THE ENTERPRISES"S STABILITY IS THE BASIS FOR EFFICIENT TERRITORIES"S DEVELOPMENT

Сборник выпущен при поддержке Фонда содействия развитию УрФУ имени первого Президента России Б.Н. Ельцин

THE RESULTS OF THE FORCED TRANSITION TO DISTANCE LEARNING THROUGH THE EYES OF STUDENTS

Universities operating in the new digital reality will only be able to remain competitive if they develop new educational technologies adapted to the new demands of applicants. The formation of the university's own educational environment should be based on the opinions of the students

Apartments as An Object of Real Estate

Работа посвящена изучения положительных и отрицательных сторон объектов недвижимости в формате апартаментов. Рассмотрены различные аспекты, позволяющие расширить целевую аудиторию покупателей апартаментов. Сделан вывод о необходимости упорядочения правового статуса апартаментов как отдельного вида недвижимости.The paper is devoted to the study of positive and negative sides of real estate objects in the form of apartments. Different aspects that allow to extend the target group of apartments buyers have been examined. The conclusion is made about the necessity to regulate the legal status of apartments as a separate type of the real estate

Social Impacts and Opportunities of Relocating Industrial Areas Outside the City

The article presents the results of in-depth interviews with employees of enterprises relocated to other territories. The authors propose recommendations to reduce social tension among employees in connection with the relocation of industrial facilities outside the city limits

Quality of Urban Environment in Russian Cities: Analysis, Dynamics, Development Trends

The article discusses the quality of the urban environment of Russian cities, provides an analysis and dynamics of the urban environment quality index, suggests further development directions for improving the quality of life of the population through the introduction of innovations and social tech

Economic Aspects of Emergency Transition to Distance Education, or The Price of Going Online in Higher Education

As Russian universities switched to distance education in March 2020 to prevent COVID-19 from spreading, self‑paying students started questioning the fairness of tuition fees during the pandemic. They fled petitions, emphasizing that distance learning could not be equated to traditional classroom‑based learning, that educational services were not delivered to the full extent, and that educational quality had decreased. On those grounds, students required cutting tuition fees down to the size of those in part‑time or extramural education. To understand whether universities can afford making this step, we undertake to measure the price that they have paid for the transition to distance learning. For this purpose, we use data from a survey of faculty teaching and curriculum organization practices carried out at a federal university between March 23, 2020 and June 21, 2020, which involved 4,099 faculty members, as well as financial records of some departments within that university. Findings show that teaching workload reduced by 15% with distance learning during the pandemic, and the number of contact hours decreased 1.7 times. However, the overall amount of faculty workload increased by 50%, first of all due to a 2.4-time rise in curriculum organization activities. Therefore, the transition to distance education led to a significant increase in faculty workload, given that contact hours were preserved. Furthermore, the university invested heavily in the transition to distance learning and continuity of educational processes during the pandemic, in particular by financing the establishment of a new department for digitalization of learning processes. An inference is made that distance education imposed by the pandemic has not been reduced to part‑time or extramural studies. Decisions about cutting tuition fees for self‑paying students should be made at the institutional level, with due regard for faculty workload and digitization costs. © 202

Socio-Cultural Impact of Church Building in Russia (the Case of the Cathedral of Saint Martyr Catherine in Ekaterinburg)

In recent years, Russia has been going through a boom of church building. In 2009, the Russian Orthodox Church (ROC) had 29,263 parishes and by 2019 this figure had risen to 38,649. In the last decade, the growth in the number of Orthodox religious organizations and places of worship has by far exceeded that of other assets of social infrastructure. While the number of churches is growing, however, the number of schools, kindergartens and hospitals is steadily falling. Unlike other elements of social infrastructure, church building is funded not from the state budget but is financed by donors, sponsors and by the ROC itself, with some of the funds coming from payments for religious rites (baptism, weddings etc). This article analyzes the historical significance and socio-economic impact of church building by focusing on the case of the Cathedral of Saint Martyr Catherine in Ekaterinburg. The right choice of the construction site for the cathedral-the choice that would be agreeable to the metropolitan bishop, municipal government, businesses and sponsors, local community and opinion leaders-will ensure not only that the project will be duly completed but also underline the fact that local communities are able to establish consensus and recognize each other's interests in local decision-making. One of the possible locations considered for building St.Catherine's Cathedral in Ekaterinburg was a former industrial site in the centre of the city. Eventually, it was chosen as the most suitable place for this large-scale project. Redevelopment of an underused or abandoned industrial site, resulting in the improvement in the quality of urban environment, can be seen as an effective instrument of project realization, contributing to the building's social and economic significance. © Published under licence by IOP Publishing Ltd

