Russian University Teachers Research Articles

Online Courses: To Accept Impossible to Ignore

Online courses are changing the landscape of higher education. However, their adoption by the teaching community of Russian universities has not yet been fully studied. The conducted sociological research made it possible to assess the involvement of Russian university lecturers in the processes of digitalization of education, to determine the motives for their activities in creating and integrating online courses into the educational process, and to form an understanding of the acceptance of online learning by the Russian teaching community. The pyramid of acceptance of Cox and Trotter’s open educational resources is a repulsive idea for the study. The empirical basis of the study was the responses and opinions of teachers of Russian universities, representing different categories of universities.The results of the research can be of practical significance in determining the directions of social policy of education digitalization at the state level in terms of developing stimulating and motivating measures and measures to support and provide the necessary guarantees to lecturers, especially regional ones, during the transformation period.

E-Learning in the Linguistic Disciplines Teaching: the Experience of Remote and Full-Time Learning

The period of forced remote learning has deepened university teachers’ and students’ experience in e-learning and developed a number of abilities, including ITC-competence and possession of various e-learning methods. This valuable experience should be used after resuming of full-time or face-to-face (F2F) learning in the universities. The purpose of the article is to determine the most promising areas of using e-learning in the linguistic disciplines teaching based on the analysis of the advanced teaching experience during the pandemic and after the resumption of traditional full-time education. Using the methods of theoretical analysis of the scientific works published within the period February 2020 – February 2021 and empirical study among Russian university teachers and students, the most efficient and promising areas of e-learning in the linguistic disciplines teaching were singled out. These areas include the use of the efficient e-learning methods and creation of lasting online learning communities. At the same time the empirical survey showed one more important area of research, namely, the characteristics of the teacher’s speech in distance education. In the result, the author suggests some ideas to preserve the valuable obtained teaching experience and to use it in both forms of learning: distance and F2F.

Digital Skills of Teachers

The aim of the work is to analyze the digital skills of teachers of Russian universities a year after the COVID-19 pandemic. The latest research on the digitalization of education, analysis of the digital competencies of teachers and tools to evaluate the digital skills of educators has been conducted. The results of a study conducted on a sample of Russian teachers are described. It has been revealed that teachers have an average level of digital literacy, and most educators are integrators and experts in the use of technology in the educational process. They are able to assess educational resources, create digital resources and share digital materials, cope with the problem of changing existing digital courses, etc. The findings are of interest both to the university’s professional development system, which develops the digital competence of its teachers, and for teachers who wish to improve their level of digital literacy through self-education.

ИГРОВОЕ КИНО В ТЕХНИЧЕСКОМ ВУЗЕ

The article substantiates the relevance of the historical and culturological analysis of feature films in practical classes of the university course «Culturology» for technical specialties. Theoretical substantiations of the use of cinematography as an audiovisual source in the study of culture, as well as methodological developments of teachers of Russian universities are given. The novelty of the methodology developed by the author is shown. The description of the organization of classes, including the criteria for the selection of films, is given. Examples of practical tasks are given to consolidate the theoretical material of the university course in cultural studies in the sections of the Thematic plan – «Morphology of culture», «Culture, society, personality», «Dynamics of culture», «Socio-cultural worlds», «Culture and peoples» and topics, including: historical and spatial typology of culture; value motivations and cultural conflict; functional sign; consumer society and conspicuous consumption, «man of the mass»; elite and mass, elite and popular culture; the level of mass art and the formula model; historical and typological features of Russian culture. Examples of expected responses and results obtained are provided. The results of the five-year experience of using feature films in practice in cultural studies at a technical university are summed up: the majority of students are most successful in analyzing films of the middle level of mass art (mid-culture). The practical tasks developed by the author enable students to get acquainted with the masterpieces of Russian cinema, to some extent penetrate into the essence of the culture they represent, and also test their understanding of cultural theory. The teacher evaluates the student's ability to apply culturological theory to solve practical problems according to the level of the assignment.

