Expert: in Information Technology and Educational Video

Distance learning systems have long been known to university professors. But schools have recently discovered e-learning. With the help of distance learning technologies, it is possible not only to shift a number of routine pedagogical actions onto the shoulders of a computer, but also to organize truly high-quality, individual, differentiated learning. Our article today is devoted to an overview of the three most famous free systems and three paid distance learning.

Distance learning system Moodle

Short description

We will start our review of distance learning services with Moodle - this is one of the most popular distance learning systems in Russia (abbreviated as LMS).

The advantages of this method:

no need to install anything - register and get a ready-to-work system;
there is a free plan;
there is support for the Russian language;
there is a video conferencing plugin;
automatic update (a trifle, but nice).

However, you may encounter certain disadvantages of the cloud service:

a third-level domain that is difficult for students to remember;
only 50 registered users (for a school this is very small);
there is no way to install your modules;
There are ads that you can't turn off.

Edmodo

Distance learning system Edmodo

The next thing we'll look at is the Edmodo web application, as a special service on the Internet that does not need to be installed anywhere. Edmodo positions itself as a social network for education or Facebook for education - it is built on the principle of social educational networks, and the interface resembles the appearance of Facebook.

Characteristic Edmodo

The logic of work in this application is as follows. The teacher creates a group (in fact, this is an electronic course). The group has its own unique link and code that you need to share with other participants in the educational process. A group can have learning elements such as records (in the form of a test or files), tests, assignments, and surveys. You can import content from other services, such as news feeds from your school website, YouTube videos, content from other services.

There are no special bells and whistles in Edmodo, but there are simple and necessary elements - a calendar (for fixing educational events, a journal for grading, the ability to check homework, etc.).

Advantages and disadvantages of Edmodo

Let's outline the benefits of the service:

free;
no ads;
simple registration;
users are divided into three groups: teachers, students, parents (each group has its own separate registration, its own access code).

There are also certain disadvantages:

lack of Russian language - although the interface is simple and understandable, English can be a serious obstacle to implementation;
Edmodo groups cannot be combined, i.e. the student will have a bunch of inconvenient (and they are inconvenient) links, with a bunch of codes;
in general, the arsenal of educational elements, although sufficient, is relatively poor - the same tests do not contain additional strategies, there are no thematic tests, etc.

Edmodo has some admin tools. Perhaps they will make it possible to create a unified electronic school environment based on this application, which can greatly facilitate the introduction of distance learning in an educational institution.

Google classroom

Distance learning system Google Classroom

Our review of free learning services is completed by an application from one of the leaders in the IT industry. It should be noted here that Google previously had a large number of educational tools in its arsenal. At some stage, Google decided to combine all these tools into a certain platform, which resulted in the creation of Google Classroom. Therefore, Classroom can hardly be called a classic distance learning system, it is more like a collaboration tape - the same Google for education, only collected in one place. Therefore, Google Classroom is ineffective, it cannot be particularly surprising, and the organization of truly effective collaboration requires, in my opinion, a lot of effort from the teacher and, most importantly, a significant restructuring of the educational process.

Previously, Google Classroom had a relatively complex registration system and user access to the course, but about six months ago, Google opened up free registration and now access to Classroom is as easy as Facebook.

Other features of Google include:

using only Google tools (Google drive, Google docs, etc.);
participants in the educational process create a shared folder “Class” on Google Drive;
the “Class” folder is available both for an individual student and for the class as a whole.

Advantages and disadvantages

Among the advantages of the solution from Google are:

support for the Russian language (the same Edmodo exists longer and has a better interface, but it never became popular due to the lack of support for the great and mighty);
free;
brand - everyone knows Google and the use of the world leader's products looks solid;
Google was created specifically for schools, unlike Moodle, which is more suitable for universities;
The traditional functions of Google are implemented well: it is possible to publish theoretical material, assignments, grades in a journal, there is a calendar.

Let's highlight the disadvantages of such a solution:

very poor arsenal of educational elements. One of the poorest sets of training elements. On the other hand, if we consider it as a collaboration feed, then the main thing in Google will be the organization of collaboration, and not control elements, such as tests (which, by the way, Google does not have);
links to Classroom are not convenient;
The interface leaves much to be desired.

Tests in Google Classroom

There are no tests in Google, so many people create tests based on Google Forms. It is designed to create polls, but with a certain amount of imagination, polls turn into tests with a flick of the wrist….. I recommend trying OnLineTestPad, a self-hosted web service for creating tests.

OnLineTestPad

This is a free online testing service. The network nature of testing means that you have all the data about the attempts of students, all their grades, all their correct and incorrect answers. Let's briefly outline the features of OnLineTestPad:

the service has a large number of forms of test tasks (there are no only graphic questions);
flexible settings (there are training testing strategies, there are random (thematic) questions, various restrictions, etc.);
The main disadvantage is a huge amount of advertising. You can try to turn it off by "legal" actions, but this requires additional labor.
this service causes positive feedback from teachers and teachers, is one of the best services for organizing testing.

There are various ways to organize distance learning based on new information technologies: based on interactive television, telecommunications, based on CD-ROM technologies, educational radio and television, video recording, etc.

In recent years, four types of

distance learning based on:

1. interactive television (two-way TV);
2. computer telecommunication networks (regional and global, Internet) in the mode of exchanging text files;
3. computer telecommunication networks using multimedia information, including in interactive mode, as well as using computer videoconferencing;
4. combination of the first and second.

