"Digital Semester 2020" in Universities of Russia and Germany: Comparative Analysis
Abstract
In the spring of 2020, the worldwide pandemic of coronavirus forced institutions of higher education in almost all countries of the world to switch for some time exclusively to distance learning. In German-language scientific pedagogical literature, this period was called the "digital semester 2020."
The purpose of the study is to study and compare the practices of providing distance learning with the electronic information and educational environment of institutions (hereinafter - EIOS) of higher education in Russia and Germany, updated during the "digital semester 2020."
The study used methods of comparing and analyzing current practices of the forty largest educational organizations of higher education in Russia and Germany, understanding and interpreting extensive factual material, including internal regulations and regulations of German and Russian universities, as well as information from their official sites. During the study, 60 students of Kuban State University were online interviewed for their satisfaction with the quality of online education during the pandemic.
The article identifies problematic aspects of the use of modern information and communication technologies and the transition of higher education institutions to online work. The need for a set of measures to transfer Russian universities to domestic information technology tools for online training is justified. The need to further improve the competencies of Russian teachers in the field of knowledge of didactics and e-learning tools is justified.
The study's prospects are to explore in more detail the pros and cons of conducting certain courses digitally in the long term, either as a supplement or as a substitute for face-to-face training.
The article may be interesting to university employees who ensure the functioning of the EIA, teachers who use a mixed form of training, organizers and teachers of online training, researchers of e-learning.
References
[2] Basilaia G., Kvavadze D. Transition to Online Education in Schools during a SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus (COVID-19) Pandemic in Georgia. Pedagogical Research. 2020; 5(4):em0060. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.29333/pr/7937
[3] Ahmady S., Shahbazi S., Heidari M. Transition to Virtual Learning During the Coronavirus Disease–2019 Crisis in Iran: Opportunity Or Challenge? Disaster Medicine and Public Health Preparedness. 2020; 14(3):E11-E12. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1017/dmp.2020.142
[4] Viner R.M., Russell S.J., Croker H., et al. School closure and management practices during coronavirus outbreaks including COVID-19: a rapid systematic review. The Lancet Child & Adolescent Health. 2020; 4(5):397-404. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2352-4642(20)30095-X
[5] Kosova Ye.A., Dyulicheva Yu.Yu. Experience in Teaching Mathematical Disciplines Using E-learning and Distance Learning Technologies during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Sovremennye informacionnye tehnologii i IT-obrazovanie = Modern Information Technologies and IT-Education. 2020; 16(1):207-223. (In Russ., abstract in Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.25559/SITITO.16.202001.207-223
[6] Burnyashov B.A. Jelektronnaja informacionno-obrazovatel'naja sreda uchrezhdenija vysshego obrazovanija [Electronic information and educational environment of higher education institution]. Krasnodar, UIM Publ.; 2017. (In Russ.)
[7] Kergel D., Heidkamp-Kergel B. E-Learning, E-Didaktik und digitales Lernen. Springer Fachmedien Wiesbaden GmbH, ein Teil von Springer Nature; 2020. (In German) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-658-28277-6
[8] Jungermann I., Wannemacher K., Scholz J., Tercanli H., von Villiez A. Digitale Lernszenarien im Hochschulbereich. Berlin: Hochschulforum Digitalisierung; 2016. (In German)
[9] Kaup S., Jain R., Shivalli S., Pandey S., Kaup S. Sustaining academics during COVID-19 pandemic: The role of online teaching-learning. Indian Journal of Ophthalmology. 2020; 68(6):1220-1221. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.4103/ijo.IJO_1241_20
[10] Rapanta C., Botturi L., Goodyear P., Guàrdia L., Koole M. Online University Teaching During and After the Covid-19 Crisis: Refocusing Teacher Presence and Learning Activity. Postdigital Science and Education. 2020; 2(3):923-945. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-020-00155-y
[11] Mishra L., Gupta T., Shree A. Online teaching-learning in higher education during lockdown period of COVID-19 pandemic. International Journal of Educational Research Open. 2020; 1:100012. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedro.2020.100012
[12] Dreyer M. Datenanhang zur Umfrage zu den Angeboten für Digitale Lehre an Hochschulen im Juni 2020 durch den ZKI-Arbeitskreis Strategie & Organisation und die AMH (Version 1). Zenodo. 2020. (In German) DOI: http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3911623
[13] Grigat F. Universities underestimate the dangers. Forschung & Lehre. 20.12.2019. (In Eng.)
