Foreign Learning Platforms in Russian Education System: Potential Capacity Evaluation and Risks Forecasting

Abstract

The article deals with an analytical description of problems caused by integration of foreign learning platforms into the Russian education system. It provides the main results and conclusions reached within the frame of the fundamental quantitative research project. The project goals were the following: to study Russian experience in using learning platforms, foreign ones in particular; to study abundance of foreign learning platforms; to reveal and specify typical risks caused by their functioning in Russian education sphere. The authors analyze statistical information obtained through processing the data of survey of experts in online education. They consider colligated opinions and assessments by professional community of integration and application of foreign learning platforms, online courses arrangement on them and the complex of those potential threats for Russian education that could be caused by their use. The work notes that learning platforms are an innovative form of education activities management, but their integration in the national system of education is connected with a number of risks. The article gives a contemporary review of learning platforms in the Russian educational field in terms of their nominal recognition, their real demand for by the experts in online education and their long-term benefits for national education. The principal criteria for the choice of learning platforms usage in education are stated and summarized on the basis of the empirical data. The study contains a description of a complex of main tasks for Russian education; in the professional environment their successful solving is linked to the shift to online education technology. Within the frame of forecasting and evaluation of risks in education there have been defined some threats which are typical for both domestic and foreign learning platforms as well as those which are specific for the latter ones. Risks interpretation is based on theoretical preliminary studies and experts’ survey data related to the subject. The categorical range of risks obtained includes content risks, social, economic and political risks, psychological and pedagogical risks, management risks. The authors raise the problem of regulation of foreign learning platforms integration into the Russian education system. The work contains the arguments for and against control in this sphere.