Education based on interactive television (two-way TV), with all its attractiveness, the possibility of direct visual contact with an audience located at different distances from the teacher, has its drawbacks. The fact is that with such training, the usual lesson is practically replicated, whether it is built according to the traditional method or using modern pedagogical technologies. It is, roughly speaking, about replicating the method used by the teacher with the help of modern technologies. If traditional methods of the class-lesson system with a predominance of frontal types of work are used, then the effect is lower than usual when the lesson is conducted in one class, because the audience increases significantly due to distant students, and hence the attention of the teacher to each individual student decreases by the same amount. At the same time, in the system of advanced training of teaching staff, this form of distance learning can hardly be overestimated, since teachers, students, pupils can become not just third-party witnesses, but also active participants in the use of new pedagogical, information technologies, take part in discussions, etc. d. This form of distance learning is inherently interactive and, of course, can be considered very promising, if not in the system of mass education, then in the system of advanced training and student training. However, these are still extremely expensive technologies.

Another way to organize distance learning using modern information technologies, as mentioned above, is computer telecommunications in the form of e-mail, teleconferences, other information resources of local networks, as well as the Internet, but only on the basis of textual information. It must be said that at present for the vast majority of schools and IUs in Russia this is the most accessible way of organizing distance learning. This method does not provide for the exchange of graphic, sound files, and does not provide for the use of multimedia tools. This is the cheapest way to organize distance learning, which, however, has significant opportunities, which will be discussed below.

The third method of organizing distance learning provides for the use of the latest means of telecommunication technologies, including multimedia, all the possibilities of the Internet, including video and audio conferences, as well as the use of CDs. Of course, such an organization of distance learning brings great didactic opportunities both for the system of higher education, school education, and for the system of advanced training, in this case, educators.

It should be borne in mind that distance learning also provides for the autonomous use of courses recorded on video disks, CDs, etc., i.e. outside telecommunications networks. However, all programs/courses recorded on video disks, CDs, video cassettes have one common property - they are autonomous and intended for soma education, i.e. they do not provide for prompt feedback from the teacher. Laser discs and CDs are interactive, which cannot be said about video recordings, radio and television, which is their essential advantage compared to the latter. However, this interactivity, which provides for various forms of interaction with the system, but not with the teacher, and therefore they are all designed for self-education, but not for learning.

The fourth option of distance learning is a combination of the first two technologies or the first and third options - interactive television and computer global telecommunications in various configurations. Of course, such options (especially the first and third ones) are fraught with great opportunities, since they allow at certain moments, at the discretion of the teacher, to "gather" students in a conditional audience and make visual contact with them, demonstrating something or giving the necessary explanations, controlling knowledge of trainees, etc. A similar system has been developed at a number of US universities, in particular, the Keiretsu model (A Keiretsu-based model for technology utilization). However, a similar effect is achieved when using computer video conferencing, but the possibilities of this latest technology are much wider, since on the screen you can receive not only the image of the respondent and talk with him, but also certain inserts in the form of, for example, a fragment of a database, the opinions of partners discussions, static images, graphics, etc.

In Russia, at present, it is not necessary to speak seriously about the fourth option for organizing distance learning, given the socio-economic, political and cultural situation that has developed as a result of many decades of the totalitarian regime. The socio-economic situation does not allow us to hope that in the coming years the federal government will be able to seriously subsidize this area of education. Regional educational structures, with the help and financial support of business circles interested in the quality education of their children and replenishing their business with qualified, active, independent-thinking workers, can invest material resources in this promising area. Indeed, in this way their children will be able to receive a good education both in the capital's educational institutions of Russia and in foreign schools and universities without leaving their home, which is very tempting for many.

1. Therefore, bearing in mind the various options for organizing distance learning described above, we are inclined to believe that in the near future in our country it is most realistic to organize distance learning based on computer telecommunications, both regional and global (Internet). At the same time, depending on the economic opportunities of the regions, the technological basis for such training can be
2. Exchange of text files;
3. Exchange of text and graphics, sound files,

use of all possibilities and information resources of the Internet;

The use of a variety of traditional educational materials (printed, sound, audiovisual), as well as new information technologies. In essence, this is the integration of computer telecommunications into the education system. Lessons are free, attendance is free! Internet schools are, firstly, free; secondly, they are an additional educational field and they do not seek to replace the real school, like the "Teleschool". Two projects "Open College" (www.college.ru) and "Virtual School of Cyril and Methodius" (vschool.km.ru) are the leaders among online educational programs for schoolchildren. Classes are held according to the following scheme. The teacher summarizes the topic of the lesson and recommends literature for self-study. The student independently studies the proposed topic and checks his knowledge with the help of a computer task compiled by the teacher. If the student could not find the answer to a particular question of the topic, then he can ask the teacher a question by e-mail. The teacher will either answer the question or recommend literature in which the student can find the answer to his question. At the end of the section, all frequently asked questions are listed with explanations from teachers. At the end of the topic - a knowledge test. Classes in the online school are free, attending lessons is free.

* Calculations use average data for Russia

The organization of any project begins with a clear understanding of the purpose of the development and the definition of tasks, the solution of which ensures the achievement of the goal. So in our case, distance learning cannot be an end in itself. The real goals of introducing distance components into the educational process should be formulated first of all. Based on experience, we will try to formulate some of them, considering them objective, independent of the point of view of the administration of a particular educational institution.

1. Individualization of training. A common goal in literature (i.e. theory). Sometimes people talk about adaptive learning. Ultimately, this goal comes down to a potential opportunity to improve the quality of education by taking into account the individual characteristics of students in relation to the average. And the components of remote technologies act as an individualization tool. The characteristics of the trainees include: the level of initial training, the speed of information perception, the preferred forms of presenting information, the volume and depth of the material, the motivation for learning, the subject area, the tendency to group work, and a number of others.

2. Personalization of the educational process. The most common goal in practice. The bottom line is that learning is not within the framework of a study group, where the learning process is somehow synchronized between students (everyone works according to a single schedule), but teaching students according to an individual schedule. Moreover, this schedule can be quickly changed in accordance with the current employment of the student and his pace of information perception.

