Digital Education as a Factor of Sustainable Development during the

Isolation Period

Tatyana V. Mazaeva

and Alsou M. Aydarova

Department of Philology, Naberezhnye Chelny Institute, Kazan Federal University, 68-19 Mira Ave, Naberezhnye Chelny,

Russia

Keywords: Digitization, Digital Education, Edtech, Teaching Techniques, Isolation Period.

Abstract: The article under consideration investigates various types of digital education, their resources for efficient

knowledge acquisition and the transformation of teaching profession during the isolation period as a factor of

sustainable development. The goal of the research is to determine the teaching strategy under new conditions

and its objective is to examine the digital resources, their peculiarities and methods of their application in a

particular learning situation. To meet their goal the authors resort to the method of search, sampling and

systematization of the received data with a view to anticipating future strategies. The hypothesis of the

conducted research: a great variety of digital resources can and should be integrated into the traditional system

of education to achieve the utmost desired effect under new circumstances. The advanced hypothesis is

confirmed in the course of the analysis which helps the teacher to update and adjust the procedural framework

and propose further steps of development.

1 INTRODUCTION

The isolation period made the world face new

challenges that were dramatically to change people’s

customary lifestyles as well as to affect and transform

many spheres of human activity on a global scale such

as politics, economy, medicine to name a few. It set

sweeping goals for education in particular, as it took

both teachers and students by surprise in high schools

and universities. The system of education had to

respond to meeting these challenges in force-majeure

circumstances maintaining efficiency and quality at a

high level. Cutting-edge technologies have

undeniably become the indispensable part of our

everyday life, education among them, but to combine

them with meeting educational standards in the

shortest possible time span sounded like ‘Mission

Impossible’ for many educators. Most educational

institutions were unprepared to realize e-learning

programs to its full extent despite the rapid

implementation of digital technologies in economic

and social spheres. This forced educational

experiment needs careful consideration since it has its

strong and weak points.

https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0566-1978

https://orcid.org/ 0000-0003-3790-0777

2 METHODOLOGY

The goal of the research is to determine the teaching

strategy under new conditions and its objective is to

examine the digital resources, their peculiarities and

methods of their application in a particular learning

situation. To meet their goal the authors resort to the

method of search, sampling and systematization of

the received data with a view to anticipating future

strategies. The hypothesis of the conducted research:

a great variety of digital resources can and should be

integrated into the traditional system of education to

achieve the utmost desired effect. The advanced

hypothesis is confirmed in the course of the analysis

which helps the teacher to update and adjust the

procedural framework and propose further steps of

development.

584

Mazaeva, T. and Aydarova, A.

Digital Education as a Factor of Sustainable Development during the Isolation Period.

DOI: 10.5220/0010594305840588

In Proceedings of the International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference on Sustainable Development of Regional Infrastructure (ISSDRI 2021), pages 584-588

ISBN: 978-989-758-519-7

3 DISTANCE LEARNING: PROS

AND CONS

Digital education is a broad notion, which includes

online courses as part of distance learning,

application of new technologies, such as big data

analysis, artificial intelligence, computer-assisted

teaching, robotics achievements, etc (Bilyalova et al.,

2019). In school and university education it is realized

generally in the form of distance and e-learning

(Bagateeva and Aydarova, 2019). These terms are

often treated as equivalent, but distance learning is

mainly defined as the interaction between a teacher

and a student at a distance that includes all

educational components (goals, methods, teaching

aids, etc.) and is conducted through information and

telecommunication network (Strakhova et al., 2019),

while e-learning is intended to deal with information

as part of data base and is to apply information

technologies to process this information and transmit

it among teachers and students.

On the one hand distance learning doesn’t require

either a teacher or a student to be attached to the place

where the lesson is conducted, as long as

communication occurs on a virtual platform. The

student can allocate time to studies as he sees fit and

keep his own pace which builds awareness and

motivation. Moreover, distant technologies give

opportunities to attract high quality educators and

researchers who upload online seminars, master

classes, so the students can tap information from

different sources, have a broader outlook and

multidimensional knowledge and vision in general

(Makarova et al., 2018).

