Changes in Education under the Influence of Digital Technologies: main Problems and Risk of Division

Abstract

Digital technologies are rapidly changing the process of education. Online courses have become a common tool of gaining knowledge outside the university. Multimedia education, penetrating traditional educational institutions (schools, colleges, and universities), changes the structure of education and brings new elements to the communications during the educational process. This article considers one level of change in the model of education. On the one hand, there are advantages associated with the democratization of education. At the time of their foundation, universities were the creators of new elites – scientific and educational meanwhile, in the twenty-first century, the process of democratization and the accessibility of university education has been linked to the digitalization. On the other hand, territorial and other restrictions have been lifted. And this is a very controversial process that poses many challenges for students, one of the most noticeable of which is the lack of real contact with the teacher and the transformation of the educational process into an ”educational conveyor belt.” At the same time, personal contact with the teacher is becoming more expensive. The authors have collected studies that examine the dynamics of this emerging stratification of education. Based on the work of the pioneers in the study of digital education, the authors develop their ideas, focusing on the formation of the modern models of education, defined as affordable electronic and elite traditional. Keywords: online courses, online education, MOOC