3. Intensification or change in the nature of the teaching resource. Today in Russia, most likely, this is the most real motive for the introduction of distance learning. And, indeed, the average age of the teaching staff of higher education, the constantly declining qualifications (for various reasons), and the increasing hourly workload have not been a secret for a long time. How can a teacher save time? How to attract teachers from other universities by providing them with preferential working conditions? With such a formulation of the issue, distance learning is perhaps the only way out of the situation, which, unfortunately, runs into the natural conservatism of both administrative and teaching staff.

4. Increasing the quality of education. The first thing that comes to mind when these words are spoken is new learning technologies. Perhaps this goal is the most vague and controversial. A lot of emotional arguments - for and a lot of specific - against. Moreover, the main argument against is the historical experience in the form of countless conferences over the decades, a whole "army" of professors, associate professors and programmers who believe that their technologies are best suited for this purpose. But, nevertheless, the use of new principles, techniques and technical means, which include access to non-traditional educational materials through CDs, the Internet, etc., being a manifestation of technical progress, should, ultimately, with proper use, bring their fruits.

Earn up to
200 000 rub. a month, having fun!

2020 trend. Intelligent entertainment business. Minimum investment. No additional deductions or payments. Turnkey training.

5. Capturing new segments of the educational services market (for example, in remote areas). This goal is perhaps the most pragmatic of all. Indeed, if we consider training as one of the types of business (paid education), then business goals should be set. In this case, distance learning, as one of the means that does not recognize borders, saves time for all parties and, because of this, brings more money into the piggy bank of the educational process, is of particular importance. For example, the provision of educational services in those market segments where previously access to the demand segment was hampered by remoteness, cost, or an unacceptable mode of service provision (off-the-job training or on a fixed schedule).

6. Preservation and replication of the pedagogical experience of knowledge and teaching methods. Indeed, the unique author's training courses, the bearers of which are teachers, disappear with time into nowhere just because they are not recorded or archived. Couldn't that serve a purpose? Maybe it should.

7. Cheaper components of the educational process. One of the most pragmatic possible goals. It can be achieved, for example, through electronic rather than printed publication of educational materials. This is economically justified, since often printing cannot be carried out for financial reasons, which, in turn, is determined both by direct costs and relatively small print runs, as well as by the short "life" of such materials. This goal, in the presence of existing services such as e-mail, can be quite and easily implemented.

8. Mobilization of the administrative resource. In our conditions, this goal can be formulated differently - the creation of the right administrative resource. Often, the historically established administrative system is cumbersome, inconvenient or inappropriate for today's requirements. By creating an alternative to it on the basis of computer technology, you additionally stimulate an increase in the efficiency of the old administration, putting it before the inevitability of competition with new technologies.

Tasks of distance learning

Objectives, unlike goals, are solved as they are implemented. The priority of solving problems is determined by the purpose of implementation, the existing infrastructure, equipment and budget. Let's look at them briefly.

Compliance with the traditional forms of education adopted in the educational institution, in other words, to what extent the changes will affect the existing organization of the educational process and the activities of teachers. The distance learning system, for example, can be considered not as an independent alternative learning system, but as a complement to the traditional one, allowing to optimize the learning process in terms of the teacher's workload. In this case, such integral components of the educational process as the academic department or the dean's office will turn out to be secondary in relation to information resources, means of communication and the testing system.

If the distance learning system is considered as a new component, alternative to traditional education, then, of course, the requirements for the system being created must include an electronic dean's office, synchronization of courses among themselves, collection of statistics on the educational process and other traditional functions of the dean's office.

Ready-made ideas for your business

Organization of delivery of educational material to trainees. How correctly, promptly and cheaply to organize the receipt by students of educational literature required for the study of materials, tests, etc. in the conditions of remoteness of students from the teacher and, possibly, from the educational institution? To a large extent, the solution of this problem correlates with various information delivery technologies and related information carriers - the Internet, intranet, ADSL, CD-ROM, video cassettes, case technologies, mailing of printing products, etc. and aspects of their application. At first glance, the choice of technical means is not so great (if you do not take exotic solutions, which are usually extremely expensive), but, on the other hand, even the traditional Internet integrates more and more different subtechnologies, which must be taken into account for the correct choice of solution. When solving the problem of delivering educational materials, it is necessary to pay attention to what type of information prevails - textual, graphic or otherwise, as well as to the amount of information necessary to adequately support the educational process.

Knowledge certification, which exists in the traditional educational process in the form of tests and exams, is implemented in distance learning systems in almost the only way - by interactive tests, the results of which are most often processed automatically. There are other types of organization of control and certification of knowledge, such as: tests and exams performed by students offline. In this case, we are talking about organizing the return delivery of material from the student to the teacher. Here, the main critical point is not so much the organization of the delivery itself (there are a sufficient number of technical means and proven solutions in this area), but rather ensuring the reliability that the materials received by the teacher from the student were actually prepared by this student without outside help. To date, none of the remote means provides a 100% guarantee of this. The solution of this problem is the main problem faced in the implementation of a distance learning system. Two typical solutions can be offered:

Ready-made ideas for your business

a special dedicated place (training class), the attendants of which guarantee the identification of students, the mode of their individual work at the time of certification and testing of knowledge;
personal interest of the student himself, motivated, for example, by payment for learning outcomes.
By correctly redistributing the certification load between the system of self-assessment of knowledge, distance assessment and full-time certification, one can build a reliable educational process.

Organization of feedback with students in the course of training. If the previous task was unambiguously connected with testing knowledge at a particular point in time in the learning process, then in this case we are talking about accompanying (helping) students during the learning process. The essence of such support is the operational adjustment of the educational process and its individualization.

Therefore, constant and prompt communication is important, associated with natural and necessary discussions in the learning process, and with the help of a teacher when analyzing material that needs additional individual comments. To solve this problem, you can use both face-to-face meetings, and traditional telephone communication, and IP telephony, and e-mail, and bulletin boards, and chat rooms, and conferences.

Conducting the educational process. In this case, one should talk about solving the problem of the flexibility of the distance learning system, both in general and its individual components in relation to the participants (subjects) of the educational process - students, teachers, administration. Each of them imposes its own, often conflicting requirements on the distance learning system.

