Digitalization of Higher Education During the Pandemic: Advantages and Risks

This research article presents the analysis and interpretation of the data of the authors’ study of the condition, problems and prospects of higher education digitalization at RSUH in comparison with the experience of leading foreign and Russian universities.
The purpose of the article is to determine the level and features of the digitalization process of Russian higher education before, during and after the pandemic.
The theoretical basis of the research is institutional and socio-cultural approaches that suggest considering the introduction of online education in the context of responding to the challenge of the formation of the digital economy and digital society. The empirical basis of the study is a survey conducted in April 2020 by the online questionnaire method, in which 327 people (representatives of the teaching staff, researchers, heads of educational departments (deans, heads of research centers), deputy heads of departments, as well as employees of deaneries, research centers and departments) took part in. Based on the generalization and interpretation of the data of the study, the authors showed that the digitalization of higher education at RSUH, as at other Russian universities, is based on the formation of an electronic information and educational environment. It appears that the evaluation of the level of access to this environment and the quality of services provided is high enough, while the effectiveness of the application needs to be improved. The introduction of electronic document management and meaningful communication with students remain the “pain points”.
The causes and consequences of the impact of the pandemic on the digitalization of higher education are identified in the article. Among them: the need for new forms of student-teacher-administration communication; lack of specialized educational materials for online education; technical, methodological and psychological unpreparedness of teachers for distance education. The future belongs to mixed forms of equivalent and digital higher education. The scientific novelty of the article lies in the novelty of the comparative study of online education in Russian universities conducted by the authors (on the example of RSUH, MEPhI, NSU), as well as in the justification of the formation of hybrid (mixed) forms of higher education. Based on this study it is proposed to form a university management strategy and implement the restructuring of the educational process.

1. Afanas’ev V. A., Velikaya N. M., Levashov V. K., Moiseeva A. N. St rategiya proryva i tsif rovaya real’nost’ Rossii. Sotsial’no-politicheskoe polozhenie i demograficheskaya situatsiya v 2019 godu [Breakthrough strategy and the digital reality of Russia. Socio-political situation and demographic situation in 2019] Moscow: FGBUN ISPI RAN, 2019, 394 p. (In Russ.).

2. Buryak V. V., Shostka V. I. Tsif rovizatsiya obrazovaniya: disruptive technologies v obrazovanii [Digitalization of education: disruptive technologies in education]. Gumanitarnye nauchnye issledovaniya [Humanities Research]. 2019, no. 9 (97), pp. 21–30. (In Russ.).

3. Khalik V. G., Chernova G. V. Tsifrovizatsiya i ee vliyanie na rossiiskuyu ekonomiku i obshchestvo: preimushchestva, vyzovy, ugrozy i riski [Digitalization and its impact on the Russian economy and society: advantages, challenges, threats and risks]. Upravlencheskoe konsul’tirovanie [Management consulting]. 2018, no. 10, pp. 46–63. (In Russ.).

4. Velikaya N. M., Velikaya T. V. Human capital and digitalization of public life in the public opinion of Russian residents. Functional aspects of intercultural communication. Translation and interpreting issues. Moscow: RUDN university, 2020, pp.698–706. DOI: 10.22363/2686-8199-2020-7-698-706

5. Bulanova M. B. Vysshee obrazovanie kak ob”ekt sotsial’nykh transformatsii [Higher education as an object of social transformations]. Sotsial’nye protsessy sovremennoi Rossii. [Social processes of modern Russia.] Nizhnii Novgorod, 2020, pp. 290–294. (In Russ.).

6. Bonfield C. A. Transformation or evolution? Education 4.0, teaching and learning in the digital age. Higher Education Pedagogies. 2020.

7. Kokhanova L. A., Golovko S. B., Chereshneva Yu. E. Tsifrovoe obrazovanie kak trend professional’nogo rosta. [Digital education as a trend of professional growth]. Revolyutsiya i evolyutsiya: modeli razvitiya v nauke, kul’ture, obshchestve [Revolution and evolution: models of development in science, culture, society.] 2019, no. 1, pp. 243–246. (In Russ.).