Russian Professor as a Laborer in the Era of Ratings, Digitalization and the COVID-19 Pandemic

The traditional labor contract has actually ceased to be the principal legal document, regulating labor relations of Russian university teachers. The individual labor contract was reduced to the status of a mere ‘rudimentary’ annex to the so-called effective contract. The latter is legally non-existent and is not even mentioned in the Labor Code of Russia of 2001. The Covid-19 pandemic with its isolationist features aggravated the absurd paradigm change within the Russian Labor law. As a result, the illegitimate effective contract has virtually supplanted the regular labor contract. There may be traced three dominantfeatures of the new labor regime, induced by the Covid-19 pandemic. Firstly, the said labor regime fosters social dissociation of former (ante-pandemic) colleagues with the inevitable harm to the social nature and human dignity of homo faber. Secondly, wecan witness the strengthening of the external -via internet -exploitation of university teachers by a corresponding managerial staff and the merging of this exploitation with the academic staff’s self-exploitation. Thirdly, the said regime is responsible for virtual disappearance of difference between working days of university teachers and leisure hours, previously reserved for reading and research.

University professors ready to work remotely implement distance learning during the COVID 19 pandemic

During the COVID 19 pandemic, the forced and widespread transition to distance learning has required restructuring of the entire educational process at the universities, quick adoption of new tools for work in the digital environment, and adaptation to new ways of communication in the teacher-student system. In May 2020, we conducted an anonymous online survey of the 172 Russian university teachers to determine their readiness to distance learning in conditions of self-isolation during the COVID 19 pandemic. We determine that teachers of all ages, different work experience, and various specializations have a similar (not quite successful) level of psychological state when working in a completely remote mode. We find that teachers’ self-assessment of their readiness for distance learning also has medium-low values. The teachers were not prepared to work exclusively in the remote format, regardless of their gender, age, work experience and specialization. Our analysis shows that teachers’ self-assessment of their professional skills differs between a group of young teachers that do not have PhD (which presumably have higher motivation for career growth, self-development, pursuing a PhD degree, promotion) and a group of senior teachers holding PhDs (who, at the time of the survey, had a significant professional status). Our conclusion suggests that the respondents have quite successfully overcome a high psychological burden and the need for a full transition to distance learning, which accompanied their work during the pandemic. Furthermore, we find that Russian university teachers have a high adaptive potential. A quick transition to remote mode, the need to master new technologies and forms of training did not pose any insurmountable problems for the Russian university teachers but became new motivators for their professional development. Further work requires additional research regarding the high "psychological cost" of such restructuring of consciousness and professional activity.

Distance education during the pandemic: new challenges to Russian higher education

COVID-19 was the catalyst for many processes that were actively developing in the previous period, including the further introduction of distance education in Russian higher educational institutions. Russian higher education has faced new challenges due to the total transition to distance learning in the face of the pandemic. In March–May 2020, a sociological study was conducted in a number of universities in Yekaterinburg, Chelyabinsk, Moscow. The research purpose was to identify the main challenges universities faced during the pandemic and the prospects for the further development of distance education in Russian higher education. The study used the qualitative and quantitative strategies: a questionnaire survey of students (N=500) from different fields of study (social, humanitarian, technical, economic ones) who received distance learning experience during the pandemic; in-depth interviews with teachers of Russian universities (N=20), frame analysis of students’ cases on their daily practices in online educational interaction (N=42). The study made it possible to identify the challenges faced by Russian higher education in the total transition to distance education in a pandemic: the need to adapt students and teachers to work online (80% of respondents’ answers); decline in the quality of education (62.7% of respondents’ answers); changing the role of a teacher in the educational process (68% of the respondents’ answers); digital divide in the digital culture of the younger and older generation of teachers (67% of respondents’ answers); etc. A number of contradictions were recorded in the further implementation of distance education in Russian higher education. Considering that the policy towards digitalization in Russia has now been declared a priority, higher education cannot remain aloof from technological progress. Besides, the further introduction of distance learning should take place with overcoming the challenges and contradictions faced by Russian higher education during the pandemic, while maintaining the national achievements of Russian higher education, acquired over its long history.

ПРОБЛЕМА ЦИФРОВОЙ ГРАМОТНОСТИ ПРЕПОДАВАТЕЛЯ ВУЗА XXI ВЕКА

The article examines aspects of a university teacher’s digital competence as an urgent problem of modern education. The background is highlighted; the definition of digital competence is given. An analysis of modern processes, accumulated experience is carried out, promising areas for increasing the level of digital literacy among teachers of Russian universities are determined.

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

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.

Teachers’ assessments of the changes in higher education in Russia: Transformation or stagnation?