Students can make (perhaps implicitly) requirements for the form of presentation and the nature of the material, for the depth of study and the speed of studying the material, for the frequency and nature of interaction with the teacher.

The teacher would like to modify individual parts of the training course in accordance with his own, author's ideas about the nature of the material, its relevance, etc.

The administration, on the other hand, requires the availability of up-to-date statistics of the educational process, tracking progress, the quality of teaching and learning.

Ready-made ideas for your business

This does not exhaust the tasks that arise during the educational process. One of the most difficult tasks in setting up a distance learning system is managing the educational process (dean's office), which includes a set of study groups, organizing individual training courses, recording progress, synchronizing the learning process, distributing the workload of teachers, compiling final reports, issuing certificates, diplomas, etc. In essence, the task is close to the task of document management and can be successfully implemented using existing specialized systems.

Components of distance learning

The main components in the implementation of distance learning are:

subject of implementation;
form of education;
learning mode;
technological means;
budget.
As a rule, when implementing distance learning systems of one level or another, they are based on an already existing infrastructure, including the presence of one or another technical base and a traditional training scheme for an educational institution. After all, most people intuitively see behind the introduction of new technologies a mechanical transfer of traditional ways of organizing the educational process to a new technological base. This point of view cannot be ignored when organizing distance learning, since the subjects of the educational process, both in the role of teachers and administrators, are people who consider distance learning as a continuation of full-time education and who know their subject from the point of view of conducting the traditional educational process. Therefore, it is extremely important to determine what is the subject of implementation in terms of training. Consider the possible options:

individual course;
many offline training courses;
interconnected courses within the educational trajectory;
the entire system of distance education as a whole.
A lot depends on the choice of one or another option.

If a separate training course is chosen as the subject of implementation, the costs will be minimal, the implementation itself is motivated by a specific teacher and aspects of his work with his students.

In the case of deploying a distance education system, it is necessary to establish the entire technological chain of learning, starting with the support of a separate distance course and ending with components related to the preparation and optimization of the class schedule, taking into account various forms of education, all typical and non-typical situations, taking into account academic performance, the relationship of training courses, etc. In general, this task is grandiose and cannot be solved without the will and material support of the leadership.

The next parameter is the forms of learning. Traditionally, these include: full-time, evening and distance learning. Distance learning has its own forms of education. The student and teacher exist in the educational process both in parallel, using communication tools, and, accordingly, can simultaneously interact with each other (online), and sequentially when the student performs some kind of independent work (offline). A distance learning system can use either both forms of interaction (parallel and sequential), or it can be built on one principle or another. The choice of form will be determined by the specific types of classes, the scope of the course and the role of the teacher in it.

The third parameter is learning modes. These include the modes of interaction of students with each other both within the framework of the study group and within the framework of the performance of work in small groups.

Should students be combined into study groups, as is traditionally done, for example, in higher education? Or is it worth maintaining an individual training schedule? Both modes are not excluded in computer systems of distance learning. The most common modes associated with training groups. However, there are successful examples of training on individual schedules. In addition, individual learning is possible both in a mode based on a rigid schedule (schedule), and on constant synchronization of the acquired knowledge and the curriculum (“until you learn”).

Technological means include those decisions that affect the delivery of educational material to students, the organization of feedback and certification, communication between the teacher and students, and the management of the educational process. Strictly speaking, technical means exist in almost all components of distance learning.

The budget of the distance learning system can be conditionally divided into two parts. The first determines the initial investment in the deployment of a distance learning system (including the cost of the technical part, software, and the development of the training courses themselves). The second is the cost of course support (equipment depreciation, channel rental, teacher salaries, etc.). Naturally, depending on the complexity of the task, which is determined by the subject of implementation, the ordinal values of budgets for initial investments will vary significantly.

Important aspects related to the budget include not so much the implementation of the distance learning system itself, but the specific "filling" of the system with training courses. In this case, one should consider the question of who will be the authors of the courses - their own teachers (then you should pay extra for the creation of high-quality course content) or outside teachers (in this case, we are actually talking about buying courses).

Another aspect is related to the mode of work of teachers involved in the provision and maintenance of training courses. Is the teacher constantly working? Is it necessary to ensure the learning process? Do you need one teacher to maintain the course or does he need assistants? How? Is the support of the distance course permanent or is it carried out through certain time slices (at the beginning or end of the semester)? These are the questions that need to be answered when considering a specific distance learning option.

Typical problems of distance learning

In conclusion, I would like to note the problems that will be faced in the implementation of distance courses or a distance learning system. These include the need for course authors to independently structure the educational material, inevitably adapting it to the requirements of a personal computer. For many (especially humanists) this process is not obvious and extremely painful.

The conservatism of the teaching staff is a no less difficult problem. It is one of the organizational ones and can lead to fatal consequences for the introduction of a distance learning system within an educational institution.

The laziness of the technical staff, whose responsibilities include the deployment of a distance learning system. We have found that those with technical expertise spend an unreasonable amount of time discussing options rather than taking a proactive stance. Therefore, a competent person is required to deploy a distance learning system.

Opposition of those who are entrusted with the introduction of distance learning. If a teacher introduces individual components of distance learning, they may be told that this should be done within the framework of the corporate standard of the educational institution (and no one knows when this standard will appear!), Or that this is methodologically controversial. If you are solving a problem within the framework of an educational institution, then there will certainly be people (usually doing nothing really, but loving to talk) who will say that all this is nonsense and should be done differently.

The need for constant support of the course. There is an opinion that, after the introduction of a distance learning system, its maintenance will not be required. This is far from true. You will have to convince others of the need for constant costs in order to maintain and develop the direction of distance learning.