СОДЕРЖАНИЕ 137CS И 90SR В ЛЕКАРСТВЕННЫХ И ДРУГИХ ХОЗЯЙСТВЕННО ЦЕННЫХ ВИДАХ РАСТЕНИЙ КОРМЯНСКОГО РАЙОНА ГОМЕЛЬСКОЙ ОБЛАСТИ РЕСПУБЛИКИ БЕЛАРУСЬ

Investigation results of the contamination with 137Cs and 90Sr of the plants from natural ecosystems of four objects are being presented. 45 plant samples and 24 soil samples were analyzed. It was revealed that the permissible level for the 137Cs content of 370 Bq/kg, is exceeded for 21 samples (46.7 %). Content of 90Sr in plants varied from 3 Bq/kg to 544 Bq/kg. Most part of the radionuclides still remains in the upper soil horizons. Plant species specificity concerning the radionuclide accumulation depends on the composition of the natural ecosystem, type of soil, its agrochemical composition and humidity.Работа выполнена при поддержке гранта БРФФИ Б09БРУ-007 «Флора и растительность радиоактивно загрязненных приграничных территорий Брянской (Россия), Черниговской (Украина) и Гомельской (Республика Беларусь) областей в постчернобыльский период». Приведены результаты изучения радиоактивного загрязнения 137Cs и 90Sr растений природных экосистем четырех объектов. Проанализировано 45 образцов растений и 24 пробы почвы. В 21 об- разце (46,7%) отмечено превышение нормативов по 137Cs 370 Бк/кг. Содержание 90Sr в растениях колебалось от 544 Бк/кг до 3 Бк/кг. Большая часть радионуклидов продолжает оставаться в верх- них горизонтах почвы. Видовая специфичность растений по аккумуляции радионуклидов зависит от состава природной экосистемы, типа почвы, ее агрохимического состава и влажности

Problems of Grade Inflation and Symptoms of Academic Fraud within the MOOCs: What Educational Analytics Says

