises 10% of the total number of the studied disciplines. 100% of all scheduled tests are uploaded and organized on the online platform of the institution, and 80% of the total number of hours of independent work in higher education programs is organized in the form of students' work with materials uploaded in the distance learning system.

The reasonability of this innovation remains debatable, as, first, not all students have a responsible attitude to tasks in electronic form and there are frequent cases of cheating, the Knowledge Assessment in electronic format does not exclude reading answers to questions (for example, by opening several windows on the computer screen). Accordingly, digitalization affected not only the process of education and attestation but also the ways to overcome the supervision of professors. As a result, the qualitative aspect suffers as well: in this case, the level of knowledge goes down, and the assessment of the quality of this knowledge does not correspond to the truth. Second, as there are no online seminars in the schedule, students perceive this activity as independent homework, consequently, they do not consider its fulfillment necessary.

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