Blended learning and fundamental disciplines

Abstract

Modern fast-paced technological world poses new requirement to graduates and their qualification. The educational systems of all countries accept the challenge by the national labour market. Tertiary education systems are forced to adapt to the requirements from employers. They are always looking for ways to accelerate students deepening their knowledge, sometimes by reducing their erudition and outlook. Thus, education is often focused on a particular client (employer, company, etc.). Russian universities resist this tendency. Wide basic training allows graduates to adapt quickly to any developing technologies and changing conditions of the labour market. At the same time, graduates have very low practical skills and employers need to retrain specialists. Nowadays, the market has changed. It requires graduates who are ready to use their skills immediately. The Russian education system is forced to innovate and use new educational technologies to correspond to the new economic conditions. Despite this, it is also very important to save the traditions of the Russian school. In this paper we research students’ attitude towards blended learning, based on survey results. B-learning is a new promising approach to studying Mathematics with continuous access to the course material from any device with an Internet connection. It is concluded that b-learning is currently the most preferable form of studying. We discuss the advantages of b-learning over the traditional forms and over pure e-learning. Grade ratings of Mathematics students that use b-learning tend to be higher, due to the fact that b-learning facilitates regular and systematic work during semester. Additionally, b-learning increases transparency in evaluation of students’ work. We establish that elements of e-learning in mathematical disciplines have their own peculiarities in comparison to other sciences, especially humanities.