Russian students about learning under the covid-19 pandemic: Resources, opportunities and assessment of the distance learning

Abstract

The covid-19 pandemic has made the whole world face specific challenges that required urgent decisions on how to organize the work of social institutions, including education, in this new reality. Since March 2020, national education systems all over the world have been adapting their activities to the quarantine measures and have been switching to distance learning. In varying degrees, these changes affected all levels of education - from preschool to higher and postgraduate education. However, the tasks to be solved differed by the level of education. The article presents the results of the comparative analysis of the activities of the Russian higher-educational institutions based on their students estimates - during the forced distance learning in the spring of 2020 and during the planned switch to such a format in the fall of 2020. The article is based on the surveys of the Russian students conducted in June 2020 (N=31423) and February 2021 (N=32358). The study was conducted to test the hypotheses that negative estimates of distance learning and rejection of such a format by many students in the spring of 2020 changed in the fall of 2020. The results of two surveys show that Russian universities have passed through the stage of digital transformation which affected both the resources for organizing the educational process and the competences of the teaching staff. The experience of work in the difficult and unpredictable conditions of the pandemic changed the public opinion from the negative perception of distance learning to understanding and accepting its positive features for the education system and its actors. The introduction of digital technologies is an objective and inevitable process in the development of the educational sphere and the country.