No matter how pessimistic various statements are, nevertheless, there are already a sufficient number of implemented distance learning systems today. How did you manage to implement them? We think that it is a successful and harmonious combination of potential, opportunities and a correct understanding of the role and place of distance learning in the traditional educational process. Not least here is the enthusiasm of the "pioneers" who, having once tasted the originality and promise of modern teaching methods, will continue to develop this progressive form of education.

For the successful functioning of distance learning, first of all, a certain level of informatization of society is necessary.

With the help of distance learning, the following educational services can be implemented:

· training courses;

getting an education;

· continuation or improvement of professional education;

Certified programs

· contract programs on orders.

Potential consumers of the DL system are:

· people living in areas remote from university centers;

Persons wishing to improve their skills, acquire new knowledge or receive a second education;

· Applicants;

persons with disabilities;

military personnel and members of their families;

persons wishing to receive education in foreign educational institutions;

Persons seeking to master the educational program in a short time, etc.

Consumers act as listeners (when receiving additional education) and students (when studying under specialist training programs). Consumers must have computer and Internet skills.

The educational process at DL is provided by the following specialists:

· teachers-developers of courses and teachers-consultants (tutors);

administrators-heads of structural subdivisions and system administrators of information resources;

Designers and programmers

technical support staff.

At the same time, it is important to note that many DO specialists also perform their functions remotely.

Specialists must have the appropriate qualifications.

The material basis of DOs is computer and telecommunications equipment and communication channels. The DO software is installed on the servers of the global network. Another name for the software-information complex is the DO shell. The network address of the shell is called the portal (educational portal) - this name has taken root on the Web behind popular and visited web systems.

The educational portal, however, does not involve an idle visit, but authorization and daily work: participation in electronic seminars on a forum or chat, receiving assignments and tutor consultations by e-mail, passing tests, etc.

Educational resources of distance learning can be represented by documents of various formats and purposes. Typical documents are a textbook, recommendations for self-study of the course, tests, an electronic library (reader). The whole set of documents and means of their processing can be called a network educational, methodological and information complex (SUMIC).

The whole complex of software, communication, information, administrative and pedagogical tools is called the information and educational environment. This is the virtual educational institution.

1.2 Global trends in the development of open education

The global educational space has accumulated vast experience in the implementation and use of distance learning. At the same time, despite the presence of purely virtual educational institutions, distance education is recognized as one of the forms of education along with others.

Initially, distance programs differed little from the correspondence form of education known to us: educational material was offered on paper, students contacted the nearest regional representatives of the university (1962, Delhi University, India). However, there was one significant “but” that already distinguished distance education from our correspondence education: the student had a choice of course program, tutor, training schedule, etc.

With the improvement of television broadcasting technologies, DL on a television basis has become possible. One could talk about the use of multimedia in the educational process (60s, China).

The real boom in distance learning began at the turn of the 1980s and 1990s, with the spread of personal computers and global networks.

In the United States, where the motivation for innovation is high, by 1999, about 60% of educational institutions used distance learning technologies. There is no national program for the development of DL, while there is a wide variety of approaches to DL: from the partial use of distance learning to the complete virtualization of learning. DL resources are offered both for open access (MIT) and on a paid basis. The creation of free DL resources became possible thanks to large-scale government support. Many states now provide financial support to ED both at the national and local levels, understanding the socio-political significance of open education.

The US and UK are on their way to create a worldwide network of leading universities in their countries. Building an open university space and a united Europe. A number of major meetings on DL issues (1998, Sorbonne; 1999, Bologna; 2001, Salamanca and Prague) allow us to talk about the convergence of European DL from the planned nature of DL in Germany, pre-university DL in France, transitional DL in Eastern European countries.

The main resource of distance learning is training courses. Large DL centers offer from a few hundred to several thousand courses.

According to the data, the world's leading DL centers are:

· National Center for Distance Education in France, year of establishment 1993, number of students 400 thousand people;

· Fern-University of Hagen (Germany), 1974, 55 thousand people;

· Open University of Great Britain, 1969, 200 thousand people;

· National University of Spain, 1972, 124 thousand people;

· Anadolu University (Turkey), 1982, 300 thousand people;

· California Virtual University (USA), 1997, 28 thousand people;

· Canadian Open University in Athabasca, 1972, 14 thousand people;

for teachers

educational institutions

Organization of distance learning

by using

modern ICT

g. o. Novokuibyshevsk, 2009

Published by decision of the Editorial Board of the "Resource Center" of the city of. Novokuibyshevsk.

Compiled by: , Methodist.

Responsible editor: , head of the media library.

Reviewers:

Resource Center Director

Deputy Director of the Resource Center

Organization of distance learning using modern ICT: Guidelines for teachers of educational institutions. - Mr. o. Novokuibyshevsk, 2009 - 32 pages.

Where it is methodically justified, sound, animations, graphic inserts, video sequences, etc. are included in hypertext, however, it must be remembered that excessive visibility reduces the rate of assimilation of the material.

The training material should be available to the cadet, if possible, in several forms, for example: via the Internet, on a CD, in printed form.

In general, the following content components are included in the structure of the material:

actual training material, including the necessary illustrations; instructions for its development; questions and training tasks; control tasks and explanations for their implementation.

As practice shows, when building a distance course, the most effective multimedia presentation of educational information.

It is known from psychology that the result of one's own work causes certain positive emotions, which give rise to additional motivation for learning. It is also known that for better assimilation of the material, each person develops individual methods of work and memorization.

A multimedia course based on the use of modern network technologies allows the cadet to illustrate the text being studied at his own discretion, making it more personal (to select the content in accordance with his individual needs, to choose and fix in the text the ways that are most effective for him personally). Multimedia elements create additional conducive to the perception and memorization of the material. It becomes possible to use the student's subconscious reactions, for example, summing up or issuing a task in each lecture of the course can be preceded by a certain sound (melody), setting the cadet to a certain type of work.

