Abstract
In this article, topics related to the urgent transition to distance education (DE), through decisive measures taken to protect Russian university community against consequences of COVID-19 epidemic are covered. Based on semi-structured interviews with administrators, faculty, IT specialists and students, it is argued that in the force majeure circumstances the university offers for DE a standard model of one-size-fits-all curriculum though modified through information and communication technologies. The use of the Internet in a localized online space is limited to delivering courses without considering needs of individual learners, their autonomy, preferences and prior knowledge of the subject. The observation method was used by both participant and non-participant. An experiment on the teachers’ self-assessment proves that many still view the university as a source of offline information for students. The article purports to discuss ways to promote DE by the concepts of postindustrial educational space connectivism, hyperconnectivity of social networks, teachers’ reflective practice, digital nativity of teachers and students in mastering information and communication technologies. It is claimed that real transition of a Russian university to DE cannot be achieved without internet-provided increased transactional distance in the dialogue between the teacher and students mediated by technology and reflective approach.
Highlights
The globalization of the modern world is manifested in the interweaving of economic, cultural, political, professional and social spaces where interaction takes place at the junction of traditional borders
Collateral results of social processes are new, technologically stratified forms of educational organization, directly dependent on stereotypical national parameters of transnational situations. One of these forms, distance education (DE), introduces innovation and creativity, takes advantage of new technologies, fulfills the social task of enhancing a technologically unified educational space. This task requires integrating information and communication technologies (ICT) into the educational space to modernize the process of distance learning (DL) and provide equal opportunities for all potential learners
The current situation in Russian university system is characterized by the long-term trends of changes associated with the globalization of socio-economic relations and by the universal spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, which has required urgent and decisive measures to be rapidly taken to protect Russian university community against potential disastrous consequences
Summary
The globalization of the modern world is manifested in the interweaving of economic, cultural, political, professional and social spaces where interaction takes place at the junction of traditional borders. Collateral results of social processes are new, technologically stratified forms of educational organization, directly dependent on stereotypical national parameters of transnational situations. One of these forms, distance education (DE), introduces innovation and creativity, takes advantage of new technologies, fulfills the social task of enhancing a technologically unified educational space. This task requires integrating information and communication technologies (ICT) into the educational space to modernize the process of distance learning (DL) and provide equal opportunities for all potential learners. The current situation in Russian university system is characterized by the long-term trends of changes associated with the globalization of socio-economic relations and by the universal spread of the COVID-19 epidemic, which has required urgent and decisive measures to be rapidly taken to protect Russian university community against potential disastrous consequences
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