A scientific review of the problems that are relevant for researchers in the field of education in the last decade is presented. The issues of the content of education and its impact on the surrounding reality were considered by researchers from different fields of scientific knowledge: sociology, cultural studies, history, philosophy, political science, psychology. Scientific publications note that changes in education and its impact on personality occur due to various tools of the educational process, which can be identified in the generalized definition of «learning tools». The analysis of scientific literature and regulatory documents in the field of educational services in the Russian Federation allowed us to identify research areas that are of priority importance for pedagogical practice. It is significant for the authors to use a set of exercises, educational courses, design methods, situational tasks, and game technologies to form professional competencies of specialists. Most researchers note the need to justify the use of digital technologies to solve innovative pedagogical tasks. The scientific publications included in the review attempt to develop criteria for evaluating the effectiveness of teaching tools used in educational practice, their ranking and classification on various grounds, as well as the didactic potential of digital educational resources.