В статье рассматриваются вопросы использования массовых открытых онлайн-курсов (МООК) при реализации образовательных программ в вузах и связанные с этим проблемы оценивания результатов обучения студентов. Широкое внедрение в образовательную практику онлайн-курсов существенно повышает риски неконтролируемой инфляции оценок, что в дальнейшем может повлечь за собой потерю доверия к университетскому образованию со стороны работодателей. В рамках исследования был проведен анализ данных 18 онлайн-курсов УрФУ на Национальной платформе открытого образования (более 50 запусков в период пандемии COVID‑19) с целью оценки показателей качества контрольно-измерительных материалов курсов, успеваемости, активности и равномерности обучения студентов с помощью системы рекомендательных сервисов и поддержки индивидуализированного обучения «Цифровой тьютор». Результаты исследования дают основания утверждать, что существующие онлайн-курсы не позволяют объективно оценивать реальный уровень знаний и навыков студентов ввиду несовершенства контрольно-измерительных материалов и недостаточного объема банка заданий. Усугубляют ситуацию случаи академического мошенничества со стороны студентов, выявленные в ходе анализа их цифрового следа на платформе. Это приводит к неконтролируемой инфляции оценок, что подтверждается высокими значениями среднего балла слушателей (82 балла по текущему контролю и 70 баллов по итоговой аттестации), смещением медианных значений распределения в сторону больших баллов по отношению к среднему, а также критически высокой долей хороших и отличных оценок по всем курсам (80 %). Выявленные проблемы не позволяют использовать МООК в модели исключительно электронного обучения и требуют применения смешанных форматов обучения и итоговой аттестации в виде независимого тестового контроля на основе специально разработанного банка заданий, удовлетворяющего требованиям психометрики.The article studies the use of massive open online courses (MOOCs) when implementing educational programs at the university together with the related problems of evaluating students’ learning outcomes. The widespread introduction of online courses into educational practice significantly increases the risks of uncontrolled inflation of grades, which in the future may lead to a loss of employers’ confidence in university education. Within the study, there were analyzed the data of eighteen Ural Federal University’s online courses on the National Open Education Platform (more than 50 launches during the COVID‑19 pandemic). The aim was to assess the quality indicators of the course materials, academic performance, steadiness and regularity of students’ learning with the help of the «Digital Tutor» system. The results of the study show that the existing online courses cannot be a basis for an objective assessment of the real level of students’ knowledge and skills due to the imperfection of test materials and the insufficient volume of the task bank. The situation comes to be even worse thanks to the cases of students’ academic fraud, its traces identified during the analysis of their digital footprint on the platform. This leads to the uncontrolled inflation of grades, that is, to the high average score (82 points out of 100 in the semester and 70 points at the exam), to the shift in the median values of the distribution towards higher scores as compared to the average one, as well as to a critically high proportion of good and excellent marks in all courses (80%). The identified problems do not allow to use MOOCs in an exclusively e-learning model and require mixed learning formats and final certification in the form of an independent test control based on a specially developed bank of tasks that should meet the requirements of psychometrics.Авторы выражают благодарность Фонду Потанина за поддержку проекта создания новой программы онлайн-магистратуры и исследований в области онлайн-обучения (договор № ГСГК‑0090/21).The authors express their utmost gratitude to the Vladimir Potanin Foundation for supporting the project of creating a new online master’s program and research in the sphere of online learning (Contract No. ГСГК‑0090/21)

Forced Transition to Distance Learning: Students’ Expectations and Concerns

Весной 2020 года в связи с угрозой распространения COVID-19 большинство российских университетов перешли на дистанционное обучение. Эта вынужденная мера предъявила новые требования к преподавателям и студентам: им пришлось оперативно подстраиваться к новым образовательным условиям, что вызвало опасения относительно качества обучения в дистанционном формате. В данной исследовательской статье отражены результаты выявления категорий студентов, высказывающих наиболее высокий уровень опасений трудностей, связанных с непониманием учебного материала в новых условиях. В исследовании были задействованы студенты УрФУ (всего 6 230 человек), опрошенные в марте 2020 года. Регрессионный анализ данных показал, что страх не справиться с обучением был более всего характерен для студентов младших курсов обучения, для студентов, невысоко оценивающих свои навыки самоорганизации, для студентов, опасающихся трудностей в коммуникации с преподавателями и своей низкой мотивации, а также для студентов, посещающих занятия с целью приобретения знаний. На основании полученных данных авторами статьи обсуждаются возможные меры поддержки студентов в условиях быстрого и массового перехода на дистанционный режим обучения.Spring 2020 saw most Russian universities’ switch to distant learning due to the threat of COVID-19. The forced transition imposed new demands on faculty and students, who had to quickly adapt to the new educational conditions. These changes raised concerns about the quality of distant learning. The purpose of this study was to identify which students expressed more anxiety on expecting difficulties associated with a lack of understanding educational material under new circumstances. The study was based on the data of 6,230 Ural Federal University students polled in March 2020. Regression data analysis showed that the fear of not being able to cope with learning was more typical for the 1st and the 2nd year bachelors, for students who lowly estimate their self-regulated learning skills, for students who expected difficulties of communicating with teachers and of being motivated, as well as for students who attended classes for the sake of learning. The authors discuss possible measures to support students in the conditions of rapid and mass transition to distant learning