In addition, a multimedia course can be used repeatedly and multifunctionally: a part of a course or lecture can form an independent fragment of a lesson for repetition or control without additional efforts of the teacher. The course can be based not only on an extended model of a textbook (text), but also on an extended model of a lecture-process (“presentation”), which also creates additional opportunities for managing and self-managing cognitive processes.

Recently, the means of “3D technologies” on the Internet, three-dimensional volumes, which are an improved electronic model of not a book page (like a Web page), but a room, a museum hall, a city square, etc., have become widespread. 3D objects have the effect of presence : you can choose the viewing angle of objects, you can move from one object to another, etc. The 3D model in terms of organizing distance education can be considered as a further improvement in the ways of representing educational material, which significantly stimulate cognitive interest. The expansion of virtual possibilities and the introduction of the principles inherent in hypertext into such a model make it possible to successfully use it for educational purposes.

4. Organization of distance learning process

When organizing distance education, direct participants in this process play a huge role - both students and teachers, coordinators of distance courses, consultants and curators of study groups. All of them use the possibilities of the Internet to solve specific pedagogical problems. Moreover, if it is quite enough for a trainee to simply master the Internet at the user level, then certain knowledge and skills are required from teachers and curators to organize the work of cadets in a telecommunications environment within the framework of the set didactic tasks:

knowledge of the purpose, design features and functioning of the telecommunications environment; knowledge of the conditions of storage and transmission of information within the network; knowledge of the main network information resources and features of working with them; knowledge of the peculiarities of organizing and conducting telecommunication projects; knowledge of the features of organizing and conducting thematic teleconferences; knowledge of the methodological foundations of organizing the work of the teacher and students in the network; knowledge of the basic rules of user behavior in the network, the basics of telecommunications etiquette; ability to work with e-mail, telecommunications, network information services; the ability to select and process information received over the network; the ability to search for information on the network; the ability to prepare information for transmission over the network using a text editor, a graphics editor and the necessary utilities; the ability to organize, develop and conduct a network training project, a thematic teleconference.

To create an uninterrupted learning environment, the interaction of its components at three levels is necessary:

the level of management elements at which the interaction of the structural divisions of the organization responsible for the organization and planning of training courses, the development of training materials and the provision of them to cadets takes place; the level at which the interaction of participants in the educational process takes place: teachers, cadets, coordinators; the level of delivery elements, including various telecommunication means of delivering educational information and teaching aids from the leading organization to the student, as well as means of delivering reporting materials and examination papers from the cadet to the teacher.

To successfully manage the process of distance education, it is advisable to use various memos, cadet class schedules, guides and explanations that will help cadets plan their working time, orient themselves in educational materials and successfully complete training in compliance with all deadlines.

It is very important to calculate the optimal duration of the training course, as its effectiveness is reduced if the duration is too long. With the modular construction of courses, it makes sense to first include less short-term modules in the plan, then large ones, and finally short ones again.

The organization of distance education requires the involvement of specialists of various professions: managers and course organizers, pedagogical coordinators and curators, teachers, highly qualified methodologists for the development of educational materials, technical specialists and system operators involved in the technical support of the educational process.

Particular attention should be paid to the teachers-curators and teachers-coordinators, where it is important to provide feedback and organize communication between the participants of the training. They must be highly qualified in the field of teaching, be proficient in learning theory, be able to create and manage the educational environment, be able to manage the structure of the training course, know pedagogical technologies and telecommunications, be able to present educational material (it is interesting to present new material, ask questions, lead lesson and organize feedback), be able to communicate with cadets.

The teacher-curator provides communication between students and teachers and course authors, as well as promptly answers questions about the course, monitors the timeliness of submission of reporting materials. The teacher-coordinator supports students in the field, that is, on the basis of the regional center that is associated with the parent organization. He acts simultaneously in several persons: as a secretary, an administrator, a technical consultant and as a teacher-adviser. He must be able to organize individual group training, solve technical problems, instruct cadets, evaluate and control their work, and maintain course documentation.

Technical specialists (they can be not only engineers, but also methodologists or administrators who understand the peculiarities of the network technologies used) solve technical problems as soon as possible, provide the necessary advice or technical assistance to needy participants in distance education to work with technology.

Each of the participants in the process can interact with other specialists and with each other. Interaction between participants is a key element of any educational program.

Cadets work most of the time on their own. If they have a desire to ask a question to a teacher or partner, then they need to make some efforts (compose the text of the question, send it by e-mail and wait for a response). On the one hand, this makes the cadet more thoughtful about the material, think over the wording of questions, on the other hand, this can lead to carelessness in work, if for some reason the cadet does not want to ask questions, leaves the problem unresolved, thereby allowing a certain gap in his knowledge. Therefore, course programs should maximally stimulate interactive interaction between cadets and teachers, between cadets themselves, as well as between cadets and educational material to improve the quality of training and motivation. The organization of group work of cadets, frequent exchange of questions and answers, project work, etc. can help with this.

Providing feedback between the cadet and the teacher allows you to constantly monitor the activities of the cadets, the problems that they have. The feedback mechanism is aimed at checking the fulfillment of goals and objectives for each stage of training. Feedback can be carried out in any form, including in the form of control testing (initial, intermediate, final), discussions, teleconferences. To do this, you can use various questionnaires and tests, for answers to which cadets just need to enter an answer in the required line of the form or select the correct answer from several proposed options, and then send it by e-mail.

In the process of distance education, it is very important to organize a prompt response of teachers to the questions of cadets. Computer telecommunications create all the necessary conditions for this, providing prompt transmission of information by e-mail or organizing consultations within the framework of a teleconference.

With distance education, the participants in this process do not see each other, unless, of course, videoconferencing is used, communication occurs, as a rule, in a verbal form. Therefore, the learning process can be personalized by introducing participants to each other so that communication is lively, personal.

The teacher's functions are reduced to monitoring the learning process for the assigned tasks, advising cadets on problematic issues, organizing and conducting discussions on the issue under study, as well as monitoring the level of assimilation of educational material.

