DIGITALIZATION: MAINSTREAM FOR THE UNIVERSITY EDUCATION AND CHALLENGES FOR THE TEACHERS

Abstract

The extensive dissemination of digital technologies, their transnationality, transculturality, accessibility in almost every family and the implementation of ideas for building a digital economy are a challenge for the Russian system of professional education. The answers to this challenge are, in particular, the integration of open educational resources into the educational programs of higher education institutions, the formation of professional education architecture based on network forms of interaction in the national and global space, their wide extension containing certain difficulties and requiring additional study. The aim of this review article is to analyze the situation in the sphere of digitalization of higher education, to specify the directions of transformation, the conditions and factors of Russian university teachers’ employment associated with the introduction of online courses in the educational programs of professional education, and to formulate and justify issues, which are to be studied in the process of additional empirical research. The methodological reference point of the research is the concepts and theories of e-learning in higher education based on the integration of open educational resources into the educational process. The information base are the results of Russian and foreign scientists’ studies on the transformation of knowledge acquisition processes in the modern world, digitalization of education, evaluation of the effects of using open educational resources, loyalty and acceptance of online courses by the university community. The main research methods are review, analysis and synthesis, which allow to expand the understanding of online courses use in the university education system, and to formulate tasks for additional research of the teachers who integrate online courses. Our analysis shows that the integration of online courses in higher education programs is an epoch’s demand conditioned by changes in the principles and technologies of knowledge transfer and development. Leading universities increasingly rely on open educational resources, the introduction of the latter providing all the participants (the University, the teacher, the student) with information, technological, temporary, economic, and image effects. The Russian scientific space sees here the first raise of the following issues to be studied: 1) changes in the conditions of Russian university teachers’ employment in connection with the introduction of online courses in educational programs; 2) motivation for their activities on development and maintenance of online courses to date; 3) the opinion on the online courses as acceptable or rejectable in their professional activities. This article might be of use for representatives of the university administration (concerning the problems of summarizing information about the introduction of online courses in the educational process, setting research questions to be studied for the formation of teaching staff’s loyalty and acceptance of this or that training system). Of no less interest should it be for any university teacher, as we try to detalize the content of online courses and to identify the effects of their implementation. In the nearest future, the authors intend to publish the results of an empirical study on online learning technologies perception by university teachers and on their attitude to these technologies.