On the other hand, only face-to-face contact

enables a student to learn the information at first

hand, ask questions and have a heated debate,

socialize with the peers; live communication is more

effective to build team spirit and feed students’

imagination. There is no denying either, that distance

learning calls for discipline and responsibility on the

part of the student. Depending on the age group,

students need to be more or less supervised by the

parents, parental involvement in the process cannot

be overlooked. What exacerbates the process of

learning is that it’s more challenging for students to

concentrate on the subject under consideration

working online, the atmosphere at home is not always

conductive to studies and the teacher has to take more

pains to keep the learners stimulated. Unsurprisingly,

students need to take time to grow well-adjusted to

the new form of learning, therefore education experts

highly recommend to stick to the same routine they

used to keep before the quarantine. The teacher also

has to invest more time devising a lesson plan,

integrating visual aids, presentations, interactive

games into the normal class routine in order to spark

excitement for learning. Lack of proper visual contact

makes distance learning cumbersome so far. Besides,

the bleak truth is that, unfortunately, many low-

income families face the financial problem of

providing the child with his own PC, laptop or tablet,

so the child has to share it with other family members.

This and absence of high-speed internet connection

make the process of learning inconvenient and

complicated (Matrusova, 2020).

The negative points seem to outweigh the positive

ones, but the state of affairs only conveys public

concern, anxiety and preoccupation with the

challenge everyone is compelled to meet. There are

some issues that still have to be examined to be rated

as having either a negative or positive effect. For

example, some experts argue that distant learning

improves students’ performance in schools as long as

the workload for a day is comparatively less and

children find it easier to cope with assignments. Yet,

opponents of this view maintain that this is a far-

ranging issue and its consequences are to be evaluated

later.

4 RESULTS

All the problematic issues induced by the isolation

period can be subdivided into several groups:

1. Organizational (related to the general policy of

organizing educational process; means of interaction

of its participants, i.e. teachers, students, parents;

means of interaction of authorities of educational

institution with educators.)

2. Information and competence-oriented (aimed at

building information competence of the participants

of educational process that will be sufficient to

achieve the desired effect in teaching and learning

under the given circumstances as well as the

preparation and representation of the teaching aids

and the course content in digital resource.)

3. Program-planning oriented (connected with the

change in curriculum, the shift of industrial work

placement and practical training for later periods,

replacement of practical training for academic

learning).

4. Content-related (the conversion of the learning

material into e-form, restructuring of the contents of

the academic programs and devising upgraded lesson

plans to meet the goals and contribute to the effective

knowledge acquisition).

Digital Education as a Factor of Sustainable Development during the Isolation Period

585

5. Teaching techniques-related (the determination

of the most effective ways of educational interaction

in e-learning format).

6. Material and technical (providing access to

computers with the Internet connection for the

participants of the educational process in need).

As far as the forms of digital education are

concerned, the following trends have become

extremely popular in school and university education

during the isolation period most notably:

a) Massive open online courses (МООСs). During

the corona virus period there was an upsurge in

demand for digital educational resources both in

Russia and all over the world. This format that

originated in 2008 supported by international

universities has got a new lease on life and proclaims

the idea “Education for everyone”.

The switch to distance learning helped it to

become the most popular trend of the spring 2020 and

the statistics suggests itself: in 2020 the number of

online courses amounted to 13 000 of users, and the

audience of five largest MOOCs only comprised 100

million of users. In Russia the interest in MOOCs has

soared dramatically in comparison with many other

countries.

b) Zoom and video platforms (for school

education).

E-materials and teaching aids are not sufficient for

proper knowledge acquisition: nothing compares to

personal communication with a teacher to perceive

and process new information. Apart from classic

services with video calls virtual classrooms are

gaining more and more popularity. They are specific

in a way that they represent a uniform ecosystem

which enables the teacher to conduct conventional

group lessons in combination with one-on-one

sessions. Among other things the teacher can turn on

the demonstration of presentations and learning

materials, homework, and make good use of a virtual

pointer with the blackboard.

c) Inquiry-based learning

The framework of this trend suggests that the

student takes the lead in the process: he becomes

much more initiative, whereas the teacher’s role shifts

from “broadcasting” the knowledge to performing the

function of “a conductor”, the one who motivates,

challenges students to delve into details and makes

them leap into action. This format implies total

initiative from opting for the course of study down to

the learning and processing of material on one’s own.

It became extremely popular in quarantine because of

the limited communication opportunities with the

teacher. As for Russia, this type of learning was

sought-after in corporate and business environment

before the isolation period. Nowadays the switch to

distance learning has spurred school and university

educators to implement this approach. Education

experts and scholars agree on the idea that the

elements of this approach can be integrated into

education process for future use.

d) Mobile learning (m-learning)

This is a gadget-based approach. Most EdTech

projects are trying to adapt the content for mobile

phones to make it none the less comfortable to use

than on a computer. Reportedly, more than 90 million

Russians go on the Internet using smart phones and

tablets daily. UNESCO gives special support to

effective introduction of mobile technological

solutions in education. They created an online

collection of resources to realize school initiatives in

m-learning. In international EdTech conference

EdCrunch experts select the best educational mobile

applications within the competitive program. VR/AR

technologies, gamification and interactive

approaches are used in these applications.