The information flow that occurs between the teacher and the cadet, carried out using telecommunications, is two-way - part of the information goes from the teacher to the cadet, and the other - from the cadet to the teacher. If a group of cadets interacting with the teacher is formed in the process of learning, then the information flow forms several more directions: from the teacher to the whole group, from the whole group to the teacher, from the cadet to the group, from the group to the cadet, etc.

Some authors (V. Dombrachev, V. Kuleshev, E. Polat) single out constant (“static”) and variable (“dynamic”) components in the information flow of distance learning. They include materials that are transmitted to students simultaneously before the start of training and for a long time, for example, basic textbooks and teaching aids, curricula, recommendations for studying educational material, questions for self-control, etc.

The variable component includes educational materials and correspondence transmitted from the teacher to students and back in the learning process, for example, the teacher's comments on the student's answers to control questions, recommendations for studying the material, the student's answers, coursework materials, etc.

To implement such a process that is complex in terms of the dynamics of information flows, training tools based on modern information technologies are required. At the same time, traditional means can also be widely used:

educational books, manuals, reference books, didactic materials on a printed basis; audio recordings; video recordings; natural didactic aids; computer programs for educational purposes.

The same teaching aids, but in electronic form (as a rule, archives), can be stored on the network server and used by the trainee in the process of work.

Along with the “classical” construction of a distance course, telecommunications projects can also be used in the practice of distance education. Students can take part in projects both individually, being included in a project developed by a group of colleagues, geographically separated and supervised by the coordinator of the educational sector, and a group led by their teacher. The activity of trainees within the framework of projects is most effective if it is preceded by a certain systematic training course that prepares the trainee for participation in a telecommunications project.

In distance education, the following types of projects can be distinguished:

Research . Such projects are characterized by the presence of clearly defined goals that are relevant and significant for the participants, a well-thought-out and justified structure, the wide use of an arsenal of research methods, the use of scientific methods for processing and presenting results. At the same time, the principle of accessibility and content of research methods is put at the forefront. The topics of research projects should reflect the most pressing problems in the development of the subject area, take into account their significance for the development of research skills of cadets.

Gaming . In such projects, the role-playing game becomes the main content, when participants (cadets) take on certain roles for business imitation and resolution of fictional or real professional situations. Game projects, in our opinion, should be preceded by the participation of cadets in research projects in order to deeply master the factual material, which is the basis for conducting role-playing games.

Practice-oriented. The peculiarity of this type of project is the preliminary setting of a clear, significant for the cadet result, which has practical significance, expressed in material form: preparation of a magazine, newspaper, reader, video film, computer program, multimedia products, etc. The development and implementation of this type of project requires details in the elaboration of the structure, the definition of the functions of the participants, intermediate and final results. This type of project is characterized by tighter control by the project coordinator and author.

Creative . Their peculiarity lies in the fact that they do not have a predetermined and detailed structure. In a creative project, the teacher (coordinator) determines only the general parameters and indicates the best ways to solve problems. A necessary condition for creative projects is a clear statement of the planned result, which is significant for the cadets. The specificity of such a project involves intensive work of cadets with primary sources, with documents and materials, often contradictory, not containing ready-made answers. Creative projects stimulate the maximum activation of the cognitive activity of students, contribute to the effective development of skills and abilities to work with documents and materials, the ability to analyze them, draw conclusions and generalizations.

A detailed methodology for using projects within the framework of distance education has not yet been developed either in the methodological literature or in practice.

In conclusion, it should be noted that this lecture only introduces the phenomenon of distance education. Teaching the technological foundations of organizing distance education requires, at a minimum, mastering the following methods:

goal-setting and development of learning criteria; planning and selection of training content, development of methodological apparatus; online representation of educational material; choice of forms of network interaction between the teacher and students; the formation of criteria-oriented tools for monitoring the assimilation of the material and the development of procedures for their application.

5. Basic technologies of distance learning.

The distance education system should create the most creative and logical information environment around the participants in the educational process (administration, teachers and students), convenient for a quick and well-structured exchange of educational, methodological and administrative information that constitutes the content of the learning process.

Distance learning uses various information and communication technologies (most often a combination of different technologies). Modern distance education technologies streamline the process of managing the education system, optimize the assimilation of knowledge through the formation of a specialized information environment that is convenient for a person who habitually uses the Internet to obtain information and interpersonal communications.

The Internet as a whole is an almost ideal technical medium for distance education. But it must be remembered that any training requires a certain organizational and informational support. You need to have the following structures:

support for the design of educational material;

delivery of educational material to students;

Support for "reference" materials;

· consultations;

knowledge control;

Organization of communication between listeners.

By Internet technologies in general, we mean distance learning technology based on the use of global and local computer networks to provide students with access to educational information resources and to form a set of methodological, organizational, technical and software tools for implementing and managing the educational process, regardless of its location. subjects. It is the use of Internet technologies that makes it possible to most fully realize the potential of distance education.

When introducing Internet technologies into the system of distance education, it is necessary to single out two directions for the implementation of this process:

1. Management of the educational process, which is carried out by an educational institution;

2. Technological support for the functioning of the information system, which is carried out by a specialized service - provider.

Under the technological support of Internet technologies for distance education, we mean the provision of information and communication services for access to software and hardware resources, as well as technological support for all users. Here we can distinguish two options for technological support.

The first is the placement of distance education software on a server connected to the Internet, thus, in addition to educational tasks, an educational institution should also deal with special technical tasks for server maintenance.

The second option is the use of an external source in the organization of distance education. Outsourcing services (outsourcing from English - the use of an external source) are provided by distance learning service providers. In relation to the university, this means that all distance education software operates on powerful servers of a specialized provider company. All participants in the educational process perform their functions by accessing servers via the Internet, using the appropriate interfaces. Outwardly, this is no different from visiting sites on the Internet that has become customary, except that in the case of distance education, the entrance to the personal pages of participants is made after entering a login and password. Outsourcing is the most economical for universities - no costs for maintaining server equipment, system administration.

