Дистанционное образование в условиях пандемии: новые вызовы российскому высшему образованию

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. © 2020 LLC Ecological Help. All rights reserved

Editors: XXIII International Conference "Culture, Personality, Society in the Conditions of Digitalization: Methodology and Experience of Empirical Research" named after professor L.N. Kogan

This collection contains selected papers from the Culture, Personality, Society in the Conditions of Digitalization: Methodology and Experience of Empirical Research Conference, held in Yekaterinburg, Russia, 19th-21st March 2020. This event was jointly hosted by the Ministry of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation. The conference considered how digitalization is affecting culture, individuals and society as a whole – both in Russia and more globally. The spread of technology is impacting all spheres of human activity, creating qualitatively new types of interaction between individuals and social groups. At the same time, however, there is a generational gap in the uptake of these new technologies, ease of use, and ease of access. This is creating a digital divide which is, itself, having a further impact on Russian society and culture. This collection contains 98 peer-reviewed papers exploring various elements surrounding the themes of culture and society’s digitalization. Topics include culture digitalization; education digitalization; artificial intelligence; the digital divide; politics digitalization; mass media; everyday life; and digital society. These papers will be of interest to academics, students and professionals researching problems involving cultural responses to the digitalization of societies