Actually, the initiation of strategy BYOD (bring

your own device) in school and university education

is gaining more and more popularity all over the

world, when students use their own gadgets, such as

smart phones, tablets, laptops for educational

purposes. It enables institutions to cut costs for

equipment buying and makes education more

affordable.

e) Flexible learning

This format suggests customized and tailor-made

approach where the student himself can design his

own educational pathway. This technique focuses on

face-to-face teaching without hard and fast rules.

Some Russian universities endorsed and launched

projects where students can partly determine their

own learning pathway. EdTech projects contribute

considerably to personalized learning as well.

f) Blended learning.

Blended learning is a combination of online and

offline. As a consequence the student works one-on-

one with the teacher and also benefits by making use

of online services. A series of face-to-face lessons is

accompanied by webinars and expected to have a

general chat room for students as well as enabling

students to use other online platforms. Currently the

focus of blended learning is believed to be shifted

online, though one cannot underestimate the

significant key role of traditional offline education.

The perspective of further exposure of blended

learning in post isolation period depends on schools

and universities initiative and the steps they take to

implement programs in terms of teaching techniques.

g) Flipped classroom

ISSDRI 2021 - International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference on Sustainable Development of Regional Infrastructure

586

This format originated in 2000 by educators

Jonathan Bergman and Aaron Sams. It’s one of the

types of blended learning mentioned above and

appears to be one of the most easy-to-organize

educational practices. Students master academic

knowledge on their own at home, asking questions

afterwards in the classroom, trying to clarify and

work through difficult points, doing exercises and

laboratory assignments, conducting research and

practical experiments under teacher’s guidance.

h) Learning management system (LMS)

This trend is going to be the major type of distance

learning at schools as MOOCs imply

conscientiousness, awareness and accountability of

learners, more appropriate for adult students in

universities. Modern LMS can embrace blended

learning and allow to create customized courses, sign

students up for a course or opt for the course, consider

educational analytics, assess different indicators,

make predictions, highlight the weak points. Owing

to these technologies it is possible to conduct

personalized learning which focuses on an individual

according to his abilities, strong and weak points.

i) STEAM

This is a type of education based on the

application of cross-subject and the applied approach

where five disciplines are integrated into a single

system of learning: S - science; T - technology;

E - engineering ; A - art; M – mathematics. STEAM-

related projects in Russia come with booming growth,

where educators teach students top-notch

technologies and engineering, programming and

robotics based on their own methods in the form of

workshop sessions. They aim at introducing project

activity into the process of learning.

j) Digital teacher

The isolation period betrayed the necessity for

teachers to master digital technologies in the process

of education. The demand for specialists with digital

skills is sure to be on the rise. According to statistics

of National Center of Financial Research the index of

teachers’ digital literacy constitutes 87 out 100 points

possible, which is a sufficiently high indicator. The

lowest indicator has the sub-index of 78 related to ‘the

attitude to technological innovations’. It measured

skills of handling modern gadgets and applications.

The results also reveal that Russian teachers acutely

need methodological support and counseling on how

to apply modern EdTech services most efficiently.

k) Teacher significance

Despite the enhanced growth of digitalization one

can hardly imagine any process of education without

a teacher. The isolation period has definitely affected

teaching and accelerated the creation of teaching aids

and multimedia content online. According to National

Center of Financial Research more than 70% of

teachers faced the increase of workload particularly

during the isolation period.

How can a teacher get ready for the

implementation of digital education?

Firstly, to familiarize oneself with the idea of

online courses, a teacher can take a course himself.

This experience will allow him to get acquainted with

the course format, evaluate the presentation of

content and point out common mistakes to avoid them

later. Secondly, it’s worth investigating which

platforms and devices the school or university has to

offer so that the teacher can see the big picture and

start devising lesson plans in advance. Thirdly, it

seems only rational for the teacher to introduce

elements of digital education even without its across-

the-board implementation. Making good use of

resources that offer role playing, games, quizzes will

help to keep pace with modern life and maintain

students’ motivation. Finally, keeping track of the

current situation in education on the state scale will

make the teacher keep abreast of recent changes and

use courses or programs of continuing education.

5 CONCLUSIONS

Thus, the growth of digitalization in educational

sphere appears to be the most notable. The

implementation of modern technologies that enable to

learn and teach online as efficiently as in a

conventional classroom is what the future has in store

for us. Blended learning and inquiry-based learning

are supposed to become the most popular. The

question whether technologies will be able to

substitute for a human teacher seems to be rhetorical.