By method of obtaining educational information are distinguished: synchronous educational systems (systems on-line, in real time), asynchronous systems (systems off-line) and mixed systems.

Synchronous systems involve simultaneous participation in the process of training sessions of the trainees and the teacher. Such systems include: various web-chats, web-telephony, interactive TV, teleconferences NetMeeting, Telnet. For conducting remote lessons, it is most convenient and easy to use web chats, especially for group lessons.

Asynchronous systems do not require the simultaneous participation of students and the teacher. The student himself chooses the time and plan of classes. Such systems in distance education include courses based on printed materials, audio / video cassettes, floppy disks, CD-ROMs, e-mail, web pages, FTP, web forums (electronic bulletin board), Guest books, Teleconferences (subscription to groups news).

mixed systems, which use elements of both synchronous and asynchronous systems.

By technical basis of transmission data, the following forms of distance learning can be distinguished:

§ means of audio graphics (interactive whiteboards, as well as educational films, radio, television);

§ through interactive WebTV and video conferences;

§ Through newsgroups Usenet, IRC.

§ through e-mail and mailing lists (lists);

§ through web pages;

§ via chat, web-forum and guest book.

Recently, the Internet has been actively replacing other forms of distance learning. This is due to three things:

1) The technical development of Internet technologies, which allow you to simulate any training model;

2) Easy to connect to the Internet,

3) Relatively low connection cost.

The following factors and conditions are important for obtaining optimal results of distance learning:

Availability of a modern computer base and good access to the Internet for potential distance students,

availability of good educational resources and experience of distance education among distance teachers,

good preparation of distance lessons,

availability of trained local coordinators,

Regular remote learning

moral and material incentives for remote activities.

Optimal results of a distance lesson can be obtained when:

1. A highly informative, understandable, well-illustrated learning resource and its local version have been carefully designed.

2. Students are well prepared and have a good command of the proposed material.

3. Communication between a teacher and students via the Internet is carried out without failures and by all available means.

For this it is necessary :

create a hypertext structure, thereby combining the theoretical material of the subject into a visually presented, logical structure.

create a software package that allows students to independently control the quality and completeness of learning;

create a set of test tasks that allow the teacher to assess the completeness of the assimilation of theoretical knowledge.

It is very important to receive some educational products in the process of conducting a distance lesson, for example, in the form of an increment in the knowledge and skills of a student, or (better) in the form of a created educational document.

So, the role of distance technologies in improving the effectiveness of vocational education is certainly great. Distance learning based on Internet technologies is a modern universal form of education. It is focused on the individual needs of trainees and their specialization. Distance learning provides an opportunity for everyone to continuously improve their professional level, taking into account individual characteristics. In the process of such training, a student, for a certain part of the time, independently masters educational and methodological materials in an interactive mode, passes tests, performs tests under the guidance of a teacher and interacts with other students of the "virtual" training group.

By creating an automated learning system based on modern information and telecommunication technologies and reducing unit costs per student in comparison with traditional education systems, the distance education system makes it possible to provide a fundamentally new level of education accessibility while maintaining its quality. And although in distance learning the student and the teacher are spatially separated from each other, they are, nevertheless, in constant interaction, organized with the help of special methods of building a training course, forms of control, communication methods based on the use of Internet technologies.

Forms of distance learning

Distance learning, carried out with the help of computer telecommunications, has the following forms of classes.

Chat classes- training sessions carried out using chat technologies. Chat classes are held synchronously, that is, all participants have simultaneous access to the chat. Within the framework of many distance learning institutions, there is a chat school, in which, with the help of chat rooms, the activities of distance teachers and students are organized.

Web lessons- remote lessons, conferences, seminars, business games, laboratory work, workshops and other forms of training sessions conducted using telecommunications and other features of the World Wide Web.

For web classes, specialized educational web forums are used - a form of user work on a specific topic or problem with the help of entries left on one of the sites with the corresponding program installed on it.

Web forums differ from chat classes in the possibility of longer (multi-day) work and the asynchronous nature of the interaction between students and teachers.

Teleconferences- conducted, as a rule, on the basis of mailing lists using e-mail. Educational teleconferencing is characterized by the achievement of educational objectives.

virtual classroom

virtual classroom is the user core of the educational IT environment and is a complex distributed system. It usually includes infrastructural software and technical components that virtually unite the workplaces of the teacher and students into a study group operating on a network (local or global). An example of a Virtual Classroom is the Internet service KMExpert - a knowledge assessment system that allows you to perform on-line testing, certification and training of employees of organizations and Internet users. KMExpert maintains a self-populated Knowledge Base containing training and control tests from various areas of knowledge and expert knowledge assessment results for these tests.

Examples of organization of distance learning:

Click here to learn more about distance education options.:

http://scholar. urc. *****:8002/courses/Technology/index. html

http://www. *****/

http://www. edu. *****/library/main. html

http://www. sdo. *****/des01.html

http://www-windows-1251.edu. *****/

http://dlc. miem. *****/

http://ido. *****/

Literature:

"Fundamentals of distance learning", textbook. Andreev in distance learning. Teaching aid. - M.: VU, 1997. The concept of creation and development of a unified system of distance education in Russia. Goskomvuz RF, M., 1995. "Distance learning: organizational and pedagogical aspects" INFO, No. 3, 1996 "Distance learning" / Textbook, ed. . - M.: Humanit. ed. VLADOS center, 1998 "Conceptual model of distance education" // Trimester - 1996, № 1 Shukshina of distance education using Internet technologies: article, Krasnoyarsk State University, Krasnoyarsk, Russia 2008. Polat and practice of distance learning: Proc. allowance for students. higher ped. textbook establishments / , ; Ed. . - M .: Publishing Center "Academy", 200c.