Digitalization of Education at Russian Universities in 2021: a Growing Window of Opportunity

Educational process in Russian universities in 2020–2021 has undergone a serious transformation: digitalization processes have developed at an outstripping pace, new models of educational courses (blended learning, learning using MOOCs) were tested, and many new digital technologies have begun to be used at universities. Accelerated digitalization of the educational process is viewed in this report as a growing window of opportunity. The report is based on the latest data from the annual monitoring of the economics of education for 2020–2021, implemented by the Higher School of Economics. Data indicated a high impact of digitalization on the educational process and a high awareness of the teaching staff about new approaches to teaching. The following areas of potential growth of the quality of teaching in a digital environment are discussed: 1) neutral attitude of the teaching staff to new approaches to teaching in a digital environment indicates that the teaching staff still has little experience in probing it and has not developed new successful practices yet; 2) the great potential for the use of MOOCs in the educational process and the expectation of an expansion of its` use in the near future for all types of online courses within the educational process; 3) a rapidly growing level of ICT proficiency among teaching staff as a whole, but at the same time the lack of the skills in working in a digital learning environment, using online courses, working in LMS, using digital resources, which is seen as a growth zone to advance these competencies to a more high level.

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