Abstract:

The conditions of the Covid-19 pandemic have created a unique situation in higher education. The rapid and total transfer of training to distance learning made digital technologies and resources the only possible ones in professional training. In the Ural region, the most comprehensive attempt to summarize the experience of distance learning in the context of the crisis was the VIII stage of monitoring of the Sverdlovsk region students, conducted in 2020, at the height of the pandemic. The online survey (N = 2000) involved students from 13 leading universities in the Middle Urals. The purpose of the monitoring is to identify the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the socio-cultural and temporal attitudes of students as well as their educational practices. In the structure of the sample attention was paid to future engineers-students of technical training areas, whose education is closely related to obtaining practical engineering skills, without the technological and operational nature of which engineering education loses its value. How do the students themselves assess the opportunities and limitations of distance learning? What new trends has the coronavirus introduced into the educational attitudes and professional plans of future engineers?.

The main task of the authors is to identify the features of the educational and professional attitudes of students in technical areas of training in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic. The empirical base of the study was the results of a comparative analysis of the data of the seventh (2016, N = 730) and eighth (2020, N = 711) stages of sociological monitoring of students from leading universities of the Sverdlovsk region, which train engineering specialists.

The evaluation of comparative data shows that the transition to online training not only didn't worsen but, according to students, increasing the quality of professional training of future engineers. Significant, "compensating" educational factors were the use of innovative, active forms of learning, the introduction of project technologies and individual learning paths into the educational process. Most students prefer a blended learning format - a rational combination of face-to-face and distance learning. At the same time, despite the optimism, confidence in the future and their abilities, every tenth of respondents finds it difficult to plan a professional future due to uncertainty, the variability of the social situation, and the lack of necessary experience in planning their lives.

Keywords:

Covid-19, students, engineering education, online training, sociological monitoring, educational and professional attitudes.