The article presents the assessments by Russian university teachers of the changes that have resulted from the reform of higher education. The assessment of the result of higher education reform was built through the optics of the micro-level studying and the bottom-top strategy for summarizing the results. The authors used a list of questions about teachers’ assessment of the conditions for academic mobility, the success of the transition to a two-level system, the perception of competition in the academic market, the possibility of scientific work and academic mobility, and also the degree and type of participation in the development of master’s degree programs. The results were based on data obtained in the framework of the project “The Russian Masters’ early growth”, a recipient of the Vladimir Potanin Foundation scholarship program. The study showed that university teachers perceived the reform of higher education rather negatively, they noted an increase in useless paperwork, a low level of academic mobility, lack of academic freedom, and difficulty in conducting scientific research. Competition between teachers was assessed as low, and respondents also marked that the academic labor market in Russia is not well-established. The authors concluded that the tasks of higher education reform have not been solved, and on the part of teachers there is an institutional distrust of the ongoing reforms.

ОСОБЕННОСТИ ОБУЧЕНИЯ СТУДЕНТОВ ИЗ КНР ДИСЦИПЛИНЕ «ИНОСТРАННЫЙ ЯЗЫК – АНГЛИЙСКИЙ»

Statement of the problem. The article considers the problem faced by Russian teachers and international students as a result of an increasingly internationalized university audience, namely: the special features of teaching a foreign language (English) to international students from People»s Republic of China (PRC). The purpose of this article is to study the essential aspects of teaching international students from the PRC in the process of studying the discipline Foreign Language – English and possible didactic methods and tools that help deal with difficulties and problems faced by teachers of Russian universities. The research methodology consists of the analysis of Russian and international psychological and pedagogical literature, the synthesis of the authors» experience in teaching a foreign language. The study is based on the ideas of the humanist philosophy in education and project activities, the personality as a subject of self-development, the interactive concept of learning, as well as research in the field of social relationships and teaching methods of verbal communication in a foreign language. Research results. The special aspects of teaching a foreign language (English) to international students from the PRC are analyzed and justified, and methods for reducing difficulties in the process of studying the discipline Foreign Language – English are implemented. Conclusion. The tools and methods of teaching international students from China listed in the article should be applied further in order to confirm our findings as well as to study the best practices of supporting international students in other universities of Russia and abroad in order to provide our university with information on best practices for working with international students.

ЛЕКЦИИ В СОВРЕМЕННОМ ВУЗЕ: ИНТЕРАКТИВНЫЙ ПОДХОД

Statement of the problem and the purpose of the article. The article contributes to scholarly understanding of lecture-based courses at the higher education of today. The primary attention is focused on the place of lecture in the process of teaching given the mass implementation of active and interactive methods. The research methodology consists in the analysis of research works of international and Russian university teachers and scholars recognized by scientific community. The article presents the result of scholarly analysis of 146 research works, including 89 papers in English. Research results. No significant differences have been found among three widespread teaching approaches (lecture-based, active, and flipped learning) for learning efficiency. Lecture and active learning are not mutually exclusive teaching methods, they form a dialectical tension that can be resolved by shifting to an interactive lecture. Conclusion. In conclusion, lecture is assumed to be not an outdated teaching method but rather a great potential asset that can be achieved by implementing the elements of both, active and interactive learning. Active and interactive elements of a modern lecture allow to optimize the student-centered teaching and to provide the visual methods usage (which is necessary due to psychological and cognitive features of contemporary students).

INTERNATIONALISATION OF ADVANCED TRAINING FOR TEACHERS OF MEDICAL ENGLISH

In the present context of medical science and technology advances, growing cultural diversity and the internationalisation of higher medical education, the problem of refresher training for Medical English teachers is becoming ever more relevant. The aim of the paper is to provide a scientific basis for creation of a relevant advanced training programme for Russian university teachers of Medical English. The results of the content-analysis of both national and international higher educational docu­ments, a review of research, theory, and current foreign language teaching practice in Prof. V. F. Voino-Yasenetsky Krasnoyarsk State Medical University (KrasSMU) and I. M. Sechenov First Moscow State Medical University (Sechenov University) allowed us to determine five principles that formed the basis for the design of a relevant advanced training programme for teachers of Medical English. Among the core principles of the programme development we suggested the principles of teacher’s autonomy, professionalisation, problem-based training, innovation, and internationalisation. Within the scope of these principles, characteristics of the proposed novel approach to the organisation of professional development courses for Medical English teachers make this approach effective and relevant to the modern educational context. The proposed approach to an advanced training course design is based on the use of some novel professionally focused forms of communication between students, teachers, experts and clinicians. Our findings indicate that this approach is beneficial for modern teachers of Medical English.

