Distance Learning—Challenges and New Opportunities Under COVID-19 Pandemic

Abstract

The research is devoted to distance learning in Russian under the new coronavirus infection (COVID-19). The article presents the results of polling students and professors of universities of Kazan, Magnitogorsk, Penza, and Ryazan. The respondents were over 100 students and 40 professors. The research showed that 67% of students and 91.7% of professors believe that higher education cannot be completely transferred into the online format. The professors consider a combination of online and offline regimes to be an optimal form of learning. The polling allowed evaluating the strengths and weaknesses of organization and content of distance learning at the local level, the difficulties and problems for professors and students, and the prospects of the phenomenon under study. The first and foremost of them is the insufficient preparedness of the professors and students for transiting to the distance learning regime. Many organizational problems were due to an unstable functioning of the digital educational environment, educational portals, and information-communication networks. The research showed that interaction between professors and students should be made more efficient. In general, both students and professors acknowledge that distance learning complements the existing traditional educational system and only certain forms of teaching can work in distant format. In this regard, the full transition of the Russian universities to distance format in spring 2020 is a forced necessity caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.