8. Tul’chinskii G. L. Tsifrovaya transformatsiya obrazovaniya: vyzovy vysshei shkoly [Digital transformation of education: challenges of higher education]. Filosofskie nauki. [Philosophical Sciences] 2017, no. 6, pp. 121–136. (In Russ.).

9. Prensky M. Digital natives, digital immigrants //On the horizon. 2001, vol. 9, no. 5, pp. 1–6, available at: https://doi.org/10.1108/10748120110424816 (accessed 24.09.2021)

10. Romanov A. V. Istoriya rossiiskogo distantsionnogo obrazovaniya [History of Russian distance education]. Tula, 2018, available at: https://infourok.ru/istoriya-rossiyskogodistancionnogo-obrazovaniya-3589042.html (accessed 01.10.2021) (In Russ.).

11. Turkle S. Alone together: Why we expect more from technology and less from each other. Hachette UK, 2017, 384 p.

12. Papi C. Digital spaces: between educational tools and student uses. Procedia-Social and Behavioral Sciences. 2015, vol. 174, pp. 3757–3764.

13. Strikhanov N. M., Sheregi F. E. Instrumental’naya effektivnost’ i sotsial’naya disfunktsiya distantsionnogo obrazovaniya [Instrumental effectiveness and social dysfunction of distance education]. Intelligentsiya v novoi real’nosti: sbornik nauchnykh statei [Intelligentsia in the New Reality: a collection of scientific articles]. M., 2021, pp. 25–52. (In Russ.).

14. Formazione metodologica, tecnologie didattiche ed esperienze nella promozione delle competenze di insegnamento e apprendimento. Alessia Scarinci, Universita’ degli studi di Foggia, available at: https://ojs.francoangeli.it/_ojs/index.php/exioa/article/view/11130/815 (accessed 24.09.2021).

15. Clerici R, Serbati A., Da Re L. Strumenti e dispositivi di analisi e valorizzazione della professionalità docente in Università. Universita’ di Padova, available at: https://ojs.francoangeli.it/_ojs/index.php/exioa/article/view/11126/811 (accessed 24.09.2021).

16. Golubin R. V., Saralieva Z. Kh., Sud’in S. A. Pandemiya Covid-19 i distantsionnoe obuchenie kak faktory formirovaniya novoi real’nosti PPS rossiiskikh VUZov (na primere FGAOU VO NNGU im. N. I. Lobachevskogo) [The Covid-19 pandemic and distance learning as factors of the formation of a new reality of teaching staff of Russian universities (on the example of the Lobachevsky National State University)]. Intelligentsiya v novoi real’nosti: sbornik nauchnykh statei. [Intelligentsia in a new reality: collection of scientific articles] M., 2021, pp. 159–169. (In Russ.).

17. Bulanova M. B. NEET-molodezh’ v tsifrovom obshchestve [NEET-youth in a digital society]. Tsifrovoe obshchestvo – novyi format sotsial’noi real’nosti: struktury, tendentsii razvitiya. [Digital Society – a new format of social reality: structures, development trends] St.-Peterburg, 2020, pp. 494–495. (In Russ.).

18. I s sledovanie ros si iskogo ry n ka onl a inobrazovaniya [Research of the Russian online education market], available at: https://innoagency.ru/files/Issledovanie_rynka_rossiyskogo_online_obrazovania_2020.pdf (accessed 01.10.2021) (In Russ.).

19. Tsifrovoi razryv. Chem on grozit Rossii i kakovy ego masshtaby. [The digital break. What does it threaten Russia with and what is its scope], available at: https://iq.hse.ru/news/465308186.html (accessed 02.10.2021). (In Russ.).

20. Chernyshov A. G. St rategiya i fi losof iya tsifrovizatsii [Strategy and philosophy of digitalization]. Vlast’ [Power], 2018, no. 5, pp. 13–21. (In Russ.).

21. Strokov A. A. Tsifrovizatsiya obrazovaniya: problemy i perspektivy [Digitalization of education: problems and prospects]. Vestnik Mininskogo universiteta [Bulletin of Mininsky University], 2020, vol. 8, no. 2, pp. 2–15. (In Russ.).