Без расчета на пенсию

<span>В статье рассматриваются перспективы использования в России зарубежного опыта пожизненного найма. Проанализированы для примера его японский и европейский варианты. Отмечается, что пожизненный наем существует в определенной благоприятной для него среде, предполагающей, в частности, большое пособие при выходе на пенсию, учет при назначении зарплаты наличия у работника иждивенцев, принятие всех новых работников на одинаковую зарплату. С учетом изменений, происшедших после первой публикации автора на эту тему (см. ЭКО № 3/2011), он приходит к выводу, что введение полномасштабного пожизненного найма в России в настоящее время не целесообразно, но отдельные его элементы кажутся вполне уместными. В частности, представляется возможным и даже желательным введение пожизненного найма для отдельных категорий преподавателей российских вузов. Помимо прочего, это может снизить социальную напряженность в отношении повышения пенсионного возраста, поскольку для части работников и компаний станет привлекательной система пожизненного найма. По мнению автора, нужно изменить роль Пенсионного фонда России, исключив из его компетенции назначение, начисление и выплату пенсий государственным служащим.</span>

On the social status of teachers of Russian universities

On the social status of teachers of Russian universities

Анализ опыта работы ведущих вузов России по проблеме использования силовых упражнений в процессе физического воспитания студентов специальных медицинских групп

The research analyzes strength training practices of Russia’s leading universities in the physical education of students of special medical groups. According to the modern Federal State Education Standards of Higher Education, the development of students’ physical fitness is a strategic task at every level of vocational education. A modern gra-duate should possess general cultural competence in the field of a healthy lifestyle and know the ways to preserve and promote health; be able to follow socially signi-ficant ideas about a healthy lifestyle and adhere to it; have skills in the field of sports and fitness activities and be self-organized in this regard. Strength training has the most effective impact on students’ locomotor system. However, such training sessions can be applied to fully healthy people. This problem is particularly acute in an inclusive education environment. For this reason, it is necessary to employ the methods that allow one to take into account the peculiarities of students assigned to special medical groups. The paper focuses on various techniques that have been applied to students with impaired health. The authors analyze strength training practices used by Russian university teachers when training students of a special medical group. The techniques of the following universities have been investigated: Omsk State Medical University, Astrakhan State University, Bauman Moscow State Technical University, Russian Presidential Academy of National Economy and Public Administration and other universities of the Russian Federation. The analysis makes it possible to determine that alternating strength training with mobility exercises and joint gymnastics is a relevant trend in further development of the authors’ techniques of physical education for students of special medical groups during vocational training at a university.

Russian university teachers’ ideas about pedagogic frailty

The paper focusses on the problem of pedagogic frailty in Higher Education in Russia. The main dimensions of pedagogic frailty are described from the point of view of Russian teachers and researchers. Concept maps were used to reveal the teachers’ ideas about the challenges presented by ‘pedagogic frailty’. The content analysis of their concept maps revealed interviewees’ perceptions of the possible options that can be used to generate solutions to the problems created by pedagogic frailty. The detailed analysis of original solutions and examples observed in the interviewees’ concept maps is presented. Based on the results of the research, guidelines about solutions to the problem created by pedagogical frailty are proposed.

Problems of Russian construction education in an age of innovation: socio-cultural and legal aspects

In this paper we estimate changes of Russian higher education, aimed to incorporate In this paper we estimate changes of Russian higher education, aimed to incorporate the latter in the Bologna process. The analysis of the reforms is given in terms of need in training specialists of the construction industry. The article analyzes the conclusions reached on the issue by some teachers of Russian universities of civil engineering. Among the reasons for concern from the part of the Russian education community, it is called the low level of knowledge about the tasks of re-forms and lack of information regarding measures to improve the educa-tion system. The investigation, in particular, points out that today the main issue of reforming is seen in creation of a single European intellectual space. At the same time, the questionnaire showed that the achievement of the stated purpose is prevented by the following factors: low level of stu-dent-builders in foreign languages and insufficient income. These circums-tances make education abroad almost impossible for most students from Russia and reduce the competitiveness of graduates from Russian universi-ties in labor market of the countries that joined to the Bologna system. The authors of the article pay special attention to the needs of executives of construction firms in qualified specialists. Most of the experts note the iso-lation of universities from solving problems of building practice, a notice-able lag of the national educational system from the western ones in train-ing specialists in construction logistics and organization of construction sites.

Занятость и статусные характеристики преподавателей российских вузов

Занятость и статусные характеристики преподавателей российских вузов

Ученая степень как профессионально- квалификационная и статусная характеристика преподавателей российских вузов

Ученая степень как профессионально- квалификационная и статусная характеристика преподавателей российских вузов