# Online Group Student Peer-Communication as an Element of Open Education
## 4 Discussion  
We may conclude that the development of ICT guides higher education to the open educational space. This movement is now presented in the form of accessible open educational resources and massive open online courses. Today, such forms of education are widely used as a lifelong learning opportunity in higher education [41; 42; 43]. However, it is clear that open education is not just a new technological solution providing free access to educational content. It challenges existing practices and requires new approaches. This study proves that student-led group communication is a serious supporting factor that contributes to the inclusion of students in current educational processes and problems. Such kind of communication helps disseminate the necessary educational information and supports mutual assistance and collaborative learning. Thanks to conversations on social networks, students become closer to each other. However, it is clear that different groups to a greater or lesser extent perform these functions. The criteria given in the work can help evaluate different aspects of such activities. Figure 4: The most common words in student conversations. One of the valuable aspects of group communication is messages about collaborative learning, which, however, occupied only 9% of messages in this study. It proved the insufficient focus of education on such practices [44]. Some concerns were partially confirmed [34]. Open educational practices may lead to academic dishonesty. Although this practice was not the dominant topic, it was perfectly acceptable. This signal indicates that the current system of knowledge testing is not ready for the transition to open educational practices. An open educational system should encourage student interaction, collaborative learning and maintain the availability of given questions and answers that help whom needs it. Moreover, the control tests should ensure that the assessment is adequate. Higher education management and university teachers should consider in their practices the existence of the relationships between students. Permanent online connection makes it possible to distribute group tasks extensively, implying sharing knowledge, discussions and teamwork in the educational process, which develops great opportunities for soft skills progress. At the same time, it is required to make decisions about changing a number of certification forms that do not correspond to open education. [PERSON] noted that teachers are at different levels of \"openness\" and readiness for it, but \"all thinking deeply about their digital and pedagogical decisions\" [45] (p. 7). [PERSON] et al. used open educators' factory methodology to map the capacities of university teachers across four areas: open design, open content, open teaching and open assessment. Moreover, the authors emphasized that the latter area is the least open [46] (p. 521). The proposed method for assessing and visualizing student communication can be used by teachers and university administrators to evaluate various aspects of the polylogical communicative behavior of students in the network. A survey of the development and effectiveness of education-related communication oon social networks and messengers could be used not only to assess its role in the educational process, but also to identify possible psychological and adaptive problems within the student group. The results of the study are limited to the framework of several student groups at several universities in Russia that can give only an initial idea of intra-group communication. The opportunity to compare these findings with the features of electronic intra-group communication in other countries is of special interest. Collectivism, the desire to act together, and sharing what you have as well as laziness correspond to stereotypes related to the Russian mentality [47; 48]. It may have an imprint on the thematic content of the conversations.