Distance Learning as an Educational Trend in Higher Education

The case study research strategy describes variations in the educational and professional trajectories of part-time students in comparison with their attitude to distance learning, the goal of higher education, and their professional future of the individual. This research strategy makes it possible to present distance learning as a modern educational trend. It has been determined that in the system of continuing education, distance learning is (1) a tool for changing a profession, (2) part of a well-thought-out career strategy, (3) a guarantee of employment, (4) a way to legitimize a professional status, (5) a form that facilitates obtaining a diploma of higher education, (6) “future education”, education for the future. The subjective meanings of distance education in connection with motivation, the purpose of training, the attitude of students to it are revealed. For students receiving higher education, this is “self-education,” for those whose goal is a diploma, it is “formality”, “superficial mastering of disciplines.” The authors conclude that the consideration of correspondence education in the context of continuity allows us to identify trends in individualization, diversification (the diversity and variability of educational programs, creating opportunities for choice), informatization, and individualization. An assessment of the prospects for extramural higher education based on the experience of forced distance learning (March-June 2020) is given.

1. Bondarenko, N.V., Gokhberg, L.M, Kovaleva, N.V. et al. (2019). Obrazovanie v tsifrakh: 2019: kratkiy statisticheskiy sbornik = Education in Figures: Pocket Data Book. Moscow : HSE publ., 96 p. ISBN 978-5-7598-2140-3 (In Russ.).

2. Cherednichenko, G.A. (2019). Part-Time Learners of Higher Education: Training and after Graduation. Sotsialnaya nauka i sotsialnaya praktika= Sociological Science and Social Practice. Vol. 7, no. 2, pp. 46-64, doi: https://doi.org/10.19181/snsp.2019.7.2.6409 (In Russ., abstract in Eng.).

3. Bourdieu, P. (1986). L'lllusion biographique. In: Actes de la recherche en science sociales. Vol. 62-63. Juin. Available at: https://www.persee.fr/issue/arss_0335-5322_1986_num_62_1 (accessed: 22.02.2021). (Russian translation by E. Meshcherkina. In: Interaktsiya. Interviyu. Interpretatsiya = Interaction. Interview. Interpretation. No. 1, pp. 75-84).

4. Schutz, A. (1945). On multiple realities. Philosophy and Phenomenological Research. Vol. 5, no. 4, pp. 533-576. (Russian translation by A. Korbut. In: Sotsiologicheskoe obozrenie = Sociological Review. Vol. 3, no. 2, pp. 3-34).

5. Rozhdestvenskaya, E.Yu. (2012). Biograficheskiy metod v sotsiologii [Biographical Method in Sociology]. Moscow : HSE Publ., 381 p. ISBN: 978-5-7598-0960-9 (In Russ.).

6. Abulkhanova-Slavskaya, K.A. (1991). Strategiya zhizni [Life Strategy]. Moscow : Mysl’ Publ., 159 p. (In Russ.).

7. Solnyshkina, M.G. (2006). Professionalnye strategii lichnosti [Professional Strategies of a Personality]. Moscow : Marketing Publ., 120 p. (In Russ.).

8. Konstantinoskiy, D.L., Voznesenskaya, E.D., Cherednichenko, G.A., Khokhlushkina, F.A. (2011). Obmzovanie i zhiznennye tmektorii molodezhi: 1998-2008 gg. [Education and Life Trajectories of the Youth: 1998-2008]. Moscow : Center for Social Forecasting and Marketing Publ., 296 p. (In Russ.).

9. Motovilov, O.V. (2016). Problems of Master’s Degree Training in Economics. Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii = Higher Education in Russia. No. 2, pp. 38-45. Available at: https://vovr.elpub.ru/jour/article/view/376/326 (accessed 22.02.2021). (In Russ., abstract in Eng.).

10. Seliverstova, N.A. (2019). Imitations in Higher School: A Result of Modernization? Znanie. Ponimanie. Umenie = Knowledge. Understanding. Skill. No. 4, pp. 65-77, doi: http://dx.doi.org/10.17805/zpu.2019.4.5 (In Russ., abstract in Eng.).

11. Zborovskiy, G.E., Ambarova, P.A. (2017) “Growing Up” of Students as a Phenomenon of Changing Higher Education. Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii = Higher Education in Russia. No. 4, pp. 38-49. Available at: https://vovr.elpub.ru/jour/article/view/l008/905 (accessed 22.02.2021). (In Russ., abstract in Eng.).

12. Aleshkovskiy, I.A., Gasparishvili, A.T., Krukhmaleva, O.V, Narbut, N.P., Savina, N.E. (2020). Russian University Students about Distance Learning: Assessments and Opportunities. Vysshee obrazovanie v Rossii = Higher Education in Russia. Vol. 29, no. 10, pp. 76-91, doi: http://doi.org/10.31992/0869-3617-2020-29-10-76-91 (In Russ., abstract in Eng.).

13. Barannikov, K.A., Leshukov, O.V., Nazaikinskaya, O.L., Sukhanova, E.A., Frumin, I.D. Uroki “stress-testa”: vuzy v usloviyakh pandemii i posle nee: Analiticheskiy doklad [Lessons of Stress-Test: Higher Education Institutions in the Conditions of Pandemic and After]. Available at: http://www.tsu.ru/upload/medialibrary/add/uroki-stress_testa-vuzy-v-usloviyakh-pandemii-i-posle-nee.pdf (accessed 22.02.2021).