The education system last year faced significant structural transformations, however, the understanding of these processes has not yet been fully. The overall thesis of educational discourse in 2020 sounded like this: Walk a pandemic and as soon as it end, the usual world will be restored. But it's time to admit that this will not happen.
Sociologist Alvin Toffler in the second half of the last century proposed the concept of "Futurbo", with the help of which he described the process of adopting a significant change in the development of new technologies. At the beginning of this process, people need to compete with the loss of the past and accept the fact that as before, no longer be. And only after that it is possible to master the new reality and find its place in it. The sequence of these stages is critical: it is impossible to make friends with the new world without cutting the loss of the past.
Last year's educational discourse was concentrated around the residence of the shock challenges of the present, but it seems that this year the Russian educational community will have to decide how it will live on in the long run. And in order to form a strategic, not a situational agenda in the future, its participants will have to deal with the challenges that suggested a new reality. Technology is just one of them.
Competitiveness technologyThe technical and technological aspect of the translation of the learning process in the remote form was the main theme of all the discussions held by the educational community last year. However, the meaningful of these discussions were built mainly around the question of how to quickly and efficiently organize the educational process in the online environment. The leitmotif of the discussions was the idea of the limb of this process and waiting for a quick return to Offline. Moreover, the thesis was actually generally recognized that the quality of education when transferred to the Distant suffered. At the end of the year, this was forced to recognize the Minister of Science and Higher Education of Russia Valery Falkov: RIA Novosti quoted his words that "as a whole, the quality of remote learning is worse than the quality of full-time."
The solution to the main task of the educational system is to ensure the quality of education acceptable for all parties - it is impossible to be unanswered to the question of what exactly to invest in the concept of "digitalization". The key challenge for the educational discourse of this year will be to whether a discussion from the model of situational solving problems in the model of formation of a long-term strategy in a new digital reality will be. In practice, this will mean the transition from the discussion of digitalization as a means of "fire extinguishing" to its awareness as a factor inevitable transformation of universities.
One of the possible scenario turns of this discussion may be the issue of competitiveness. The extent to which universities will handle the new online learning, will determine their competitiveness in the new world. It is already clear that such an education format is very convenient at least in several areas: in particular, it is the preparation of applicants and additional adult education. Both of these areas bring significant income from universities, and a competitive race will be lost here to lose the essential part of their financing in the future. However, this new state of the competitive environment will require universities and other quality of making management decisions.
Vaccine independenceIn the past year, the Ministry of Education and Science of Russia went to an unprecedented step: in the conditions of a pandemic, the regulator delegated universities the opportunity to take key solutions to organize their work in a distance. The ministry "made a bet on the independence and competence of university management teams, providing a regulatory" cover "and intensive communication vertically and horizontal," said in the July report of the rectors of Russian universities "Lessons" Stress test ". Universities in a pandemic and after it. " Analyzing the logic of the decision, the authors of the report noted that the regulator could and insist on the use of identical regulations, protocols of activity and digital platforms. In their opinion, on the one hand, it could help universities with a weak infrastructure and personnel resource, but on the other, would slow down the pace of adaptation for leading universities that have already had experience and resources.
The provided freedom of action could not not lead to greater openness of the decision-making process and publicity of the educational process. The authors of the report were noted at this: they indicate that "providing broad autonomy to universities, the Ministry of Education and Science also tried to strengthen the information transparency of the Higher Education system, initiated a number of monitoring and surveys of the transformation process of universities in a pandemic." At the same time, it is recognized that "these data were not discussed quite widely and publicly to become a factor in auto correction system."
In this phrase, the "autocorrection factor of the system" actually laid several semantic issues for the future agenda of the Russian Higher School. Forming a strategic agenda for several years ahead, universities will observe whether the transition to Distant will remain the only example of how the regulator shared managerial powers with universities, or this practice will be developed in the changed conditions. Will the system be on independently undergo "autocorrection" without the participation of the regulator? And if you look even more wider, will the mino-erects ready and further rebuilt with the hierarchical vertical on partnership horizontal communication? On the other hand, it should be cleared into what extent universities themselves will be ready and will be able to accept this responsibility.
Communicative breaksThe crisis outbreak of publicity showed the requests of direct participants in the educational process - teachers and students - to take into account and to work out which administrative teams of universities will have to be in the long run. Last spring, the study of Ranjigsis "Teachers of Russian universities on the development of the online environment in a pandemic is widely discussed. In April, the university interviewed almost 34,000 teachers of Russian universities - this is about 15% of the total number of faculty of the domestic higher education. The survey authors wanted to determine the level of support or rejection by teachers of transformation of education from full-time format to remote.
However, according to the results of the study, it turned out that the request of the teaching community comes far beyond the requirements of adequate digital infrastructure. Problems with computer equipment and software were represented only one of three parts of this request. The teachers also spoke about the need to create a medium for communication, necessary and sufficient to maintain a high level of training. And also asked to reduce bureaucratic pressure and provide greater freedom in choosing funds and learning methods. And if the first component of this request was expected and can be solved situationally, the second and third part of it revealed serious problems whose solution will require significant efforts to form a strategy for years ahead.
Last year was noticeable and the growing subjects of students as participants in the educational process. Students actively advocated the revision of the ethical borders of interaction within the university system, demanded more attention to the quality of distance education, asked to reduce the contract for contract training after the transition to online. The issue of the effectiveness of student self-government organizations was recently updated. This year, the administrative teams of universities seem to be finally recognized that students want to have the right to independent definition of their interests and that they will look for new resources to defend them. Therefore, the accounting of these interests should be more complete and transparent.
Designing new communicative ties between the main participants in the education system - teachers, students, managers and officials - will help not only survive the consequences of an external shock, which has brought a pandemic. This will allow and cope with potential internal shocks.
To solve the problem, you must first speak.
The author's opinion may not coincide with the position of the VTIMES edition.