[14] Klimov A.A., Zarechkin E.Yu., Kupriyanovsky V.P. On the Digital Ecosystem of a Modern University. Sovremennye informacionnye tehnologii i IT-obrazovanie = Modern Information Technologies and IT-Education. 2019; 15(4):815-824. (In Russ., abstract in Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.25559/SITITO.15.201904.815-824
[15] Ally M. Competency Profile of the Digital and Online Teacher in Future Education. The International Review of Research in Open and Distributed Learning. 2019; 20(2). (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.19173/irrodl.v20i2.4206
[16] Diehl W.C. Online instructor and teaching competencies: Further Analysis of the 2016 Literature Review for Quality Matters. Quality Matters; 2018. (In Eng.)
[17] Vlasov D.V. The Role of Teacher’s Personality in Learning Motivation of Students Working in E-learning. Open Education. 2014; 2(103):29-33. (In Russ., abstract in Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.21686/1818-4243-2014-2(103-29-33
[18] Zheng F., Khan N.A., Hussain S. The COVID 19 pandemic and digital higher education: Exploring the impact of proactive personality on social capital through internet self-efficacy and online interaction quality. Children and Youth Services Review. 2020; 119:105694. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.childyouth.2020.105694
[19] Scheer A.-W. Industry 4.0: From Vision to Implementation. August-Wilhelm Scheer Institute for Digital Products and Processes, Scheer GMBH, Saarbruecken, Germany; 2015. (In Eng.)
[20] Rose E. Beyond Social Presence: Facelessness and the Ethics of Asynchronous Online Education. McGill Journal of Education / Revue des sciences de l'éducation de McGill. 2017; 52(1):17-32. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.7202/1040802ar
[21] Kayser I., Merz T. Lone Wolves in Distance Learning? An Empirical Analysis of the Tendency to Communicate Within Student Groups. International Journal of Mobile and Blended Learning. 2020; 12(1):82-83. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.4018/IJMBL.2020010106
[22] de Oliveira A.F.J., Samara A.de L., Abrantes de Lima, Cidade P.I.M., Nobre C.B., Neto M.L.R. Impact Of Sars-Cov-2 And Its Reverberation In Global Higher Education And Mental Health. Psychiatry Research. 2020; 288:112977. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/j.psychres.2020.112977
[23] Sahu P. Closure of Universities Due to Coronavirus Disease 2019 (COVID-19): Impact on Education and Mental Health of Students and Academic Staff. Cureus. 2020; 12(4):e7541. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.7759/cureus.7541
[24] Zhai Yu., Du X. Mental health care for international Chinese students affected by the COVID-19 outbreak. The Lancet Psychiatry. 2020; 7(4):e22. (In Eng.) DOI: https://doi.org/10.1016/S2215-0366(20)30089-4
[25] Galea S., Merchant R.M., Lurie N. The Mental Health Consequences of COVID-19 and Physical Distancing: The Need for Prevention and Early Intervention. JAMA Internal Medicine. 2020; 180(6):817-818. (In Eng.) DOI: http://doi.org/10.1001/jamainternmed.2020.1562
[26] Bozkurt A., Sharma R.C. Emergency remote teaching in a time of global crisis due to CoronaVirus pandemic. Asian Journal of Distance Education. 2020; 15(1):i-vi. (In Eng.) DOI: http://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.3778083
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License.
Publication policy of the journal is based on traditional ethical principles of the Russian scientific periodicals and is built in terms of ethical norms of editors and publishers work stated in Code of Conduct and Best Practice Guidelines for Journal Editors and Code of Conduct for Journal Publishers, developed by the Committee on Publication Ethics (COPE). In the course of publishing editorial board of the journal is led by international rules for copyright protection, statutory regulations of the Russian Federation as well as international standards of publishing.
Authors publishing articles in this journal agree to the following: They retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication of the work, which is automatically licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY license). Users can use, reuse and build upon the material published in this journal provided that such uses are fully attributed.
