The development of digital educational technologies in Russia before the pandemic: History and peculiarities of the EdTech industry

Abstract

The Covid-19 pandemic in March 2020 forced the restructuring of all educational processes and, like never before, use modern technologies so as not to stop the learning process at different levels of education. However, the trend towards digitalization of education emerged much earlier, and the technologies that were used during the pandemic have a long history. Scientific research most often looks at the application and effectiveness of digital technologies in the educational process of public educational institutions, but the EdTech industry is not limited to the field of formal education. Corporate training, additional and language education are some of the most digitalized market segments. The study considered in the article analyzed the development of educational technologies in Russia before the pandemic. The key stages of digitalization of education in Russia, the features of the introduction of educational technologies in educational institutions of the country are highlighted. An analysis of the development of the EdTech market in Russia before the pandemic is carried out, a comparison of the evolution of the market of educational technologies in Russia and abroad is carried out. It is concluded that the high-tech, but rather young and rapidly developing industry of educational technologies in Russia has a high potential for long-term development and investment attraction. Several areas of education were identified that were most digitalized even before the pandemic, and the positive impact of government initiatives and incentives for the introduction of educational technologies on the EdTech industry as a whole was revealed.