A MODEL FOR EVALUATING AND ELIMINATING THE PROBLEMS OF “SHOСK” TRANSITION TO DISTANCE LEARNING IN A MODERN UNIVERSITY
Authors:   Penza State University, Koshevoy Oleg S. , Khokhlova Irina G. ,   Penza State University, Dudkina Svetlana V. ,   Penza Scientific Research Electrotechnical Institute JSC
Published: December 2021

T he current epidemic situation in Russia and the world caused by coronavirus infection requires prompt solutions to eliminate the consequences of the pandemic in almost all sectors of economic activity. The isolation of the population from mutual contacts was one of the effective solutions to the problem. This arose the need for the educational institutions to promptly switch to a remote mode of education. Those involved in the distance learning process faced a wide range of different problems, which defines the topicality of developing the efficient measures aimed to overcome the challenges of the distance learning process. The subject of the work is the analysis of the processes arising from the sudden transition of the educational environment of the university to the distance learning format, the development of a rating model designed to grade the problems which are important for the students and which are determined by the transition to the distance learning format, and the development of directions for solving the established problems. The aim of the study is to identify the problems that have arisen from the transition to a distance learning format among the students and to develop an organizational and managerial tool to fix these problems. The study relies on the information taken from a secondary data analysis performed by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center (VCIOM) and the results of their own research by the students specializing in Economics at the Institute of Economics and Management in Penza State University. The research methods included SPSS based comparative and frequency analysis. The scientific novelty of the work is as follows: 1) a rating evaluation of the problems arising from the transfer of the educational process of the university to a distance learning format in the context of a "shock" transition associated with force majeure caused by coronavirus infection has been developed; 2) University students’ satisfaction with distance learning and students’ readiness to apply the technological distance learning tools and possibilities of Moodle based electronic educational resources in the distance learning format have been identified. Statistical processing of the research results with nonparametric criteria contributes into the reliability of the findings and the recommendation. The practical significance of the research lies in the developed concept of the organizational and managerial mechanism for overcoming the problems arising from the transition to the university’s distance learning environment. This mechanism refers to the social and informational areas, reduces the time of transition to the distance learning format, and accounts for the interests and readiness of the teaching staff and students. Further research is seen to be connected with monitoring the validity of the revealed problems in their dynamics with a one semester lag.