The advocates of traditional education prefer to deal

with a human who passes on knowledge and

experience to the child. In the post quarantine world

the profession of a teacher will still maintain its

importance, although it will undergo some changes.

Individual educational pathway will be of paramount

importance in future. Teachers will go on mastering

new tools more actively after the quarantine, they

have to become students themselves to some degree

and upgrade their digital skills, while the teacher’s

role in educational process is going to transform as

well: the significance of a teacher as a mentor will

gain momentum and his function is going to be to

challenge students, guide the process of learning,

instruct learners to process information, search for

and find new solutions. As far as online educational

platforms are concerned, education officials admit

Digital Education as a Factor of Sustainable Development during the Isolation Period

587

that before the quarantine they were mainly

technically designed and projected by programmers

without regard to teachers’ technical skills. The given

situation makes specialists reconsider this attitude

and create the platform for students and teachers to

cooperate effectively rather than create an IT-

solution. The involvement of methodologists, school

and university counselors and content specialists is

mandatory under the circumstances. Meanwhile,

educational services have an opportunity to

restructure current formats and put to test new ones

and win larger audiences. Even if public involvement

decreases after the quarantine, the registered users

will still stay on a platform. All things considered, big

reforms are under way in all spheres of social life and

if history repeats itself, tried and tested methods will

come in handy, if it hopefully does not – the

technologies of distant learning will be in demand

with some groups of students or even schools.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The work is performed according to the Russian

Government Program of Competitive Growth of

Kazan Federal University.

REFERENCES

Aydarova, A. M., Vildanova, E. M. and Ilina, M. S. (2017).

Continuity of Communicative Culture Forming in

Foreign Language Teaching (School-Technical School-

University). Modern Journal of Language Teaching

Methods, 9(7): 102-106.

Bagateeva, A.O. and Aydarova, A.M. (2019). Computer

Linguodidactics in Foreign Language Training of

Technical University Students. Iioab Journal, 10(1):

134-137.

Bilyalova, A., Sharypova, N., Akhmetshina, A. and

Islamova, A. (2018). Electronic Educational Resources

in Foreign Languages Teaching. In Advances in Social

Science Education and Humanities Research.

Proceedings of The International Conference on the

Theory and Practice of Personality Formation In

Modern Society (ICTPPFMS 2018), 198: 173-177.

Bilyalova, A. A., Salimova, D. A. and Zelenina, T. I.

(2019). Digital Transformation in Education.

International Conference on Integrated Science in

Digital Age (ICIS), 78: 265-270.

Kajumova, D.F., Sadykova, A.G., Davletbaeva, D.N.,

Aleeva, G.K., Vildanova, E.M., Valiullina, G.F.,

Gafiatullina, N.R. and Aydarova, A.M. (2020). Using

of phraseological units of the concept "the fate of man"

in the lessons of Foreign languages. International

Journal of Psychosocial Rehabilitation, 24(3): 1863-

1870.

Makarova, I., Shubenkova, K., Bagateeva, A. and

Pashkevich, A. (2018). Digitalization of Education as a

New Destination of E-Learning. Proceedings of Elmar-

2018: 60th International Symposium ELMAR-2018,

pages 31-34.

Matrusova, A. (2020). “Eto besposchadny psevdooflain”.

Kakie mify ob obrazovanii razrushila samoizoljazija.

Available at: https://www.pravmir.ru/eto-

besposhhadnyj-psevdooflajn-kakie-mify-ob-

obrazovanii-razrushila-samoizolyacziya

Sokolova, I.I., Ilina, M.S., Vildanova, E.M., Aydarova

A.M. and Strakhova I.V. (2017). The Social and

Pedagogical Qualities of Modern Vocational Training

Teachers. Czech-Polish Historical and Pedagogical

Journal, 9(2): 77-83.

Strakhova I.V., Aydarova A.M. and Mazaeva T.V. (2019).

O komplimentarnosti v ispolzovanii elementov

informazionnyh technologiy i jazikovoi animazii na

sovremennom etape obuchenija inostrannim jazikam.

Globalny nauchny potentzial, 4(97): 44-46.

Zoom i zifrovoi uchitel: desat trendov shkolnogo

obuchenija posle pandemii. (2020). Available at:

https://trends.rbc.ru/trends/education/5f0c9e549a7947

01ee47d369

ISSDRI 2021 - International Scientiﬁc and Practical Conference on Sustainable Development of Regional Infrastructure

588